"Actor: Kevin Langan"

• Wing And A Prayer | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £5.29   |  Saving you £7.70 (145.56%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A group of eager young Navy pilots become frustrated when their superiors enact a non-combat strategy against the Japanese. To make matters worse the pilots must answer to a rigid unyielding commander (Ameche). Against all odds the men fly into action in the decisive Battle of Midway. Nominated for a 1944 Best Original Screenplay Oscar'' this stunning war drama uses actual combat footage to tell its engrossing story.

• Puccini: Turandot -- San Francisco | DVD | (18/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Not only is Puccini's final opera Turandot among the composer's most popular works, but following The Three Tenors and a certain football contest, it has in "Nessun dorma!" what is almost certainly the best-loved aria in all opera. Written 20 years after Madame Butterfly (1904), Puccini's version of an 800-year-old fairy-tale is set in a legendary Peking and scored on a grand scale, incorporating not only Chinese musical techniques but a vast range of oriental percussion. Puccini draws heavily on the chorus, and as ever makes intense demands on his heroine, to which Eva Marton rises powerfully, very well complemented by the tenor Michael Sylvester as Calaf. However, what makes this 1994 San Francisco Opera version so enchanting as a visual experience is the realisation by David Hockney, who not only designed the sets and costumes but also directed the production. His vision is highly stylised, richly imagined, atmospheric and very beautiful, and it is a testament to how well this version is directed that much of the original magic is communicated through the confines of a TV screen. --Gary S. DalkinOn the DVD: Other than a well-appointed booklet, and the option to watch with or without subtitles, there are no special features. The 4:3 picture is a major improvement on video, though no doubt due to the original source materials, not as detailed as the best DVDs. The sound is powerful PCM stereo, with a slight tendency to become strident at especially dramatic moments. The layer change is particularly badly done, interrupting the choir in full flow, rather than being placed between tracks.

• Vivaldi: Orlando Furioso | DVD | (22/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  For those with any interest in Vivaldi's operas Orlando Furioso is essential viewing, being a 1989 San Francisco Opera revival by Pier Luigi Pizzi of his own 1979 production which was largely responsible for beginning modern interest in Vivaldi's stage work. The composer first premiered Orlando finto pazzo in 1714, but the Orlando Furioso finalised in 1727 was so heavily reworked as to be virtually an entirely new opera, and so successful Handel set the same epic poem by Aristo under the title Alcina in 1735. Vivaldi's opera is not of that calibre, offering rather too much functional recitative and only a handful of truly memorable arias. However, the cast perform with such commitment and style as to make the work thoroughly enjoyable. It is a tale of romantic and magical intrigue on a small island, inevitably echoing Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the classically elegant set-design and colourful costumes evoke a suitable sense of fantasy. Mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne makes the title role her own while Susan Patterson is a characterful and strong-minded Angelica. William Matteuzzi makes a sympathetic Medoro, notably outmanoeuvred in love, while as the sorceress Alcina Kathleen Kuhlann is a appropriately complex and powerful in revealing the loneliness at the heart of her corruption. On the DVD: There are no features other than the two trailers which appear on almost all Arthaus releases. The production is presented in the original television 4:3 and the image is little better than a good video. The picture is not especially detailed and too often the performer's faces are slightly out of focus while the sets are pin-sharp. Overall the image suffers the usual problems from originally being shot on professional video, in addition to which some compression artefacting is noticeable. The prologic sound is fine, though appears simply to down mix the main stereo signal to the rear channel and the result is more accurate if switched to straight stereo. --Gary S Dalkin