"Actor: Hannes Messemer"

• The Great Escape | DVD | (01/02/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The all time classic tale of a massive escape from a World War Two German Prisoner of War camp released as a two disc DVD set with a host of extra features.

• The Odessa File | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Originally released in 1974, The Odessa File is set in Hamburg a decade earlier. Its starting-point is the Nazi support network Odessa, and its involvement with Egyptian plans to destroy Israel. Peter Miller is a freelance journalist whose interest appears initially to be a professional one, before a personal dimension finally becomes apparent in his confrontation with SS Captain Roschmann. Kenneth Ross adapts a well-honed screenplay from Frederick Forsyth's bestseller, and director Ronald Neame captures a typically Cold War sense of individuals and organisations playing out a scenario of political right and wrong. John Voight, long before he became a cameo star, makes a sympathetic lead, able to judge between the moral and material aspects of his profession. Mary Tamm is photogenic, if uninvolving, as his girlfriend, while Maximillian Schell is a convincing Nazi stereotype. Andrew Lloyd-Weber contributes a serviceable score, centred on the catchy "Christmas Dream" sung by Perry Como. Not a classic suspense thriller, but an enjoyable and thoughtful one. On the DVD: the letterbox widescreen format preserves the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of the cinema release with decent if not exceptional clarity, with optional 16:9 TV enhancement. There are French, German, Italian and Spanish overdubs, and subtitles in 21 languages. Detailed filmographies for Neame, Voight and Schell are included and the theatrical trailer is to the point in a way they so rarely are these days. --Richard Whitehouse

• The Great Escape - World Cup Special Edition | DVD | (20/05/2002) from £10.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (109.19%)   |  RRP £22.99

  A stirring example of courage and the indomitable human spirit, for many John Sturges' The Great Escape is both the definitive World War II drama and the nonpareil prison escape movie. Featuring an unequalled ensemble cast in a rivetingly authentic true-life scenario set to Elmer Bernstein's admirable music (who writes contrapuntal march themes these days?), this picture is both a template for subsequent action-adventure movies and one of the last glories of Golden Age Hollywood. Reunited with the director who made him a star in The Magnificent Seven Steve McQueen presents a career-defining performance as the laconic Hilts, the baseball-loving, motorbike-riding "Cooler King". The rest of the all-male Anglo-American cast--Dickie Attenborough, Donald Pleasance, James Garner, Charles Bronson, David McCallum, James Coburn and Gordon Jackson--make the most of their meaty roles (though you have to forgive Coburn his Australian accent). Closely based on Paul Brickhill's book, the various escape attempts, scrounging, forging and ferreting activities are authentically realised thanks also to the presence of technical advisor Wally Flood on set, one of the original tunnel-digging POWs. Sturges orchestrates the climactic mass break-out with total conviction, giving us both high action and very poignant human drama. Without trivialising the grim reality, The Great Escape thrillingly celebrates the heroism of men who never gave up the fight. On the DVD: The Great Escape World Cup Special Edition includes all the features of the two-disc special edition, plus a full-size St George's Cross England flag, a feature on England footballers' World Cup memories and World Cup-themed packaging. --Mark Walker

• The Great Escape - Special Edition | DVD | (04/12/2006) from £6.20   |  Saving you £13.79 (222.42%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The all time classic tale of a massive escape from a World War Two German Prisoner of War camp released as a two disc DVD set with a host of extra features.

• Il Generale Della Rovere | DVD | (04/07/2011) from £12.13   |  Saving you £7.86 (39.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Roberto Rossellini's box-office success after a string of commercial failures notably with Ingrid Bergman was also a return to the themes of the films which brought him international fame Rome Open City and his other neorealist classics. Based on an article by the Italian journalist Indro Montanelli Rossellini casts Vittorio De Sica as confidence trickster Emanuele Bardone who helps to save Italians arrested by the Gestapo or at least pretending to do so in exchange for money or gifts from their family. When he attempts to save a man already executed he is turned over by the man's wife and is given the choice of execution or carrying out a confidence trick for the Germans; to assume the identity of the General Della Rovere. Turning on his country to save his skin Bardone enters prison to seek out the identity of the partisan commander Fabrizio. Arrow Academy is pleased to present Roberto Rossellini's gripping resistance story with Vittorio De Sica in one of his greatest performances on DVD for the first time in the UK.

• Criterion Collection: Great Escape (2 Dvd) | DVD | (12/05/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A