"Actor: Bernard"

• Carry On Behind | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £6.22   |  Saving you £6.77 (108.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The discovery of valuable archaeological remains beneath a holiday caravan site is the cause of the mayhem in Carry On Behind. That said, the sub-"plots", which involve Windsor Davies and Jack Douglas as a pair of randy fishermen, a couple sharing their caravan with an outsize dog (no, it's not like that...), the obligatory giggling dolly birds and so on are all typical grist to the Carry On mill. The location is of course as bleakly miserable as such a place could ever be and will bring a frisson of familiarity to many Brits. Widely held to be one of the best in the series, the film would in fact have been a rather lacklustre effort were it not for the superbly over-the-top presence of Elke Sommer, whose performance as the strapping assistant to archaeologist Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) seems like a wonderful hybrid of Ute Lemper and Charlie Dimmock. --Roger Thomas

• Thunderball | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £4.00   |  Saving you £15.99 (399.75%)   |  RRP £19.99

  James Bond's fourth adventure takes him to the Bahamas, where a NATO warplane with a nuclear payload has disappeared into the sea. Bond (Sean Connery) travels from a health spa (where he tangles with a mechanised masseuse run amuck) to the casinos of Nassau and soon picks up the trail of SPECTRE's number-two man, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and his beautiful mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger), whom Bond soon seduces to his side. Equipped with more gadgets than ever, courtesy of the resourceful Q (Desmond Llewellyn), agent 007 escapes an ambush with a personal-size jet pack and takes to the water as he searches for an underwater plane, battles Largo's pet sharks, and finally leads the battle against Largo's scuba-equipped henchmen in a spectacular underwater climax. This thrilling Bond entry became Connery's most successful outing in the series and was remade in 1983 as Never Say Never Again, with Connery returning to the role after a 12-year hiatus. Tom Jones belts out the bold theme song to another classic Maurice Binder title sequence. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com--On the DVD: The absence of any new contribution from Sean Connery leaves a hole in the behind-the-scenes selection, but the "making of" documentary still has plenty to talk about, including why Bond wore a crash helmet for the jet-pack flight, and what was for the time the utterly unique situation of having to stage an underwater battle (one of the Bond series' enduring legacies is its pioneering stunt work). A supplemental documentary describes the "Thunderball Phenomenon" that swept the world on the release of what was the most successful Bond movie to date (back in those innocent days when blanket retail saturation of movie merchandise was still a novelty). Two audio commentaries flesh out even more of the background: the first is another edited selection of various interviews, the second has editor Peter Hunt in conversation with the host John Quark of the Ian Fleming Foundation, as well as more sundry interview snippets, notably from screenwriter John Hopkins. Any contribution from series composer John Barry is also sadly absent. --Mark Walker

• The Changes (2-Disc DVD Set) | DVD | (25/08/2014) from £22.19   |  Saving you £2.80 (12.62%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The long-awaited DVD premiere of this influential science-fiction series which was first broadcast on BBC1 in early 1975. Well remembered for its unsettling depiction of a society in meltdown The Changes paved the way for the likes of Survivors and Day of the Triffids. When a strange noise is emitted from machinery and electricity pylons previously placid and easy-going folk turn violently against the technology that surrounds them - ruthlessly attacking radios TVs and other domestic appliances. In the devastating aftermath young Nicky Gore (Victoria Williams) is separated from her parents but finds a surrogate home with a group of Sikhs. But they soon are dubbed 'The Devil's Children' by superstitious locals and Nicky is accused of sorcery by a witchfinder. In grave danger she is forced to find a way to escape find her parents and uncover what caused the world to become so unbalanced. This highly acclaimed series was adapted from Peter Dickinson's best-selling trilogy by Anna Home (who would later become chief executive of the Children's Film and Television Foundation) and features music by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's Paddy Kingsland (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Its gritty depiction of a near-apocalyptic world and its integration of Sikh characters make it as progressive and fascinating now as it was when it was first broadcast. Episodes Comprise: The Noise The Bad Wires The Devil's Children Hostages! Witchcraft! A Pile of Stones Heartsease Lightning! The Quarry The Cavern

• Carry On Collection Vol.3 | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £12.40   |  Saving you £0.59 (4.76%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Titles Comprise: 1. Carry On Spying: Fearless agent Desmond Simpkins and James Bind aided and abetted by the comely Agent Honeybutt and Agent Crump battle against the evil powers of international bad guys STENCH and their three cronies. 2. Carry On Cleo: Ancient British slaves save Caesar (Kenneth Williams) from assassination in Rome 50 B.C. Meanwhile Mark Antony (Sid James) romances Egyptian Empress Cleopatra (Amanda Barrie). Revolting Britons include Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey while Warren Mitchell plays a partner in the slave-trading firm Markus & Spencius. 3. Carry On Screaming: Who is stealing virgins and turning them into shop-window mannequins? What is the meaning of the gigantic hairy finger found at the scene of the latest crime? What clues can the mad professor or his deathly pale and impossibly buxom sister provide to the hopeless Detective Bung? 4. Carry On Cowboy: Sid James is on top form as the Rompo kid an outlaw who shakes up the sleepy residents of Stodge City. Kenneth Williams is the puritanical judge and Jim Dale plays Marshall P. Knutt a hapless plumber mistakenly sent to clean up the town.

• The Blue Lamp (Digitally Restored) | DVD | (12/12/2016) from £10.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fifty years on, it's hard to appreciate just how shocking one key scene in The Blue Lamp was considered by British audiences. Young delinquent Tom Riley (played with sensuous malevolence by Dirk Bogarde) guns down kindly, benevolent copper, PC Dixon (Jack Warner.) In early 1950s Britain, murdering a policeman was the ultimate taboo. Even the underworld's denizens help the police flush Riley out. Made by Ealing Studios, The Blue Lamp is not a comedy but shares many of the studio's characteristic comic hallmarks, as well as the same writer (TEB Clarke) for their classics Hue And Cry and The Lavender Hill Mob. Consensus and tolerance are the watchwords. Individualism is frowned upon. There are no extravagant displays of emotion, not even from Mrs Dixon (Gladys Henson) when she learns what happened to her husband. The understatement is very moving, although by today's standards the representation of the police seems absurdly idealised. Were they ever the doughty, patient sorts depicted here? It is no surprise to learn that Scotland Yard co-operated in the making of the film but this is much more than just police propaganda. Well-crafted, full of finely judged character performances, it ranks with Ealing's best work. It was made at an intriguing historical moment: before rock and roll and the era of teenage affluence, there was simply no place for young tearaways like Tom Riley. --Geoffrey Macnab

• Days Of Glory | DVD | (28/07/2008) from £4.92   |  Saving you £1.07 (21.75%)   |  RRP £5.99

  "Days Of Glory" chronicles the story of the forgotten Algerians who fought alongside the French in WW2.

• Carry On At Your Convenience | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £9.49   |  Saving you £3.50 (36.88%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1971 when Carry On at Your Convenience hit our screens, the series had long since become part of the fabric of British popular entertainment. Never mind the situation, the characters were essentially the same, film after film. The jokes were all as old as the hills, but nobody cared, they were still funny. But it's just too easy to treat them as a job lot of postcard humour and music hall innuendo. This tale of revolt at a sanitary ware factory--Boggs and Son, what else?--certainly chimed in with the state of the nation in the early 1970s when strikes were called at the drop of a hat. Here, tea urns, demarcation and the company's decision to branch out into bidets all wreak havoc. Kenneth Williams as the company's besieged managing director, Sidney James and Joan Sims give their all as usual, but it's the lesser roles that really add some lustre. Hattie Jacques as Sid's budgerigar-obsessed, sluggish put-upon wife and Renee Houston as a superbly domineering battleaxe with a penchant for strip poker remind us that in the hands of fine actors, even the laziest of caricatures become real human beings. --Piers Ford

• The Death of Louis VXI | DVD | (20/11/2017) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  August 1715. After going for a walk, Louis XIV feels a pain in his leg. The next day, the king keeps fulfilling his duties and obligations, but his sleep is troubled and he has a serious fever. He barely eats and weakens increasingly. This is the start of the slow agony of the greatest King of France death from gangrene, surrounded by his doctors and closest advisors, speaking in frantic, whispered tones about their options, in an era in which little is known of such illnesses. Albert Serra's new film, The Death of Louis XIV, is an adaptation of the Duc de Saint-Simon's memoirs, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud as the Sun-King. The cult actor, who worked with all major directors from the Nouvelle Vague after being discovered in Truffaut's The 400 Blows, plays the dying king who can barely move from his bed in the Château de Versailles. His relatives and his closest counsellors come in turns at his bedside, but he attends only a few meetings and can barely rule his kingdom. His secret wife Madame de Maintenon, and his doctor Fagon dread his last breath and try to hide it from the public, to preserve the future of France. Shot in rich colour with extraordinary lighting, Jean-Pierre Léaud, in his costume, hair and poses, fully embodies the last few days of the longest serving king of France, who, with his seventy two years in power, changed the face of the monarchy and of France.

• Mozart: Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) -- Metropolitan Opera/Levine | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £16.69   |  Saving you £0.30 (1.80%)   |  RRP £16.99

  A performance of Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' by puppet theatre.

• The Blue Lamp (Digitally Restored) | Blu Ray | (12/12/2016) from £11.88   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fifty years on, it's hard to appreciate just how shocking one key scene in The Blue Lamp was considered by British audiences. Young delinquent Tom Riley (played with sensuous malevolence by Dirk Bogarde) guns down kindly, benevolent copper, PC Dixon (Jack Warner.) In early 1950s Britain, murdering a policeman was the ultimate taboo. Even the underworld's denizens help the police flush Riley out. Made by Ealing Studios, The Blue Lamp is not a comedy but shares many of the studio's characteristic comic hallmarks, as well as the same writer (TEB Clarke) for their classics Hue And Cry and The Lavender Hill Mob. Consensus and tolerance are the watchwords. Individualism is frowned upon. There are no extravagant displays of emotion, not even from Mrs Dixon (Gladys Henson) when she learns what happened to her husband. The understatement is very moving, although by today's standards the representation of the police seems absurdly idealised. Were they ever the doughty, patient sorts depicted here? It is no surprise to learn that Scotland Yard co-operated in the making of the film but this is much more than just police propaganda. Well-crafted, full of finely judged character performances, it ranks with Ealing's best work. It was made at an intriguing historical moment: before rock and roll and the era of teenage affluence, there was simply no place for young tearaways like Tom Riley. --Geoffrey Macnab

• The Smallest Show on Earth | Blu Ray | (11/03/2019) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford, Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers star in Basil Dearden's heartwarming comedy The Smallest Show on Earth. This gently whimsical elegy to the golden age of cinema co-stars Bernard Miles, Leslie Phillips and Sid James and is presented here as a brand-new High Definition transfer from the original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. Overjoyed to learn that they've inherited a cinema in the north of England, Matt and Jean Spenser are subsequently shattered to find it's less of a grand picture palace and more of a fleapit (with three equally decrepit employees). Can the couple make a go of it or will they be forced to sell up and watch the Bijou Kinema be redeveloped into a car park? Special Features: Image gallery PDF material

• Dad's Army: The Movie | DVD | (16/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  In the 1970s the British film industry went through a craze for turning hit TV comedies into big screen features. From On the Buses (1971) to Porridge (1979), Dad's Army was one of the few which made the transition with style. Set in the small south coast town of Walmington-on-Sea in 1940, the film does have the structure of three TV episodes remade and sequenced together. Beginning with the formation of the local Home Guard, the company has a self-contained adventure on military manoeuvres, before a finale which allows for some heroism as three German officers take over the church hall. Dad's Army has all the gentle character comedy of the classic BBC TV series, benefiting enormously by retaining the entire television cast, headed by the incomparable Arthur Lowe as the blustering Captain Mainwaring and supported by the equally wonderful John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn. The cinema budget allows far superior production values to the original series, with a loving re-creation of 1940's England and some surprisingly beautiful cinematography. Above all, the film is both funny and a nostalgic reminder of a time when ordinary middle-aged and old men could be both real and movie heroes. --Gary S. Dalkin

• James Bond - Goldfinger (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £3.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (325.82%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Heralded as the best Bond movie thus far Goldfinger features some of the most iconic moments in the series to-date. Who could forget Oddjob and his killer hat; Shirley Eaton doused in gold; Or one of the greatest comeback lines in history? James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?Auric Goldfinger: No Mr. Bond. I expect you to die! Special Agent 007 (Sean Connery) has just come face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time. And now he'll have to outwit and outgun this powerful tycoon to prevent him form cashing in on a devious scheme to raid Fort Knox - and obliterate the world economy!

• Carry On Doctor | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bedpan humour rules in Carry On Doctor, the vintage 1968 offering from gang, assisted by guest star Frankie Howerd as bogus faith healer Francis Bigger. Hospitals, of course, always provided the Carry On producers with plenty of material. Today, these comedies induce a twinge of serious nostalgia for the great days of the National Health Service when Matron (Hattie Jacques, naturally) ran the hospital as if it was a house of correction, medical professionals were idolised as if they were all Doctor Kildare and Accident and Emergency Departments were deserted oases of calm. But even if you aren't interested in a history lesson, Talbot Rothwell's script contains some immortal dialogue, particularly when Matron loosens her stays. "You may not realise it but I was once a weak man", says Kenneth Williams' terrified Doctor Tinkle to Hattie Jacques. "Once a week's enough for any man", she purrs back. Other highlights include Joan Sims, excellent as Frankie Howerd's deaf, bespectacled sidekick, Charles Hawtrey suffering from a phantom pregnancy, 1960s singer Anita Harris in a rare film role, and Barbara Windsor at her most irrepressible as nurse Sandra May. --Piers Ford

• Carry On Matron | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £8.22   |  Saving you £4.77 (58.03%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Hattie Jacques finally got to the play the title role in 1972 when Carry On Matron immortalised the character she had developed during several previous outings, most notably in Carry On Doctor. And she seized it with gusto. This is no one-dimensional performance, but a very human portrait of a woman doing her best to retain her authority in the face of mounting chaos--a raid planned by Sid James to steal the hospital's supply of contraceptive pills. Certainly, she's obsessed with regular bowel movements--this wouldn't be a Carry On film otherwise--but she remains a majestic figure of dignity with a touch of human warmth. Occasionally, too, a real hint of irony peeks through the slapstick and the innuendo. Surely scriptwriter Talbot Rothwell had his tongue lodged firmly in his cheek when he gave Barbara Windsor--then married to Ronnie Knight--the line, "I don't fancy being a gangster's moll!" Terry Scott makes a guest appearance and Sid James is at his most conniving and lecherous. Theatre impresario Bill Kenwright has a cameo role and there's an early appearance from Wendy Richard as a prototype Pauline Fowler. But it's the female stalwarts who shine. Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques were truly comic actresses of the highest order. --Piers Ford

• The Comedians - The Best Of The Comedians | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £8.85   |  Saving you £-0.86 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  The quintessential quickfire stand-up comedy show The Comedians is one of the great successes of ITV1 - lasting from 1971 until 1993 and making household names of many of its stars. With routines that were honed to perfection in the hard-knock territory of Northern working men's clubs Frank Carson Charlie Williams Bernard Manning Colin Crompton and Ken Goodwin all became masters of the one-liner and the knowing wink. The Comedians was immediately popular with the

• Edgar Wallace Mysteries - Volume 2 | DVD | (30/07/2012) from £15.98   |  Saving you £16.00 (114.37%)   |  RRP £29.99

  One of the twentieth century s most successful crime novelists, Edgar Wallace s thrillers have been widely adapted for film and television the most memorable of which are the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series, made at Merton Park Studios during the first half of the 1960s. A noir-esque series, it updates some of the author's stories to more contemporary settings, blending classic B-movie elements with a distinctly British feel. Long-awaited and much sought after, all 47 films will be released over seven volumes on DVD. As special features, they will also include the seven separate Edgar Wallace thrillers made by Independent Artists Ltd between 1959 and 1961. This series includes top-notch performances from Michael Caine, Alfred Burke, Barry Foster, Hazel Court, Patrick Magee, Bernard Archard, Michael Gough, Jack Watling, Harry H. Corbett and Bernard Lee, including scripts by Robert Banks Stewart (Callan), Man in a Suitcase co-creator Richard Harris, Philip Mackie (The Naked Civil Servant), Lukas Heller (The Dirty Dozen) and Roger Marshall (The Sweeney). Noted directors include Sidney Hayers (The Avengers), Robert Tronson (Armchair Thriller) and Quentin Lawrence (Catweazle). A recording of the series memorable theme music, Man of Mystery, also spawned a Top Five UK hit for The Shadows.

• The Charmer - The Complete Series | DVD | (12/02/2007) from £25.00   |  Saving you £-5.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  On the surface Ralph Gorse is a charmer in every sense of the word: handsome suave and stylish sparkling company and the possessor of a sexual magnetism that attracts most women he encounters. But the charm is a veneer. Gorse is a con man and sexual adventurer whose conquests are merely a way of obtaining his heart's desires: money and power...

• The BBC TV Shakespeare Collection | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £199.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £199.99

  This mammoth box set includes the following BBC Shakespeare Adaptations: 1. Romeo And Juliet - Directed by Alvin Rakoff (1978) 2. Richard II - Directed by Jane Howell (1983) 3. As You Like It - Directed by Basil Coleman (1978) 4. Julius Caesar - Directed by Herbert Wise (1979) 5. Measure For Measure - Directed by Desmond Davis (1979) 6. Henry VIII - Directed Kevin Billington (1979) 7. Henry IV: Parts I & II - Directed by David Giles (1979) 8. Henry V: Parts I & II - Directed by Davi

• The Responder: Series 2 | Blu Ray | (24/06/2024) from £24.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Following his mother's death, Chris is broke, separated, and living alone in his dingy flat. But he is determined not to go back to his old ways. No more taking the law into his own hands. Now, Chris does things by the book. When gang war erupts between two of Liverpool's top drug-dealers, Chris is inexorably drawn in after his DCI threatens to expose his past misdeeds. But Chris is alone. The low-level criminals who once formed his network of informants are now either out of the game or in too deep. Which leaves only his former partner Rachel. Desperate to rebuild her own life and career, Rachel soon realizes she needs a partner who bends the rules. She needs Chris. As they are both sucked back towards the darkness, Chris and Rachel must pull each other back towards the light. Starring: Martin Freeman, Warren Brown, Rita Tushingham, Philip Barantini, Adelayo Adedayo.