"Actor: MacDonald Hobley"

• Primitive London (DVD + Blu-ray_ | Blu Ray | (24/10/2011) from £11.48   |  Saving you £10.50 (110.64%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The sensational follow-up to London in the Raw sets out to reflect society's decay through a sideshow spectacle of 1960s London depravity - and manages to outdo its predecessor. Here, we confront mods, rockers and beatniks at the Ace Cafe, cut some rug with obscure beat band The Zephyrs, witness a seedy Jack the Ripper re-enactment, smirk at flabby men in the sauna and goggle at sordid wife-swapping parties as we discover a pre-permissive Britain still trying to move on from the post-war depression of the 1950s.

• Primitive London | Blu Ray | (25/05/2009) from £22.97   |  Saving you £1.02 (4.44%)   |  RRP £23.99

  First released in 1965 Primitive London is a once shocking mondo-style documentary that sets out to reflect societal decay through the sideshow spectacle of 1960's London depravity. Here the camera finds mods rockers and beatniks an obscure band called The Zephyrs seedy Jack the Ripper enactments flabby men in the sauna sordid wife-swapping parties and more. Shot just as the sixties was really starting Primitive London shows a Britain trying to find a way of transiting from the post war depression of the 1950's and the shiny brave new world of the mid 1960's.

• The Entertainer | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £20.97   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Entertainer of the title is Archie Rice, a mediocre music hall artist upholding a dying tradition in an English seaside against a background of the 1956 Suez Crisis. Laurence Olivier stars and is supported by a superb cast including a young Alan Bates as his son, Roger Livesey as his kindly, now retired, always more talented and popular father, and Joan Plowright as his daughter (who, ironically given the story, married Olivier the following year). Albert Finney makes his screen debut in a tiny role and the remarkable cast also features Daniel Massey, Shirley Anne Field, Thora Hird and Charles Gray. Archie himself is a hollow man who brings pain to all around him, and while Olivier's brilliant performance reveals the layers of cynicism which disguise the emptiness inside, the emotional resonance lies with those forced to endure Rice's manipulations, adulteries and deceits. On stage John Osborne's play proved to be a signature part for Olivier, and director Tony Richardson--who filmed Osborne's equally sour Look Back In Anger (1958)--handles the material with unvarnished realism. Unfolding like a dark variation on Chaplin's Limelight (1952), the film equally casts a shadow over the less stellar Tony Hancock vehicle The Punch and Judy Man (1963), ultimately working as both family tragedy and allegory for a declining post-war England. Surprisingly an American 1976 TV movie remake starring Jack Lemmon held its own against this minor British classic. On the DVD: The Entertainer is presented letterboxed at 1.66:1, and sourced from an excellent print preserves the look of the original black and white cinematography very well. Even so a little material is clipped from either side of the image, though this is most notable on the left of the picture. The mono sound is very good. There are no features other than optional subtitles, including English for those hard of hearing. --Gary S Dalkin

• Primitive London | DVD | (22/06/2015) from £8.83   |  Saving you £9.16 (103.74%)   |  RRP £17.99

  First released in 1965 Primitive London is a once shocking mondo-style documentary that sets out to reflect societal decay through the sideshow spectacle of 1960's London depravity. Here the camera finds mods rockers and beatniks an obscure band called The Zephyrs seedy Jack the Ripper enactments flabby men in the sauna sordid wife-swapping parties and more. Shot just as the sixties was really starting Primitive London shows a Britain trying to find a way of transiting from the post war depression of the 1950''s and the shiny brave new world of the mid 1960''s. Miller''s companion piece London in the Raw is also released this month.