"Actor: Ernest"

• Baseketball | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  High school buddies Joe ""Coop"" Cooper & Doug Remer (""South Park"" creators Trey Parker & Matt Stone) invent a driveway game a combination of baseball and basketball. As they move into adulthood their increasingly popular game goes big-time with the help of eccentric billionaire Theodore Denslow (Borgnine) the founder of the National BASEketball League and owner of the Milwaukee Beers. After Denslow chokes to death on a hot dog the team is left in Coop's hands. The future of the ga

• Arabesque | DVD | (05/05/2008) from £12.65   |  Saving you £-2.66 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Gregory Peck stars as hieroglyphics expert Professor David Pollock in this hugely enjoyable tongue-in-cheek espionage-thriller. Sophia Loren stars alongside as the beautiful but suspect Yasmin Asir the lover of Pollock's employer. David Pollock's routine is turned upside down when he's hired to translate an ancient message written in an obscure mysterious text. Soon everyone from a wealthy oil magnate to a foreign government pursue Pollock for his knowledge desperate to uncover the meaning behind the message. Featuring a score by Henri Mancini and a stylish colourful interpretation of London and the culture of the time Arabesque is never less than a hugely enjoyable witty thriller.

• The Ghoul | DVD | (23/02/2009) from £7.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (87.61%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When a sacred jewel that is imbued with the pagan power of the Egyptian gods is stolen from the tomb of Professor Morlant the deceased man rises from his grave and seeks out the precious stone. However the Professor has no idea who stole the jewel and neither do you...

• Vera Cruz | DVD | (11/06/2001) from £12.94   |  Saving you £3.04 (30.55%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Vera Cruz was only director Robert Aldrich's second Western (his first, made a few months earlier, was the revisionist, pro-Native-American Apache), but it's such an assured, stylish affair that he might have been roaming the sagebrush for decades. In the aftermath of the American Civil War two lone adventurers make their way south of the border, where Mexico is fighting a civil war of its own to rid the country of the French-imposed Emperor Maximilian. Neither the dour Benjamin Trane (Gary Cooper) nor the grinning, devil-may-care Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster) has much in the way of idealism, but Trane still retains a thin bitter edge of integrity, a quality quite alien to the cheerfully amoral Erin. In uneasy alliance, constantly looking to outwit or double-cross each other, the two find themselves escorting a beautiful French countess (Denise Darcel) and a shipment of gold across country. Cooper and Lancaster create a superb double-act, using their contrasted screen personas to point up the humour and the cynicism of the two mercenaries' relationship. Darcel makes less than she might of the femme fatale role, but there are relishable cameos from Cesar Romero as a suavely duplicitous aristo and Ernest Borgnine as another gringo with an exceptionally vicious streak. The script, according to Aldrich, was written on the run, "always finished about five minutes before we shot it", but you wouldn't guess it from the laconic wit of the dialogue. It looks great, too--Ernest Laszlo's widescreen photography makes the most of the handsome Mexican locations. With its irreverent take on the accepted moral conventions of the genre, Vera Cruz ushered in a new kind of Western, and its central love-hate relationship would be replayed in Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962) and Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). On the DVD: Not much in the way of extras but the mono sound has been expertly remastered to the benefit of Hugo Friedhofer's spirited score. Above all, the film's presented in its full Superscope ratio (16:9), a blessed relief after all those years when it showed up panned-and-scanned on BBC1. If ever a movie needed widescreen, it's this one--if only to fit in all Burt's teeth. You can see why they called him "Crockery Joe". --Philip Kemp

• Deadly Blessing | Blu Ray | (29/05/2023) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When a former member of a religious cult dies in a mysterious accident, his wife Martha (Maren Jensen, Battlestar Galactica), who now lives alone and close to the cult's church, begins to fear for her life and the lives of her visiting friends (Susan Buckner, Sharon Stone). Strange and dealy events begin to happen...Could she be the target of the evil cult and it's fanatical leader Isaiah (Ernest Borgnine)? Directed by Wes Craven (Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street) and starring Jeff East (Pumpkinhead), Lisa Hartman (The 17th Bride) and Michael Berryman(The Hills Have Eyes), this consistently terrifying film delivers unpredictable plot twists (Time Out) and visual shocks galore.

• School For Secrets | DVD | (11/05/2015) from £5.85   |  Saving you £14.14 (241.71%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Peter Ustinov writes and directs this wartime drama following the British scientists who developed the first radar system. Led by Professor Heatherville (Ralph Richardson), five research scientists are required to work in total secrecy to develop the vital navigational tool. As war breaks out across Europe the scientists are moved and housed together to accelerate the key breakthrough required to begin mass development of the pioneering system. As the danger of their mission increases and their home island is threatened with a Nazi invasion the team find their work and personal life under increasing pressure on all fronts.

• Barabbas | DVD | (25/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Starring Anthony Quinn in the title role Barabbas was released in 1961 in the midst of a wave of widescreen epics based on Biblical characters. "It begins where the other big ones leave off", declaims the trailer. The screenplay, by playwright Christopher Fry (who also contributed to Ben-Hur), is an unusually intelligent one: listen out for Barabbas' final encounter with the Apostle Thomas, for example. Further assets are the imaginative, sparingly orchestrated score by Mario Nascimbene and a handsome production design by art director Mario Chiari that is so rewarding to the eye in Aldo Tonti's often dazzling cinematography. Like the other Biblical epics of the day, in its original theatrical incarnation Barabbas had an intermission and orchestral intermezzo which is sadly missing from this version. (It occurred at the point where Barabbas emerges from a 20 years exile in the sulphur mines in Sicily, allowing the audience to dwell on his recuperation before we next encounter him. He now appears muscled and bronzed ploughing the verdant fields outside Rome in all too quick a fashion!). Many scenes, such as Christ's crucifixion, are shot and staged like tableaux in a style reminiscent of the great masters of art. And in Fleischer's hands this film surpasses anything Ridley Scott achieved years later in Gladiator: he fills the huge arena--a vast Roman amphitheatre--with a gladiatorial school of hand-to-hand combat, a parade of elephants and a den of lions, and then caps his production with a riveting and thrillingly mounted duel between Jack Palance, careering round the circumference of the arena in his chariot, and Barabbas dodging him on foot. The supporting cast, who sport a variety of accents call for some tolerance, however. On the DVD: Barabbas on disc comes devoid of any extra features other than trailers for it and another contemporaneous blockbuster, The Guns of Navarone. --Adrian Edwards

• You Are My Sunshine | DVD | (18/07/2022) from £15.85   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Convoy | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the country song by C.W. McCall Convoy is a feel-good action movie from the legendary Sam Peckinpah. A group of independent-minded truckers take to the roads in a massive stand against the corrupt authorities. Led by 'Rubber Duck' (Kris Kristofferson) the rogue drivers keep in touch by CB radio in their efforts to stay one step ahead of the cops...

• The Lion of Judah | DVD | (27/03/2017) from £10.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A laugh-filled and heart-warming, animated tale. The Lion of Judah is a classic Easter inspiration for the whole family. Join Judah the fearless lamb & his stable mates as they embark on a roaring adventure towards freedom. Join Judah on a daring quest that intertwines fun and danger with the deeper lessons of life. For Judah, a lamb with the heart of a lion, it is a story of courage that leads him on a voyage of hope and awe at the power that just one tiny lamb can command!

• Hercules In New York | DVD | (18/09/2006) from £6.25   |  Saving you £3.00 (60.12%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Bored with life on Mount Olympus Hercules (Arnold Schwarzenegger in his debut film) decides to visit Earth against the wishes of his father Zeus. Zeus explodes with anger and hurls a thunder-bolt at Hercules who plummets into the sea and is rescued by a freighter bound for New York. There he is befriended by Pretzie (Arnold Stang) who whisks him away from a brawling free-for-all with his shipmates. The plot thickens when Zeus' wife Juno sends the dreaded Nemesis to take away Hercules' god-like strength. Some local hoodlums have just bet a small fortune on Hercules in a weight-lifting competition and when he fails to win a chase all over New York is on.

• Marty | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £7.79   |  Saving you £5.20 (66.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Before beginning the main feature make sure you watch Burt Lancaster's endorsement of Marty in the appended theatrical trailer first. Yes, he was involved as coproducer, but his conviction clearly stems from the film itself. This screen adaptation of Paddy Chayevsky's play was a breakthrough in an American neo-realism that would sustain itself for two decades. Ernest Borgnine is in his element as the Bronx butcher in his mid-30s seemingly destined for a bachelor existence on account of past disappointments. There's a winningly natural performance from Esther Minciotti as his well-meaning, ever-interfering mother, while Betsy Blair is inspired casting as schoolteacher Clara, plain and diffident but with the proverbial good heart. The supporting cast is one of telling cameos, simply and unselfconsciously delivered. Delbert Mann conveys the energetic bustle of the Italian ex-pat community, and ensures that the intimacy of the original play is not lost. On the DVD: Marty's black-and-white print reproduces crisply in the DVD format, as does Roy Webb's score, which vividly evokes 1950s American city life. There's dubbing in four and subtitles in five European languages, together with the original trailer mentioned above. Having seen Marty, you'll surely agree that Lancaster's enthusiasm was not misplaced. --Richard Whitehouse

• All Dogs Christmas Carol | DVD | (17/11/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (37.50%)   |  RRP £7.99

  An All Dogs Christmas Carol is another straight-to-video sequel of a so-so animated film. The original 1989 All Dogs Go to Heaven was hardly inspired but contained expert Don Bluth animation and the amusing voices of Burt Reynolds and his gang. Now Steven Weber voices the animated mutt Charlie who is still palling around with the same gang through three movies and an animated series. Here the arch villain, Carface (Ernest Borgnine), gets the traditional Dickens treatment of being visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve. The opening number, "When I Hear a Christmas Carol", is a good start, but soon TV-ish animation and the low humour becomes wearing. Kids who like the earlier Dog efforts won't be disappointed, but the entire series can hardly be defined as great entertainment. The saving grace is the foolproof Christmas Carol visitations. --Doug Thomas

• Three Smart Girls | DVD | (07/03/2011) from £5.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (54.00%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Three sisters set off from Switzerland with their divorced mother to go to New York in order to stop their father marrying a calculating socialite...

• His Girl Friday | DVD | (30/10/2006) from £6.48   |  Saving you £-2.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  His Girl Friday is one of the five greatest dialogue comedies ever made. Howard Hawks had his cast play it at breakneck speed, and audiences hyperventilate trying to finish with one laugh so they can do justice to the four that have accumulated in the meantime. Rosalind Russell, not Hawks' first choice to play Hildy Johnson--the ace newsperson whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married--is triumphant in the part, holding her own as "one of the guys" and creating an enduring feminist icon. Cary Grant's Walter Burns is a force of nature, giving a performance of such concentrated frenzy and diamond brilliance that you owe it to yourself to devote at least one viewing of the movie to watching him alone. But then you have to go back (lucky you) and watch it again for the sake of the press-room gang--Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Regis Toomey, Frank Jenks, and others--the kind of ensemble work that gets character actors onto Parnassus. --Richard T Jameson, Amazon.com

• Hannie Caulder | DVD | (24/08/2009) from £12.85   |  Saving you £0.14 (1.09%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Fleeing the scene of a botched bank robbery the Clements brothers come across an isolated homestead. In an attempt to steal fresh horses the trigger-happy youngest brother who blew the bank job bungles again this time murdering Caulder the landowner. His wife Hannie (Welch) is unable to fend off the three Clements alone. They rape her steal her horses and burn her home to the ground. Bent on revenge Hannie teams up with Thomas Price (Robert Culp) a ruthless bounty hunter. She implores him to teach her how to kill. Reluctantly he agrees and together they set off in pursuit of the outlaws...

• Stitch In Time, A / Just My Luck | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £7.26   |  Saving you £6.99 (116.50%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Norman Wisdom reprises his famous Pitkin character for the third time in A Stitch in Time, and Edward Chapman is also back to provide Norman with the excuse to reprise his immortal catch-phrase "Mr Grimsdale!". Here he succeeds in causing chaos in a St John Ambulance unit, as well as donning drag to play a blonde nurse complete with suspender belt and silk stockings. Each Norman Wisdom movie usually sees him as the accidental Lord of Misrule in one institution or another, and this time it's the NHS: after being banned from his local hospital, Norman resorts to subterfuge to visit a little orphan girl. There's an autobiographical touch here, as Wisdom himself was raised in an orphanage and centred the plot of One Good Turn (1954) around such an establishment. --Gary S Dalkin An important step in the career of Norman Wisdom, Just My Luck is principally notable for the introduction of actor Edward Chapman, whom many would come to know as series regular Mr Grimsdale. Here he's the stuffy foil to Norman's romantic plans regarding his jewel-making job, where he'll do anything to possess some of the wealth about him. The chance comes in the form of an accumulator bet at Goodwood races thanks to a slimy Leslie Phillips. Another star cameo of note was a second appearance by Margaret Rutherford (after Trouble in Store) as an eccentric animal owner. But the real advance with the Wisdom formula was that--after a reasonably serious plot line--Norman finally gets the girl. --Paul Tonks

• Jesus of Nazareth: Complete Mini Series | Blu Ray | (08/07/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Greatest | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £3.00   |  Saving you £16.99 (566.33%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The story of a legend that took the world by storm. The incredible career of perhaps the greatest boxer of all time Muhammad Ali is dramatized in this exciting film starring Ali himself. Fresh from his gold medal victory at the Olympic Games 18-year-old Cassius Clay is ready to seek the heavyweight championship. Under the masterful guidance of trainer Angelo Dundee (Ernest Borgnine). Clay snatches the title from Sonny Liston. Soon afterward Clay converts to the Islam religion a

• The Greatest / When We Were Ki | DVD | (12/09/2011) from £8.95   |  Saving you £4.04 (45.14%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Titles Comprise:When We Were Kings: On September 25, 1974, in the wake of one of the greatest political scandals in its history - the ignominious collapse of the Nixon presidency - America was poised to watch a knockout punch that would redefine it as a nation of champions. In the atmosphere of a three-ring circus, in Zaire, a little known country ruled by a military dictator, on the little-noticed continent of Africa, two American fighters held the world's attention. One would capture the world's imagination. But, four days before the scheduled Rumble in the Jungle, as the heavyweight championship matchup between reigning title holder George Foreman and challenger Muhammad Ali was called, the promoters announced that there would be a six week delay. And in that time span, as the international media took in the rhythms of the music and the mysterious beauty of the land, and as anticipation for the fight mounted an entirely new phenomenon evolved - black Americans saw their own generational crossroads reflected in the contrasting images of the two men who had returned to Africa to fight.The Greatest: 18 year-old Olympic gold medalist Cassius Clay feels ready to take on the heavyweight championship. In this dramatisation the incredible career of the legendary fighter is portrayed, as he gains in stature and power under the guidance of Angelo Dundee, Clay takes the heavyweight title away from Sonny Liston. Soon after his victory Clay converted to Islam, changing his name to Mohammad Ali, and begins a three year court battle to avoid being drafted into the army on religious grounds. This dramatic biography of a legend (starring Ali himself) excuse the pun, certainly pulls no punches.