"Actor: Jacques"

• Betty Fisher And Other Stories | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £2.79   |  Saving you £17.20 (616.49%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With Betty Fisher and Other Stories, writer-director Claude Miller follows the examples of Claude Chabrol and Pedro Almodóvar in adapting a Ruth Rendell novel to the screen. In this case the original novel, The Tree of Hands, has been translated seamlessly and stylishly to a Parisian setting. The plot interweaves a complexity of characters and stories, but the central thread concerns the eponymous Betty, a novelist whose young son dies while her disturbed mother Margot is staying with her. Margot, with terrifying directness, calmly abducts another child of similar age to replace the dead boy. From this loopy act there stems a whole series of consequences and side-effects involving a widening and socially diverse circle of people across the city. Miller lucidly traces his way through the intricate story with cool, ironic humour and a sure touch for the different social milieus. Once or twice the plot strains credulity--bringing three major characters together by chance for the showdown at Charles de Gaulle airport is just a little too convenient--but most of the time the social and emotional cross-currents are deftly navigated. As Betty, Sandrine Kiberlain gives an almost painfully vulnerable performance, as if she lacks several layers of skin, while Nicole Garcia makes her mother Margot into a monster of overriding, self-pitying egomania. Their scenes together carry the weight of a whole lifetime of ill-suppressed mutual aversion. As with Rendell's novels, it's endlessly fascinating to watch these people, but you feel very glad you don’t know them. --Philip Kemp

• House of Cards (imprint Limited Edition Blu-Ray) | Blu Ray | (07/01/2022) from £28.30   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 1960s Paris, an American boxer stumbles upon an international fascist conspiracy that aims to create a new world order. Directed by John Guillermin, starring George Peppard, Inger Stevens, and Orson Welles. Rarely seen since it's original theatrical run, it marked the second time that Peppard and Guillermin worked together (they had previously collaborated on the 1966 film The Blue Max).

• Charade | DVD | (02/03/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In Charade Audrey Hepburn plays a Parisienne whose husband is murdered and who finds she is being followed by four men seeking the fortune her late spouse had hidden away. Cary Grant is the stranger who comes to her aid, but his real motives aren't entirely clear--could he even be the killer? The 1963 film is directed by Stanley Donen, but it has been called "Hitchcockian" for good reason: the possible duplicities between lovers, the unspoken agendas between a man and woman sharing secrets. Charade is nowhere as significant as a Hitchcock film, but in terms of suspense it holds its own; and Donen's glossy production lends itself to the welcome experience of stargazing. You want Cary Grant to be Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn to be no one but Audrey Hepburn in a Hollywood product such as this, and they certainly don't let us down. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Jean-Luc Godard Box Set - Alphaville/Le Petit Soldat/Une Femme Est Une Femme | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Contains three films by Jean Luc Godard: ALPHAVILLE UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME and LE PETIT SOLDAT.ALPHAVILLE:With 1965's ALPHAVILLE--part sci-fi action film part noir thriller--the acclaimed French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard achieves a stunningly clinical futurism using absolutely no special visual effects. The result is a moving original film that with its abstract political and intellectual themes essentially redefines the apocalyptic science fiction genre. ALPHAVILLE clearly the product of one of cinema's greatest contributors is nothing less than a bona fide cult classic.UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME:Godard pays tribute to American musicals in much the same way that his debut feature A BOUT DE SOUFFLE did to American gangster films. The story follows the beautiful Angela (Anna Karina) a strip-tease artist who wants nothing more than to have a baby. Her live-in boyfriend Emile (Jean-Claude Brialy) doesn't want to refuse and risk sparking major friction between the two. However fed up with her constant pleading Emile finally suggests that she shack up with his best friend Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and much to Emile's dismay she eventually takes his advice. Godard's second feature employs jump cuts and jarring sound mixing--most notably during Karina's strip-tease performances. Godard is at his most affectionate and good-natured here. He also makes several cinematic in-jokes including one in which Belmondo's character mentions that he wants to hurry home to watch A BOUT DE SOUFFLE the film that turned Belmondo into a megastar just one year before. Featuring a magnetically cute performance from Karina who soon after the film became Godard's wife this loving romantic comedy is a dazzler.LE PETIT SOLDAT (1960):Michel Subor stars as Bruno a hitman under contract by the French government who suddenly develops a conscience and a philosophy when he is ordered to kill a left wing Arab leader. His newfound ideals are provoked by the stunning Veronica (Karina) a young woman who is secretly employed by the Arabs. The two fall in love and not surprisingly Bruno finds it impossible to carry out his mission bringing down the wrath of the French government on both he and Veronica. Beautifully filmed by Raoul Coutard LES PETIT SOLDAT is less interested in the mechanics of plot as it is in providing Godard a voice for thoughts and musings on the politics and horrors of the Algerian War. It was originally banned in France because of its frank depiction of torture during Algeria's war of Independence which was tearing France apart at the time of the film's completion.

• Wuthering Heights | DVD | (25/02/2008) from £7.33   |  Saving you £7.66 (104.50%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Based on Emily Bronte's classic 19th-century novel Wuthering Heights this beautiful sensual film tells the story of the tormented love affair between two childhood sweethearts Catherine a headstrong young woman and Roc a fiery young gypsy. The groundbreaking French director Jacques Rivette sets one of literature's greatest love stories in the French countryside of the 1930s.

• Carry On Doctor | DVD | (04/05/2001) from £6.22   |  Saving you £3.77 (60.61%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bedpan humour rules in Carry On Doctor, the vintage 1968 offering from the familiar gang, assisted by guest star Frankie Howerd as bogus faith healer Francis Bigger. Hospitals, of course, always provided the Carry On producers with plenty of material. Today, these comedies induce a twinge of serious nostalgia for the great days of the National Health Service when Matron (Hattie Jacques, naturally) ran the hospital as if it was a house of correction, medical professionals were idolised as if they were all Doctor Kildare and Accident and Emergency Departments were deserted oases of calm. But even if you aren't interested in a history lesson, Talbot Rothwell's script contains some immortal dialogue, particularly when Matron loosens her stays. "You may not realise it but I was once a weak man", says Kenneth Williams' terrified Doctor Tinkle to Hattie Jacques. "Once a week's enough for any man", she purrs back, undaunted. Other highlights include Joan Sims, excellent as Frankie Howerd's deaf, bespectacled sidekick, Charles Hawtrey suffering from a phantom pregnancy, 1960s singer Anita Harris in a rare film role, and Barbara Windsor at her most irrepressible as nurse Sandra May. This is one of the best. On the DVD: Presented in 1.77:1 format for a pseudo-widescreen effect, the picture quality is good and sharp, accompanied by a standard mono soundtrack. The same no-frills approach is taken with the packaging; a functional scene index and no extras. Yet again, a missed opportunity to use the DVD release to provide some context. At their best, the Carry On films are rightly seen as classic comedies of their type. They really deserve to be better celebrated. --Piers Ford

• Carry On Again Doctor | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The title of Carry On Again Doctor (1969) says it all; almost the same cast playing similar characters to their previous year's outing in Carry On Doctor. This one rejoices in the alternative title "Bowels are Ringing". But the enduring popularity of these films owes almost everything to their basic formula and if this one occasionally seems a bit cobbled together, all the old favourites are still there, working away. This time, the setting moves from the National Health Service to the private sector and even stretches as far as the "Beatific Islands" when Jim Dale is exiled to a missionary clinic for his overzealous attention to the female patients, who include Barbara Windsor of course. There, orderly Sid James rules the roost of the clinic with his harem of local women. Trivia addicts can spot Mrs Michael Caine in a brief role as a token dusky maiden. The second half of the Talbot Rothwell script picks up nicely as the characters converge on the private hospital back in England where Dale rakes in the money with a bogus weight loss treatment. Hattie Jacques is in fine form as Matron, Kenneth Williams fascinates with his usual mass of mannerisms and Joan Sims is stately as the Lady Bountiful figure financing most of the shenanigans. It's a tribute to their professionalism that we can still lose ourselves in some of the creakiest old jokes around. On the DVD: Bog standard 4:3 picture format and mono soundtrack provide an adequate viewing experience, especially as today most people will be more familiar with these films from television transmissions than from their cinema release. However, the lack of extras is a shame. Apart from the scene index, there is nothing to distinguish the DVD from its video equivalent. At the very least, a cast list or star biographies would add a little value. --Piers Ford

• Truth Or Dare | Blu Ray | (27/08/2012) from £22.19   |  Saving you £2.80 (12.62%)   |  RRP £24.99

  TRUTH: A group of university friends celebrate the end of term with the party to end all parties. Drink, drugs and sex flow in equal measure as everyone lets loose. As the party winds down, the focus shifts to a seemingly innocuous game of Truth or Dare. The party's socially awkward geek - Felix - has a crush on one of the most popular girls there, and this truth is brutally exposed to everyone, and he leaves the party humiliated.DARE: A year later the five friends are reunited when they are invited to Felix's birthday party at a grand stately home. They soon realise that they are the only people attending, and that this is going to be a very different party from their last one. In a bid for vengeance all are forced to play a sickening and gruesome game of Truth or Dare, where a Dare may well equal death. Sex, lies and murder are all unravelled as the game hurls the group toward the final, fatal twist.

• Carry On Vol.3 | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Carry On collection includes the following films: Carry On Loving: Sid James and Hattie Jacques run The Wedding Bliss computer dating agency and guess what? Chaos follows! Carry On At Your Convenience: Kenneth Williams is WC Boggs the troubled owner of a small company trying to manufacture fine toiletware. Incompetent management and a bolshy union are just about the least of Bogg's problems as you'll soon discover in this hysterical comedy that tells you everything you always wanted to know about your home's most vital convenience. Carry On Matron: Carry On Matron finds the team in top form in Finisham Maternity Hospital. Sid James leads a team of less than professional crooks intent on stealing a huge hoard of birth control pills. If your funny bone is in need of tickling this is the prescription you need! Carry On Abroad: The Carry On team take a package holiday that starts disastrously and rapidly goes downhill. The paradise island of Elsbels is not all it's cracked up to be.... The hotel isn't finished the staff are abit thin on the ground - in fact Pepe (Peter Butterworth) is the staff - and the locals are far from friendly! It's the holiday of a laughtime as Sid James Barbara Windsor Charles Hawtrey Joan Sims and the gang go on the razzle in the Med!

• The Decline Of The American Empire | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  You've never seen a sex comedy quite like The Decline of the American Empire. That's because there's no sex in this comedy--just a lot of entertaining talk about it (and a few discreet flashbacks). The speakers are eight Montreal academics. For most of the film, the men--Rémy (Rémy Girard), Claude (Yves Jacques), Pierre (Pierre Curzi), and Alain (Daniel Brière)--fix dinner while talking about sex. The women--Dominique (Dominique Michel), Louise (Dorothée Berryman), Diane (Louise Portal), and Danielle (Geneviève Rioux)--work out while talking about sex. That evening, they all gather for dinner... and talk about sex. The Decline of the American Empire made the reputation of writer-director Denys Arcand, but his greatest success would arrive 17 years later with The Barbarian Invasions. In that 2003 Oscar-winner, Arcand revisits the lovably loquacious characters from the first film, all of whom are older, wiser--and just as obsessed with sex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Carry On - The Ultimate Carry On | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £109.99

  Twelve classic titles in one box set

• Eagles Over London | DVD | (07/06/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Nine years before his WWII cult classic Inglorious Bastards, Enzo Castellari virtually invented the 'Macaroni Combat' genre with this over-the-top saga of valour, vengeance and machine-gun mayhem. Hollywood legend Van Johnson The Caine Mutiny and Frederick Stafford (Hitchcock's Topaz) star as military officers pursuing a merciless team of Nazi saboteurs through war-ravaged London, featuring Castellari's jaw-dropping recreations of The Siege Of Dunkirk, The Battle Of Bri...

• South American George | DVD | (24/10/2011) from £5.38   |  Saving you £4.61 (46.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  George Formby was Britain's biggest box office star when he signed on with Columbia to make this smashing musical comedy! Would you believe it - humble little George Butters (George Formby) is a dead ringer for the famous South American Tenor and opera star Gilli Vannetti! When Vannetti runs off, George boldly steps into his shoes and pretends to be the great man to save the day! There's just one snag - George can't sing opera... Adding to George's problems, he's being followed by two inept hit men - Swiftly and Slappy (Ronald Shiner and Alf Goddard) - and his falling hopelessly in love with Vannetti's personal assistant Miss Carole (Linden Travers)! George may not be able to sing opera - but he can certainly belt out a top comedy novelty number and South American George includes four great songs from Formby repertoire - Barmaid of the Rose & Crown, Swing Mama, My Spanish guitar and I'll Do It With A Smile.

• Bizet - Carmen | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-18.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Bizet's powerful opera staged at London's Earls Court in Steven Pimkott's production.

• Playtime (Blu-ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (29/11/2010) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Regarded by many as Jacques Tati's masterpiece Playtime is a surreal comic vision of mankind's battle against the overwhelming depersonalisation of modern life. Tati stars as the hapless Hulot who ambles through the massive metropolis specially constructed for the film - one of the most ambitious and imaginative film sets ever to grace the screen. The film is a multi-layered symphony of sight and sound gags. Jokes unfold in various parts of the frame simultaneously and the soundtrack - a meticulously composed cacophony of footsteps gibberish and lounge music - only adds to the absurdity.

• Farinelli - Il Castrato | DVD | (26/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

• Jour de fête (DVD and Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (29/10/2012) from £13.48   |  Saving you £6.51 (48.29%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The BFI's celebrated Jacques Tati remaster series continues with the world premiere High Definition release of the great director's much-loved debut, Jour de f�te, in not one, but two different versions. This award-winning comic masterpiece introduced audiences to Tati's dazzling blend of satire and slapstick, and has won the hearts of audiences the world over. Tati plays an appealingly inept postman who is intent on modernising the postal system in the depths of rural France. Tati's...

• Van Gogh | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £14.98   |  Saving you £9.01 (60.15%)   |  RRP £23.99

  Pialat's stunningly beautiful portrait of Van Gogh's last days widely acclaimed as the best film about the artist ever made stars Jacques Dutronc whose powerful performance earned him a Cesar award for Best Actor. The film is set between May and July 1890 in the French village of Auvers where Van Gogh went to consult the local physician Dr Gachet and to convalesce from his year long stay in an asylum. This was a period of great activity when he painted a new canvas every day inclu

• Modern Life | DVD | (27/07/2009) from £21.02   |  Saving you £-5.03 (-31.50%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A truly uplifting cinematic experience infused with warmth and care from filmmaker Depardon who spent 20 years chronicling life in rural France.

• Mon Oncle (DVD and Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (29/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The BFI’s acclaimed Jacques Tati remaster series continues with the world premiere High Definition release of Tati’s multi-award-winning third feature, Mon Oncle, in two different versions. This 1958 box-office hit confirmed his reputation as the foremost comic artist of his day and picked up a string of awards, including the 1959 Oscar for Best Foreign Film.Tati’s second outing as the accident-prone Monsieur Hulot takes him to Paris where the high-tech lifestyle of his relatives, the Arpels, is contrasted with his old-fashioned ways in a scruffy part of town. With an eye on the international market, and wishing to avoid subtitles (which he always disliked), Tati shot two versions of the film – Mon Oncle and My Uncle, the latter replacing French signs such as ‘Ecole’ and ‘Sortie’ with their English equivalents and dubbing much of the main dialogue into English. This specially remastered edition contains both versions.