"Actor: Ethel Merman"

• It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World | Blu Ray | (04/09/2017) from £21.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  STANLEY KRAMER followed his Oscar-winning Judgment at Nuremberg with this sobering investigation of American greed. Ah, who are we kidding? It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, about a group of strangers fighting tooth and nail over buried treasure, is the most grandly hare-brained movie ever made, a pileup of slapstick and borscht-belt-y one-liners performed by a nonpareil cast, including MILTON BERLE, SID CAESAR, ETHEL MERMAN, MICKEY ROONEY, SPENCER TRACY, JONATHAN WINTERS, and a boatload of other playingto-the-rafters comedy legends. For sheer scale of silliness, Kramer's wildly uncharacteristic film is unlike any other, an exhilarating epic of tomfoolery. TWO BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: Restored 4K digital film transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack New high-definition digital transfer of a 197-minute extended version of the film, reconstructed and restored by Robert A. Harris using visual and audio material from the longer original road-show versionincluding some scenes that have been returned to the film here for the first time New audio commentary featuring It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo New documentary on the film's visual and sound effects, featuring rare behind-thescenes footage of the crew at work and interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt Talk show from 1974 hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and members of the film's cast Interviews recorded for the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs, featuring comedians and actors discussing the influence of the film Two-part 1963 episode of the CBC television program Telescope that follows the film's press junket and premiere The Last 70mm Film Festival, a program from 2012 featuring cast and crew members from Mad World at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, hosted by Billy Crystal Selection of humourist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg's original TV and radio advertisements for the film, with a new introduction by Freberg Original and re-release trailers, and re-release radio spots PLUS: An essay by film critic Lou Lumenick and illustrations by legendary cartoonist Jack Davis

• It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | DVD | (11/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Stanley Kramer's 1963 It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a sprawling comedy about a search for buried treasure by at least a dozen people--all played by well-known entertainers of their day--is the kind of mass comedy that has recently come back to the for-front of Hollywood with the film Rat Race. After a number of strangers (including Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers and others) witness a dying stranger (Jimmy Durante) identify the location of hidden money, a conflict-ridden hunt begins, watched over carefully by a suspicious cop (Spencer Tracy). The ensuing two and a half hours of mayhem has its ups and downs--some sketches and performers are certainly funnier than others. But Kramer, who is better known for socially conscious, serious cinema (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), is in a mood for broad comic characterization, and some of his jokes are so intentionally obvious (Durante literally kicks a bucket when he dies), they could have derived from the Airplane! reject bin. Watch for lots of cameo appearances, including Jerry Lewis. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• There's No Business Like Show Business | DVD | (23/07/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Molly and Terry Donahue, plus their three children, are The Five Donahues. Son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act begins to fall apart.

• There's No Business Like Show Business | DVD | (22/05/2006) from £9.76   |  Saving you £3.23 (33.09%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Molly and Terry Donahue plus their three children are The Five Donahues. Son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act soon begins to fall apart...

• Marilyn Monroe: The Collection (Vol. 2) | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) Marilyn delivers one of the finest comedic performances of her career in this outrageously funny film co-starring Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall! Three beautiful models plan to snag rich husbands by pooling their funds and renting a posh Manhattan penthouse in which to lure their victims. What follows is a series of near-marital mishaps where love prevails over money proving that even gold-diggers sometimes have hearts of gold! There's N

• Marilyn Monroe - The Diamond Collection | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £29.95   |  Saving you £50.04 (167.08%)   |  RRP £79.99

  Released to mark the 40th anniversary of her death in 1962, The Diamond Collection brings together all of Marilyn Monroe's films for 20th Century Fox. This handsome box set stands as a salutary reminder of the considerable achievements of an actress who still reigns supreme as the greatest screen goddess of them all. The uninitiated might be surprised at the versatility of someone whose legend is founded so much on her image as a sex symbol. In particular, her touching performance as the abused second-rate bar singer Cherie in Bus Stop (1956) is a rounded study of a woman still capable of dreaming when life has done everything to dull her. The box set as a whole offers plenty of evidence that while she certainly specialised in a unique and complex variation on the blonde bombshell stereotype--embodied in her timeless performances as Lorelei Lee (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and short-sighted Pola in How to Marry a Millionaire, both 1953--she could certainly diversify. The documentary, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days, provides a sympathetic take on the troubles and behaviour which led to her being sacked from her final picture, Something's Got to Give. The presentation of the restored footage from that movie is less successful, though, as the glimpses of Monroe's incandescent screen presence, belying her illness and depression, leave a palpable sadness in their wake. Better by far to focus on her earlier work. Whatever the role, her luminous beauty and statuesque figure, combined with an unselfconsciously joyful sexuality and an on-screen vulnerability, were always at their best under the careful guidance of directors like Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger. These qualities continue to give her an enduring appeal. On the DVD: The Diamond Collection has been digitally restored using, for the most part, the original negatives, making this a sumptuous package for any Monroe fan. Niagara and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes are both presented in standard 4:3 ratio but the rest--filmed in Cinemascope and presented here in letterbox format--are certainly better-served by widescreen viewing. The colours, like Monroe, come alive. The sound quality is crisp and Monroe's singing--she had limited but genuine musical talent--has polished up well. Multiple extras include before-and-after restoration comparisons, trailers from various countries, stills and posters, and newsreel footage. Eleven discs of Marilyn in one box, this is a veritable feast indeed. --Piers Ford

• Stage Door Canteen | DVD | (13/02/2006) from £7.98   |  Saving you £-2.99 (-59.90%)   |  RRP £4.99

  An all-star cast headed by Gracie Fields feature in this film about the exploits of a group of American servicemen in their last week in New York City before heading off to Europe to fight during the Second World War.

• Airplane! | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £9.65   |  Saving you £6.34 (65.70%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Ted Striker: ""Surely you can't be serious?"" Dr. Rumack: ""I am serious... and don't call me Shirley."" Voted ""one of the ten funniest movies ever made"" by the American Film Institute Airplane! is a masterpiece of off-the-wall comedy. Featuring Robert Hays as an ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning; Julie Hagerty as his girlfriend/ stewardess/ co-pilot; and a cast of all-stars inclu

• Cole Porter - An All Star Tribute | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £21.15   |  Saving you £3.84 (15.40%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Cole PorterAn All-Star TributeEthel MermanPeter NeroJohn RaittMartha WrightGretchen WylerJillanaBell Telephone Hour Orchestra. Donald Voorhees Cond.Telecast of January 28 1964.

• Judy Garland - Judy Duets | DVD | (11/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Featuring the incomparable Judy Garland performing great songs with legendary singers and musicians including: Count Basie: I Hear Music The Sweetest Sounds Strike Up the Band Mel Torme: The Trolley Son Bobby Darin: Goin' Home Medley Lena Horne: Day In Day Out Barbra Streisand: Hooray For Love Medley Get Happy Happy Days Are Here Again Ethel Merman: Friendship Medley Tony Bennett: I Left My Heart In San Francisco Jack Jones: Nelson Eddy-Jeannette McDonald Medley Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin: Let There Be Love You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You Mickey Rooney: You're So Right For Me Peggy Lee: I Like Men Medley Vic Damone: West Side Story Medley Liza Minelli: We Could Make Such Beautiful Music Together The Best is Yet To Come

• The Judy Garland Show - Vol. 2 | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Perhaps the most remembered episode of Judy's TV series Garland takes to the stage with Babra Streisand. Not only that but The Smothers Brothers Jerry Van Dyke and Ethel Merman all show their faces too. Tracklist: 1. Comes Once In A Lifetime 2. Be My Guest 3. Just In Time 4. I Talk To The Trees/Dance 5. Boatman 6. Dance 7. I Bewitched Bothered and Bewildere... 8. Down With Love 9. Medley: Get Happy/Happy Days Are He... 10. Tea For Two Segment 11. There's No Business Like Show Busin... 12. Happy Harvest 13. Hooray For Love Medley 14. Medley: You Made Me Love You/For Me... 15. Maybe I'll Come Back