"Actor: Hurst"

• Buddy | DVD | (11/03/2002) from £11.38   |  Saving you £-2.40 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on the life of Gertrude Lintz, a Long Island socialite who kept an amazing menagerie of animals on her estate, this very able film by Caroline Thompson (Black Beauty) concentrates on Lintz's relationship with a gorilla named Buddy, whom she raised from infancy on. The film is geared toward kids but in the very best sense as Thompson orchestrates some very entertaining sequences without cutting corners on logic, the way most forms of children's entertainment do today. Rene Russo is very good as the eccentric woman, and Robbie Coltrane is uncharacteristically warm and fuzzy as her patient husband. Nice support work from Alan Cumming and the rest of the cast. Thompson is aiming for something akin to the live-action glory days of Disney, and she comes close to achieving it. --Tom Keogh

• Maddigan's Quest | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In a strange post-apocalyptic world the city of Solis is the centre of human civilisation. But dark forces are at work in Solis. There are rumours of spies and betrayal. And the city is cut off from the solar cells it needs for power. Without power Solis is doomed. Solis' only hope lies with Maddigan's Quest; a circus troupe that travels the dangerous shifting roads of their world visiting outlying communities performing entertaining and telling stories. At the heart of the tr

• Smoke | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £6.73   |  Saving you £8.26 (55.10%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Departing from the conventions of Hollywood story-telling 'Smoke' is constructed like an emotional jigsaw puzzle: pieces interweave and interconnect to form an intricate whole. Unrelated characters - a cigar store manager (Harvey Keitel) who has taken photographs in front of his store at the same hour every day for 14 years; a novelist (William Hurt) unable to go on writing after his wife is killed in a random act of street violence; a man (Forest Whitaker) who ran away from his past

• The Thief Of Bagdad | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Dating from 1924 this Thief of Bagdad is justifiably billed here as "one of the truly great silent films of the 1920s." As the forerunner of generations of magical, effect-laden fantasy epics, its importance is practically immeasurable. And still, after eight decades, it has startling, thrilling qualities which the finest computer graphics would struggle to surpass. Douglas Fairbanks, co-founder of United Artists, is the eponymous hero, swindling, fighting and leaping his way to true love through a series of adventures which take him from a magnificently surreal Bagdad to enchanted forests, ocean bottoms and magic carpet rides. "Happiness must be earned," is the motto; Fairbanks and his director Raoul Walsh certainly don't short-change their audience in bringing it to life. The effects are stunning, with a particularly gruesome slaying of a monster. Every scene is crammed with detail and incident. Fairbanks is a whirlwind of muscular, balletic flamboyance. And while his princess (Julanne Johnson) is a stereotype of vapidity, there's gleamingly malevolent support from Anna May Wong as the evil Mongol Slave Girl. Over two hours of sheer enjoyment belie the notion that cinematic sophistication is a modern achievement. On the DVD: The Thief of Bagdad disc presents the restored and remastered print (the tints have a luminous quality) complete with a 1975 score by master organist Gaylord Carter--you can almost feel the Wurlitzer rising from the pit of your entertainment centre. The audio essay, written by film historian R Dixon Smith, is an invaluable extra, providing essential information on how the picture was made and how the art designers played with proportion to create many of the visual tricks and a fantastical atmosphere. --Piers Ford

• Bobby Moore - Hero | DVD | (19/04/2010) from £14.55   |  Saving you £-0.56 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  This two-hour DVD from director Tony Palmer celebrates the extraordinary life of Bobby Moore. Described by veteran sports journalist the late Ian Wooldridge as the best sports documentary I have ever seen the film stars all the 1966 World Cup heroes plus contributions from Michael Caine Pele Harry Redknapp David Beckham George Best Jimmy Greaves and members of Moore's family. Bobby Moore remains an iconic figure and inspiration for generations of football players and fans - a rags-to-riches fairy tale and a special moment in English history. He was the first (and so far only) English captain to hold the World Cup in his hands. Bobby Moore's journey from the poverty-stricken East End to becoming the most famous man in England came to symbolise the triumph of a country and of an entire generation. This film tells the true story of the man and the footballer. All his football contemporaries in the England team of 1966 were interviewed - among them Bobby and Jack Charlton Geoff Hurst Martin Peters Alan Ball and George Cohen - as well as iconic figures such as David Beckham George Best Harry Redknapp Jimmy Greaves Terry Venables Franz Beckenbauer Pel'' Michael Caine Denis Law Jimmy Tarbuck Alan Shearer and Malcolm Allison; and most importantly Bobby Moore's Aunt Ina daughter Roberta and son Dean as well as both his wives Tina & Stephanie. Their eye-witness accounts together with a special contribution from Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell) football footage of England's campaigns in 1966 and 1970 and archive film of Bobby Moore's parents and of Alf Ramsey throughout that period make this film a unique family record of an extraordinary man.

• Jailbirds / Maximum Security / Dangerous Orphans | DVD | (06/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Jailbirds: Four women escape from prison and in a dramatic reversal of roles kidnap a minibus full of female tennis players who they keep hostage in the cellar of an isolated villa. Soon all the pent up sexuality of their former imprisonment bursts into a violent explosion of desire and depravity... Maximum Security: A life sentence is a lifetime of hell in Maximum Security. To survive you must be quick with your hands bit in Harry's case he prefers to be quick with a joke. Unfortunately for him he's going to realise that nothing is tougher than life in prison...except surviving it. Dangerous Orphans: Growing up in an orphanage Harry Moir and Rossi were like brothers. Now grown they are quite literally as thick as thieves. In the past they have all been small time crooks but an opportunity arises which could not only make them rich it could also avenge the death of one of their fathers.

• Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (Silent Classics) | DVD | (01/02/2010) from £8.98   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Classic silent adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel about a doctor who conducts experiments that are intended to reveal the dark hidden nature of man and unwittingly ends up developing a murderous alter ego.

• Hercules - The Legendary Journeys - Season 1 - Part 1 | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Features the original TV movies 'Hercules And The Amazon Women' 'Hercules And The Lost Kingdom' 'Hercules And The Circle Of Fire' 'Hercules In The Underworld' and 'Hercules In The Maze Of The Minotaur' plus the first three episodes of the first series.

• Lone Star State Of Mind | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £6.73   |  Saving you £13.26 (66.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With a couple grand in the bank and a dream in their hearts Earl Crest (Jackson) and his girlfriend Baby (King) plan their escape to Los Angeles from their hometown of Bennett Texas. But a dim-witted cousin (Qualls) an ex-con and an angry drug lord threaten to derail their plans. Now with just 48 hours to straighten things out Earl finds himself in a middle of a mess - bigger than the entire state of Texas!

• John Barrymore Collection | DVD | (14/04/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  The John Barrymore Collection (3 Discs)

• The Night We Never Met | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sam Lester is looking for an apartment in a city where affordable accomodation is hard to find. One advert leads him to the ideal place but there is a catch; he must share with two other tenants who are already using the apartment on alternate days...

• The Gilded Cage | DVD | (27/05/2013) from £12.13   |  Saving you £0.86 (6.60%)   |  RRP £12.99

  American actor Alex Nicol heads the cast of this 1954 British crime melodrama The Gilded Cage. Steve (Alex Nicol) a US security officer finds that his brother in London is involved in a racket to smuggle a priceless painting out of the country. Things hot up a murder is committed and the brothers are caught up in the affair and have to fight hard to expose the gang behind the smuggling and murder. A Tempean production directed by John Gilling produced by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman responsible for the TV adventure series The Saint.

• Looking For Miracles | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Set in 1935 this is the story of sixteen year old Ryan Delaney who takes a job as a camp counsellor. He is surprised to learn that he will be responsible for his younger brother Sullivan who has spent most of his life living away with relatives. Together the brothers discover the meaning of 'family'.

• Smoke / Blue In The Face | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Smoke (Dir. Wayne Wang 1995): Departing from the conventions of Hollywood story-telling Smoke is constructed like an emotional jigsaw puzzle: pieces interweave and interconnect to form an intricate whole. Unrelated characters - a cigar store manager (Harvey Keitel) who has taken photographs in front of his store at the same hour every day for 14 years; a novelist (William Hurt) unable to go on writing after his wife is killed in a random act of street violence; a man (Forest Whitaker) who ran away from his past and tries to start over after accidentally killing his wife. These characters amongst others making their way through the lonely urban landscape might seem to have little in common. But in the couse of this motion picture they cross paths by chance and end up changing each other's lives in indelible ways. Blue in the Face (Dir. Wayne Wang & Paul Auster 1995): The companion film to Smoke Blue In The Face is about a motley crew of characters whose lives intersect and collide at a corner cigar shop in Brooklyn managed by Augie Wren (Harvey Keitel). More of a neighbourhood institution then a money-making proposition the shop may soon be a memory as the owner is thinking of selling it to a health food chain. The neighbourhood is on hand to give their say - in a series of hilarious situations they talk until they are blue in the face in this movie about relationships the city and sex.

• One Good Turn | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Reunited with many of the team behind Trouble in Store (1953), his smash hit of the previous year, for his second starring role Norman Wisdom played the oldest orphan of Greenwood Children's Home. Having being raised in the home Norman has stayed on as odd-job man, a role which ideally suits his man-child persona. Not only does he have to find the money to buy one of the orphans a model car, but after a visit to Brighton he discovers Greenwood is due to be closed down by the home's own unscrupulous chairman, a property developer with plans to build a factory on the site. Also starring Thora Hird, One Good Turn was surely a film with a personal resonance for Wisdom who was himself brought-up in an orphanage after his mother died and his father was unable to raise him. As would become a tradition, he contributes a song, "Please Opportunity", and the movie, though produced by Rank, now sits easily in that classic Ealing era where the ordinary man took on the big guys and won. The innocent knockabout humour remains appealing and it is simply impossible not to like Norman Wisdom. The film's success led directly to the aptly named Man of the Moment (1955). --Gary S Dalkin

• Zero Patience | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In this wacky musical with a message the ghost of Patient Zero the French-Canadian flight attendant who allegedly first brought AIDS to Canada materialises and tries to contact old friends... A timely and eccentric musical that serves up water baller dancing jungle animals and singing butt puppets to explore the politics of AIDS scapegoating!

• Jonestown | DVD | (06/04/2009) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The film recounts the horrific suicide of more than 900 followers of the Rev. Jim Jones who had followed him to his self-styled South American Shangri-La. The tragedy following the shooting of California Rep. Leo Ryan who had come to Jonestown to investigate various allegations about mistreatment of cult members.

• Xena - Warrior Princess - Series 1 - Part 2 | DVD | (05/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  First aired in 1995 Xena: Warrior Princess now boasts a huge cult following. Xena is a charismatic and highly-skilled warrior from ancient times. This DVD box set contains half of the first season of this action-packed series. Episodes Comprise: 1. Ties That Bind 2. The Greater Good 3. Callisto 4. Death Mask 5. Is There A Doctor In The House? 6. Dreamworker 7. Cradle Of Hope 8. The Path Not Taken 9. The Reckoning 10. The Titans 11. Prometheus 12. Death In Chains Please note that the episodes on the discs are not in the chronological order of the series.

• Jack Black Pack - School Of Rock / Orange County | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £6.34   |  Saving you £23.64 (705.67%)   |  RRP £26.99

  While it invites charges of Hollywood nepotism, Orange County overcomes that stigma with a delightful cast of newcomers and veterans alike. It's no better or worse than many teen comedies, but director Jake Kasdan (son of director Lawrence Kasdan) astutely combines teen-flick staples (stoner gags, raucous parties) with a biting undercurrent of southern California absurdity. This comedic texture helps Colin Hanks (son of Tom) and Schuyler Fisk (daughter of Sissy Spacek) to prove their big-screen promise. They play (respectively) an Orange County teen and aspiring writer named Shaun who yearns for admission to Stanford, and his sensible girlfriend who knows just how to nurture his dreams. Much of the comedy arises from the foibles of Shaun's dysfunctional family (played to perfection by Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara and John Lithgow), while unbilled cameos by Ben Stiller and Kevin Kline add zest to a movie that tries to be different, and mostly succeeds. --Jeff Shannon

• Angel And The Badman | DVD | (10/12/2001) from £9.69   |  Saving you £3.30 (34.06%)   |  RRP £12.99