"Actor: Eduardo Ciannelli"

• Criterion Collection: Foreign Correspondent | Blu Ray | (07/10/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Foreign Correspondent | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first of Alfred Hitchcock's World War II features, Foreign Correspondent was completed in 1940, as the European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Its titular hero, Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), is an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, his nose for a good story (and, of course, some fortuitous timing) promptly leading him to the "crime" of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest. In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble peace effort, Jones (who's been saddled with the dubious nom de plume Hadley Haverstock) walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring, and, not entirely coincidentally, falls in love--a pattern familiar to admirers of Hitchcock's espionage thrillers, of which this is a thoroughly entertaining example. McCrea's hardy Yankee charms are neatly contrasted with the droll English charm of colleague George Sanders; Herbert Marshall provides a plummy variation on the requisite, ambiguous "good-or-is-he-really-bad" guy; Laraine Day affords a lovely heroine; and Robert Benchley (who contributed to the script) pops up, albeit too briefly, for comic relief. As good as the cast is, however, it's Hitchcock's staging of key action sequences that makes Foreign Correspondent a textbook example of the director's visual energy: an assassin's escape through a rain-soaked crowd is registered by rippling umbrellas, a nest of spies is detected by the improbable direction of a windmill's spinning sails and Jones's nocturnal flight across a pitched city rooftop produces its own contextual comment when broken neon tubes convert the Hotel Europe into "Hot Europe". --Sam Sutherland

• Houseboat | DVD | (13/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Academy Award-nominated film has the legendary Cary Grant as a government attorney who can't seem to shake his bad fortune. Living on a houseboat widowed and left with three unruly kids Tom Winters (Grant) hires Cinzia (Sophia Loren) as a governess only for her to turn his life upside down!

• Kitty Foyle | DVD | (18/07/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Though Ginger Rogers' starring vehicles always turned a profit for RKO Radio, many filmgoers thought of Rogers only in terms of "Fred Astaire's partner." Others considered her a delightful comedienne, but no great shakes as a dramatic actress. Thus it was both a personal and professional triumph when Ms. Rogers walked home with an Oscar for her performance in Kitty Foyle. Based on Christopher Morley's Story of an American Girl, the film, told in flashback, relates the progress of working-girl Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers) as she pursues her Cinderella dreams.

• Boot Hill | DVD | (14/02/2005) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-0.54 (-3.20%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Cat Stevens and Hutch Bessy are back for one last round of blazing Western action. This time the pair find themselves riding across the plains and encountering gunfighters (who they try to avoid) and easy frontier women (who they don't).

• Burgess Meredith Collection | DVD | (14/04/2008) from £18.99   |  Saving you £-15.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Titles comprise: Man On The Eiffel Tower (1949): A criminal genius orchestrates a complex game of murder ensnaring everyone around him in his web of deceit. After a wealthy American is murdered a poor street vendor found with blood on his hands is the obvious suspect. Inspector Maigret discerns that there is more to the story and begins to decipher hidden clues buried beneath the surface. When the detective and the mastermind come face to face they engage in a thrilling battle of wills. The killer leads the police on a furious chase through the streets and rooftops of Paris lashing out as the noose grows tighter around him. Winterset (1936): A young man returns to New York City 15 years after his father was tried and executed for a murder he did not commit. His search to find the real killers brings him to the slums of the city where he falls in love with a young girl Marianne and uncovers the truth he's been searching for his entire life. Adapted from the Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson and nominated for two Academy Award Winterset is a moody journey into the dark arms of malice murder and retribution. A rain-drenched testament to the tortured human condition. Second Chorus (1941): A marvelously delightful 1930's style song and dance spectacular the likes of which would be wiped away by the December bombing of Pearl Harbor Second Chorus finds Fred Astaire as a struggling bandleader chased by a collection agent (Paulette Goddard). She serves the papers he chases her. She wangles him an audition with Artie Shaw which Burgess Meredith hilariously sabotages. A rich sugar daddy (the marvelous Charles Butterworth) smoothes things over with Artie and through it all Fred and Paulette dance and sing. For what more could you ask?