"Actor: Jack Ward"

• Being There | DVD | (10/02/2003) from £16.77   |  Saving you £-2.78 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Hal Ashby's much-praised Being There stars Peter Sellers in what was perhaps his finest comic performance. Chance the gardener has spent his entire life in an old man's house and has no idea of the world outside except for what television has given him. Sellers manages to make his innocence touching and oddly impressive rather than an offensive exploitation of disability. Jerzy Kozinski's screenplay neither entirely endorses nor discounts the twin possibilities that Chance's simplicity and closeness to the natural world give him access to real wisdom, or that he is simply a blank on whom people project what they want to see and hear. What is clear is that he gives his dying friend Ben (Jack Warden) peace of mind and consoles Ben's wife (Shirley Maclaine). Whether he's being groomed for the Presidency or appearing to walk on water, he always does something right, and the same is true for Sellers' minimalist performance. On the DVD: Being There is presented in a widescreen visual aspect of 1.85:1 and has 1.0 Dolby Digital mono sound; it comes with the original theatrical trailer, information about the stars and director and a list of the film's awards. --Roz Kaveny

• Run Silent, Run Deep | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £8.30   |  Saving you £4.69 (56.51%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A movie's lasting value can often be measured by its influence in the years and decades following its original release, and on that basis Run Silent, Run Deep is certainly a classic of sorts. It remains one of the seminal World War II submarine pictures, and its intelligent script and tautly executed action are clearly echoed in such later submarine dramas as Das Boot and especially Crimson Tide, which borrows liberally from this 1958 film. In one of his best and final roles (he appeared in only four films after this), Clark Gable plays a submarine captain without a command, having been saddled with a desk job after his previous ship was destroyed due to his overzealous pursuit of the enemy in dangerous Japanese waters. He finally gets another boat--this time with a vigilant first officer (Burt Lancaster), who stands poised to assume command if Gable puts his crew in unnecessary danger. The tension and mutual respect between these two principled men is superbly written and directed (Robert Wise was just two years away from his triumph with West Side Story), and the crucial inclusion of a strong supporting cast (including Jack Warden and Don Rickles) enhances the movie's compelling authenticity. Based on a novel by former submarine commander Edward L. Beach, Run Silent, Run Deep is rousing entertainment with the added benefit of paying honourable tribute to the men who navigated through the most frightening and claustrophobic channels of the Pacific cinema. --Jeff Shannon

• Bell, Book And Candle | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £11.33   |  Saving you £1.66 (14.65%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bell, Book and Candle (1958) is a sparkling, exotic and intelligent comedy based on John Van Druten's original play about the unlikely subject of witchcraft in Manhattan. In his last romantic lead role, James Stewart is publisher Shep Henderson, sucked into the underworld of Greenwich Village by the extraordinarily beautiful Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak). Their liaison kicks off when Gillian employs her skills to indulge in a bit of fun. By the time Shep gets wise and rejects the artificial premise for a relationship, she has sacrificed her powers to emotional awakening and all is set for a happy ending. Largely thanks to an eccentric supporting cast, which includes Jack Lemmon as Gillian's warlock brother, Hermione Gingold as a fruity nightclub owner and Elsa Lanchester as Gillian's dotty aunt, the film has a delightfully off-centre quality. It's also a bittersweet allegory about being different. "We forfeit everything and then we end up in a little world of separateness from everyone", sighs Gillian. Novak is at the height of her beauty and here, as in her other 1958 triumph Vertigo (also with Stewart), her other-worldly quality fits the character so perfectly that her thespian limitations are well disguised. It's entrancing in every sense. On the DVD: Bell, Book and Candle's vibrant Technicolor explodes from the screen in this DVD release, which is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions. Everything looks fresh and new--particularly the exotic nightclub scenes--and the mono soundtrack has lasted well. Extras include selected filmographies and original trailers, and detailed background in the booklet notes. --Piers Ford

• Tracy Beaker - The Movie Of Me | DVD | (25/07/2005) from £7.27   |  Saving you £-1.32 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.95

  Tracy is loud funny gutsy brittle and creative. She's bright as a button with an answer for everything and always thinks she knows best. Tracy is a born leader who loves bossing everyone around. She has not seen her mum for quite a while and things weren't that great when she was with her. Then on the eve of her 13th birthday...

• Problem Child 1/2/3 (Box set) | DVD | (19/10/2020) from £13.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  PROBLEM CHILD- Ben Healy (John Ritter) and his social climbing wife Flo adopt Junior a fun-loving seven year old. But they soon discover he's a little monster as he turns a camping trip, a birthday party and even a baseball game into comic nightmares. PROBELM CHILD 2- Junior the monster is now back as him and Ben, his adoptive father, move to Mortville, 'the world's capital of divorce'. There, Ben falls in love with a beautiful but mean-minded rich woman, Lawanda Dumore, who wants to marry him and eliminate Junior. PROBLEM CHILD 3- That little devil Junior is back once more and he's just as naughty as ever! In this, the third edition in the hilarious Problem Child series, Junior is persuaded to join in with other children in various fun activities - including dancing.

• All The President's Men | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It helps to have one of history's greatest scoops as your factual inspiration, but journalism thrillers just don't get any better than All the President's Men. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford are perfectly matched as (respectively) Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose investigation into the Watergate scandal set the stage for President Richard Nixon's eventual resignation. Their bestselling exposé was brilliantly adapted by screenwriter William Goldman, and director Alan Pakula crafted the film into one of the most intelligent and involving of the 1970s paranoid thrillers. Featuring Jason Robards in his Oscar-winning role as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, All the President's Men is the film against which all other journalism movies must be measured. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Doris Day | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £16.32   |  Saving you £33.67 (206.31%)   |  RRP £49.99

  A collection of six classic Doris Day movies in one bumper value box set! Young At Heart (1955) Barney Sloan (Frank Sinatra) is a cynical down-on-his-luck musician who reluctantly agrees to help his composer friend Alex Burke (Gig Young) with a new comedy he is working on. However Barney gains a new perspective on life and love when he meets Alex's irrepressibly perky fiancee Laurie (Doris Day) - and promptly falls in love with her! Lover Come Back (1961) Account ex

• The Green Berets | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £10.35   |  Saving you £3.64 (35.17%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Anyone who fought in Vietnam can tell you that the war bore little resemblance to this propagandistic action film starring and codirected by John Wayne. But Green Berets itself is not nearly as bad as its reputation would suggest; critics roasted its gung-ho politics while ignoring its merits as an exciting (if rather conventional and idealistic) war movie. Some notorious mistakes were made--in the final shot, the sun sets in the east!--and it's an awkward attempt to graft WWII heroics onto the Vietnam experience. But as the Duke's attempt to acknowledge the men who were fighting and dying overseas, it's a rousing film in which Wayne commands a regiment on a mission to kidnap a Viet Cong general. David Janssen plays a journalist who learns to understand Wayne's commitment to battling Communism, and Jim Hutton (Timothy's dad) plays an ill-fated soldier who adopts a Vietnamese orphan. --Jeff Shannon

• Bullets Over Broadway | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £14.19   |  Saving you £1.80 (12.68%)   |  RRP £15.99

  One of Woody Allen's best films of the 90s, Bullets Over Broadway stars John Cusack as a virtual Woody surrogate, a neurotic, Jazz Age writer whose new play sounds wooden and unrealistic to a low-level mobster (Chazz Palminteri) assigned to watch over his boss's actress-girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly). When the hood starts contributing better story ideas and dialogue than what the official playwright can conjure, questions (not unlike those of Amadeus) about the price we pay to make art at the expense of other responsibilities are intriguingly raised. Palminteri gives a very interesting performance as the enforcer waking up to the desperate (and almost feminine) demands of his own creative psyche, and Dianne Wiest (who won an Oscar), Tracey Ullman, Jim Broadbent and Jennifer Tilly are very funny together playing the ensemble cast of Cusack's play. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• The Champ | DVD | (05/05/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Broadway Danny Rose | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £6.90   |  Saving you £9.09 (131.74%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Broadway Danny Rose is vintage Woody Allen. Danny (Allen) is a down-at-heel theatrical agent whose regular clients include talking bird acts and a man who twists balloons into animal shapes. His faith in these eccentrics never fails, despite the fact that everyone leaves him for another agent in the end. Complications ensue when one of his clients, an overweight crooner, starts a romance with a mafia widow (excellently played by Allen's partner of the time, Mia Farrow). The mob think Danny is her boyfriend, forcing the two of them to take evasive action, at one point dodging bullets among giant floats for a forthcoming Fourth of July parade. The script is witty, the acting superb, the situations inventive. The film is shot in black and white and looks superb for it. On the DVD: The DVD is widescreen, with extremely clear sound so you won't miss a single wisecrack. Dialogue is available in French, German, Italian and Spanish as well as English. It's a pity, however--since the film is so short (84 minutes)--that there are no extras apart from the theatrical trailer. --Ed Buscombe

• Muppets - The Great Muppet Caper | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £7.08   |  Saving you £7.91 (111.72%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Stop the presses! The crime of the century has occurred and investigative reporters Kermit the Frog Fozzie Bear and The Great Gonzo are out to crack the case in this song-filled star-studded extravaganza directed by the legendary Jim Henson. Our heroes arrive in London to interview Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg) a high-fashion designer whose priceless diamond necklace has just been stolen. But when Kermit mistakes the lovely receptionist/would be model Miss Piggy for her aristocra

• Lover Come Back | DVD | (17/01/2005) from £4.90   |  Saving you £5.09 (103.88%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Jerry Webster (Hudson) and Carol Templeton (Day) are rival Madison Avenue advertising executives who each dislike each other's methods. After he steals a client out from under her cute little nose revenge prompts her to infiltrate his secret VIP campaign in order to persuade the mystery product's scientist to switch to her firm. Trouble is the product is phony and the scientist is Jerry who uses all his intelligence and charm to steal her heart!

• David Lean Collection | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A collection of classic films from famed British director David Lean. Bridge On The River Kwai (1957): When British P.O.W.s build a vital railway bridge in enemy occupied Burma Allied commandos are assigned to destroy it in David Lean's epic World War II adventure The Bridge on the River Kwai. Spectacularly produced The Bridge on the River Kwai captured the imagination of the public and won seven 1957 Academy Awards including Best Picture Be

• Cape Fear Box Set (1962 & 1991 versions) | DVD | (14/01/2002) from £49.99   |  Saving you £-25.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The original 1962 version of Cape Fear is directed by J Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone) in a deliberately Hitchcockian manner, and stars Robert Mitchum as a creepy ex-con angry at the attorney (Gregory Peck) whom he believes is responsible for his incarceration. After Mitchum makes clear his plans to harm Peck's family, a fascinating game of crisscrossing ethics and morality takes place. Superior to Martin Scorsese's punishing 1991 remake, which seems trapped in its explicitness, Thompson's film accomplishes a lot with a more economical and telling use of violence. The result is a rich character study that explores the nature of guilt. Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake dabbles a bit in some fascinating psychological crosscurrents between its characters, but it finally trades in all that rich material for extensive and gratuitous violence. Robert De Niro plays a serial rapist released from prison after 14 years. Angry because his appalled attorney (Nick Nolte) made it easy for him to be convicted, this monster is out to hurt Nolte's character through his wife (Jessica Lange) and daughter (Juliette Lewis). The themes of interlocking guilt and anger between these people suggests a smart film in the making. But the final act, set on a boat with De Niro's vengeful pervert attacking Nolte and the two women, takes a more unfortunate direction. The stars of the original film, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, each make a cameo appearance. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• The Presidio | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £9.12   |  Saving you £3.87 (42.43%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In The Presidio the titular piece of real estate is the San Francisco military base that starts at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge and sprawls back into the city itself, co-existing uneasily with Baghdad by the Bay. The two cultures clash when a murder at the Presidio is assigned to civilian police detective Mark Harmon. Harmon has an uncomfortable history with the base commander, Sean Connery--and this relationship doesn't get any less tense when he also becomes romantically entangled with Connery's daughter, Meg Ryan. Unfortunately, the script by Larry Ferguson is a stiff, which suits Harmon's acting style. Director Peter Hyams knows how to choreograph an action sequence, but he has to keep stopping so that Harmon can actually speak. Thankfully, Harmon has the always-interesting Connery and Ryan to interact with, but that's only a small saving grace. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Pennyworth: Season 2 | Blu Ray | (09/08/2021) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A year after the explosive events of last season, England finds itself embroiled in a devastating civil war, with the powerful, neo-fascist Raven Union, led by Lord Harwood (Jason Flemyng) threatening to control the entire country. North London remains one of the few resistance holdouts remaining.It's here in the West End Neutral Zone, that we find Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon). After years in the British Army, his training with the SAS has taught him to be a cynical optimist expecting the worst, but knowing that he can handle it. Now running The Delaney, a black-market Soho club that welcomes everyone, regardless of their politics, Alfred, with his SAS mates, Bazza (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett) and Daveboy (Ryan Fletcher), is now in search of a way out... before London, and his country, burns itself to the ground. And he's got his eye on America.

• The Nan Movie | Blu Ray | (13/06/2022) from £7.93   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Catherine Tate's iconic character Nan hits the big screen as she goes on a wild road trip from London to Ireland with her grandson Jamie (Mathew Horne) to make amends with her estranged sister Nell (Katherine Parkinson). Militant vegan arsonists, raucous rugby teams, all-night raves, and crazed cops on motorbikes all make for a proper day out. An origin story that mixes Nan's present with her past where we finally find out what's made her the cantankerous old b*****d she is today.

• Problem Child | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (20.04%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Attila the Hun. Ivan the Terrible. Al Capone. They were all seven once. Ben Healy (John Ritter) adopts Junior (Michael Oliver) a kid who's so bad that even the nuns want to kick him out of the orphanage in this hilarious heart-warming family comedy. When Ben and his infertile wife Flo (Amy Yasbeck) want a child right away Mr. Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) cons them into taking little Junior but they have no idea what they're getting into! Before you can say ""bad seed "" Junior is setting his room on fire tormenting the cat and jeopardizing the mayoral campaign of Ben's father sporting goods king Big Ben (Jack Warden). But both Junior and his new father will learn what it really means to be a family in this comedy smash hit!

• Arsenic and Old Lace (Criterion Collection) | Blu Ray | (11/10/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A