"Actor: E"

• Verdi - Falstaff / Graham Vick, Bernard Haitink, Royal Opera House | DVD | (10/10/2001) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Graham Vicks production of Falstaff opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, and was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes, especially Falstaff's unusually hideous get-ups, go several steps beyond the Breughelian effect Vicks intended. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections. --Roz Kaveney On the DVD: The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is powerful and filled with detail, capturing the excitement of the performance and the atmosphere of the Royal Opera House superbly. The anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 widesceen image is very clear, and while given the source inevitably not up to the highest feature film standards, is among the best live classical titles yet released on DVD. The bold colours are particularly well realised, though the red lighting of the Garter Inn scenes causes the image to falter a little. There are optional subtitles in English, French and German. These are presented directly over the picture and would be easier to read had they been a little larger, or outlined in some way. The special features consist of a brief synopsis by James Naughtie, taken directly from the original television broadcast, a minute-long "comment" by conductor Bernard Haitink and short but interesting interviews with Bryn Terfel and director Graham Vick. Finally there is a nine-minute episode from the series of short BBC films, Covent Garden Tales on the 1999 modernisation of the Royal Opera House. --Gary S Dalkin

• Two Evil Eyes | Blu Ray | (24/08/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Million Pound Note - Gregory Peck | DVD | (20/10/2008) from £10.91   |  Saving you £2.07 (26.14%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Two old, bored and fabulously wealthy brothers, Roderick and Oliver Montpelier, strike up a cruel wager. They draw up a currency note worth £1 million. Roderick believes it would be quite useless for any poor but honest man to use. Oliver however believes that - just by possessing the note and never cashing it - any man could live like a lord. To find out who is right, the two old millionaires pick on Henry Adams (Gregory Peck), a young and impoverished American hopelessly adrift in London. Will the £1 million pound note change his life for the better or the worse? This classic, sparkling comedy - an updated version of the riotous short story by Mark Twain - sees Gregory Peck giving one of his finest performances aided and abetted by a distinguished cast which includes Joyce Grenfell and Wilfrid Hyde White.

• War Collection - 633 Squadron / The Bridge At Remagen / The Great Escape | DVD | (06/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This box set contains the following three titles; all classic war films. 633 Squadron: 633 Squadron has enjoyed an unqualified stream of successes. Their luck changes when they are assigned to bomb a German heavy water plant which is part of the Nazi effort to develop an atomic bomb in Norway which is shielded by a mountain and guarded by heavy anti-aircraft defences. Their nearly impossible mission is further complicated by a German air raid the difficult approach to the target and the capture and torture of the underground leader who is assisting the squadron. The Bridge At Remagen: In the last days of World War II the Allied Army desperatly searched for a bridgehead across the impenetrable Rhein River in order to launch a major assault into the center of Germany. 'Bridge At Remagen' tells the true story of the battle for this last bridgehead from both the German and the American perspective. The Great Escape: Based on a true story 'The Great Escape' deals with the largest Allied escape attempt from a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. The first part of the film focuses on the escape efforts within the camp and the process of secretly digging an escape tunnel. The second half of the film deals with the massive effort by the German Gestapo to track down the 70 escaped prisoners who are at this point throughout the Third Reich attempting to make their way to England and various neutral countries.

• Progeny | DVD | (29/07/2003) from £9.73   |  Saving you £-6.74 (-225.40%)   |  RRP £2.99

  OK, brace yourself--this could get messy. Craig Burton (Arnold Vosloo, the eponymous vengeful goon in The Mummy) stars here as a dedicated, overworked hospital doctor whose sterling abilities in the emergency room are sadly unparalleled in the bedroom given that he still can't father a child with his spouse Sherry (Jillian McWhirter). Until, that is, he finds himself undergoing a dizzying--and inordinately lengthy--out-of-body experience in the middle of the night. Subsequently troubled by grotesque paranormal visions, Craig is distressed to discover Sherry is pregnant. Convinced his unborn child is, in fact, the product of his wife's abduction by aliens, he's not a happy man. In his fevered state, he first dispatches Sherry to alarming gynaecologist David Weatherly (Wilford Brimley), before visiting both shrink Susan Lamarche (Lindsay Crouse) and alien abduction expert Bert Clavell (Brad Dourif). And from here on in, it gets really dumb. Adorned with the kind of icky, low-rent effects and weird fixation with medical procedure that anyone acquainted with the work of director Brian Yuzna (Society) and scriptwriter Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) will no doubt already be familiar with, Progeny is a boon for the connoisseur of straight-to-tape nonsense. Just check out that cast-can't you hear the deep, gravelly voice on the trailer now ("Together at last--Crouse. Brimley. Dourif. Vosloo!")? Obviously, anyone after plausible moments of human drama is in entirely the wrong place and, yes, both the direction and performances are erratic to put it politely (Vosloo appears in a state of near-catatonia throughout), but, in its own, stomach-turning, sub-Rosemary's Baby kind of way, Progeny is a prime example of sci-fi/horror nonsense at its best (and most nonsensical). --Danny Leigh

• Heart Condition | DVD | (16/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bob Hoskins and Denzel Washington star in this high-spirited comedy from the producer of Forrest Gump. Hoskins is Moony an overweight out-of-shape narrow minded vice cop who's in love with a hooker named Crystal (Chloe Webb). Washington is Stone a slick urban lawyer who's defending Crystal. Moony hates Stone. But Moony suffers a heart attack and Stone dies suddenly in a car accident - The two become closer than they ever dreamed possible as Stone's heart is transplanted into Moony's body! And if that wasn't bad enough Stone comes back from the dead to haunt Moony with a story about how he was really murdered by drug dealers and now they're after Crystal. Stone will keep on haunting Moony until they solve his murder together!

• Tough And Deadly | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £5.49   |  Saving you £-0.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  When bounty hunter Elmo Freech saves a badly injured man from an assassins bullet as he lies in a hospital bed it's the start of a breakneck chain of brutal combat and furious action. Struck with amnesia the man Freech rescues can remember only one thing - his CIA codename 'Quicksilver'. Coupled with his lightening fast martial arts skills Freech realises that this guy is trouble especially after a crack hit-squad from a ruthless Milan Mafia family strike with orders to kill Quicksilver. Soon Freech and Quicksilver are taking on the CIA assassins and Mafia muscle as they try to expose an unholy alliance between the two. Freech and Quicksilver - back in action and tough and deadly...

• Boycott | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A drama based on the events in Alabama in 1955. When a black woman refuses to give up her seat on a bus for a white woman she is arrested and charged under the state's segregation laws. Enter a man called Martin Luther King who leads a boycott of the buses and a fight against prejudice...

• WITHNAIL and I Limited Edition | Blu Ray | (10/11/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £54.99

  The finest cult film known to humanity! Camden Town the arse-end of the sixties. Two struggling unemployed actors decide some respite is in order and so depart their miserable flat for a week in the Lake District – one that will involve rain booze minimal supplies a randy bull and an even randier Uncle Monty. Based on the real-life experiences of former actor turned writer/director Bruce Robinson Withnail & I has become one of British cinema’s most fondly remembered comedies. A cult film in the truest sense that has also become a classic. Perfectly cast – with career-defining roles for Richard E. Grant Paul McGann Richard Griffiths and Ralph Brown – and crammed with irresistibly quotable dialogue Withnail & I is a sheer delight even on the umpteenth viewing. Only 2 000 are being made available in this format – Please contact me to discuss a pre-order quantity allocation. Features: New 2K restoration of Withnail & I from the original camera negative supervised and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD Presentation of both films -Original uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audio for both films -Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing -Audio commentary by writer-director Bruce Robinson Audio commentary by critic and writer Kevin Jackson author of the BFI Modern Classic on Withnail & I Bruce Robinson’s follow-up feature How to Get Ahead in Advertising newly transferred from original film elements and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan All four original ‘Withnail Weekend’ documentaries first screened on Channel 4 in 1999 including The Peculiar Memories of Bruce Robinson which looks at the director’s career Withnail & Us which focuses on the film’s making and two shorter documentaries I Demand to Have Some Booze and Withnail on the Pier Newly filmed interviews with key members of Withnail & I’s behind-the-scenes team Theatrical trailers for both films Exclusive limited edition hardback book packaging (2 000 copies) containing new writing on the films reprints of key articles on Withnail & I deleted scenes and more across 200 pages illustrated with original production stills -More to be announced!

• Mimic / Mimic 2 / Mimic 3 - Sentinel | DVD | (20/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Mimic: A team of scientists discover a miracle cure that stops the spread of a deadly disease only to find out three years later that something has gone terribly wrong. Their creation has taken on a horrifying life of its own able to mimic and destroy its every predator - even man! And now it threatens to wipe out an entire city...unless they stop it in time... (Dir. Guillermo Del Toro 1997) Mimic 2: Just when they were all thought to be dead the giant cockroaches

• The Bionic Woman - Vol. 1 | DVD | (09/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  She could hear footsteps from a mile away run more than 60 mph bend steel with her bare hands jump to the roof of a 12 story building catch villians who are endangering National security and still have enough energy and motivation left over to use her talent and knowledge as a schoolteacher. She is the Bionic Woman. 1: Black Magic Jaime is sent to a remote Island to impersonate the niece of the feuding Carstairs family in order to locate the will of Cyrus Carstairs and the location of a top-secret alloy formula. 2: Motorcycle Boogie Jaime enlists the help of daredevil stunt rider Evel Knievel to retrieve a computer tape stolen by the KGB in East Germany. Together they risk their lives as they crash through the East German border in pursuit of the KGB. 3: The Jailing of Jaime Jaime is imprisoned for treason when a forty million dollar decoding machine she was delivering fails to arrive at its destination.

• Stage Fright | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £12.25   |  Saving you £-6.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Director Michele Soavi does the impossible by squeezing a few more drops of blood out from the slasher genre. Not only that, Soavi lensed one of the most beautiful and suspenseful horror movies of the 1980s. A genuinely haunting horror where the killer dressed as an owl goes to bloody work with a chainsaw that slices through flesh and bone...

• Les Espions | DVD | (27/10/2003) from £16.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (17.66%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Clouzot's most ambitious movie remains one of his most modern with an elaborate screenplay giving his grand European cast a full chance to shine in this tale of a doctor who takes on a Faustian pact in order to save his failing practice...

• Magic | DVD | (21/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Abracadabra I sit on his knee. Presto change-o and now he's me! Hocus Pocus we take her to bed. Magic is fun...we're dead. Anthony Hopkins is Corky a painfully shy failed magician who finds overnight success as a ventriloquist. His brash foul-mouthed dummy Fats becomes a huge nightclub hit. With his star on the rise talent agent Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) arranges an important shot at national TV. But the pressure of failing the network's required physical sends Corky into a panic. With Fats in tow he flees the city to a nearly-deserted resort in the Catskills run by the love of his youth Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret). Peg's spent years trapped in a loveless marriage with her high-school sweetheart Duke (Ed Lauter). In Corky she sees the chance for a loving relationship and accepts an offer to run away with him. However when Corky confides to Fats that he may leave show business altogether Fats becomes furious and lashes out at him playing on his guilt and insecurity. Now under Fats' control Corky is manipulated into a series of violent and unexpected confrontations. Based on the novel by William Goldman writer of the Marathon Man and Butch Cssidy And The Sundance Kid novels and screenplays who had previously collaborated with Richard Attenborough in supplying the script for epic war film A Bridge Too Far.

• Mimic 2 | DVD | (05/05/2003) from £9.13   |  Saving you £5.86 (64.18%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Just when they were all thought to be dead the giant cockroaches are back and this time they've mutated to take on human form!

• Moog | DVD | (30/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A documentary portrait of one of music technology's most important figures: the endearingly eccentric Robert Moog. Even if you haven't heard of Robert Moog you will have heard the sounds that he helped to create. His pioneering synthesisers have been used by The Beatles The Beach Boys Stevie Wonder Brian Eno Sun Ra Stereolab Air and Money Mark of the Beastie Boys. These distinctive instruments can also lay considerable claim to being the inspiration for nearly all electronic

• Chopin: La Dame Aux Camelias | Blu Ray | (27/04/2009) from £28.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (20.70%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Dame Aux Camelias (La) (2 Blu-Ray)

• Round The Twist - Series 2 | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The complete second series available on DVD for the first time! First screened in 1990 the Australian kids' show 'Round The Twist' soon became a much loved children's show when it was first aired on in the UK on the BBC. Adapted from the stories of Paul Jennings Round The Twist became renowned for its weird mysteries and was broadcast to over 70 countries. This complete series continues the story of the Twist family's amazing adventures. Pete becomes a chicken every time someone

• The Little Mermaid/the Little Mermaid II (Disney) | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Little Mermaid: Disney's 28th animated masterpiece. Awash with breathtaking animation unforgettably colourful characters and two Academy Awards for score and song ""Under The Sea "" The Little Mermaid is one of Disney's most cherished films. Ariel the fun-loving and mischievous mermaid is enchanted with all things human. Disregarding her father's order to stay away from the world above the sea she swims to the surface and in a raging storm rescues the prince of her dreams. Determined to be human she strikes a bargain with the devious sea witch Ursula and trades her fins and beautiful voice for legs. With her best friend the adorable and chatty Flounder and her reluctant chaperone Sebastian the hilarious reggae-singing Caribbean crab at her side Ariel must win the prince's love and save her father's kingdom -- all in a heart-pounding race against time! The Little Mermaid II - Return To Sea: After rejoicing over the birth of their daughter Melody Ariel and Eric must face a new threat from Ursula's revengeful sister Morgana - a threat that forces them to hide Melody's true mermaid heritage. Melody a young princess curious about her roots ultimately ventures into the sea against her parents' wishes. There she meets new friends and in her dreams to be a mermaid becomes a pawn in Morgana's plot to gain control of the Seven Seas. Ariel must reunite with her childhood friends Sebastian Flounder and Scuttle to rescue her daughter and restore harmony to the family.

• Ragtime | Blu Ray | (16/11/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A