"Actor: Maurice"

• On The Beat / Man Of The Moment | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1962's On the Beat, Norman Wisdom's Pitkin, the most famous incarnation of his riotous buffoon character, is dreaming of something better as usual. Pitkin wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a policeman, but being decidedly on the short side, has to settle for washing police cars. Of course it's not long before Norman is impersonating an officer of the law. Wisdom also plays his nemesis here, the German General Schreiber, as well as the chief suspect in a series of jewel robberies which only Pitkin's chaotic antics can solve. Terence Alexander effectively reprises his character from The Square Peg (1958), and Wisdom regular David Lodge, previously seen costarring in The Bulldog Breed (1960), is also on hand, though otherwise the supporting cast is less stellar than before. By the time of 1955's Man of the Moment, Wisdom was firmly established as Britain's favourite movie comedian, his shy, helpful and good-natured "gump" character forever unintentionally causing catastrophe in the great tradition of Charlie Chaplin. However, while Chaplin ventured into politics in Modern Times (1936) for satirical purposes, when Norman's minor civil servant here accidentally becomes the UK delegate at a conference in Geneva the emphasis is on farce and pratfalls. The plot sees Norman sticking up for the rights of the fictional kingdom of Tawaki against less-than-honest government interests, while his new-found status brings the attention of the ladies, including the return of his Trouble in Store (1953) costar Lana Morris. Continuing his collaboration with veteran director John Paddy Carstairs, the film is a polished laughter machine that continues to entertain. --Gary S Dalkin

• Torture Garden | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Dare you see what Mr. Diablo sees? Dr Diablo a creepy circus entertainer promises to reveal to his customers their innermost desires and promptly proceeds to indulge in a quartet of horror yarns. This anthology of grizzly tales was produced by Amicus studios one of the few British studios in competition with Hammer. Enoch: Colin Williams murders his frail old uncle to get his hands on a fortune. But the uncle's telepathic cat uses Williams to stock up on its supply

• The Secret Agent Club | DVD | (29/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Meet Raymond Chase (Hulk Hogan) bespectacled badly dressed toy storeowner and source of constant embarrassment to his young son Jeremy. If only Jeremy knew this goofy idiot of a father is really a disguise for the world's best secret agent enlisted specifically by the President of the United States to carry out a daring mission and snatch the Weapon of Weapons from the clutches of the evil Eve (Lesley Anne Down) and her giant steel legged henchman Wrecks (Richard Moll). Jeremy stumbles on his fathers true identity and starts the Secret Agent Club recruiting his friends to help his father!

• Futurama Seasons 1-4 Complete Box Set | DVD | (30/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  Every episode from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening's hit animated comedy! Season 1: 1. Space Pilot 3000 2. The Series Has Landed 3. I Roomate 4. Love's Labour's Lost In Space 5. Fear Of A Bot Planet 6. A Fishful Of Dollars 7. My Three Suns 8. A Big Piece Of Garbage 9. Hell Is Other Robots 10. A Flight To Remember 11. Mars University 12. When Aliens Attack 13. Fry And The Slurm Factory Season 2: 1. I Second That Emotion 2. Brannigan Begin Again 3. A Hea

• Who Dares Wins | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In an uncanny piece of art imitating life, Who Dares Wins came out in 1982 just after the infamous storming of the Iranian Embassy by the legendary British Special Air Services (SAS) unit. The plot builds up to that unshakeable image of black-clad troops abseiling the front of a stately home and smashing through the windows, and pays off expectations with a thrilling finale. Anyone expecting two hours of military instruction will be disappointed however. After the opening 10 minutes with the troops, the almost James-Bond-like story follows Lewis Collins (riding high in those days after TV's The Professionals) as he infiltrates a radical anti-Nuclear society. Operation: Destroy requires him to go undercover with their potentially insane leader Frankie (Judy Davis), ignoring his wife and child. The period detail is often the film's most entertaining feature as Collins tours across 1980s London constantly eluding spies on his tail. Apart from the endless permed hairdos and the fact that the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament hasn't got much to demonstrate about these days, there's the fashions and low-tech gadgetry to enjoy. In the US the film was called The Final Option. The DVD includes a photo gallery, and a history of the SAS. --Paul Tonks

• Dilbert | DVD | (15/11/1999) from £8.08   |  Saving you £11.91 (59.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Episode One: The Name Dilbert's pointy-haired boss puts Dilbert in charge of naming the company's next product as a first step in figuring out what the product will be. The Dogbert consulting company is brought in to help. The body count in this episode is unusually high. There is some nudity but not the kind you want to look at. Episode Two: The Prototype Dilbert is asked to design the company's next flagship project placing him in direct competition with a co-worker suspe

• Mausoleum | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £14.97   |  Saving you £-8.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Susan (Bobby Bresee) was ten when her mother died. Now thirty passionate and beautiful she is heiress to the family fortune. But for the women of the Nomed family there is another legacy - an ancient and terrible curse. Possessed by powers she cannot control Susans life becomes a nightmare of lust terror and murder until even her husband finds himself confronting the face of hell. Susans only salvation lies within the Mausoleum... but dare she return?

• L'Enfance-nue | DVD | (22/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  One of the earth-shaking feature debuts in the history of cinema Maurice Pialat's L'Enfance-nue (Naked-Childhood) provides a perspective on growing-up that rejects both sentimentality and modish cynicism. Its unflinching but also warmly accommodating outlook on childhood attracted Fran''ois Truffaut to take on the role as co-producer of Pialat's film - which ironically exists as much as a response to Truffaut's own debut The 400 Blows as that film was to the 'cinema of childhood' that came before the New Wave. First-time actor Michel Tarrazon plays the young Fran''ois a provincial orphan whose destructive behaviour precipitates his relocation from the home of a long-term foster family to the care of a benevolent elderly couple. In the course of this transition Pialat's film presents the turbulence of Fran''ois's unmoored existence and his explosive reactions to the contradictory emotions it engenders. This is the naked portrait of a soul's - and an entire society's - dysfunction before the moment of reconciliation. L'Enfance-nue represents the ideal introduction to the films of Maurice Pialat - an artist whose work resides alongside that of Jean Eustache and Philippe Garrel at the summit of the post-New Wave French cinema. One discovers in his pictures a raw and complicated emotional core which as in the films of John Cassavetes reveals upon closer examination a remarkably rigorous visual aesthetic and a facility of direction which lifts both seasoned actors and debutante amateurs to the level of greatness. Coupled here with Pialat's poetic and brilliant early short L'Amour existe (Love Exists 1960) L'Enfance-nue is the first masterpiece of an artist whose work has had an incalculable influence on contemporary directors as diverse as Bruno Dumont Olivier Assayas Michael Haneke and the Dardenne brothers among others - and whose 2003 passing led Gilles Jacob president of the Festival de Cannes to declare: Pialat is dead and we are all orphaned. French cinema is orphaned.

• The Hairdresser's Husband | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  At the age of 12 Antoine's life is dominated by twin passions dancing to Arabic music and getting his hair cut by the voluptuous middle-aged local hairdresser who inadvertently provides him with his first experience of the opposite sex. Antoine reaches middle age with his passion undiminished: upon meeting shy hairdresser Mathilde he is so taken by her that he proposes marriage. She accepts and he moves into her salon where they pursue their romance with an intensity that blinds them to the mundane realities of the outside world.

• Boohbah - Squeaky Socks | DVD | (10/05/2004) from £4.74   |  Saving you £8.25 (174.05%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Boohbah is an exciting new children's programme with a format that fosters both creative thinking and creative movement. It is a new televisual experience for children. Boohbah is entirely designed to encourage physical action on the part of its young viewers. Squeaky Socks: Jump side to side with the Boohbah's and lift your feet to the funny Boohbah beat. In Storyworld Brother and Sister find some big squeaky socks but will this discovery put a spring in their step?

• Beautiful Creatures | DVD | (23/07/2001) from £4.96   |  Saving you £15.03 (303.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Two women are thrown together in this black comedy when one accidentally kills the boyfriend of the other to protect her.

• Taxi 1 And 2 | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  TAXIWhen Daniel unwittingly gives a high-speed ride to police officer Emilien he is forced to accept a deal to keep his license: a stint as Emilien's personal police car driver. Now on the other side of the law Daniel becomes the unlikely mastermind behind an investigation into a gang of German bank robbers.TAXI 2The Japanese secretary of State is kidnapped by a group of Yakuza... Against their better judgement Daniel the cab driver and Emilien the policeman become involved. Taxi 2 follow Daniel and Emilion's adventures in the all action sequel to Taxi.

• Gigi / An American In Paris / High Society | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £24.96   |  Saving you £-1.97 (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Gigi: Scored by the talented team of Lerner and Lowe the movie features splendid musical numbers like Thank Heaven for Little Girls and I Remember It Well where a scruffy tomboy is transformed into a radiant high society beauty in this glorious musical! An American In Paris: Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) is an American G.I. who decides to stay in Paris after the Second World War. Keen to sample some of the city's legendary romantic lifestyle he becomes an art student and joins a colony of painters living in a Montmartre garret. Penniless and starving his pursuit of the experience of the great artists is fast becoming a little too realistic when he is discovered by wealthy heiress Milo Roberts (Nina Foch). She becomes his patron although Jerry soon realises that her interest in him doesn't end with his art! High Society: Beautiful aloof Newport heiress Tracy Lord (Kelly) is about to marry bland businessman George Kittredge (John Lund) but matters become complicated when her ex-husband C K Dexter-Haven (Crosby) moves to her neighbourhood determined to win back her hand. Things go from bad to worse for Tracy when journalist Mike Connor (Sinatra) arrives to cover the wedding for Spy Magazine. When Tracy is forced to choose between her suitors will she realise that safe doesn't always mean the best bet?

• Charlie Chaplin Complete Box Set | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £139.99

  This Chaplin Collection DVD box set contains the following films, also available separately: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and Limelight (1952). Full details can be found in our Chaplin Collection feature. There are also two films exclusive to this box set: A Woman of Paris (1923) and A King in New York (1957), plus the documentary Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin--see DVD Description below.

• Night Of The Demon | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £49.99   |  Saving you £-34.00 (-212.60%)   |  RRP £15.99

• Fanny | DVD | (30/11/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  From legendary Director Joshua Logan (South Pacific, Camelot) comes a timeless romance starring Leslie Caron (Gigi) as a beautiful young girl in Marseilles whose declaration of love for handsome Marius (Horst Buscholz) forces him to chose between a life with her and fulfilling his longing for adventure at sea. Based on the Marseilles Trilogy by Marcel Pagnol, this adaptation superbly captures the original's bitter sweet mix of romance and regret. Also starring Maurice Ch...

• Que La Bete Meure | DVD | (25/07/2005) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Director Claude Chabrol crafts a claustrophobic and psychologically complex tale of destiny and revenge in This Man Must Die. The film begins with a birds-eye view of a young boy leaving a seaside beach and a speeding black Mustang approaching from the opposite direction. When the two collide in a hit-and-run accident the movie's action is set in motion. The boy's father Charles (Michel Duchaussoy) makes a solemn vow to find and kill the man who ended his son's life. Through a bizarre series of hunches coincidences and lucky guesses Charles tracks down Helene (Carol Cellier) the sister-in-law of the man he suspects is the killer and begins to seduce her in order to insinuate himself into her family life. When he finally comes face to face with Helene's brother-in-law Paul (Jean Yanne) he finds himself unable to act despite the man's monstrous behaviour and callous attitude. When Charles realizes that Paul's son Phillippe (Marc Di Napoli) wishes his father dead as well the forces of destiny and revenge collide. Chabrol's dense and carefully crafted narrative structure explodes in an unexpected and exhilarating chain of events leading to a cathartic and disastrous climax all portrayed through subtly evocative cinematography and terse performances. Decades later the film inspired Sean Penn's similarly themed The Crossing Guard.

• Sonic Underground - Vol. 1 | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-11.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  The first of 10 volumes following the tales of one of the 90s best loved cartoon characters. Sonic is one of three siblings who together are known as hit rock band 'Sonic Underground'. Follow their adventures as they do battle with the evil Dr Robotnik. Each DVD contains 4 episodes making a collection of 10 volumes. Once all 10 are collected the spines make a big image of Sonic. This DVD contains the following episodes: Wedding Bells Blues To Catch A Queen Mobodoon The Price Of Freedom.

• Danger UXB | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Harrowing, funny, and immediately addictive, the 1979 British television series Danger UXB stars Anthony Andrews as Army Lieutenant Brian Ash, an engineering student whose excitement about his rapid commission as an officer during World War II is tempered by his unenviable post with a bomb disposal unit. Assigned to a fatality-heavy team that defuses unexploded German bombs scattered throughout London during the blitz, Ash faces down his terror and eventually becomes the closest thing to an expert one can be dismantling sometimes booby-trapped ordnance. In doing so, he earns the respect of his superiors as well as from the enlisted men working under him, and his protracted survival is nothing short of miraculous considering the tragic number of friends and colleagues Ash loses. There is a dark side, however. The longer Ash sticks with his unit, the more obsessive he becomes about his responsibility to keep London safe. Meanwhile, his nerves grow frayed and his morale collapses. Ash's desperate romance with a married woman (Judy Geeson) provides him little to hold onto, and when a true crisis ambushes his spirit toward the end, one can't be sure if he's headed for the scrap heap of permanent casualties. Based on the recollections of an actual wartime bomb disposer, Danger UXB was created by John Hawkesworth, who later produced (and wrote many episodes for) the fantastic Sherlock Holmes TV series starring Jeremy Brett. Despite many tense moments in Danger UXB's 13 episodes--one is always expecting a bomb to blow away a favorite character--the show is also graced by great humor (Ash's crew sometimes bring to mind Sergeant Bilko's hustlers) and a warm, likable cast. Andrews himself, perhaps, has never been better. This boxed set includes a History Channel documentary, "Bomb Squad." --Tom Keogh

• Le Dernier Combat | DVD | (31/03/2003) from £9.95   |  Saving you £3.04 (30.55%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Le Dernier Combat (1983) finds Luc Besson setting out his directorial convictions in vividly direct terms. He honours the French New Wave through spartan, documentary-style presentation and--save for possibly the two most meaningful "Bonjours" in cinema history--the total absence of dialogue, appropriate for a film in which devastation has robbed survivors of the power of speech. The action centres on Pierre Jolivet, good-guy in a society where vigilantism and subjugation are the primary tools of survival. Gladiatorially clad Jean Reno makes a characteristic showing as his ruthless opponent, while Jean Bouise is the taciturn doctor who comes to Jolivet's aid. Eric Serra offsets the chill austerity with a motley score of modernist clichés and easy listening soundbites. To be honest, there's little about this film that could be considered ground-breaking, but if a Mad Max scenario filtered through European surrealist sensibilities appeals, then Le Dernier Combat will make absorbing viewing. On the DVD Le Dernier Combat's 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen picture has a suitably stark immediacy, enhanced by the surround sound option. There are no subtitles, hardly a stumbling block in this instance, and no special features apart from the chance to see trailers for two rather different Hollywood productions. There's no directorial commentary, which is a pity, as Besson's subsequent career has been an eventful one and it would have been good to hear him discuss it from the perspective of his first feature. --Richard Whitehouse