"Actor: John Francis"

• Oliver Twist -- Special Edition | DVD | (26/09/2008) from £12.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (23.19%)   |  RRP £15.99

  There have been many film and TV adaptations of Oliver Twist but this 1948 production from director David Lean remains the definitive screen interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic. From the ominous symbolism of its opening storm sequence (in which Oliver's pregnant, ill-fated mother struggles to reach shelter before childbirth) to the mob-scene climax that provokes Bill Sikes's dreadful comeuppance, this breathtaking black-and-white film remains loyal to Dickens while distilling the story into its purest cinematic essence.Every detail is perfect--Lean even includes a coffin-shaped snuffbox for the cruel Mr. Sowerberry--and as young Oliver, eight-year-old John Howard Davies (who would later produce Monty Python's Flying Circus for the BBC) perfectly expresses the orphan's boyish wonderment, stern determination and waifish vulnerability. Best of all is Alec Guinness as Fagin, so devious and yet so delightfully appealing under his beak-nosed (and, at the time, highly controversial) make-up. (Many complained that Fagin's huge nose and greedy demeanour presented an anti-Semitic stereotype, even though Lean never identifies Fagin as Jewish; for this reason, the film wasn't shown in the US until three years after its British release.) Likewise, young Anthony Newley is artfully dodgy as Fagin's loyal accomplice, the Artful Dodger. Guinness's performance would later provide strong inspiration for Ron Moody's equally splendid portrayal of Fagin in the Oscar-winning Oliver! and while that 1968 musical remains wonderfully entertaining, it is Lean's film that hews closest to Dickens' vision. The authentic recreation of 19th-century London is marvellous to behold; Guy Green's cinematography is so shadowy and stylised that it almost qualifies as Dickensian film noir. Lean is surprisingly blunt in conveying Dickens's theme of cruelty but his film never loses sight of the warmth and humanity that Oliver embodies. --Jeff Shannon

• I Am | DVD | (18/02/2013) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Change your life... and change the world. I Am is the incredible story of how one man went from riches to rags and it changed his life for the better. One of Hollywood's leading comedy directors, Tom Shadyac is the creative force behind such blockbusters as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Liar Liar, The Nutty Professor and Bruce Almighty. However, in I Am, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Meeting with a variety of thinkers from the worlds of science, philosophy, academia, and faith - including Noam Chomsky and Archbishop Desmond Tutu - Shadyac emerges with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed and investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live our lives. The result is a fresh, energetic, and life-affirming film that that poses two practical and provocative questions: what's wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better?

• The Caine Mutiny | DVD | (27/09/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Humphrey Bogart is heartbreaking as the tragic Captain Queeg in this 1954 film, based on a novel by Herman Wouk, about a mutiny aboard a navy ship during World War II. Stripped of his authority by two officers under his command (played by Van Johnson and Robert Francis) during a devastating storm, Queeg becomes a crucial witness at a court martial that reveals as much about the invisible injuries of war as anything. Edward Dmytryk (Murder My Sweet, Raintree County) directs the action scenes with a sure hand and nudges his all-male cast toward some of the most well-defined characters of 1950s cinema. The courtroom scenes alone have become the basis for a stage play (and a television movie in 1988), but it is a more satisfying experience to see the entire story in context. --Tom Keogh

• Rare Chills - The Fear Makers:Shadow Of Death & Supernatural:Mrs Amworth | DVD | (13/08/2018) from £12.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A Collection of Rare Spine-Chilling Tales Do you wake at night, hearing sounds under the floorboards? Are ghosts real? Or figments of your imagination? Are you brave enough to walk through a graveyard at night? Two chilling tales of terror to keep you awake at night: The Fearmakers : The Shadow of Death Shot on location at Warwick Castle, this spooky tale stars Jack Woolgar (Swallows and Amazons) as Booth and Barry Stokes (Z-Cars) as Weaver. Supernatural: Mrs. Amworth A mysterious epidemic is attacking an English village and the inhabitants are gradually being drained of their blood. Francis Urcombe becomes convinced that the disease is the work of a vampire. Starring Oscar-nominee Glynis Johns (Mary Poppins), John Phillips (Bleak House), Rex Holdsworth (Softly, Softly) and Derek Francis (Scrooge). Directed by BAFTA-nominee Alvin Rakoff.

• Tears Of The Sun | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Bruce Willis plays a Special-Ops commander who leads his team into the jungle of Nigeria to rescue a doctor (Monica Belluci) who will only go with them if they also agree to rescue 70 refugees.

• Village Hall - The Complete Series 2 | DVD | (24/09/2012) from £14.98   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Featuring illustrious individual casts and outstanding scripts from a writing team that includes Randall and Hopkirk star Kenneth Cope, renowned playwright Peter Terson, fan favourite comedy dramatist Donald Churchill and Coronation Street contributors Harry Kershaw and Tim Aspinall, this Granada anthology features seven dramas centred on the events unfolding in a typical village hall. Diverse storylines explore the lives and idiosyncrasies of locals and visitors alike, with buried tensions, secret loves and rivalry all rising to the surface in these gently humorous portraits of provincial English life. This second series sees the village hall hosting a beauty contest with a few surprises, the increasingly ambitious pie-making efforts of two love rivals, the controversial visit of a German brass band, and the final reunion of a wartime battalion. Performers include John Le Mesurier, Zo Wanamaker, Joan Hickson, Anton Rodgers, Kenneth Cranham, Jan Francis, and Dinah Sheridan.

• War Hunt | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  No one is a better soldier than Pvt. Raymond Endore (John Saxon) at least in his own mind. Stationed in Korea as the conflict between the United States and the divided peninsula is coming to an end Endore sleeps while his platoon works to gear up for his nightly patrols of the area. These patrols used to bring vital information but now they have become a nightly ritual for Endore to slash the throats of suspected enemies tolerated by a Captain (Charles Aidman) who fears Endore's unstable nature. A Korean war orphan (Tommy Matsuda) befriends Endore as well as an idealistic soldier (Robert Redford) and these two soldiers must decide the fate of the child as the ceasefire is announced.... Madness in men during their tour of duty a subject also at the heart of Hell Is For Heroes and Attack! is the focus of this brutal 1961 war drama. Redford in his film debut offers a strong counterpart to the criminally underrated John Saxon (who would go on to a career of character work) who gives a stunning performance as a killer who only seems at peace after taking the life of another victim.

• Scrooge | DVD | (10/11/2008) from £14.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Alistair Sim's Scrooge is an all-time favourite Christmas family film and a genuine classic of British cinema. Scrooge is also the definitive big screen adaptation of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' one of the world's best loved Christmas stories

• Great Expectations | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £5.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (116.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  David Lean's masterpiece based on Charles Dickins' timeless novel about Pip, a blacksmith's apprentice who suddenly comes into great fortunes.

• Fort Apache (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £12.70   |  Saving you £-2.71 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Henry Fonda is the strict new commander of a frontier fort (Henry Fonda) who soon clashes with his more experienced second in command (John Wayne), jepordising the fragile peace with the native americans.

• A Clockwork Orange Ultimate Collector's Edition | Blu Ray | (04/10/2021) from £34.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Stomping, whomping, stealing, singing, tap-dancing, violating. Derby-topped hooligan Alex (Malcolm McDowell) has a good time - at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Stanley Kubrick's future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess' novel. Controversial when first released, A Clockwork Orange won New York Film Critics Best Picture and Director awards and earned four Oscarr* nominations, including Best Picture. Its power still entices, shocks and holds us in its grasp.This 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition includes:. •A Clockwork Orange on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray. •Blu-ray Bonus Disc featuring Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures and O Lucky Malcolm! documentaries. •32-page booklet. •Double-sided Poster. •Set of 3 Art Cards. •Behind the scenes stills. •Newspaper prop replica. Special Features:. • Commentary by Malcolm McDowell and Historian Nick Redman. • Channel Four Documentary Still Tickin’: The Return of Clockwork Orange. • New Featurette Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making A Clockwork Orange. • Career Profile O Lucky Malcolm! [in High Definition]. • Theatrical Trailer.  

• The Incredible Hulk | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £7.70   |  Saving you £8.29 (107.66%)   |  RRP £15.99

  To paraphrase the Green Goliath himself, this Incredible Hulk release is a smash, providing 83 minutes of exciting sci-fi with enough action to satisfy Hulk novices and scripting that hews to its Marvel Comics origin (which will please longtime devotees). This set compiles the first four episodes of the 1996-97 animated series that outline the Hulk's origins as well as the struggles of his human alter ego Bruce Banner to rid himself of the creature. The episodes also make fine use of Marvel's rosters of heroes and villains; in the two-part "Return of the Beast", the Hulk tangles with the Leader, the Gargoyle and the hideous Abomination, and in "Raw Power" he's up against the malevolent ZZZAX; in "Helping Hand, Iron Fist", he goes mano-a-mano with Iron Man and War Machine. Terrific performances (TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno provides the creature's voice) and extensive extras make this a must-have for comic and cartoon aficionados. On the DVD:: The Incredible Hulk DVD will provide some clarity to viewers unfamiliar with his past and it also provides some choice trivia for those better versed in Hulk lore. The most enjoyable extra is "Inside the Hulk", which accesses interesting comments and factoids from comic book writer Peter David and Hulk creator Stan Lee throughout the four episodes. The always-exuberant Lee also provides brief introductions to each episode and, in "Stan Lee's Soapbox", voices his feelings on comics and his own unparalleled career. Older audiences will undoubtedly be amused by the inclusion of the first three episodes from the 1966 Incredible Hulk animated series. But primitive cels aside, the episodes will be of interest to vintage comic book fans, as they utilise original Hulk artist Jack Kirby's drawings. --Paul Gaita

• Moby Dick | DVD | (10/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Consumed by an unquenchable rage Captain Ahab (Gregory Peck) has but one purpose; revenge on Moby Dick the great white whale who maimed and disfigured him. The obsessed skipper of a whaling boat Ahab uses his command as an excuse to sail the seven seas in an unrelenting search of his prey. Battling a mutinous crew tropical heat and violent storms Ahab finally catches up to his quarry and begins a confrontation that culminates in an epic struggle of non-stop fury...and inevitable

• Tomb Of Ligeia | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £14.90   |  Saving you £-1.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Cat or woman or a thing too evil to mention? Roger Corman and Vincent Price hook up for yet more horror in Edgar Allan Poe's most terrifying tale of passion possession and PURR-fect evil! When a dead wife sinks her claws into immortality - and comes back as a ferocious feline - she leads her husband's (Price) new bride on a deadly game of cat and mouse. And when the fur starts flying she soon learns that even in death... she can land on her feet!

• Oliver Twist / Great Expectations | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An astonishingly good David Lean double-bill featuring his two Dickensian adaptations, Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), this is a reminder that cinema does not necessarily have to debase its literary sources, sometimes it can enhance them. Lean's painterly eye for evocative locations--be they windswept marshes or bustling London streets--provides the backdrop, but his focus on smaller details--the ominous tree in the graveyard with its almost human face, the reaction of Bill Sikes' dog to Nancy's murder--adds the vital ingredient that brings both place and character to life. Starring a youthful John Mills as Pip, Lean's Great Expectations is an unadulterated delight, a serendipitous gelling of screenplay, direction, cinematography and acting that produces an almost perfect film. The cast is exemplary, with Alec Guinness in his first (official) role as Pip's loyal pal Herbert Pocket; Martita Hunt is a cadaverous Miss Havisham; Finlay Currie transforms himself from truly threatening to entirely sympathetic as Magwitch; while the young Jean Simmons makes more of an impact as the girl Estella than Valerie Hobson does as the older incarnation. Perhaps best of all, though, is Francis Sullivan as the pragmatic but kindly attorney Jaggers. The cinematography alone (courtesy of Guy Green) would qualify Oliver Twist as a classic: the opening sequence of a lone woman struggling through the storm is an indelible cinematic image. Fortunately, Lean's film has many more aces up its sleeve thereafter, notably Alec Guinness' grotesque Fagin--a caricature certainly, but a three-dimensional one--and Robert Newton's utterly pitiless Bill Sikes. The skewed angles and unsettling chiaroscuro lighting transform London itself into another threatening character. --Mark Walker

• Crimson Rivers 2: Angels Of The Apocalypse | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £16.71   |  Saving you £3.28 (19.63%)   |  RRP £19.99

  French sensation The Crimson Rivers was a serial killer thriller with a difference--it was genuinely thrilling. It was also pretty disturbing, but Jean Reno (The Professional) brought some light to the darkness with his sly performance as dog-phobic detective Niémans. Fortunately, Reno has returned in this highly stylized Luc Besson-penned sequel. Vincent Cassell has not, but Benoît Magimel (The Piano Teacher), as new partner Reda, makes for a decent replacement. Alas, Olivier Dahan isn't in the same league as Matthieu Kassovitz and the story line, which has something to do with the Last Supper, the Maginot Line, and gravity-defying killer monks, is even more convoluted than before. Then there's Johnny Hallyday (The Man on the Train) as a mysterious one-eyed man and Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings) as a bad German dude. It's all a little ridiculous, but entertaining nonetheless, and the chase sequences are a treat. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Sensation | DVD | (01/02/2016) from £7.98   |  Saving you £4.00 (66.78%)   |  RRP £9.99

  An early feature by Brian Desmond Hurst the prolific, acclaimed Belfast-born director whose numerous triumphs include the incomparable Scrooge, Malta Story and wartime epic Theirs Was the Glory Sensation stars John Lodge as a brash young reporter who is one step ahead of the police in a high-profile murder investigation. Hurst and Lodge's third film together, Sensation is featured here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.Pat Heaton may be the best crime reporter in town but his fiancée Claire, despairing of the more tawdry aspects of his profession, makes him promise to give the job up. When a pretty waitress is found murdered, however, Pat falls in line with the rest of the 'Murder Gang' the pack of reporters who gather to glean stories by fair means or foul!SPECIAL FEATURES: Image gallery Original pressbook and script PDF

• Clockwork Orange | DVD | (13/11/2000) from £8.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (122.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The controversy that surrounded Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange while the film was out of circulation suggested that it was like Romper Stomper: a glamorisation of the violent, virile lifestyle of its teenage protagonist, with a hypocritical gloss of condemnation to mask delight in rape and ultra-violence. Actually, it is as fable-like and abstract as The Pilgrim's Progress, with characters deliberately played as goonish sitcom creations. The anarchic rampage of Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a bowler-hatted juvenile delinquent of the future, is all over at the end of the first act. Apprehended by equally brutal authorities, he changes from defiant thug to cringing bootlicker, volunteering for a behaviourist experiment that removes his capacity to do evil.It's all stylised: from Burgess' invented pidgin Russian (snarled unforgettably by McDowell) to 2001-style slow tracks through sculpturally perfect sets (as with many Kubrick movies, the story could be told through decor alone) and exaggerated, grotesque performances on a par with those of Dr Strangelove (especially from Patrick Magee and Aubrey Morris). Made in 1971, based on a novel from 1962, A Clockwork Orange resonates across the years. Its future is now quaint, with Magee pecking out "subversive literature" on a giant IBM typewriter and "lovely, lovely Ludwig Van" on mini-cassette tapes. However, the world of "Municipal Flat Block 18A, Linear North" is very much with us: a housing estate where classical murals are obscenely vandalised, passers-by are rare and yobs loll about with nothing better to do than hurt people. On the DVD: The extras are skimpy, with just an impressionist trailer in the style of the film used to brainwash Alex and a list of awards for which Clockwork Orange was nominated and awarded. The box promises soundtracks in English, French and Italian and subtitles in ten languages, but the disc just has two English soundtracks (mono and Dolby Surround 5.1) and two sets of English subtitles. The terrific-looking "digitally restored and remastered" print is letterboxed at 1.66:1 and on a widescreen TV plays best at 14:9. The film looks as good as it ever has, with rich stable colours (especially and appropriately the orangey-red of the credits and the blood) and a clarity that highlights previously unnoticed details such as Alex's gouged eyeball cufflinks and enables you to read the newspaper articles which flash by. The 5.1 soundtrack option is amazingly rich, benefiting the nuances of performance as much as the classical/electronic music score and the subtly unsettling sound effects. --Kim Newman

• The Champions | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When British jocky Bob Champion is struck down with cancer in the prime of his career his desire to live is determined by a single promise; on successful recovery he will ride jump prospect Aldaniti in the 1981 Grand National... John Hurt gives a truly stunning performance as Bob Champion in this true story of courage dedication and the strength of the human spirit.

• The Black Torment | DVD | (25/07/2016) from £8.75   |  Saving you £4.24 (48.46%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Heather Sears and Patrick Troughton star in this gothic, British chiller! Sir Richard (John Turner) returns to his manor with a new bride - only to discover that a man matching his description has been slaying beautiful young women in the area; and his fi rst wife's ghost appears on the lawn and accuses Sir Richard of her murder.