"Actor: John Fo"

• Hetty Wainthropp Investigates - Series 1 | DVD | (06/04/2009) from £13.89   |  Saving you £9.09 (83.39%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Mystery buffs will find Hetty Wainthropp to be delightful and uniquely entertaining company. Hetty has just turned 60, but she is not about to "ride serene into the evening tide," as her doting husband so poetically puts it. "I'm not 60 and I never will be," Hetty proclaims. "I'm not a senior citizen." Hetty wants to matter, so she gets a job at her local Lancashire post office. But that wouldn't make for much of a miniseries. Before you can say "cheeky monkey," she has involved herself in a deadly case of pension-fund fraud, and made a splash on the front pages as a "Super Gran Sleuth." The redoubtable Patricia Routledge, best known as Hyacinth Bucket on the beloved Keeping Up Appearances), does lovely work as Hetty, who first appeared in David Cook's 1986 novel, Missing Persons (Cook co-wrote the six first-season episodes contained here). Hetty is not as quaint as Miss Marple, nor her cases as seamy as Jane Tennison's Prime Suspect mysteries. She is a formidable character in her own right, opening her own private detective agency, and recruiting a 17-year-old shoplifter (Dominic Monaghan from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) to be her "devoted sidekick." A rogue cop, a roving arsonist, and other unsavory characters are no match for the woman who won't rest until things add up. As one police inspector grudgingly admits, "She's an extraordinary woman. She's no Miss Marple, but..." But, indeed. --Donald Liebenson

• Ealing Studios Boxset 1 | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £27.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (7.15%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Kind Hearts and Coronets (Dir. Robert Hamer 1949): Sir Alec Guinness became an international star with his extraordinary performance as eight different characters in this 1949 Ealing Studios classic. Dennis Price (I'm All Right Jack Private Progress) co-stars as Edwardian gentleman Louis Mazzini who plots to avenge his mother's death by seizing the dukedom of the aristocratic d'Ascoyne family. But to gain this inheritance Mazzini must first murder the line of eccentric relatives who stand between him and the title including General d'Ascoyne Admiral d'Ascoyne The Duke of Chalfont Lady Agatha d'Ascoyne and four more all brillantly portrayed by Guinness and leading to one of the most delicious final twists in comedy history. Passport To Pimlico (Dir. Henry Cornelius 1949): An ancient document reveals that London's Pimlico district really belongs to France. And the Pimlico community eager to abandon post-War constraints quickly establish their independence as a ration-free state with hilarious results. Nicholas Nickleby (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1947): The classic Charles Dicken's tale of 'Nicholas Nickleby ' a man who is deprived of his inheritance and travels to seek his fortune with a group of gypsies. Went The Day Well? (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1942): The residents of a British village during WWII welcome a platoon of soldiers only to discover that they're actually Germans!

• Jeeves And Wooster - The Complete 3rd Series | DVD | (17/06/2002) from £12.89   |  Saving you £7.10 (55.08%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first three episodes of this third series of Jeeves & Wooster take place in Manhattan. In spite of the change of scene, our hero continues to get into the most terrible scrapes, and it falls to the faithful Jeeves to save the day, frequently. When he realises that Honoria Glossop may once again have her sights set on his precious bachelorhood, Bertie Wooster sets sail for the New World. Here he helps old pal Tuppy to make a business deal. At the same time he has to keep Motty Malvern on the straight and narrow, while helping two writer friends deceive their prying relatives. The final straw comes in the shape of Cyril Bassington-Bassington, the stage-struck son of Aunt Agatha's closest friend. Back home in England, Bertie and Gussie Fink-Nottle switch identities, the lunatic Roderick Spode reappears, Bertie is forced to commit burglary (again!), and there's a spot of trouble with a tin of treacle and some communists. The unflappable Jeeves is Bertie's only hope. Although the humour in this collection sometimes feels a little less assured than in earlier episodes and the new actor playing Gussie is a disappointment, the central performances of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are as good as ever. Few actors have ever brought such beloved characters so convincingly to life. --Simon Leake

• The Way to the Stars | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £8.45   |  Saving you £1.54 (18.22%)   |  RRP £9.99

  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 Sweeney Double Feature - The Sweeney 1 / The Sweeney 2 | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £24.97   |  Saving you £-8.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Sweeney! Hard-bitten Flying Squad officer Jack Regan (Thaw) gets embroiled in a deadly political plot when an old friend asks him to investigate the death of his girlfriend. Framed on a drink-driving charge and suspended from the force with his partner and best mate George Carter (Waterman) unable to help Jack must rely on his wits to evade deadly government hitmen and expose the real villain... Sweeney 2 Regan and Carter head a n investigation into a series of British bank raids by a team of well-armed villains who are flying in from the continent.

• The Bone Collector/Skeleton Key/Panic Room | DVD | (30/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Bone Collector: He takes his victims' lives and leaves behind mysterious pieces of a bizarre puzzle. And the only person who may be able to make sense of the serial killer's deranged plan is Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) a one-time top homicide investigator. After a tragic accident changes his life forever Rhyme can only watch as other cops bungle the case...until he teams up with a young rookie Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) who bravely becomes his eyes and ears and searches out the clues that help them solve the case. But as the killer senses the cops closing in Rhyme realizes that he and his partner are on the trail of a vicious sadistic murderer who will stop at nothing on his deadly mission. At any moment Rhyme and Amelia could become his next targets - and their first case could become their last. (Dir. Phillip Noyce 1999) The Skeleton Key: It can open any door. From the writer of The Ring (Ehren Kruger) and the director of K-PAX (Iain Softley) comes the supernatural thriller The Skeleton Key. Set largely in the dark atmospheric backwoods just outside of New Orleans The Skeleton Key stars Kate Hudson as Caroline a live-in nurse hired to care for an elderly woman's (Rowlands) ailing husband (Hurt) in their home... a foreboding and decrepit mansion in the Louisiana delta. Intrigued by the enigmatic couple their mysterious secretive ways and their rambling old house Caroline begins to explore the mansion. Armed with a skeleton key that unlocks every door in the house she discovers a hidden attic room that holds a deadly and terrifying secret. (Dir. Iain Softley 2005) Panic Room: It was supposed to be the safest room in the house. Meg Altman is at a crossroads. Suffering through a painful divorce from her husband pharmaceuticals millionaire Stephen Altman Meg moves from their suburban home in Greenwich New York and buys an Upper West Side Manhattan townhouse for herself and her eleven-year-old daughter Sarah. She intends to go back to school raise her child and start a new life. But the panic she feels at starting over pales in comparison to her fear and desperation when intruders break into her new home. (Dir. David Fincher 2002)

• Scrooged | DVD | (04/12/2000) from £5.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (117.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Most critics couldn't get behind Bill Murray's modern retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, finding it too unfocused at times and not nearly wicked enough. Still, if you are a Murray fan, you have to enjoy his deliciously nasty portrayal of the world's meanest TV executive, who has his cathartic moment one cold Christmas night in New York City. The various ghosts lead him on a ghost-town tour of Manhattan, with stops at holidays past, present and future and a Kumbaya moment when Al Green and Annie Lennox sing "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". The effects are otherworldly, but one wishes the writing were as sharp as Murray's edgy portrayal. --Marshall Fine

• Porterhouse Blue | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £15.60   |  Saving you £-5.61 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Based on Tom Sharpe’s satirical novel and set in a fictional, all-male Cambridge College, 1987’s Porterhouse Blue is a crusty delight. Ian Richardson stars as the austere moderniser who takes over as master of Porterhouse with a view to bringing in radical changes; David Jason is Skullion, head porter for 45 years and a bulldog-style traditionalist.Porterhouse Blue is a wonderfully grotesque and not inaccurate depiction of an Oxbridge college that has set itself resolutely and decadently against the modern world. Crammed with hoggish, port-swilling dons who are more concerned that the college stay "head of the river" than with academic achievement, the highlight of Porterhouse’s year is the Founder’s Feast, in which students and tutors gorge debauchedly on roast swan stuffed with widgeon, to the horror of the new vegetarian master. Jason’s Skullion looks on approvingly: he’s a stickler for Porterhouse’s inverted values, disapproving, for instance, of student Zipser (John Sessions), the only fellow at the college actually there to work. When the master eventually fires Skullion, the forces of traditionalism gather in sympathy and attempt their revenge.Unfolding over 190 leisurely minutes, Porterhouse Blue is an elegantly turned comedy in which practically every morsel of dialogue is to be savoured for its delicious tang. Jason and Richardson are reliably excellent in what is an overall exhibition of British TV thespianism at its finest. --David Stubbs

• Ourselves Alone | DVD | (25/04/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  One of the most significant films ever made about the Troubles in Ireland, Ourselves Alone is a powerful story of love and conflicting loyalties set against the battle for Ireland's independence. It is featured here in a brand-new transfer from original film elements.Co-directed by Belfast-born Brian Desmond Hurst one of the twentieth century's most prolific and acclaimed directors Ourselves Alone (a translation of 'Sinn Fein') was banned in Northern Ireland on its release in 1936, but with sympathetic performances from a strong cast the focus remains firmly on the human cost of conflict in uncertain times.1921: as nationalists battle with loyalist police and British Black and Tans, a young girl finds herself under terrible pressures; she is torn between loyalty to her brother, an IRA leader, her lover, a police inspector, and his rival, a British Army captain...SPECIAL FEATURES:[] Image gallery[] Commemorative booklet by Allan Esler Smith

• Brother Sun, Sister Moon | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It seemed like a good idea in 1973: a musical scored by Donovan about the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi, the passionate ascetic who expressed love for God by loving nature. But the finished product was something else. Filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli (Endless Love) makes a decorous effort at communicating the ideals of Francis and even tweaking the character toward flower-power relevance. But the result is feel-good fluff, a boring movie that doesn't penetrate its subject as much as reinvent him toward a modern bias. Graham Faulkner is entirely forgettable in the lead and Donovan's songs on this project aren't exactly first-rate, either. --Tom Keogh

• Western Collection (Gunfight at the OK Corral, Once Upon A Time in the West, True Grit, The Sons of Katie Elder) | DVD | (24/11/2008) from £34.99   |  Saving you £-15.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957): A gang of ruthless outlaws...a pair of larger-than-life heroes...a timeless tale of good versus evil. Acclaimed actors Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas team up to rid Tombstone Arizona of the murderous Clanton gang in this all-star action-packed classic. When lawman Wyatt Earp (Lancaster) and gunfighter Doc Holiday (Douglas) ride into town they find themselves pitted against one of the biggest foes ever encountered in the form of Ike Clanton (Lyle Bettger) and his ruthless gang. It isn't long before the confrontation explodes into a survival-at-all-costs battle with Rhonda Fleming Jo Van Fleet John Ireland Dennis Hopper Deforest Kelley Martin Milner and Lee Van Cleef among those swept into the drama and excitement of one of the Wild West's most legendary events! Once Upon A Time In The West (1969): Sergio Leone's monumental epic 'Once Upon A Time In The West' ranks among the five or six all-time Western masterpieces. The picture itself is as big as its Monument Valley locations as grand as its fine distinguished cast. Henry Fonda plays the blackest character of his long career. He's Frank the ruthless murderous psychopath who suffers conscience pangs after annihilating an entire family. Jason Robards is the half-breed falsely accused of the terrible slaughter. Charles Bronson plays the harmonica playing man who remembers how his brother was savagely tortured. Brilliantly directed by Leone and accompanied by one of Ennio Morriconne's greatest scores this glorious picture helped re-establish the Western's significance. Watch out for that lengthy opening titles sequence... True Grit (1969): In 1970 John Wayne earned an Academy Award for his larger-than-life performance as the drunken uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn. The cantankerous Rooster is hired by a headstrong young girl (Kim Darby) to find the man who murdered her father and fled with the family savings. When Cogburn's employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter sparks fly. And the situation goes from troubled to disastrous when the inexperienced but enthusiastic Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) joins the party. Laughter and tears punctuate the wild action in this extraordinary Western which features performances by Robert Duvall and Strother Martin. The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965): Katie Elder bore four sons. The day she is buried they all return home to Clearwater Texas to pay their last respects. John Wayne is the eldest and toughest son the gunslinger. Tom (Dean Martin) is good with a deck of cards and good with a gun when he has to be. Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one - nobody ever called him yellow... twice. Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) is the youngest. Any hope for respectability lies with him. Directed by Henry Hathaway (True Grit) an acknowledged master of the western the story has a dual theme: not only is this a he-man's story but it is also a drama of the maternal influence of Katie Elder movingly portrayed from beginning to conclusion.

• The West Wing - Season 2 Part 1 | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £5.99   |  Saving you £30.00 (500.83%)   |  RRP £35.99

  The second series of The West Wing takes up literally where the first series left off and, after a few moments of slightly toe-curling patriotic sentimentalism, maintains the series' astonishingly high standards in depicting the everyday life of the White House staff of a Democratic administration. The two-part opener covers the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt on President Bartlet (Martin Sheen), switching between the anxious wait on the injured and flashbacks to Bartlet's campaign for the Presidency. Other peaks in a series exceedingly short on troughs include "Noel", the episode in which Alan Arkin's psychiatrist forces Josh Lynam to confront his post-traumatic stress disorder and the concluding episodes in which President Bartlet, having lost his secretary Mrs Landingham in a tragic car accident, rails angrily against God in Latin. Other new features of this series include the introduction of Ainsley Hayes, a young Republican counsel hired after she beats communications deputy Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) in a TV debate ("Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl!" crow his colleagues), as well as the revelation (to us first, then later his staff) that the President has been suffering from multiple sclerosis. Meanwhile, the White House must move heaven and earth to make incremental political gains as well as deal with a host difficulties abroad, demonstrating, some might argue, more compassion, skill and restraint than that exercised by the real-life US administration. With Aaron Sorkin's dialogue ranging as ever from dry, staccato mirth to almost biblical gravitas, an ensemble of overworked (and curiously undersexed) characters and an overall depiction of the workings of government that's both gratifyingly idealised yet chasteningly realistic, The West Wing is one of the all-time great American TV dramas. --David Stubbs

• Sharpe's Battle / Sharpe's Sword | DVD | (08/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe (1993-7) ran to 14 full-length television films that follow the adventures of the titular soldier through the later years of the Napoleonic Wars. The programmes are an outstanding achievement for the small screen, dominated by Sean Bean's central performance as the heroic, troubled outsider who turns out to be a resourceful and loyal leader. Bolstered by a strong supporting cast, particularly Daragh O'Malley as Harper and (in later episodes) Abigail Cruttenden as Jane, Sharpe is often visually striking, the action tense and gripping. Consistency is maintained by all 14 episodes being directed by Tom Clegg. On the DVD: Sharpe on DVD's sound is full-bodied stereo while the very "sharp" (pun intended) picture has been transferred slightly letterboxed at 14:9. Though looking much better than the original TV transmissions the occasionally cropped framing makes it apparent the films were shot in 16:9 widescreen, so it is regrettable they have not been transferred to DVD in that format. Otherwise these are first-rate releases. --Gary S Dalkin

• Wayne And Ford - The Collection | DVD | (15/11/2004) from £39.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (50.01%)   |  RRP £59.99

  A collection of films celebrating the outstanding iconic collaboration of actor John Wayne and director John Ford. Films comprise: 1. Stagecoach (1939) 2. The Long Voyage Home (1940) 3. Fort Apache (1948) 4. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) 5. Rio Grande (1951) 6. The Quiet Man (1952)

• And Justice For All | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Al Pacino plays a Maryland lawyer who takes on a judicial system rife with deal making in And Justice for All, an awkward blend of satire and sentimentality. Topical director Norman Jewison can't seem to help Pacino get comfortable with the mismatched material, which pushes the film into outrageousness at some turns and mawkishness at others. The script by Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin is more an accumulation of random ideas and moments than a congruent story. However, it's interesting to see the large cast of good actors, most of whom were unknowns at the time including Christine Lahti who made her film debut here. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• The Sheltering Sky | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £18.91   |  Saving you £-8.92 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Master filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci applies his considerable talent to this haunting adaptation of the Paul Bowles novel. John Malkovich and Debra Winger play Port and Kit Moresby, characters loosely based on Bowles and his wife Jane, who flee New York for North Africa, where they hope to find mystical truths that will reignite the spark of their marriage. But instead they lose their moral bearings (with help from a friend, played by Campbell Scott, who has an affair with Kit) while travelling deeper and deeper into the Sahara. Before long, what started as a vacation at exotic lodgings has descended into a tour of hell, as they stumble farther and farther into an unknowable spiritual territory. Though long and at times slow-moving, The Sheltering Sky features marvellously nuanced acting by Malkovich and Winger and visionary filmmaking that makes the landscape at once picturesque and threatening. --Marshall Fine

• The Desperate Trail | DVD | (25/07/2005) from £6.73   |  Saving you £12.26 (64.60%)   |  RRP £18.99

  Amiable con man Jack Cooper (Craig Sheffer) is on a westbound stagecoach headed for the next batch of suckers who will mistake them for an easy mark. Fiery Sarah O'Rourke (Linda Fiorentino) rides the same coach handcuffed to lawman Bill Speakes (Sam Elliott) and headed for the hangman. In a few hours all should reach their destinations. But the trail they travel takes an unexpected turn: Cooper and O'Rourke are soon off the stage and running for their lives. The law ends and the ch

• Agatha Christie's Marple - The Moving Finger | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £7.19   |  Saving you £2.80 (38.94%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Agatha Christie's classic sleuth Miss Marple (here essayed by Geraldine McEwan) takes on another case of murder most foul.... After a serious motorcycle accident the dashing Jerry Burton (James D'Arcy) arrives in the sleepy village of Lymstock with his sister Joanna (Emilia Fox) to recuperate. Their expectations of peace and quiet are quickly dashed when they discover a poison pen-writer is at large in the village. Together Miss Marple and Jerry set out to stop the malicious mess

• Dakota Lil | DVD | (29/07/2013) from £13.05   |  Saving you £-0.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Remastered, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Dance hall gal Lil (Marie Windsor) is a very versatile woman - she can sing, she can ride, she plays cards and she knows how to forge - all of which make her attractive to several gentlemen, including secret service agent Tom Horn (George Montgomery). Horn's been sent West to round up a gang of counterfeiters. He starts by gaining the confidence of one of the ringleaders, Lil, and she leads him to Logan (Rod Cameron), the brains behind the operation. When Lil finds out that Horn is a Fed, she's tempted to fill him full of holes. The only problem is, he's taken her heart. ...Dakota Lil

• Spring Night Summer Night (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (25/05/2020) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  With its non-professional cast, this sensitive drama, which explores the intimate relationship between a coal-miner's daughter and her half-brother, is American independent cinema's closest relation to Italian Neorealism. Presented by Nicolas Winding Refn in a beautiful new restoration, Joseph L Anderson's film played international festivals in 2019 to great acclaim. Extras New 4K restoration Original mono audio ˜Spring Night Summer Night': 50 Years Later (2020): retrospective documentary by Glenn Litton featuring interviews with writer-director Joseph L Anderson, writer-producer Franklin Miller, actors John Crawford, Ted Heimerdinger and Larue Hall, and sound editor Tom Peterson I'm Goin' to Straitsville (2020): documentary revisiting the Columbus, Ohio locations with Franklin and Judy Miller, and archivist and restoration supervisor Peter Conheim Cleveland Cinematheque Q&A (2016): cast and crew panel discussion 16mm On-set Footage (1967, silent): rare and previously unseen material from the film's production In the Middle of the Nights (2020): video essay by Ross Lipman comparing Spring Night Summer Night to its ˜sexploitation' recut, Miss Jessica Is Pregnant Three short films by Anderson, comprising the ˜Bluegrass Trilogy': Football as It Is Played Today (1961), How Swived (1962), and Cheers (1963) New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Ian Mantgani, Glenn Litton's memories of director Joseph L Anderson, Peter Conheim on the film's restoration, a look at the career of distributor Joseph L Brenner, an overview of critical responses, and film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 3,000 copies