"Actor: KEENAN WYNN"

• The Lucifer Complex | DVD | (18/05/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  1986 was the year of The Great War a conflict which saw the resurrection of the most despised and feared regime in history - the rise of the 4th Reich. Having disposed of the world leaders an evil organisation plans to replace them with clones programmed to follow their orders. Robert Vaughan stars as Glen Manning an intelligence agent who discovers the sinister plot and is determined to rid the world of Nazis once and for all.

• My Dear Secretary | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  If Charles Martin's wisecracking 1948 period-piece My Dear Secretary hasn't quite endured as a classic of its kind, it still commands attention as an appealing and often very funny curiosity. Kirk Douglas rightly earned his status as one of the titans of big-screen epic drama, so it's a surprise to encounter him in this romantic comedy as a feckless writer who can always find something to do rather than get down to work, leaving a string of outraged, frustrated or compromised secretaries in his wake. Douglas has a reasonably light comic touch and spars well with Laraine Day, in determined form as the secretary whom finally tames him and, in a notable strike for women's liberation, becomes a successful author herself in the process. But this is a film in which the supporting cast steal the best lines and scenes. Keenan Wynn is delightful as Ronnie, Douglas' neighbour and partner in the pursuit of pleasure. Some splendid high campery offers ample evidence that in a more enlightened age, Ronnie would surely have been openly gay. How else to explain his hilarious last reel marriage of convenience to the wealthy dragon of a landlady, played by the irrepressible Florence Bates? It isn't vintage screwball by any means, but My Dear Secretary is witty and literate enough to make you long for a revival in sophisticated cinema comedy. Truly, they don't make 'em like they used to. On the DVD: As the rush to release long-forgotten gems on DVD turns into a deluge, we will probably have to get used to the sort of disappointment on offer here: unrestored prints with no digital remastering and lousy sound quality, simply slammed onto the disc. The film could hardly be served less adequately. There isn't even any static background information on the production or the actors, making the package rather poor. --Piers Ford

• Parts: The Clonus Horror | DVD | (30/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Somewhere in California is hidden a mysterious industrial complex. Apparently well known to certain privileged members of the inner circle of government this factory has only one product: human clones... Raised in a state of blissful ignorance both about their origins and their ultimate fate the clones dream of 'America' - where so their guardians tell them they will one day be sent. But what happens when one of these farmed clones starts to ask difficult questions...and comes looking for the real America? Peter Graves and Hollywood legend Keenan Wynn star in this dazzling political thriller that works equally well as a pulse-pounding horror film packed with moments of jaw dropping terror.

• The Clonus Horror | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Somewhere in California is hidden a mysterious industrial complex. Apparently well known to certain privileged members of the inner circle of government this factory has only one product: human clones... Raised in a state of blissful ignorance both about their origins and their ultimate fate the clones dream of 'America' - where so their guardians tell them they will one day be sent. But what happens when one of these farmed clones starts to ask difficult questions...and comes looking for the real America? Peter Graves and Hollywood legend Keenan Wynn star in this dazzling political thriller that works equally well as a pulse-pounding horror film packed with moments of jaw dropping terror.

• My Dear Secretary | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  If Charles Martin's wisecracking 1948 period-piece My Dear Secretary hasn't quite endured as a classic of its kind, it still commands attention as an appealing and often very funny curiosity. Kirk Douglas rightly earned his status as one of the titans of big-screen epic drama, so it's a surprise to encounter him in this romantic comedy as a feckless writer who can always find something to do rather than get down to work, leaving a string of outraged, frustrated or compromised secretaries in his wake. Douglas has a reasonably light comic touch and spars well with Laraine Day, in determined form as the secretary whom finally tames him and, in a notable strike for women's liberation, becomes a successful author herself in the process. But this is a film in which the supporting cast steal the best lines and scenes. Keenan Wynn is delightful as Ronnie, Douglas' neighbour and partner in the pursuit of pleasure. Some splendid high campery offers ample evidence that in a more enlightened age, Ronnie would surely have been openly gay. How else to explain his hilarious last reel marriage of convenience to the wealthy dragon of a landlady, played by the irrepressible Florence Bates? It isn't vintage screwball by any means, but My Dear Secretary is witty and literate enough to make you long for a revival in sophisticated cinema comedy. Truly, they don't make 'em like they used to. On the DVD: As the rush to release long-forgotten gems on DVD turns into a deluge, we will probably have to get used to the sort of disappointment on offer here: unrestored prints with no digital remastering and lousy sound quality, simply slammed onto the disc. The film could hardly be served less adequately. There isn't even any static background information on the production or the actors, making the package rather poor. --Piers Ford

• Dr. Strangelove - The Reel Collection | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A brilliant film a classic black comedy. A group of war-eager military men plan a nuclear apocalypse that is both funny and frightening - and seems as relevant today as ever. Through a series of military and political accidents two psychotic generals - U.S. Air Force Commander Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) and Joint Chief of Staff ""Buck"" Turgidson (George C. Scott) - trigger an ingenious irrevocable scheme to attack Russia's strategic targets with nuclear bombs. The brains behind the scheme belong to Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers) a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist who has bizarre ideas about man's future. The President is helpless to stop the bombers as is Captain Mandrake (Sellers again) the only man who can stop them...

• Mackenna's Gold/Bend of the River/Two Rode Together | DVD | (12/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  MacKenna's Gold (1968): A U.S. Sheriff entrusted with a map of the legendary Valley of Gold is attacked by an unruly bandit gang and his own local townspeople. They are all fired by greed and gold lust but bound together by a fear of their common enemy - the Apache. Based on a novel by Will Henry with music by Quincy Jones. Bend Of The River (1952): The second of the terrific Stewart/Mann Westerns is characteristic of their pairings: adult themes played out against prairie vistas in which betrayal and violence can erupt at any time. Formerly a vicious Missouri raider Stewart now leads a wagon train through Indian raids and hijackings to the new boom town of Portland where he becomes embroiled in the conflict between wealthy miners and farmers. Two Rode Together (1961): John Ford's criminally overlooked western (the first collaboration between Ford and James Stewart) finally makes its way to DVD for the first time! A group of children are held captive by the Indians. A Lieutenant enlists the help of a Texas Marshall in a rescue attempt. Based on the novel by Will Cook. Rare Breed (1966): In the 1880s Englishwoman Martha Price (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) come to America to sell their prize Hereford bull at an auction. When he is purchased by Bowen a wild Scotsman (Brian Keith) the women hire a footloose cowhand named Burnett (James Stewart) to help them transport the animal to its new owner. So begins an adventure that tests the mettle of all involved as they battle killers cattle stampedes and each other. But when they reach Bowen's ranch even greater obstacles force them to summon up extraordinary courage if they and the prize bull are to survive...

• Doctor Strangelove | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A brilliant film a classic black comedy! A group of war-eager military men plan a nuclear apocalypse that is both funny and frightening - and seems as relevant today as ever. Through a series of military and political accidents two psychotic generals - U.S. Air Force Commander Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) and Joint Chief of Staff Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) - trigger an ingenious irrevocable scheme to attack Russia's strategic targets with nuclear bombs. The brains behind the scheme belong to Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers) a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist who has bizarre ideas about man's future. The President is helpless to stop the bombers as is Captain Mandrake (Sellers again) the only man who can stop them...