"Actor: Jihmi Kennedy"

• Glory | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £7.25   |  Saving you £12.74 (175.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The negroes fought gallantly and were headed by as brave a Colonel as ever lived", was one Confederate soldier's eyewitness verdict on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers immediately after 247 of their 600-man regiment had fallen in bloody swathes beneath the withering fire from Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina in 1863. Glory is their story: the mustering of the first black regiment in the US Army, their battles with the Southerners as well as with the Northern military authorities, and their own moment of glory when they paid a terrible price for the opportunity to demonstrate to the world their courage. In telling this little-known story, director Ed Zwick single-handedly changed perceptions of the American Civil War: when a Grand Review of the Armies was held in Washington at the end of the war, none of the almost 180,000 coloured troops who fought for the Union were present; when that parade was restaged in 1990 a year after the movie was released, the 54th Massachusetts re-enactors were at the front of the procession. Zwick's stirring, factually accurate account is greatly enhanced by obsessive period detail and frighteningly realistic battle reconstructions (which were not to be surpassed in scale until 1993's Gettysburg). But Zwick also illuminates individual characters in the regiment with great sensitivity. As crucial as the military set-pieces are the scenes of the men together: talking in the tent or baring their souls in song. Denzel Washington, as the embittered ex-slave, gives a performance of real depth; he richly deserved his Oscar win for the heartbreaking flogging scene alone. Morgan Freeman brings great gravitas to his paternalistic role, and Matthew Broderick's idealistic Colonel Shaw is the centre around which the story revolves. With a clutch of remarkable lead performances, a sensitive and touching script, one of James Horner's finest musical scores, and a director with both the vision and heart to pull it off it's easy to agree with the backcover blurb: "Glory is one of the greatest war movies ever made". Without even a hint of hyperbole, it undoubtedly is. On the DVD: This is a superb looking (anamorphic) and sounding (Dolby 5.1) print, and the disc has some excellent additional features. Ed Zwick's commentary is insightful and extremely detailed: here's a director who obviously cares deeply about this movie. Of the three featurettes, one is a short-ish promo piece but the other two are genuinely impressive: there's a 20-minute "Making of" feature with major contributions from Zwick, Freeman and Broderick, and best of all a 45-minute "The True Story Continues" feature narrated by Freeman which tells the complete story of the 54th Massachusetts from beginning to end using footage from the movie as well as archive material and film of battle re-enactments. Also included are two deleted scenes, although a third scene which was shot for the movie but not used (the Frederick Douglass' speech) crops up in the "True Story" piece. James Horner's emotive score gets an isolated track all to itself and there are also some filmographies and trailers. All in all, this is a superb DVD. --Mark Walker

• Glory (Blu-ray + UV Copy) | Blu Ray | (02/09/2013) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Blu-ray Mastered in 4K collection will set a new standard for Blu-ray HD picture and sound creating the ultimate 1080p home entertainment experience. Created from the highest quality 4K source materials with new expanded colour consumers can enjoy a brilliant picture with exquisite detail using their existing Blu-ray player or PlayStation 3. The Blu-ray Mastered in 4K collection is optimized so that 4K Ultra HD TV owners can take full advantage of the new 4K upscaling technology delivering an outstanding near-4K experience. Mastered in 4K Blu-rays also work with all 1080p HDTVs for spectacular high definition picture and sound. Winner of the 1989 Oscar for Best Sound and Best Cinematography the heart-stopping story of the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War Glory stars Matthew Broderick Denzel Washington Cary Elwes and Morgan Freeman. Broderick and Elwes are the idealistic young Bostonians who lead the regiment; Freeman is the inspirational sergeant who unites the troops; and Denzel Washington in an Oscar winning performance (1989 Best Supporting Actor) is the runaway slave who embodies the indomitable spirit of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts.

• Glory | Blu Ray | (17/08/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The heart-stopping story of the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War Glory stars Matthew Broderick Denzel Washington Cary Elwes and Morgan Freeman. Broderick and Elwes are the idealistic young Bostonians who lead the regiment; Freeman is the inspirational sergeant who unites the troops; and Denzel Washington in an Oscar winning performance is the runaway slave who embodies the indomitable spirit of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts.

• Gung Ho | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When a Japanese car company buys an American plant the American liason (Keaton) must mediate the clash of work attitudes between the foreign management and native labour...