"Actor: Gibb McLaughlin"

• The Lavender Hill Mob | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £7.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (112.64%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Directed by Charles Crichton, who would much later direct John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob is the most ruefully thrilling of the Ealing Comedies. Alec Guinness plays a bowler-hatted escort of bullion to the refineries. His seeming timidity, weak 'r's and punctiliousness mask a typically Guinness-like patient cunning. "I was aware I was widiculed but that was pwecisely the effect I was stwiving to achieve". He's actually plotting a heist. With more conventionally cockney villains Sid James and Alfie Bass in tow, as well as the respectable but ruined Stanley Holloway, Guinness' perfect criminal plan works in exquisite detail, then unravels just as exquisitely, culminating in a nail-biting police car chase in which you can't help rooting for the villains. The Lavender Hill Mob depicts a London still up to its knees in rubble from World War II, a world of new hope but continued austerity, a budding new order in which everything seems up for grabs; as such it could be regarded as a lighter hearted cinematic cousin to Carol Reed's 1949 masterpiece The Third Man. The Lavender Hill Mob also sees the first, fleeting on-screen appearance of Audrey Hepburn in the opening sequence. --David Stubbs

• Ealing Comedy DVD Collection - The Ladykillers/Kind Hearts and Coronets/The Lavender Hill Mob/The Man in the White Suit | DVD | (02/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Four of the British film industry's best-loved comedies in one box set makes The Ealing Comedy Collection absolutely essential for anyone who has any passion at all for movies. The set contains Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955). Ealing's greatest comedies captured the essence of post-war Britain, both in their evocation of a land once blighted by war but now rising doggedly and optimistically again from the ashes, and in their mordant yet graceful humour. They portray a country with an antiquated class system whose crumbling conventions are being undermined by a new spirit of individual opportunism. In the delightfully wicked Kind Hearts and Coronets, a serial killer politely murders his way into the peerage; in The Lavender Hill Mob a put-upon bank clerk schemes to rob his employers; The Man in the White Suit is a harshly satirical depiction of idealism crushed by the status quo; while The Ladykillers mocks both the criminals and the authorities with its unlikely octogenarian heroine Mrs "lop-sided" Wilberforce. Many factors contribute to the success of these films--including fine music scores from composers such as Benjamin Frankel (Man in the White Suit) and Tristram Cary (The Ladykillers); positively symphonic sound effects (White Suit); marvellously evocative locations (the environs of King's Cross in Ladykillers, for example); and writing that always displays Ealing's unique perspective on British social mores ("All the exuberance of Chaucer without, happily, any of the concomitant crudities of his period")--yet arguably their greatest asset is Alec Guinness, whose multifaceted performances are the keystone upon which Ealing built its biting, often macabre, yet always elegant comedy. On the DVD: The Ealing Comedy Collection presents the four discs in a fold-out package with postcards of the original poster artwork for each. Aside from theatrical trailers on each disc there are no extra features, which is a pity given the importance of these films. The Ladykillers is in muted Technicolor and presented in 1.66:1 ratio, the three earlier films are all black and white 1.33:1. Sound is perfectly adequate mono throughout. --Mark Walker

• Oliver Twist -- Special Edition | DVD | (26/09/2008) from £12.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (23.19%)   |  RRP £15.99

  There have been many film and TV adaptations of Oliver Twist but this 1948 production from director David Lean remains the definitive screen interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic. From the ominous symbolism of its opening storm sequence (in which Oliver's pregnant, ill-fated mother struggles to reach shelter before childbirth) to the mob-scene climax that provokes Bill Sikes's dreadful comeuppance, this breathtaking black-and-white film remains loyal to Dickens while distilling the story into its purest cinematic essence.Every detail is perfect--Lean even includes a coffin-shaped snuffbox for the cruel Mr. Sowerberry--and as young Oliver, eight-year-old John Howard Davies (who would later produce Monty Python's Flying Circus for the BBC) perfectly expresses the orphan's boyish wonderment, stern determination and waifish vulnerability. Best of all is Alec Guinness as Fagin, so devious and yet so delightfully appealing under his beak-nosed (and, at the time, highly controversial) make-up. (Many complained that Fagin's huge nose and greedy demeanour presented an anti-Semitic stereotype, even though Lean never identifies Fagin as Jewish; for this reason, the film wasn't shown in the US until three years after its British release.) Likewise, young Anthony Newley is artfully dodgy as Fagin's loyal accomplice, the Artful Dodger. Guinness's performance would later provide strong inspiration for Ron Moody's equally splendid portrayal of Fagin in the Oscar-winning Oliver! and while that 1968 musical remains wonderfully entertaining, it is Lean's film that hews closest to Dickens' vision. The authentic recreation of 19th-century London is marvellous to behold; Guy Green's cinematography is so shadowy and stylised that it almost qualifies as Dickensian film noir. Lean is surprisingly blunt in conveying Dickens's theme of cruelty but his film never loses sight of the warmth and humanity that Oliver embodies. --Jeff Shannon

• The Brain Machine | DVD | (04/11/2013) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Patrick Barr and Scotland Yard stalwart Russell Napier star in this sci-fi flavoured mid-fifties thriller, a rarely seen early feature by Ken Hughes - later to score box-office hits with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the BAFTA-nominated The Trials of Oscar Wilde. Produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated, The Brain Machine is presented here in a brand-new transfer from original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. A murderer, Edward Jarrit...

• Fame Academy | DVD | (13/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Fame Academy the Extended Remix tells the whole story of Fame Academy from the Auditions to final live showdown and the winner getting their amazing prize. See the students arrive at the Academy Carrie's first dressing down Kevin working them hard the first expulsion David's arrival. You'll see everything warts and all - the highs and lows the tears the romance and of course the amazing music. With footage of the live final including backstage stuff you won't have seen before the masterclasses singing for survival and the highlights of the fantastic live final this is an unmissable treat for all Fame Academy fanatics!!

• Sally In Our Alley / Looking On The Brightside | DVD | (24/01/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Titles Comprise: Sally In Our Alley: Waitress Sally Winch (Gracie Fields) believes her soldier boyfriend (Ian Hunter Broadway Melody of 1940) has died in the trenches when his letters cease to arrive. He's actually only been injured however and has stopped writing as he doesn't want to burden Sally. But when he returns home they are reunited again... This bittersweet war romance is the film that made Gracie Fields a star. Her first cinematic outing the film quickly established her onscreen persona as a down-to-earth good natured girl who is unlucky in love. Made in Ealing studios Sally In Our Alley is a ground-breaking gem from the early days of the talkies. Looking On The Brightside: Gracie (Gracie Fields) and Laurie (Richard Dolman) are lovers who together form a musical act. Gracie sings and Laurie writes the songs. But when Laurie gets a taste of fame he runs off after a glamorous actress spurning Gracie. Gracie Fields' second cinematic outing continued her collaboration with producer/ writer Basil Dean at Ealing Studios and was co-written by Archie Pitt Gracie Fields' first husband. The film cements Fields' optimistic persona - with the uplifting title song urging the audience to adopt her glass-half-full outlook no matter what the world throws at them. Full of memorable songs and a vintage Fields performance Looking On The Bright Side is a joy from beginning to end.

• Oliver Twist | DVD | (11/10/1999) from £6.47   |  Saving you £3.52 (54.40%)   |  RRP £9.99

  There have been many film and TV adaptations of Oliver Twist but this 1948 production from director David Lean remains the definitive screen interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic. From the ominous symbolism of its opening storm sequence (in which Oliver's pregnant, ill-fated mother struggles to reach shelter before childbirth) to the mob-scene climax that provokes Bill Sikes's dreadful comeuppance, this breathtaking black-and-white film remains loyal to Dickens while distilling the story into its purest cinematic essence.Every detail is perfect--Lean even includes a coffin-shaped snuffbox for the cruel Mr. Sowerberry--and as young Oliver, eight-year-old John Howard Davies (who would later produce Monty Python's Flying Circus for the BBC) perfectly expresses the orphan's boyish wonderment, stern determination and waifish vulnerability. Best of all is Alec Guinness as Fagin, so devious and yet so delightfully appealing under his beak-nosed (and, at the time, highly controversial) make-up. (Many complained that Fagin's huge nose and greedy demeanour presented an anti-Semitic stereotype, even though Lean never identifies Fagin as Jewish; for this reason, the film wasn't shown in the US until three years after its British release.) Likewise, young Anthony Newley is artfully dodgy as Fagin's loyal accomplice, the Artful Dodger. Guinness's performance would later provide strong inspiration for Ron Moody's equally splendid portrayal of Fagin in the Oscar-winning Oliver! and while that 1968 musical remains wonderfully entertaining, it is Lean's film that hews closest to Dickens' vision. The authentic recreation of 19th-century London is marvellous to behold; Guy Green's cinematography is so shadowy and stylised that it almost qualifies as Dickensian film noir. Lean is surprisingly blunt in conveying Dickens's theme of cruelty but his film never loses sight of the warmth and humanity that Oliver embodies. --Jeff Shannon

• Will Hay - Where Theres a Will | DVD | (07/12/2009) from £3.19   |  Saving you £1.80 (56.43%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Will Hay - Where There's A Will

• Will Hay - Good Morning Boys / Hey! Hey! USA | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £6.54   |  Saving you £6.45 (49.70%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1937's Good Morning Boys Will Hay plays the pompous but ill-qualified headmaster of St Michael's, Dr Benjamin Twist, who befuddles his class with meaningless mathematical equations while they set their wits to constructing booby traps for him. However, when his boys pass an inter-schools examination, having seen the French paper in advance, they're invited by the French educational authorities to Paris and become involved in a plot to steal the Mona Lisa. Although it is at times too silly plot-wise even for those with a high endurance for farce, Good Morning, Boys is another fine showcase for Hay to display his well-honed repertoire of tics, double-takes and blathering half-sense. In Hey! Hey! USA!, a 1938 comedy intended to boost Hay's stock in America, he again plays Dr Twist who becomes tutor to millionaire's son Bernie Schulz aboard an Atlantic liner. Predictably the boy knows more about all aspects of history than Hay, having to remind him that Britain lost in the War of Independence against America. "Yes, but we sent our second eleven," Hay reminds him, "And we were playing away." Further capers ensue when two rival gangs attempt to capture the precocious lad, with his parents dispatching Hay to pass on the ransom money. Hey! Hey! USA!has its moments, but despite the presence of old Laurel and Hardy sidekicks Edgar Kennedy (as a dim-witted gangster) and Charlie Hall, this was too leaky a comedic vessel to transport Hay's peculiarly British UK success across the Atlantic. On the DVD: Good Morning Boys and Hey! Hey! USA! are presented on disc well restored from their original 1930s film stock, give or take the odd crackle. There are no extras except scene index. --David Stubbs

• Will Hay - Hey Hey USA! | DVD | (07/12/2009) from £5.59   |  Saving you £-0.60 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  A film starring Will Hay, Edgar Kennedy, Tommy Bupp, David Burns. Director Marcel Varnel. Writer Marriott Edgar, Val Guest. Year of production 1938. Rereleased by Granada Ventures Limited

• Fame Academy - Live | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  All 12 Fame Academy students are featured in this live Wembley concert filmed in front of 10 000 screaming fans!

• Fame Academy - The Winner's Story | DVD | (20/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  David Sneddon was the super talented winner of Fame Academy and this is the extraordinary story of his journey from obscurity to super stardom! David's story reveals the blossoming of an unknown talent and follows him from his very first audition right through to the final live showdown watched by over 8 million people. Packed with footage unseen on BBC1 live performances exclusive interviews rehearsals and acoustic sessions David's Story documents all the tears excitement and laughs that happened on his amazing journey.

• Farmer's Wife | DVD | (24/07/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A