"Actor: John Alban"

• Sweet Charity | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.25   |  Saving you £5.74 (135.06%)   |  RRP £9.99

  After several years as the hottest musical director on Broadway, Bob Fosse made his film directorial debut with this movie version of his Broadway hit, which was based on Fellini's Nights of Cabiria. Shirley MacLaine is terrific as the proverbial hooker with the heart of gold, one who is convinced that she will find the right man if she just turns enough tricks. The Cy Coleman score is a solid one; the film is at its best when Fosse lets his cast of singer-dancers (which includes Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly, and Sammy Davis Jr) unleash his leggy brand of choreography. While the film suffers from stylistic excesses of the period, you can see the seeds being planted for Fosse's future musical film forays in Cabaret and All That Jazz. --Marshall Fine

• Battleground | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £5.56   |  Saving you £8.43 (151.62%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Director William Wellman (The Big Heat) offered up this 1949 treatment of the Battle of the Bulge, which won Oscars for best screenplay and best cinematography. The film concentrates on the camaraderie and the divisions between the troops as they prepare for the big offensive. Told in a taut narrative, the men of the 101st, led by Van Johnson, wait out the winter in the Ardennes forest to confront the German army in what would be the last major offensive of World War II. The men are demoralised and trapped, with no hope of support from the Allies as they are forced to band together and defend their position. A classically assembled war drama that nevertheless manages to be both engrossing and entertaining, Battleground is a mainstay of the genre. --Robert Lane

• Sweet Charity (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (27/09/2021) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The feature debut of the great Bob Fosse based on the Broadway hit, Sweet Charity is a musical re-imagining of Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, starring the wonderful Shirley MacLaine as a taxi dancer looking for love and escape in hippy-era New York. Special Features: 4K restoration Three presentations of the film: with original overture (150 mins); without overture (149 mins); and with alternative ending (145 mins) Alternative 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround soundtrack options Audio commentary with film historians Lee Gambin, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Cara Mitchell (2020) The John Player Lecture with Shirley MacLaine (1971, 81 mins): archival audio recording of the celebrated actor in conversation at London's National Film Theatre From Stage to Screen: A Director's Dilemma (1969, 9 mins): original promotional film featuring interview material with Bob Fosse and rare behind-the-scenes footage The Art of Exaggeration (1969, 8 mins): original promotional film profiling the work of famed costume designer Edith Head Interview with Sonja Haney (2020, 70 mins): audio recording of the dance assistant in conversation with Lee Gambin Now and Then: Sammy Davis Jr (1968, 23 mins): archival interview featuring the actor and singer in conversation with broadcaster Bernard Braden Super 8 version: original cut-down home-cinema presentation Image gallery: publicity and promotional material Original theatrical trailer New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• The Postman Always Rings Twice | DVD | (01/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Even under the heavy censorship of 1946 Hollywood, Lana Turner and John Garfield's libidinous desires burn up the screen in Tay Garnett's adaptation of James M. Cain's torrid crime melodrama. Platinum blond Turner is Cora, a restless sexpot stuck in a roadside diner married to mundane middle-aged fry cook Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) when handsome drifter Frank (Garfield) blows her way. It's lust at first sight, a rapacious desire that neither can break off, and before long they're plotting his demise--but in the wicked world of Cain nothing is that easy. Garnett's visual approach is subdued compared to the more expressionistic film noir of the period, but he's at no loss when he films the luminous Turner in her milky-white wardrobe. She radiates repressed sexuality and uncontrollable passion while Garfield's smart-talking loner Frank mixes street-smart swagger and scrappy toughness with vulnerability and sincere intensity. Co-star Hume Cronyn cuts a cold, calculating figure as their conniving lawyer, a chilly character that only increases our feelings for the murderous couple, victims of an all-consuming amour fou that drives their passions to extremes. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• The Woody Allen Collection - Vol. 1 | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £34.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (42.87%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Annie Hall (1977): Starring Allen as New York comedian Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton (in a Best Actress Oscar-winning role) as Annie the film weaves flashbacks flash forwards monologues a parade of classic Allen one-liners and even animation into an alternately uproarious and wistful comedy about a witty and wacky on-again off-again romance. Manhattan (1979): 42-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates a seventeen-year-old girlfriend (Mariel Hemingway) he doesn't love and a lesbian ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep) who's writing a tell-all book about their marriage... and whom he'd like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend's sexy intellectual mistress Mary (Diane Keaton) Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginning of Isaac's quest for romance and fulfillment in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gate to true love... is a revolving door. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) (1972): Woody Allen pushes the frontiers of comedy by consolidating his madcap sensibility and wickedly funny irreverence with his developing penchant for visually arresting humor. Giving complete indulgence to the zany eccentricity of his medium Allen revels himself as a filmmaker of wit sophistication and comic insight rising to the occasion with several hysterical vignettes that probe sexuality's stickiest issues! Aphrodisiacs prove effective for a court jester (Allen) who finds the key to the Queen's (Lynn Redgrave) heart but learns that the key to her chastity belt might be more useful... Sleeper (1973): When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap he discovers the future's not so bright: all women are frigid all men are impotent and the world is ruled by an evil dictator: a disembodied nose! Pursued by the secret police and recruited by anti-government rebels with a plan to kidnap the dictator's snout before it can be cloned Miles falls for the beautiful - but untalented - poet Luna (Diane Keaton). But when Miles is captured and reprogrammed by the government to believe he's Miss America it's up to Luna to save Miles lead the rebels and cut off the nose just to spite its face. Love And Death (1975): Woody Allen reinvents himself again with the epic historical satire Love and Death. A wonderfully funny and eclectic distillation of the Russian literary soul the film represents a bridge between Allen's early slapstick farces and his darker autobiographical comedies. One of his most visual philosophical and elaborately conceived films 'Love And Death' demonstrates again that Allen is an authentic comic genius. Bananas (1971): When bumbling product-tester Fielding Mellish (Allen) is jilted by his girlfriend Nancy (Louise Lasser) he heads to the tiny republic of San Marcos for a vacation only to become kidnapped by rebels!

• Sweet Charity (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (02/11/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The feature debut of the great Bob Fosse based on the Broadway hit, Sweet Charity is a musical re-imagining of Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, starring the wonderful Shirley MacLaine as a taxi dancer looking for love and escape in hippy-era New York. Special Features: 4K restoration of the 157-minute Roadshow version, complete with Overture, Entr'acte and Exit Music 4K restoration of the general release version, with the original and alternative endings Alternative 2.0 stereo, 4.0 stereo and 5.1 surround soundtrack options Audio commentary with film historians Lee Gambin, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Cara Mitchell (2020) The John Player Lecture with Shirley MacLaine (1971): archival audio recording of the celebrated actor in conversation at London's National Film Theatre From Stage to Screen: A Director's Dilemma (1969): original promotional film featuring interview material with Bob Fosse and rare behind-the-scenes footage The Art of Exaggeration (1969): original promotional film profiling the work of famed costume designer Edith Head Interview with Sonja Haney (2020): audio recording of the dance assistant in conversation with Lee Gambin Now and Then: Sammy Davis Jr (1968): archival interview featuring the actor and singer in conversation with broadcaster Bernard Braden Super 8 version: original cut-down home-cinema presentation Image gallery: publicity and promotional material Original theatrical trailer New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with new essays by Pamela Hutchinson and Bill Rosenfield, Neil Simon on Sweet Charity, archival press coverage of the film's release including an interview with Shirley MacLaine, extracts from the pressbook, Federico Fellini on Sweet Charity, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits Limited edition exclusive double-sided poster UK premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 3,000 copies

• Soundies: The Ultimate Collection | Blu Ray | (25/07/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A