"Actor: Jean Clau"

• Frank Capra - It's A Wonderful Life/Mr Smith Goes To Washington/You Can't Take It With You/It Happened One Night | DVD | (20/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Titles Comprise: It's A Wonderful Life (1946) This collectors edition of Frank Capra's masterpiece is the ultimate feel good film. Starring the unforgettable James Stewart as George Bailey the man who receives the greatest Christmas gift of all. A superb ensemble cast includes Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore this high spirited Christmas tale is directed by the immortal Frank Capra and ranks as an all-time favourite of fans and critics alike. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939) James Stewart Jean Arthur and Claude Rains star in this award-winning 1939 classic about an idealistic small-town politician who heads to Washington and suddenly finds himself single-handedly battling ruthless politicians out to destroy him... You Can't Take It With You (1938) James Stewart Jean Arthur Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold star in this screwball comedy. Arthur stars as Alice Sycamore the stable family member of an offbeat clan of free spirits who falls for Stewart the down-to-earth son of a snooty wealthy family. Amidst a backdrop of confusion the two very different families rediscover the simple joys of life... It Happened One Night (1934) Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert team up for laughs as mismatched lovers in this 1934 screwball comedy classic. Spoiled Ellie Andrews (Colbert) escapes from her millionaire father (Walter Connolly) who wants to stop her from marrying a worthless playboy. En route to New York Ellie gets involved with an out-of-work newsman Peter Warne (Gable). When their bus breaks down the bickering couple set off on a madcap hitchhiking expedition. Peter hopes to parlay the inside story of their misadventures into a job. But complications fly when the runaway heiress and brash reporter fall in love.

• Mouchette | Blu Ray | (10/03/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Perhaps the most accessible of Robert Bresson's films, this story of a 14-year-old schoolgirl at the mercy of the world around her is like a melodrama stripped of flourish. Mouchette is an angry adolescent in the French provinces, the daughter of a drunken bootlegger and a dying, bedridden mother, a pariah in school and a figure of village gossip. She rebels in typically adolescent ways, lobbing mud at teasing classmates and defying wagging tongues with a wilful stare, but her deep pain and loneliness pour from her hollow, sad eyes. There's no sentimentality in Bresson's portrait of village life but for a few brief moments the film explodes with energy and emotion. Mouchette rides the bumper cars at a local fair, flirting with a young boy in loving bumps and deliberate rams, and her dour expression flowers in a smile as the fairground speakers blare a rock & roll tune... until her father's heavy hand slaps her back to reality. It's a moment unlike any other in a Bresson film, a joyous reprieve from the monotony of her life, but if the rest of her existence is glum and hopeless, the film is unexpectedly beautiful. The style is often fragmented--the film opens on a stunning play of hands, feet and spying eyes as poacher and police both wait for their prey--but the beauty of the forests and meadows creates an idyllic naturalism that leavens Bresson's harsh portrait of the human condition. --Sean Axmaker

• LES COUSINS | DVD | (08/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Made barely a year after Claude Chabrol's debut Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins featured the earlier film's same starring pair of Jean-Claude Brialy and Grard Blain, here reversing the good-guy/bad-guy roles of the previous picture. The result is a simmering, venomous study in human temperament that not only won the Golden Bear at the 1959 Berlin Film Festival, but also drew audiences in droves, and effectively launched Chabrol's incredible fifty-year-long career. A gripping and urbane examination of city and country, ambition and ease, Les Cousins continues to captivate and shock audiences with its brilliant scenario, the performances of Brialy and Blain, and the assuredness of Chabrol's precocious directorial hand. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Claude Chabrol's breakthrough film in a beautiful new Gaumont restoration on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the UK. Special Features: Gorgeous new Gaumont restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio New and improved English subtitles Original theatrical trailer A 47-minute documentary about the making of the film L'Homme qui vendit la Tour Eiffel [The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower], Chabrol's 1964 short film A lengthy booklet with a new and exclusive essay by critic Emmanuel Burdeau; a new and exclusive translation of a rare text about actress Franoise Vatel provided for this release by its author, the filmmaker and critic Luc Moullet; excerpts of interviews and writing by Chabrol; and more

• Catherine Deneuve Collection | DVD | (12/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The icily beautiful French goddess Catherine Denueve is celebrated here in Optimum's Screen Icons series with a box-set of films that span the full range of her illustrious 45-year career so far. Umbrellas Of Cherbourg was the film that made Deneuve a star and introduced her to the world. A conventional love story made completely original by all the dialogue being sung and a rainbow of colours reflecting the radiance of the story and characters alike. Umbrellas won the Palme D'Or in Cannes in 1964. Belle du Jour Undoubtedly Luis Buuel's most accessible film Belle de Jour is an elegant and erotic masterpiece that maintains as hypnotic a grip on modern audiences as it did on its debut 30 years ago. Denueve plays a bored and sexually frustrated housewife who becomes a part-time prostitute and begins a dangerous relationship with a young gangster. Donkey Skin is a wonderfully bizarre film from Jacques Demy a unique synthesis of Jean Cocteau and Walt Disney. Ahead of its time and strikingly modern in its production design it's also a warts and all fairytale ripe with incorrect royalism and medieval misogyny. Deneuve plays the dual role of the King's wife and daughter. Manon 70 a 1960's version of an 18th century French novel and a 19th century Italian opera Denueve plays the confused Manon torn between a young but penniless lover and an older richer suitor whose generosity she finds very tempting... Ma Saisson Preferee An Andre Techine family drama starring Daniel Auteuil.

• LE BEAU SERGE | DVD | (08/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Grard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy star in the first of their collaborations with the great Claude Chabrol. The director's masterful feature debut - ironic, funny, unsparing - is a revelation: another of that rare breed of film where the dusty formula might be used in full sincerity: Le Beau Serge marks the beginning of the Chabrol touch. In this first feature film of the French New Wave, one year before Truffaut's The Four Hundred Blows, the dandyish Franois (Brialy, of Godard's A Woman Is a Woman, Rohmer's Claire's Knee, and countless other cornerstones of 20th-century French cinema) takes a holiday from the city to his home village of Sardent, where he reconnects with his old chum Serge (Blain), now a besotted and hopeless alcoholic, and sly duplicitous carnal Marie (Bernadette Lafont). A grave triangle forms, and a tragic slide ensues. From Le Beau Serge onward up to his final film Bellamy in 2009, the revered Chabrol would come to leave a significant and lasting impression upon the French cinema - frequently with great commercial success. It is with great pride that we present Le Beau Serge, the kickstart of the Nouvelle Vague and of Chabrol's enormous body of work, on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK for the first time. Special Features: Gorgeous new Gaumont restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio New and improved English subtitles Original theatrical trailer A 56-minute documentary about the making of the film L'Avarice [Avarice], Chabrol's 1962 short film A lengthy booklet with a new and exclusive essay by critic Emmanuel Burdeau; excerpts of interviews and writing by Chabrol; and more

• Claire's Knee | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Eric Rohmer's Claire's Knee is one of his series of "Moral Tales", though it deals delicately with areas of intense moral ambiguity rather than in any obvious certainty. Jerome, a man holidaying at the very end of his youth, allows his old friend Aurora to co-opt him in her experiments with the hearts of two teenage girls. Sensitive gawky Laura fixates on him, but knows enough to realise he is dangerous to her, whereas Claire, for whom he develops a vague obsession, largely ignores him as a sexual being. He develops elaborate theories in justification of what he does and says, and the film does not dismiss these theories, while allowing for the possibility that Jerome is nothing but a manipulative self-deceived letch. This is a movie with a delicate visual palette; Nestor Almendros' elegiac camera work constantly makes clear that for all the characters this is a summer vacation with consequences. It is also a conversation piece in which almost nothing happens--the most Jerome ever allows himself is to stroke Claire's knee--and the interesting thing is how all the intense talk and extended scenes of one-to-one dialogue make that quite enough to sustain our fascinated interest. --Roz Kaveney

• Le Parfum D'Yvonne | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Available for the first time on DVD!!! A man remembers an idyllic summer in 1958 spent on the shores of Lake Geneva in avoiding participation in the Algerian conflict during which he encountered the beguiling Yvonne and her friend Dr. Meinthe. On their first encounter he was drawn to her and they seemed destined to be together however the sun filled days of social gatherings and passionate assignations would be all too fleeting. Patrice Leconte's erotic masterpiece is available f

• LE BEAU SERGE | Blu Ray | (08/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Grard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy star in the first of their collaborations with the great Claude Chabrol. The director's masterful feature debut - ironic, funny, unsparing - is a revelation: another of that rare breed of film where the dusty formula might be used in full sincerity: Le Beau Serge marks the beginning of the Chabrol touch. In this first feature film of the French New Wave, one year before Truffaut's The Four Hundred Blows, the dandyish Franois (Brialy, of Godard's A Woman Is a Woman, Rohmer's Claire's Knee, and countless other cornerstones of 20th-century French cinema) takes a holiday from the city to his home village of Sardent, where he reconnects with his old chum Serge (Blain), now a besotted and hopeless alcoholic, and sly duplicitous carnal Marie (Bernadette Lafont). A grave triangle forms, and a tragic slide ensues. From Le Beau Serge onward up to his final film Bellamy in 2009, the revered Chabrol would come to leave a significant and lasting impression upon the French cinema - frequently with great commercial success. It is with great pride that we present Le Beau Serge, the kickstart of the Nouvelle Vague and of Chabrol's enormous body of work, on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK for the first time. Special Features: Gorgeous new Gaumont restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio, presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray New and improved English subtitles Original theatrical trailer A 56-minute documentary about the making of the film L'Avarice [Avarice], Chabrol's 1962 short film A lengthy booklet with a new and exclusive essay by critic Emmanuel Burdeau; excerpts of interviews and writing by Chabrol; and more

• JCVD | Blu Ray | (02/02/2009) from £10.45   |  Saving you £14.54 (139.14%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Washed-up fighting bankruptcy and caught in the midst of a desperate struggle to win his daughter back from the jaws of a bitter custody battle Van Damme unwittingly becomes embroiled in a dangerous bank robbery led by a gang of armed and violent criminals. Trapped inside Van Damme is framed for the robbery and the murder of innocent hostages. Now he must win the approval of the crowd as well as the trust of the police if he is to survive this deadly heist! With a killer mix of action murder mayhem and no shortage of laughs JCVD delivers with the impact of a roundhouse kick to the face! Van Damme is back and this time he's taking no prisoners!

• Timecop | DVD | (13/12/1999) from £15.97   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.08%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Pay no attention to the fact that Timecop is an insult to intelligent science fiction, and that it gradually succumbs to an acute case of the sillies. It is a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, after all, so check your brain at the door and enjoy this action flick set in the year 2004. Van Damme plays an officer in the Time Enforcement Police, assigned to prevent criminals from travelling to the past with the intent of altering the future. Ron Silver plays the evil politician who plots to retrieve a stockpile of gold from the Civil War to finance his latest campaign. The film is clever to a point, and entertaining if you can ignore the dumb jokes and inconsistencies. Best of all, it's an above-average vehicle for Van Damme (relatively speaking), who gets to kick some villainous butt and share a few scenes with Mia Sara, who plays the Timecop's wife. As Van Damme fans can tell you, this is one of the action star's better movies. -- Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Bloodsport | DVD | (24/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A well-oiled Jean-Claude Van Damme makes his starring debut in what may be one of the few kickboxing films to be based on a true story. The Muscles from Brussels plays Frank Dux, the first Westerner ever to win the extreme "whupfest" known as the Kumatai (a long-running, no-holds-barred fighting tournament in Hong Kong). While a bit deficient in the script department (to say the least), this undeniably exciting flick succeeds by letting Van Damme play to his strengths: namely, minimal acting and a lot of impossibly acrobatic splits while kicking people in the head. Bloodsport is a guilty-pleasure testosterone blast of the highest order, with a memorable villain (the massive Bolo Yeung from Enter the Dragon) and a multitude of well-choreographed fight scenes. An embarrassed-looking Forest Whitaker cameos as a hapless (and non-kickboxing) cop. --Andrew Wright

• Pound Of Flesh | Blu Ray | (22/06/2015) from £28.55   |  Saving you £-12.56 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In China to donate his kidney to his dying niece Deacon (Van damme) a former black-ops agent awakes the day before the operation to find he is the latest victim of organ theft. Stitched up Deacon descends from his opulent hotel in search of his stolen kidney and carves a blood-soaked path through the darkest corners of the city - brothels fight clubs back-alley black markets and elite billionaire estates. The clock is ticking for his niece and with each step he loses blood. Pound Of Flesh sees Van Damme back to what he does best - nonstop hardcore action.

• U.f.o. | DVD | (24/12/2012) from £5.21   |  Saving you £10.78 (206.91%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An explosive mix of Independance Day and District 9. A violent earthquake is followed by strange lights in the sky. All power has been cut across the planet. AS the clouds clear, a UFO appears, a UFO the size of a city. The attack has yet to begin but with no electricity, humanity is helpless in the face of a vast alien army. The battle for earth is drawn gear and everyone will need to fight not just for their own survival but for that of the human race. With a stunning cast that includes explosive new stars Bianca Bree and Sean Brosnan alongside Sean Pertwee (Event Horizon, Dog Solider), Julian Glover (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Empire Strikes Back), and action legend Jean Claude Van Damme (Expendables 2, Timecop), UFO is an action-packed sci-fi spectacular. Prepare for the invasion and try to remain calm... the fight against extinction is about to begin.

• JCVD | DVD | (02/02/2009) from £6.39   |  Saving you £13.60 (212.83%)   |  RRP £19.99

  "JCVD" shows the world's favourite action hero as you have never seen him before...living the life of an ordinary guy.

• Helga, She Wolf Of Stilberg | DVD | (13/03/2017) from £8.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Thriller directed by Patrice Rhomm starring Patrizia Gori, Malisa Longo and Richard Allan. Stilberg is a brutal penitentiary for female political prisoners. It is managed by the cruel warden Helga (Longo), who unleashes her vicious nature and grotesque lust upon new inmate Elisabeth Vogel (Gori).

• Brief Crossing | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  On an overnight ferry ride French sixteen year old Thomas strikes up a conversation with English thirtysomething Alice. She invites him to share her table and as the evening progresses the nave yet full of bravado teenager engages in mutual flirtation with his older companion. With the sexual tension building they head for Alice's cabin. From the controversial director of Romance and A Ma Soeur comes a compelling and explicit portrayal of a brief sexual encounter that leads to a bitter conclusion.

• Until Death | Blu Ray | (06/10/2008) from £9.43   |  Saving you £13.56 (143.80%)   |  RRP £22.99

  They put him in a coma now he's going to put them out of their misery. Anthony Stowe (Van Damme) is a narcotics lieutenant - he's addicted to heroin has a bad attitude and everyone hates him including his soon-to-be-ex wife. His ex-partner Gabriel Callaghan (Stephen Rea) is working to become the new leader of the gangsters in local organized crime. Callaghan sends his men after Anthony they shoot him in the head and he falls into a coma. Months later he awakens with the idea of finishing off his former partner and becoming a better person and better husband.

• The Le Juge Et L'Assassin | DVD | (24/03/2008) from £9.79   |  Saving you £8.20 (45.60%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Le Juge Et L'Assassin Michel Galabru stars as Joseph Bouvier a former Sergeant in the French military. The film commences with Bouvier shooting his beloved and attempting to kill himself. Having survived with two bullets in his brain he is released from the Dole medical facility. Then begins a five-year period of wandering on the roads of the South East of France during which Bouvier rapes and eventually kills two dozen defenseless shepherds and farm servants of both sexes. Judge Rousseau (Philippe Noiret) thinks this case would help his career as a right wing politician and therefore issues warrants of arrests to find any hobo fitting the description. But if Bouvier was declared insane the Judge's plan may become a trap...

• Van Damme Six Pack Collection | DVD | (27/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  This box set contains: The Shepherd Wake Of Death Second In Command The Order In Hell Derailed

• Enemies Closer | Blu Ray | (21/07/2014) from £12.39   |  Saving you £7.60 (61.34%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Deep within a forest on the US-Canadian border, two sworn enemies must work together to escape a ruthless drug cartel hell-bent on retrieving a drug shipment which went missing there.