"Actor: Charlie Chester"

• Public Information Films Of The British Home Front 1939-1945 | DVD | (28/07/2017) from £26.74   |  Saving you £-9.75 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Public Information Films Of The British Home Front 1939-1945

• Jokers Wild - The Complete Series 1 | DVD | (13/08/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  "I was working in a pub when this hippy came in, jingling his bells. I said 'are you one of the flower children?'. He said 'no - I've got leprosy.'" Running for nine highly successful series, Jokers Wild was a lively, rapidly paced panel game in which two teams of top comics competed for laughs from the studio audience. While team members delved into their repertoires for winning jokes based on topics drawn randomly from an oversized pack of cards, bonus points could be scored by opposing team members if they interrupted mid-gag to complete a punchline. Hosted by comedy legend Barry Cryer, the show's line-up often read like a Who's Who? of British comedy talent - John Cleese, Bob Monkhouse, Arthur Askey, Eric Sykes and Sid James being just a few of the famous players over the course of its six-year run. This first series, featuring Les Dawson, Ted Ray, Charlie Chester, Jimmy Edwards, Alfred Marks and Roy Hudd, was originally screened in 1969. Contains all 19 episodes from series one. Also includes unscreened pilot episode, recorded in April 1969

• It's All Gone Pete Tong | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £6.40   |  Saving you £12.59 (196.72%)   |  RRP £18.99

  Paul Kaye stars in an engaging comedy exploring the relationship between fame and sanity set in Ibiza.

• Chaplin Classics Vol 1 | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £71.99

  Modern Times: In this delightfully madcap comedy Chaplin plays a hapless factory worker who cracks under the strain of his job and runs amok. Unemployed on the streets of Depression America he joins forces with a young woman fleeing the childcare authorities and they embark on a misadventure-filled search for happiness. The Great Dictator: Tomanian dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a double a poor Jewish barber who one day is mistaken for Hynkel and comic catastrophes ensue! Gold Rush: The Tramp goes to the Klondike in search of gold and finds a whole lot more! Limelight: Fading comedian Calvero (Chaplin) and suicidally despondent ballet dancer Thereza (Bloom) look to each other to find meaning and hope in their lives... Charlie: The Life And Art Of Charles Chaplin: Richard Schickel's new documentary Charlie chronicles Charles Chaplin's brilliant career as an actor writer director producer and composer as well as his controversial and much publicised private life - his love affairs and four marriages his paternity suit scandal and persecution by the FBI culminating in a self-imposed exile from the United States. With its brilliant observations rare footage interwoven with scenes from Chaplin's greatest films and a remarkable series of newly recorded interviews Charlie is the definitive documentary overview of Chaplin and his Little Tramp.

• Charlie Chaplin Marathon - The Rink, The Immigrant, Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Vagabond | DVD | (01/11/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  “The Rink”: Chaplin plays a waiter who spends his time at the skating rink where his skill and grace lead to possible romance and unfortunate mishaps. “The Immigrant”: En-route by boat immigrant Chaplin tries to make the best of the rough seas. He befriends a woman and appoints himself her protector. “Tillie’s Punctured Romance”: This is the first feature-length comedy ever made and features Chaplin as a con artist who talks Marie Dressler an innocent lass into taking her dad’s savings and running off to the city with him. “The Vagabond”: This is the story of The Little Tramp a pathetic fiddler that makes a scanty living and rescues damsels in distress. One of the first films directed by Charlie Chaplin.

• You Can't Cheat an Honest Man | Blu Ray | (19/04/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Second World War Collection -Dig For Victory The Ministry Of Food And The Battle To Feed Wartime Britain 1940 - 1944 | DVD | (14/06/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This DVD companion to the Imperial War Museum's Second World War Ministry Of Food Exhibition is the definitive compilation of their own film archive's holdings on every stage of the food chain; food production preparation and consumption. It affords a very detailed insight into the logistical struggle to feed the British during the dark days of war; both fighting servicemen and civilians on the home front. The Ministry Of Food had the unenviable task of keeping the public constantly aware of the shortage of food as ships containing much needed imports were a constant target for the Luftwaffe and the German Navy. It was imperative that the nation endeavored to self-sufficiency as far as was practicable and these films encourage the British public's positive adaptation to the privations of shortages and rationing with an emphasis on how to be frugal and inventive on the 'Kitchen Front' on avoiding waste on reducing imports through the promotion of 'seasonal' produce and fool-proof instructional films on how to grow one's own food. The WVS and 'Food Flying Squads' leapt into nightly action during the 'Blitz' to feed the wardens rescue teams firemen and civilians who had been bombed out of their homes. Communal dining in a chain of 'British Restaurants' helped ration coupons to go further. The Ministry of information used many star names from the theatre and variety revues of the time such as Tommy Trinder Ted Ray Ronald Shiner Arthur Haynes Charlie Chester Jimmy Handley John Slater Ralph Richardson and Hubert Gregg. The Army is commonly said to march on its stomach but feeding the forces on the frontline was fraught with challenges. The Ministry of Information commissioned short-form Public Information Films on all aspects of the war effort and the finale of this collection is a selection of the very best of these films that make reference to food helping with the harvest and the famous Food Flashes all of which were shown in the cinemas of the time. Titles Comprise: Food Convoy (1940) Food From The Empire (1940) Choose Cheese (1940) Wisdom Of The Wild (1940) Fighting Fields (1941) Piping Hot (1941) Dig For Victory (1941) How To Dig (1941) Emergency Cooking Stoves (1941) Queen's Messengers (1941) Canteen On Wheels (1941) Eating Out With Tommy Trinder (1941) Sowing And Picking (1941) Filling The Gap (1942) Making A Compost Heap (1942) The Great Harvest (1942) Twelve Days (1942) The Harvest Shall Come (1942) Willing Hands (1944) Rationing In Britain (1944)

• Charlie Chaplin Collection 1 | DVD | (12/10/2009) from £8.98   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Charlie Chaplin Collection 1 contains: Kid Ayto Races In Venice: Charlie dressed as a tramp for the first time goes to a baby-cart race in Venice California. He causes a great deal of trouble and confusion both on off the track (getting in the way of the cameraman) and on (interfering with the race). He succeeds in irritating both the participants and the public. Cruel Cruel Love: A rich lord loves a girl. A maid who has seen the two accosts the lord in a park and embraces him. This is seen by the girl who calls off their relationship. The lord decides to commit suicide but the butler replaces the poison with water. The girl her love now restored rushes to what she thinks is the lord's deathbed. A Film Johnnie: Charlie goes to the movie and falls in love with a girl on the screen. He goes to Keystone Studios to find her. He disrupts the shooting of a film and a fire breaks out. Charlie is blamed gets squirted with a firehose and is shoved by the female star. A Night Out: After a visit to a pub Charlie and Ben cause a ruckus at a posh restaurant. Charlie later finds himself in a compromising position at a hotel with the head waiter's wife. The Rival Mashers (AKA Those Love Pangs): Charlie and a rival vie for the favors of their landlady. In the park they each fall different girls though Charlie's has a male friend already. Charlie considers suicide is talked out of it by a policeman and later throws his girl's friend into the lake. Frightened the girls go off to a movie. Charlie shows up there and flirts with them. Later both rivals substitute themselves for the girls and attack the unwitting Charlie. In an audience-wide fight Charlie is tossed from the screen.

• Comedy Greats | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A "two-plus-one" package from Siren, Comedy Greats features classics from the two greatest silent-screen comics, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, plus a rather dreary effort from Danny Kaye. Never the most scintillating of comedians, Kaye's personable talents are thinly spread in 1949's The Inspector General. Distantly(!) based on a short story by Russian satirist Nikolay Gogol, this tale of mistaken identity enables Kaye to indulge in obvious wisecracks and not-so-smart dialogue. Sylvia Fine's songs are mildly amusing, and Henry Koster draws capable support from Walter Slezak and Elsa Lanchester, but it's a long haul. When he made Tilli's Punctured Romance in 1914, Charles Chaplin had yet to perfect the "little man" routine which made him the most popular 1920s screen star. His loveable rogue is well displayed opposite Marie Dressler's formidable country maid, whose unexpected windfall becomes the real object of his desire. Mabel Normand contributes an attractively period chic, and if, in the hands of Mack Sennett, the humour tends to fall back on music-hall slapstick, the historical significance of the film is undoubted. Yet it's Buster Keaton's 1928 classic Steamboat Bill Jr which comes out on top here. Keaton is perfectly cast as the put upon student, whose bravery saves both his father and his steamboat-owning rival, and wins the hand of the latter's daughter. Solid support comes from Ernest Torrence and the winsome Marion Byron, with Charles Riesner getting maximum drama from the cyclone sequence, but it's Keaton's soulful expression and breathtaking stuntwork which are the most potent reminders of a talent only later to receive its due. On the DVD: Comedy Greats is acceptably remastered, with 1.33:1 aspect ratio and 12 chapter headings per film, and decently packaged, this is worth acquiring--even though Keaton's film is the only one you're likely return to often. --Richard Whitehouse