"Actor: John Christopher Jones"

• Anastasia | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £2.83   |  Saving you £3.16 (111.66%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Stomping out their usual cuteness and carbon copying Disney's grand animation style to a tee, directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman (An American Tail) create a successful musical comedy from the story of the lost Russian princess. Adapting the story of imperialism and revolution is tricky, and subsequently the film's opening is weak. Once Anya (voiced by Meg Ryan, sung by Liz Callaway) is a teenager and on her own (suffering from some degree of amnesia), Anastasia is quite pleasing though never refreshingly new. 20th Century Fox's big-money gamble to horn in on Disney's realm is worthy. The songs, especially the recurrent "Once Upon a December" by Broadway team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, are better than Disney's recent efforts. It's worth picking up the soundtrack. The mix of cell animation and computer work is vivid. The collection of vocal talent is also strong, from John Cusack (as Dimitri, who wants to earn the reward by bringing Anya to Paris) to Hank Azaria as an amusing albino bat. Kelsey Grammer helps turn a roly-poly sidekick into a warm and strong supporting character. The biggest drawback is Bluth/Goldman's insistence on having a typical villain. Surprisingly, the story would be strong enough without one and the undead corpse of Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd) is unneeded and unoriginal. --Doug Thomas

• The Village | DVD | (31/01/2005) from £6.24   |  Saving you £11.75 (188.30%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The man behind "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs" returns with a tale about an isolated village whose inhabitants live with the frightening knowledge that evil and foreboding creatures live in the surrounding woods.

• Zulu Dawn | DVD | (05/01/2004) from £9.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (40.04%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Cy Endfield cowrote the epic prequel Zulu Dawn 15 years after his enormously popular Zulu. Set in 1879, this film depicts the catastrophic Battle of Isandhlwana, which remains the worst defeat of the British army by natives--the British contingent was outnumbered 16-to-1 by the Zulu tribesmen. The film's opinion of events is made immediately clear in its title sequence: ebullient African village life presided over by King Cetshwayo is contrasted with aristocratic artifice under the arrogant eye of General Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole). Chelmsford is at the heart of all that goes wrong, initiating the catastrophic battle with an ultimatum made seemingly for the sake of giving his troops something to do. His detached manner leads to one mistake after another and this is wryly illustrated in a moment when neither he nor his officers can be bothered to pronounce the name of the land they're in. That it's a beautiful land none the less is made clear by the superb cinematography, which drinks in the massive open spaces that shrink the British army to a line of red ants. Splendidly stiff-upper-lipped support comes from a heroic Burt Lancaster and a fluffy, yet gruff, Bob Hoskins. Although the story is less focused and inevitably more diffuse than the concentrated events of Rorke's Drift that followed soon after, Zulu Dawn is an unflinchingly honest depiction of British Imperial diplomacy. --Paul Tonks

• John Mills - Centenary Collection Vol.2 | DVD | (02/06/2008) from £19.12   |  Saving you £30.87 (161.45%)   |  RRP £49.99

  This box set features the following films: Car Of Dreams (Dir. Graham Cutts and Austin Melford) (1935): John mills stars as playboy Robert Miller the son and heir of a wealthy tycoon who owns a musical instrument factory. Robert is in love with Vera Hart (Grete Mosheim) a poor girl who works at his father's factory--but neither is aware of the other's true identity. When Robert anonymously buys Vera a Rolls-Royce he discovers her low social class and must further conceal his identity to avoid a family scandal. This Happy Breed (Dir. David Lean) (1944): A dramatisation of Noel Coward's play which details the lives of ordinary people between WWI and WWII. The Way To The Stars (Dir. Anthony Asquith) (1945): In 1940 a deserted airfield somewhere in the heart of England becomes a bustling bomber command station. In 1942 advance units of the American Air Force arrive to join The Royal Air Force and help turn the tide of World War II. So unfolds the story of a group of flyers and their 'missions'. Peter Penrose (John Mills) a young RAF pilot is sent to Halfpenny Field close to the small town of Shepley. His Squadron Leader Flight Lieutenant David Archdale (Michael Redgrave) gives him inspiration and encouragement and they fast become friends. They are joined by a young American pilot Johnny (Douglas Montgomery) which complicates the friendship. This is the story of the group's private lives - particularly their loves during war-time. The Long Memory (Dir. Robert Hamer) (1952): After a long jail term for a crime he did not commit a man is torn between revenge or making a new life for himself. The Vicious Circle (Dir. Gerald Thomas) (1957): When Dr Howard Latimer finds the German Actress that he has just met at London Airport murdered in his flat it leads him into the world of murder blackmail and a fake passport scam. Above Us The Waves (Dir. Ralph Thomas) (1955): The dramatic World War II story of Britain's heroic attempts to sink the monster German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian Fjord using midget submarines. In this adventure of unsurpassed courage the crews of the Navy become human torpedos. Tiger Bay (Dir. J. Lee Thompson) (1959): Polish sailor Korchinsky (Buchholz) is furious to discover his lover has left him for another man and in a confrontation murders her. The crime is witnessed by 10 year old Gillie (Hayley Mills) who steals the gun used and as officer Graham (John Mills) closes in Korchinsky abducts Gillie... Forever England (Dir. Walter Forde) (1935): A war drama based on the story by C.S. Forrester in which the illegitimate son of a British naval officer singlehandedly brings about the downfall of a German battleship during World War I.

• Truth Or Dare | DVD | (27/03/2006) from £7.27   |  Saving you £2.72 (27.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Directed by cult filmmaker Tim Ritter the film centers on a guy named Mike Strauber who finds out that his wife is cheating on him goes crazy engages in some self-mutilation and eventually dons a copper mask and goes on a killing spree! What more could you want? Future member of the Backstreet Boys A.J. Mclean makes an appearance as the young Mike Strauber!

• Anastasia / Fern Gully - The Last Rainforest | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-5.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Anastasia The lost Russian Princess Anastasia and her incredible quest to find her true identity. When the shadow of revolution falls across Russia Anastasia the royal family's youngest daughter barely escapes with her life. Years later joined by a band of heroic companions Anastasia must battle the evil Rasputin his sidekick Bartok the bat and a host of ghostly minions in a headlong race to reach Paris reclaim her rightful destiny and solve the greatest mystery of the 20th century! Fern Gully - The Last Rainforest An animated musical fantasy that takes a journey deep into the Australian rainforest where humans exist only in fairy tales...