"Actor: Ellen Corby"

• Vertigo | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Dreamlike and nightmarishly surreal, Vertigo is Hitchcock's most personal film because it confronts many of the convoluted psychological issues that haunted and fascinated the director. The psychological complexity and the stark truthfulness of their rampant emotions keeps these strangely obsessive characters alive on screen, and Hitchcock understood better than most their barely repressed sexual compulsions, their fascination with death and their almost overwhelming desire for transcendent love. James Stewart finds profound and disturbing new depths in his psyche as Scotty, the tortured acrophobic detective on the trail of a suicidal woman apparently possessed by the ghost of someone long dead. Kim Novak is the classical Hitchcockian blonde whose icy exterior conceals a churning, volcanic emotional core. The agonised romance of Bernard Herrmann's score accompanies the two actors as a third and vitally important character, moving the film along to its culmination in an ecstasy of Wagnerian tragedy. Of course Hitch lavished especial care on every aspect of the production, from designer Edith Head's costumes (he, like Scotty, was most insistent on the grey dress), to the specific colour scheme of each location, to the famous reverse zoom "Vertigo" effect (much imitated, never bettered). The result is Hitch's greatest work and an undisputed landmark of cinema history. On the DVD: This disc presents the superb restored print of this film in a wonderful widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic transfer, with remastered Dolby digital soundtrack. There's a half-hour documentary made in 1996 about the painstaking two-year restoration process, plus an informative commentary from the restorers Robert Harris and James Katz, who are joined by original producer Herbert Coleman. There are also text features on the production, cast and crew, plus a trailer for the theatrical release of the restoration. This is an undeniably essential requirement for every DVD collection. --Mark Walker

• On Moonlight Bay (DVD) | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.55   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Sabrina | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £3.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (300.75%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Audrey Hepburn is the delightful, young, eponymous Sabrina, the daughter of a chauffeur who is hopelessly in love with David Larrabee (William Holden), the playboy younger son in the rich Long Island household her father works for. In order to help her forget her woes, Sabrina is shipped off to cooking school in Paris. While there, she befriends a baron who provides a bit of culture--and the encouragement to snip off her childlike ponytail. Upon her return to New York, Sabrina is transformed into a sophisticated woman, and David is entranced by her. However, his older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) has arranged David's marriage to Elizabeth Tyson in order to seal a business merger and thus must steer David away from Sabrina. To do this, Linus takes on the task of wooing her for himself. Full of great dialogue ("A woman happy in love, she burns the soufflé; a woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven") and wonderful performances, this film is a romantic masterpiece. Also enjoyable is the 1995 remake, starring Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. --Jenny Brown

• The Waltons - Season 1 | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £29.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (36.68%)   |  RRP £40.99

  The Walton' nearly 10-year run grew out of the popular, 1971 made-for-TV movie The Homecoming, which was derived from a Depression-era, rustic setting ("Walton's Mountain"), and characters based on Earl Hamner Jr.'s autobiographical novel Spencer's Mountain--itself the source for a very nice 1963 feature film starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. That's a lot of entertainment sprouting from Hamner's prose. But something about his seminal story of family values, rugged independence, and big dreams amidst a hardscrabble existence captured the hearts of American audiences, many of whom personally recalled severe economic adversity in the 1930s. The Waltons: The Complete First Season collects those initial episodes from the series building on the strengths of the Homecoming pilot, which introduced the extended Walton clan led by a strong-willed mill owner, John (Andrew Duggan), and his equally resolute wife, Olivia (Patricia Neal). The Waltons recast those key roles (as well as a few others) with Ralph Waite and Michael Learned (yup, a female), but Richard Thomas carried over as oldest child John-Boy Walton, an aspiring writer whose cusp-of-manhood view informs the series. Will Geer (Seconds) replaced Edgar Bergen as Grandpa Walton, Ellen Corby remained as Grandma, and John and Olivia's large brood (seven kids in all) were filled out by largely unknown, young actors. The episodes, still delightful and touching, strong on production values and unusually tight and polished for primetime drama, tended to focus on creator Hamner's pet themes of self-sacrifice and heroic effort when the going got tough. Year 1 highlights include "The Carnival", in which the impoverished Waltons, who can't pay for tickets to see a circus performance, end up sheltering stranded carney folk. "The Typewriter" is a classic about John-Boy "borrowing" a museum's antique typewriter, only to have his sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton) sell it as junk. "The Sinner" concerns the arrival of a fundamentalist minister on Walton's Mountain, finding comfort in the words of religious iconoclast John Walton after the clergyman makes a fool of himself with moonshine. That's Hamner himself providing touches of narration. During the long run of the multiple-award-winning The Waltons, there were many changes in casting and storylines. But this boxed set reveals a fine series in its pristine state. --Tom Keogh

• The Waltons - Season 2 | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £22.49   |  Saving you £17.50 (77.81%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The welcome mat's out on Walton's Mountain. A year has gone by on Walton's Mountain. The Depression has deepened but so have the love and respect that hold the Waltons together. Share good times and hard times with America's favourite family in this 5-disc set featuring all 24 of the episodes from season 2 including 'The Thanksgiving Story' a poignant movie-length tale that won an Emmy Award for Best Writing in Drama (Series). This is the year John-Boy graduates from high

• The Gunfighter | Blu Ray | (19/10/2020) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Disenchanted gunslinger Jimmy Ringo (Gregory Peck) is heading towards a reunion with his son, and, he hopes, a new life free of bloodshed. However, before he can reach his destination, he is confronted by a local hot-head who forces him into a shoot-out. The brothers of the young assailant vow to gain their revenge after Ringo guns him down in self-defence. Extras/Episodes: High Definition Transfer Interview with Film Expert Courtney Joyner Arthur Miller: Painter with Light featurette The Western Grows Up featurette Posters & Images from Around the World Original Theatrical Trailer

• Shane | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £6.30   |  Saving you £9.69 (153.81%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Consciously crafted by director George Stevens as a piece of American myth making, Shane is on nearly everyone's shortlist of great movie Westerns. A buckskin knight, Shane (Alan Ladd) rides into the middle of a range war between farmers and cattlemen, quickly siding with the "sod-busters". While helping a kindly farmer (Van Heflin), Shane falls platonically in love with the man's wife (Jean Arthur, in the last screen performance of a marvellous career). Though the showdowns are exciting, and the story simple but involving, what most people will remember about this movie is the friendship between the stoical Shane and the young son of the farmers. The kid is played by Brandon De Wilde, an amazing child performer; his parting scene with Shane is guaranteed to draw tears from even the most stony-hearted moviegoer. And speaking of stony hearts, Jack Palance made a sensational impression as the evil gunslinger sent to clean house--he has fewer lines of dialogue than he has lines in his magnificently craggy face, but he makes them count. The photography, highlighting the landscape near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, won an Oscar. --Robert Horton

• The Waltons - Season 3 | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £28.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (37.94%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The television series that captured the American spirit of family loyalty returns for a third season on DVD. Episodes comprise: 1. The Conflict (Part 1) 2. The Conflict (Part 2) 3. The First Day 4. The Thoroughbred 5. The Runaway 6. The Romance 7. The Ring 8. The System 9. The Spoilers 10. The Marathon 11. The Book 12. The Job 13. The Departure 14. The Visitor 15. The Birthday 16. The Lie 17. The Matchmakers 18. The Beguiled 19. The Caretakers 20. The Shivaree 21. The Choice 22. The Statue 23. The Song 24. The Woman 25. The Venture

• The Waltons - Series 4 - Complete | DVD | (05/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. Fetaures all 24 episodes from season 4. Episode List: 1.The Sermon 2. The Genius 3. The Fighter 4. The Prophecy 5. The Boondoggle 6. The Breakdown 7. The Wingwalker 8. The Competition 9. The Emergence 10. The Loss 11. The Abdication 12. The Estrangement 13. The Nurse 14. The Intruders 15. The Search 16. The Secret 17. The Fox 18. The Burnout 19. The Big Brother 20. The Test 21. The Quilting 22. The House 23. The Fledgling 24. The Collision

• The Spiral Staircase | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Hitchcockian thriller about a woman who because of a childhood incident is unable to speak. Now she's working as a maid in a spooky New England manor where a murderer lurks about the premises -- a murderer who specializes in killing those burdened by afflictions... Ethel Barrymore was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her outstanding performance.

• The Big Trees | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  A remake of 'Valley Of The Giants' 'The Big Trees' features Kirk Douglas as an ambitious lumberman who wants to make a fortune from the Redwood Forest by pushing a religious sect off their land. His many adventures include organising the religious sect to take action and leading them against their enemies as well as saving a heroine from a runaway train.

• Rear Window/The Birds/Vertigo | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Rear Window (1954): Alfred Hitchcock amply demonstrates why he's been called ""The Master of Suspense"" with this both witty and macabre tale of voyeurism and murder starring two of cinema's all-time favourites James Stewart and Grace Kelly. L.B. Jeffries (Stewart) a photographer with a broken leg takes up the fine art of spying on his Greenwich Village neighbours during a summer heat wave. But things really hot up when he suspects one neighbour of murdering his invalid wife and burying the body in a flower garden. The Birds (1963): Wealthy reformed party girl Melanie Daniels enjoys a brief flirtation with lawyer Mitch Brenner in a San Francisco pet shop and decides to follow him to his Bodega Bay home. Bearing a gift of two lovebirds Melanie quickly strikes up a romance with Mitch while contending with his possessive mother and boarding at his ex-girlfriend's house.One day during a birthday party for Mitch's younger sister a flock of birds attacks the children in what seems to be a random incident. In fact it signals the beginning of a massive and organized avian assault on the residents of the town--a mysterious assault that no one can explain...and from which no one might come out alive. Vertigo (1958): Set in San Francisco James Stewart portrays and acrophobic detective hired to trail a friend's suicidal wife (Novak). After he successfully rescues her from a leap into the bay he finds himself becoming obsessed with the beautiful and troubled woman...

• Audrey Hepburn | DVD | (05/11/2001) from £13.95   |  Saving you £6.04 (43.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For almost 20 years Audrey Hepburn's pixie-like features lit up Hollywood's silver screens with hit after hit and she became not only a screen icon, but also a style icon (with a little help from Givenchy), and still features high in polls of the world's most beautiful women. It's perhaps no surprise, then, that Paramount have chosen to honour her with a box set of some of her best-known films. However, this is only "some of", with the absence of her dazzling performances in Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady, leaving three out of the four films included here lacking in comparison. Breakfast at Tiffany's is the strongest and certainly the best-loved Hepburn film in this collection, offering beautifully comic performances by both Hepburn and her leading man, George Peppard. Funny Face also makes a welcome entry, if only for the wonderful performance by Fred Astaire; Hepburn, though, was not a strong enough dancer to hold her own against Astaire's brilliance. Sabrina holds its own as the Cinderella story of a chauffeur's daughter who turns into a beautiful society girl, but it was clearly a quick and easy vehicle for Paramount to produce in the wake of Hepburn's success in Roman Holiday. The mysterious entry of the collection is Paris When It Sizzles, probably one of Hepburn's least-known and most quirky films, with two parallel love stories played out on the screen. Although not an obvious hit and hard work in places it offers an interesting screwball performance by Hepburn, even if the sparks did not fly with her screen partner William Holden. On the DVD: The Audrey Hepburn Collection offers a nice clean widescreen transfer for three of its movies, but Sabrina is a full-frame transfer that lacks something in comparison. All but Breakfast at Tiffany's (which has a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack) are mono sound transfers, which is only a real disappointment in Funny Face because of George and Ira Gershwin's score. The special features are also lacking, with only a trailer offered on two of the films and a mildly interesting documentary on Sabrina. The best is the featurette on Funny Face, which charts the success of Paramount in the 1950s, but offers nothing a film fan would not have known already. All in all this is an attractive box set, but perhaps one for the die-hard Hepburn fan only. --Nikki Disney

• The Big Trees | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

• The Big Trees | DVD | (10/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Kirk Douglas plays Jim Fallon a hard-nosed lumberjack intent on making his fortune from California's famous giant redwood trees. The territory he has designs on though is inhabited by a religious colony that begs him not to strip their land of the mighty sequoias...

• The Big Trees | DVD | (15/10/2001) from £13.97   |  Saving you £-2.72 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In The Big Trees Kirk Douglas plays Jim Fallon a hard-nosed lumberjack intent on making his fortune from California's famous giant redwood trees. The territory he has designs on though is inhabited by a religious colony that begs him not to strip their land of the mighty sequoias... Released in 1952 Douglas is at his dynamic best in this beautifully photographed film set in picturesque Northern California. Presented in its original Academy Frame aspect ratio this special editio