"Actor: Emile Charles"

• Panique (1947) | Blu Ray | (07/01/2019) from £21.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Julien Duvivier taps into postwar France's paranoia in a long unavailable thriller, adapted from a Georges Simenon novel Proud, eccentric, and antisocial, Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon) has always kept to himself. But after a woman turns up dead in the Paris suburb where he lives, he feels drawn to a pretty young newcomer to town (Viviane Romance), discovers that his neighbours are only too ready to be suspicious of him, and is framed for the murder. Based on a novel by Georges Simenon, the first film made by Julien Duvivier after his return to France from Hollywood, finds the acclaimed poetic realist applying his consummate craft to darker, moodier ends. Propelled by its two deeply nuanced lead performances, the tensely noirish Panique exposes the dangers of the knivesout mob mentality, delivering a pointed allegory of the behaviour of Duvivier's countrymen during the war. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack The Art of Subtitling, a new short documentary by Bruce Goldstein, founder and copresident of Rialto Pictures, about the history of subtitles New interview with author Pierre Simenon, the son of novelist Georges Simenon Conversation from 2015 between critics Guillemette Odicino and Eric Libiot about director Julien Duvivier and the film's production history Rialto Pictures rerelease trailer New English subtitle translation by Duvivier expert Lenny Borger PLUS: Essays by film scholar James Quandt and Borger

• The Fruit Machine | DVD | (16/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Lovers Eddie and Michael witness a murder and go on the run with a professional hitman on their trail.

• Like It Is | DVD | (11/09/2000) from £12.70   |  Saving you £2.29 (18.03%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Like It Is is much like watching a train wreck--the very idea of it is repellent and yet you perversely can't avert your eyes. While its urban grittiness and sooty veneer entranced some critics who mistook its violent, netherworld neorealism for art, Like It Is offers little in the way of redemption, positive gay imaging or even particularly good narrative. Paul Oremland directed this venture about a young, gay Blackpool tough named Craig (Steve Bell) who bare-knuckle boxes for money. He ultimately moves to London in search of a better life and falls in with the trendy London gay-club scene, meeting and falling for a handsome record producer named Matt (Ian Rose) and his wealthy boss (played by the Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey). The better life is quickly tainted by disillusion and misery, much as is the viewing experience. Steve Bell is, in real life, a featherweight boxing champion in Britain and therefore brings an urgent and raw vitality to the lead, but the characters as a whole are either irritating or unsympathetic, and it's ultimately difficult to find anyone to care for, or a story worth empathising with. --Paula Nechak, Amazon.com

• The Man With The Golden Arm | DVD | (17/06/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Frank Sinatra stars with Kim Novak and Eleanor Parker in this riveting drama about a poker dealer/jazz musician who descends to skid row after becoming addicted to heroin. Will he make it back into the spotlight -- or even survive? Based upon the classic American novel by Nelson Algren The Man With The Golden Arm was far ahead of its time with its depiction of what drugs can do to even an ambitious person. Its cautionary tale still holds up today as heroin has come back to haunt not