"Actor: Jeremy Spenser"

• Fahrenheit 451 | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The classic science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury was a curious choice for one of the leading directors of the French New Wave, François Truffaut. But from the opening credits onward (spoken, not written on screen), Truffaut takes Bradbury's fascinating premise and makes it his own. The futuristic society depicted in Fahrenheit 451 is a culture without books. Firemen still race around in red trucks and wear helmets, but their job is to start fires: they ferret out forbidden stashes of books, douse them with petrol and make public bonfires. Oskar Werner, the star of Truffaut's Jules and Jim, plays a fireman named Montag, whose exposure to David Copperfield wakens an instinct towards reading and individual thought. (That's why books are banned--they give people too many ideas.) In an intriguing casting flourish, Julie Christie plays two roles: Montag's bored, drugged-up wife and the woman who helps kindle the spark of rebellion. The great Bernard Herrmann wrote the hard-driving music; Nicolas Roeg provided the cinematography. Fahrenheit 451 received a cool critical reception and has never quite been accepted by Truffaut fans or sci-fi buffs. Its deliberately listless manner has always been a problem, although that is part of its point; the lack of reading has made people dry and empty. If the movie is a bit stiff (Truffaut did not speak English well and never tried another project in English), it nevertheless is full of intriguing touches, and the ending is lyrical and haunting. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

• King And Country | DVD | (22/08/2011) from £19.05   |  Saving you £-2.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Amidst the mud and blood of Passchendaele in 1917 Private Hamp (Tom Courtenay) awaits Court Martial for desertion. His crime? Simply walking away from the slaughter after three solid years at the front during which all his mates have been killed. Captain Hargreaves (Dirk Bogard) the officer detailed to defend him is initially unsympathetic. However as he learns the facts of the case he becomes increasingly determined to save Hamp from the firing squad. But his superiors are equally keen to make an example of the unfortunate Private...

• The Prince And The Showgirl | DVD | (07/05/2001) from £6.33   |  Saving you £7.66 (121.01%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) was Marilyn Monroe's only British-made film and scores highly for curiosity value. There's something rather outrageous about this iconic American star playing a second-rate hoofer living in a theatrical boarding house in Brixton. Monroe herself is predictably good and touching as Elsie Marina, plucked from the chorus to entertain the Regent of Carpathia for the evening and ultimately smoothing his rough edges. There is, however, a rather uphill feeling all the way. The making of the movie was by all accounts a troubled experience for everybody concerned. Monroe, increasingly unreliable and exasperating, had an unsympathetic director in Laurence Olivier, also playing the Regent Charles, who hardly had the patience for a star of her mercurial talents with her own ideas of professional behaviour. His own performance as the Balkan royal is hammy and mannered and there isn't even a damp squib of sexual chemistry between them. Terence Rattigan's script, based on his successful play, is far too wordy and stage-bound. But somehow Monroe effervesces through all this adversity, aided considerably by British character actor Richard Wattis and the great Sybil Thorndyke, who became her ally during the difficult filming. Not vintage Marilyn but fascinating all the same, and she looks fantastic. On the DVD: The Prince and the Showgirl is presented in 4:3 with an occasionally muffled, apparently mono, soundtrack, giving this DVD a rather dusty quality which is in keeping with the vintage British 1950s production values. Extras include a cast list, original trailer and newsreel footage of the announcement that Marilyn was to make the film with Olivier, referred to at that stage as The Sleeping Prince. --Piers Ford

• Fahrenheit 451 | Blu Ray | (29/05/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  François Truffaut co-writes and directs this classic drama adapted from Ray Bradbury's novel. In the not-too-distant future, forbidden volumes of literature are burned regularly by the 'firemen'. Montag (Oskar Werner) is the man in charge of the burnings, but after meeting a revolutionary book-owner, schoolteacher Clarisse (Julie Christie), he begins to have doubts - both about his vocation and his dead marriage to pleasure-seeking Linda (also Christie). Curious about the draw of literature, Montag keeps forbidden volumes of books for himself, and soon embarks on a secret affair with Linda. The cast also includes Anton Diffring and Cyril Cusack.

• Wonderful Things | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Set in a beautiful fishing village in Gibraltar, Wonderful Things! stars Frankie Vaughan as Carmello, a young fisherman who, unable to earn enough from fishing to marry his tempestuous fianc e, decides to come to England to seek his fortune and finds fortunes are not quite so easy to come by. An enchanting, humorous romance set to music which also gave an early role to Austrian-born actress Jocelyn (Jackie) Lane ('the British Bardo'), Wonderful Things! was among the series of light comedie.

• The Prince And The Showgirl | DVD | (09/12/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  One of the later films of her notably stellar career The Prince and The Showgirl teams Marilyn Monroe with the world's most respected thespian Sir Laurence Olivier in a humorous romp of a stately prince charming and his love for a humble but incredibly infectious performer. A fairy tale born in the Hollywood dream factory this film continues to be a lasting favourite. This Deluxe Series box set will include: DVD of 'The Prince And The Showgirl' DVD documentary 'The Legend Of Marilyn Monroe' a film Senitype'' (image from the film and 35mm film frame) US one sheet movie poster and an exclusive commemorative 16-page picture book of rare Marilyn images.