"Actor: Dorothy Ward"

• Reach For The Sky | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £3.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (150.38%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Reach for the Sky was a box-office hit in 1956 and rightly remains a fondly regarded classic of British cinema. Kenneth More is ideally cast as Douglas Bader, the gifted pilot who loses both legs in a pre-war air crash, only to play a major role in the Battle of Britain, rise to the rank of Group Captain and become a war hero. Based on Paul Brickhill's biography, this is an "official" history maybe, but Lewis Gilbert's screenplay and direction are historically accurate and informed by that very British humour, of which More was a natural. The film is graced by a decent supporting cast and a typically "widescreen" score from John Addison. On the DVD: Reach for the Sky is vividly reproduced in 16:9 anamorphic format and decent mono. There are subtitles for the hard of hearing and detailed biographies of More, Gilbert and Barder. The original theatrical trailer is included, but it would also have made sense to include an interview or documentary footage of Bader himself. --Richard Whitehouse

• Written on the Wind (1956) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (21/02/2022) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Technicolor expressionism of Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows) reached a fever pitch with this operatic tragedy, which finds the director pushing his florid visuals and his critiques of American culture to their subversive extremes. Alcoholism, nymphomania, impotence, and deadly jealousythese are just some of the toxins coursing through a massively wealthy, degenerate Texan oil family. When a sensible secretary (The Big Sleep's Lauren Bacall) has the misfortune of marrying the clan's neurotic scion (To Be or Not to Be's Robert Stack), it drives a wedge between him and his lifelong best friend (Magnificent Obsession's Rock Hudson) that unleashes a maelstrom of psychosexual angst and fury. Featuring an unforgettably debauched, Oscar-winning supporting performance by Dorothy Malone (Man of a Thousand Faces) and some of Sirk's most eye-popping mise-en-scène, Written on the Wind is as perverse a family portrait as has ever been splashed across the screen Special Edition Features New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Acting for Douglas Sirk, a 2008 documentary featuring archival interviews with Sirk; actors Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone; and producer Albert Zugsmith New interview with film scholar Patricia White about the film and melodrama Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by filmmaker and critic Blair McClendon

• Pennyworth: Season 2 | DVD | (09/08/2021) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A year after the explosive events of last season, England finds itself embroiled in a devastating civil war, with the powerful, neo-fascist Raven Union, led by Lord Harwood (Jason Flemyng) threatening to control the entire country. North London remains one of the few resistance holdouts remaining. It's here in the West End Neutral Zone, that we find Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon). After years in the British Army, his training with the SAS has taught him to be a cynical optimist - expecting the worst, but knowing that he can handle it. Now running The Delaney, a black-market Soho club that welcomes everyone, regardless of their politics, Alfred, with his SAS mates, Bazza (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett) and Daveboy (Ryan Fletcher), is now in search of a way out... before London, and his country, burns itself to the ground. And he's got his eye on America.

• Pennyworth: Season 2 | Blu Ray | (09/08/2021) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A year after the explosive events of last season, England finds itself embroiled in a devastating civil war, with the powerful, neo-fascist Raven Union, led by Lord Harwood (Jason Flemyng) threatening to control the entire country. North London remains one of the few resistance holdouts remaining.It's here in the West End Neutral Zone, that we find Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon). After years in the British Army, his training with the SAS has taught him to be a cynical optimist expecting the worst, but knowing that he can handle it. Now running The Delaney, a black-market Soho club that welcomes everyone, regardless of their politics, Alfred, with his SAS mates, Bazza (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett) and Daveboy (Ryan Fletcher), is now in search of a way out... before London, and his country, burns itself to the ground. And he's got his eye on America.

• Written On The Wind | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £17.97   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bathed in lurid Technicolor melodrama maestro Douglas Sirk's 'Written On The Wind' is the stylishly debauched tale of a Texas oil magnate brought down by the excesses of his spoiled offspring. Features an all-star quartet that includes Robert Stack as a pistol-packin' alcoholic playboy; Lauren Bacall as his long-suffering wife; Rock Hudson as his earthy best friend; and Dorothy Malone (who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance) as his nymphomaniac sister.

• Three Coins In The Fountain | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £8.71   |  Saving you £4.28 (49.14%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This charming romantic comedy tells the story of three American secretaries and their search for love in Rome. After throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain and making a wish each of them eventually finds what they are looking for. For Frances (Dorothy McGuire) it is waspish author Clifton Webb. For Anita (Jean Peters) there's office romeo Rossano Brazzi. And for Maria (Maggie McNamara) a real-life handsome prince Louis Jourdan. Exquisitely photographed amidst the splendours of the

• The Owl Service: The Complete Series | Blu Ray | (27/03/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Film Noir Thrillers | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

• King Lear | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  An aging King invites disaster when he abdicates to his corrupt toadying daughters and rejects his one loving but honest one... The most revered actor of the 20th century stars in 'King Lear' Shakespeare's greatest tragedy. Laurence Olivier gives an outstanding performance portraying drama's most celebrated octogenarian with spirit and pathos. This internationally acclaimed production boasts Olivier in his first appearance in a Shakespeare play filmed exclusively for television.

• Great Caruso, The | Blu Ray | (09/03/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Room Mates | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £5.72   |  Saving you £9.27 (162.06%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This charming tale of a boy's evolving relationship with his grandfather stars Peter Falk as Rocky a crusty and stubborn old man who raises his grandson Michael (D.B.Sweeney) after the boy loses his parents at a young age. In 1960s Pittsburgh Michael grows up under Rocky's watchful eye eventually becoming a doctor working in Ohio. But when Rocky gets evicted from his apartment of 50 years Michael has no choice but to let the man move in with him. Much to Rocky's chagrin the two

• Watching The Detectives | DVD | (04/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A four disc DVD set of classic detective films. With Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes; Peter Lorre as Mr Moto; Boris Karloff as Mr Wong and Ralph Byrd as Dick Tracy. Mr. Moto's Last Warning (Dir. Norman Foster 1939): A Japanese man claiming to be Mr Moto of the International Police is abducted and murdered soon after disembarking from a ship at Port Said in Egypt. The real Mr Moto is already in Port Said investigating a conspiracy against the British and French government

• Humphrey Bogart Crime Collection | DVD | (06/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  THE BIG SLEEP: L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe takes on a blackmail case...and follows a trail peopled with murderers pornographers nightclub rogues the spoiled rich and more. Humphrey Bogart plays Raymond Chandler's legendary gumshoe and director Howard Hawks serves up snappy character encounters (particularly involving Lauren Bacall) a brisk pace and atmosphere galore in this certified classic. KEY LARGO: A hurricane swells outside but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) holes up and holds at gunpoint hotel owner Nora Temple (Lionel Barrymore) and ex-GI Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart). McCloud's the one man capable of standing up against the belligerent Rocco. But the postwar world's realities may have taken all the fight out of him. John Huston co-wrote and compellingly directs this film of Maxwell Anderson's 1939 play with a searing Academy Awardwinning performance by Claire Trevor as Rocco's gold-hearted boozy moll. In Huston's hands it becomes a powerful sweltering classic. THE MALTESE FALCON: A gallery of high-living lowlifes will stop at nothing to get their sweaty hands on a jewel-encrusted falcon. Detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) wants to find out why - and who's gonna take the fall. This third screen version of Dashiell Hammett's novel is a film of firsts: John Huston's directorial debut rotund 62-year-old Sydney Greenstreet's screen debut film history's first film noir and Bogart's breakthrough role after years as a Warner contract player. When George Raft refused to work with a first-time director Bogart took on the role of Spade - and launched the most acclaimed period of his career.

• John Wayne - Shadow Of The Eagle | DVD | (09/06/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Shadow of the Eagle is a real treat for John Wayne fans. The action and adventure the mystery and suspense is non stop in this original 12 part serial. John Wayne plays Craig McCoy a stunt pilot who's part of a traveling fair. When a mysterious pilot known as 'The Eagle' starts making murderous threats with sky-writing our guy jumps into action to try and find this villain. All the performers of the traveling fair get involved in one way or another! Some are prime suspects others like the strong man and the ventriloquist use their talents to help catch the criminal.

• Abbott And Costello - Laugh-A-Thon | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Abbott & Costello Classic Comedies three-disc collector's set consists of oddments from the latter days of their career that have fallen into public domain; which means you don't get their best routines or classiest productions, and indeed find the double act doing fairly tired schtick as Costello is chubbily chicken-hearted and Abbott grumpily money-grubbing. Africa Screams is a 1949 safari parody, with Costello running away yelping from sundry alligators, gorillas (including a Kong-sized giant), cannibals ("Chief have sweet tooth for little fat man") and lions amid backlot jungles as Abbott competes with stock villains for a fortune in diamonds. Jack and the Beanstalk, from 1952, finds the duo attempting to sell themselves as children's entertainers in a Wizard of Oz-influenced fairytale book-ended by sepia modern-day segments. The magical story unfolds in wonderfully gruesome cheap colour with some of the worst musical numbers ever committed to film ("he's perpendicular-la-la") as Jack the Clod (Costello) and Mr Dinkelpuss the Butcher (Abbott) climb the beanstalk and plod around the Giant's lair until the story runs out. Possibly the most interesting item is the third disc, which offers an episode of the Colgate Comedy Hour (aka The Abbott and Costello Show) from the 1950s. It shows the pair doing live routines closer to their original vaudeville act than their film roles (including an amazingly cruel bit in which Abbott slaps Costello every time he says the word "tin"). A loose plot about Latin American intrigue, with Lou hired to stand in for an assassination target "El Presidente", makes room for speciality guest stars ranging from child xylophonist Baby Mistin to four starlets (including Jane Russell and Rhonda Fleming) harmonising on a "Happy Easter" medley. Best of all, and now funnier than the comedy, are original hard-sell ads for household products like "Ajax, the foaming action cleanser" and "Halo, the shampoo that glorifies your hair". --Kim Newman

• I'm No Angel | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Mae West's reputation for tweaking the noses of film censors was well-established by the time she made I'm No Angel generally considered her most successful picture. The frank-speaking blonde bombshell delivered some of her most classic double entendres in this 1933 film her second consecutive outing opposite the luminous Cary Grant. The two had made She Done Him Wrong earlier that year and in I'm No Angel West does Grant wrong again to hilarious effect. West