"Actor: Hale"

• Edgar Wallace Presents: The Gaunt Stranger | DVD | (21/10/2013) from £7.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (25.03%)   |  RRP £9.99

  An atmospheric adaptation of The Ringer - the play that earned global fame for English master of suspense Edgar Wallace and remains his best-known story - this classic whodunit combines taut direction and inspired characterisation, with Patrick Barr starring as a beleaguered Scotland Yard investigator, John Longdon his hawkish superior and, in an early film role as a particularly haughty secretary, Patricia Roc. Also notable as the first film produced at Ealing by Michael Balcon, The Gaunt St...

• The St Valentine's Day Massacre | DVD | (27/05/2013) from £6.46   |  Saving you £3.53 (54.64%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Roger Corman directs this gangster thriller, using docu-drama styles to depict the notorious gangland killings in 1929. Al Capone (Jason Robards) is consolidating his grip on Chicago's underworld, with only the Moran gang standing in his way. After Capone wipes them out in the St Valentine's Day shootings, the film goes on to explore how the murders affected the lives of those involved.

• The Adventures Of Robin Hood | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (100.14%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Dashing Errol Flynn is the definitive Robin in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood, the most gloriously swashbuckling version of the legendary story. Warner Brothers reunited Michael Curtiz, their top-action director, with the winning team of Flynn and Olivia de Havilland (Maid Marian) and perennial villain Basil Rathbone as the aristocratic Sir Guy of Gisbourne, and pulled out all stops for the production. It became their costliest film to date, a grandly handsome, glowing technicolour adventure set to a stirring, Oscar-winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold--music that became a template for countless later movies, notably John Williams' Star Wars and Indiana Jones scores. The decadent Prince John (a smoothly conniving Claude Rains) takes advantage of King Richard's absence to tax the country into poverty but meets his match in the medieval guerrilla rebel Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, who rise up and, to quote a cliché coined by the film, "steal from the rich and give to the poor". Stocky Alan Hale Sr plays Robin's loyal friend Little John (a part he played in Douglas Fairbanks' silent version), Eugene Palette plays the portly Friar Tuck and Melville Cooper is the bumbling Sheriff of Nottingham. Flynn's confidence and cocky charm makes for a perfect Robin and his easygoing manner is a marvellous counterpoint to Rathbone's regal bearing and courtly diction. The film climaxes in their rousing battle-to-the-finish sword fight, a magnificently choreographed scene highlighted by Curtiz's inventive use of shadows cast upon the castle walls. --Sean Axmaker

• Veep Season 7 | DVD | (13/01/2020) from £9.74   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Former Senator Selina Meyer finds that being Vice President of the United States is nothing like she hoped and everything that everyone ever warned her about.

• Of Human Bondage | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £7.78   |  Saving you £-1.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The love that lifted a man to paradise... and hurled him back to earth again! This film is based on W. Somerset Maugham's classic novel of a young medical student's strange infatuation with a cheap and vulgar cockney waitress (Bette Davis). The infatuation turns into a mutually destructive affair. This is the film that brought Bette Davis to fame and secured her future roles as a tough domineering woman. Fine acting by the entire cast with Davis an absolute knock-out.

• Disney & Pixar's Toy Story 4 | Blu Ray | (21/10/2019) from £7.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When Bonnie takes the toys on her family's road trip, Woody ends up on an unexpected detour that includes a reunion with his long-lost friend Bo Peep, whose adventurous spirit and life on the road belie her delicate porcelain exterior. Woody and Bo are worlds apart when it comes to life as a toy, and they soon realise that that's the least of their worries.

• Cinderella 1,2 & 3 Box Set | DVD | (27/08/2012) from £18.08   |  Saving you £-3.57 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.51

  CinderellaCinderella has faith her dreams of a better life will come true. With help from her loyal mice friends and a wave of her Fairy Godmothers wand, Cinderella's rags are magically turned into a glorious gown and off she goes to the Royal Ball to meet her Prince. But when the clock strikes midnight, the spell is broken, leaving only a single glass slipper, a slipper that will be the key to the ultimate fairy-tale ending!Cinderella II: Dreams Come TrueAs a newly crowned princess, Cinderella quickly learns that life at the Palace and her royal responsibilities are more challenging than she had imagined. In three heart warming tales, Cinderella calls on her animal friends and her Fairy Godmother to help as she brings her own grace and charm to her regal role and discovers that being true to yourself is the best way to make your dreams come true.Cinderella III: A Twist In TimePrincess Cinderella is living a charmingly perfect life until her stepmother gets her hands on Fairy Godmothers magic wand. With a wicked spell that turns back the clock, she erases the Prince's memories of the girl he met at the ball and shatters Cinderella's happily ever after! Jaq and Gus scurry to save the day before time runs out. But was it all really just a dream in Cinderella's heart, or will truelove triumph over all?

• Young At Heart | DVD | (28/05/2001) from £10.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (63.84%)   |  RRP £17.99

• Santa Fe Trail | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £9.58   |  Saving you £-4.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Hollywood journeyman par excellence Michael Curtiz directs this historical Western which tells the stories of confederate soldier Jeb Stuart (Errol Flynn) and General George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan) as they fight abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey).

• The Death and Return of Superman | DVD | (27/01/2020) from £4.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Death of Superman and The Reign of the Supermen in once epic film! Based on the acclaimed DC storyline, the gripping saga The Death and Return of Superman is presented here is an unabridged, seamless animated feature - over two hours of nonstop action. Witness the no-holds-barred battle between the Justice League and an unstoppable alien force known only as Doomsday. It's a fight only Superman can finish, and one that will forever change the face of Metropolis. So take flight and joing the Man of Steel on an epic and unforgettable journey.

• For Pete's Sake | DVD | (04/11/2002) from £25.00   |  Saving you £-12.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  For Pete's Sake is a bright-eyed romantic comedy about a young couple, the eternally optimistic Henrietta (Barbra Streisand) and her husband Pete (Michael Sarrazin), who works by day as a cab driver while studying at night school. Money is tight, a fact constantly brought home to them by Pete's successful but tedious brother, Fred (William Redfield) and his bitchy wife Helen (Estelle Parsons, quite superb here). When Pete hears of an opportunity to make money on the stock market (on pork bellies, of all things) he's desperate to get his hands on $3,000, believing it will make everything come right. After conventional sources have turned them down, Henrietta secretly turns to a loan shark on the understanding that he'll be paid back in a week. The comedy arises when the shares in pork do a belly flop and her contract is sold on to increasingly dubious characters at increasingly exorbitant rates of interest. Thus, we have her taken on by a high-class madam and getting embroiled in bomb-planting and cattle-rustling. As a vehicle for Streisand-the-actress rather than Streisand-the-singer, it certainly works (though she does perform the vapid title-song), her manic comedic skill chiming well with the demands of her character in this amiable piece of froth. On the DVD: For Pete's Sake is pretty thin on the special features front: theatrical trailers; a director's commentary (reasonably worthwhile); and basic filmographies. The picture has come up surprisingly well given its age, and though it's in mono, there are no complaints about the sound either. --Harriet Smith

• Big Wednesday | DVD | (01/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  John Milius charts a decade of social change as three surfing buddies use the sport as a personal touchstone for their lives whilst growing up in the turbulent 1960s. Irresponsible hot-dogging legend Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent),serious and stable Jack (William Katt) and mad misfit Leroy, aka "Masochist" (Gary Busey), are teenage surf bums in 1963, living at the beach in a perpetual summer under the sway of surfboard-maker Bear (Sam Melville), guru, mentor, and keeper of the lore. But times are changing and boys grow up in the shadow of Vietnam while adulthood pushes them into hard decisions. John Milius mixes the nostalgia of American Graffiti with the reverence of a John Ford cavalry drama. Surfing becomes a kind of spiritual quest spoken of in awed mythic tones and photographed with the epic grandeur of a rite of passage. Milius's heavy-handed direction andr everent attitude slows the films and will turn off some viewers but Milius fans will appreciate his macho stylings and philosophical musings, and surfing fans will love the spectacular surfing footage, including the dazzling stylings of world champion Gerry Lopez (who Milius later cast in Conan the Barbarian). Lee Purcell costars as Matt's supportive wife, with Patti D'Arbanville, Barbara Hale and Robert Englund in supporting roles. Look for Ford stock player Hank Worden in a small role and Milius himself in a cameo role selling marijuana in Tijuana. --Sean Axmaker

• Yus, My Dear - Series 1 | DVD | (25/05/2009) from £8.11   |  Saving you £4.88 (60.17%)   |  RRP £12.99

  After many years living on a caravan site Wally and Lil have a new home and a good income. All would be well if it were not for his brother Benny...

• Mahler | DVD | (23/01/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  From its stunning opening sequence, featuring Georgina Hale (who plays the wife of Gustav Mahler in this Ken Russell film) isolated in full mummy wrap and writhing with erotic yearning to the lush strains of her husband's music, Mahler distinguishes itself as the most poetic and archetypal of Russell's great-composer works. A kind of cinematic response to Luchino Visconti's 1971 adaptation of Death in Venice, in which Dirk Bogarde plays a Mahler-esque composer in search of beauty in the plague-filled city, Mahler stars Robert Powell as the great Jewish romantic from 19th-century Vienna, drafting enormous symphonic works in the midst of rising anti-Semitism. Converting to Christianity as a means of survival, Mahler carries on with his work but experiences an erosion of his health and sense of identity. Meanwhile, his self-effacing spouse represses her own creative drives to keep the resident genius afloat, plugging every leak and receding all but invisible into the woodwork. While the film is the least ostentatious of Russell's movies about music, it is hardly conventional--a mix of lyrical tableaux and comic fantasy that adds up to a stirring, dream-like experience. --Tom Keogh

• Veep - Season 5 | DVD | (10/04/2017) from £8.99   |  Saving you £3.97 (44.16%)   |  RRP £12.96

  Created by Armando Iannucci (Oscar® nominee for co-writing In the Loop), Veep takes a sharp, satirical look at the insular world of Washington politics, following the whirlwind day-to-day existence of the onetime VP and now-President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus in her Emmy®-winning role). Picking up where S4 left off, Season 5 finds Selina in the midst of a virtually unprecedented Electoral College tie with her future as President coming down to only a few hundred votes. With Amy and Dan on the ground in Nevada working on a recount, Selina finds herself spinning her wheels in D.C., as her staff continues their mission to make her seem presidential (even though she is the President) while fending off the ambitions of her charismatic Vice Presidential running mate Tom James, who in a twist of obscure constitutional procedure could end up becoming President. Over the course of this season's 10 episodes, with the stakes for Selina higher than ever before, Veep continues to prove that in Washington, even the most banal decisions can have ripple effects with unexpected and often hilarious consequences. Episodes: 1. Morning After 2.Nev-AD-a 3.The Eagle 4.Mother 5.Thanksgiving 6. C**tgate 7. Congressional Ball 8. Camp David 9. Kissing Your Sister 10. Inauguration Extras: Deleted Scenes 6 Episode Commentaries

• The Watcher In The Woods | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  An American family moves into a spooky manor house located within a wooded area in the English countryside. Before long they start to see some odd things like mirrors that don't reflect and the ghost of a blindfolded girl. The new tenants learn that 30 years ago a teenage girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to their daughter Jan disappeared nearby. Soon the supernatural presence starts contacting both sisters.

• Cinderella 2 - Dreams Come True | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £9.25   |  Saving you £10.74 (116.11%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Disney has once again "sequelised" a classic feature with Cinderella II: Dreams Come True. With smart foresight, the filmmakers choose to go with three snappy short films to comprise this 73-minute feature with the Fairy Godmother granting wishes to various characters. In the opening short, Cinderella must pursue life as queen. Several feathers are ruffled as she brings her down-home ways to the castle (bring the commoners in and open those darn curtains). In the other tales, one of Cinderella's animal pals receives a chance to see the world quite differently and finally, Anastasia, Cinderella's formerly evil stepsister, finds love with a little help. As with the other sequels, the look of the film helps bring the distance between the original and the sequel (here over 50 years) come together seamlessly. Little ones from age four to nine should be entertained while purists may be a bit aghast. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

• In Like Flint / Our Man Flint | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £14.35   |  Saving you £0.64 (4.46%)   |  RRP £14.99

  There's really been only one rival to James Bond: Derek Flint in the swinging-60s action-comedies Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967). That's because of James Coburn's special brand of American cool. He's so cool, in fact, that he doesn't care to save the world. That is, until he's personally threatened. He's a true libertarian, with more gadgets and girls than Bond, but with none of his stress or responsibility. Our Man Flint finds our unflappable hero thwarting mad scientists who control the weather--and an island of pleasure drones. Lee J Cobb costars as Flint's flustered superior, and Edward Mulhare plays a British nemesis with snob appeal. For fans of Austin Powers, incidentally, the funny-sounding phone comes from the Flint films. However, Our Man Flint's best gadget remains the watch that enables Flint to feign death. There's a great Jerry Goldsmith score, too. There was bound to be a sequel, and In Like Flint delivers the same kind of zany fun as its predecessor. Flint is recruited once again by Lee J Cobb to be the government's top secret agent, this time to solve a mishap involving the President. It turns out, the Chief Executive has been replaced by an evil duplicate. The new plan for world domination involves feminine aggression, and Flint, with his overpowering charisma, is just the man to turn the hostile forces around. In Like Flint is still over the top, but some of the novelty has worn off, and it doesn't have quite the same edge as the original. Even Jerry Goldsmith's score is a bit more subdued. But the film still has James Coburn and that funny phone. --Bill Desowitz

• Veep The Complete Series | DVD | (13/01/2020) from £57.25   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Politics is about people, former Sen. Selina Meyer is fond of saying. Unfortunately, the people Meyer, a charismatic leader and rising star in her party, meets after becoming vice president are nothing like she expected, but everything she was warned about. Veep follows the VP as she puts out political fires, juggles her public schedule and private life, and does everything within her limited powers to improve her dysfunctional relationship with the chief executive. Meyer's trusted, and some not-so-trusted, sidekicks include chief of staff Amy, one-time spokesperson Mike, and right-hand man Gary.

• Disney & Pixar's Toy Story 4 | Blu Ray | (21/10/2019) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When Bonnie takes the toys on her family's road trip, Woody ends up on an unexpected detour that includes a reunion with his long-lost friend Bo Peep, whose adventurous spirit and life on the road belie her delicate porcelain exterior. Woody and Bo are worlds apart when it comes to life as a toy, and they soon realise that that's the least of their worries.