"Actor: Mervyn Johns"

• The Bells Go Down (Vintage Classics) | DVD | (24/06/2024) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection - Volume 10 | DVD | (03/02/2014) from £11.98   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A global byword for cinematic quality of a quintessentially British nature, Ealing Studios made more than 150 films over a three decade period. A cherished and significant part of British film history, only selected films from both the Ealing and Associated Talking Pictures strands have previously been made available on home video format - with some remaining unseen since their original theatrical release. The Ealing Rarities Collection redresses this imbalance - featuring new transfers from...

• The Halfway House | DVD | (20/06/2011) from £11.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (60.06%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A group of troubled people gather at the Halfway House Inn in rural Wales. As they stay there the innkeeper Rhys and his daughter Gwyneth come to have a strange effect over them bringing out and offering clarity to their problems. But the group soon comes to realize that there is something very strange about the inn... The Halfway House is one of Ealing's war propaganda films and is an adaptation from a play by Dennis Ogden.

• The Halfway House | Blu Ray | (25/11/2019) from £12.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From stalwart Ealing director Basil Dearden (The Blue Lamp, Pool of London) comes this enjoyable yet creepy wartime tale of a group of strangers driven to take shelter at a remote Welsh inn during a storm. What they don't know is that the inn was bombed by a German plane a year ago and their hosts were killed in the blast. Starring Mervyn Johns (A Christmas Carol) and real-life daughter Glynis Jones (Mary Poppins), The Halfway House was written by Anghus Mcphail (Whiskey Galore!, It Always Rains on Sunday), Diana Morgan (Went The Day Well?, Pink String and Sealing Wax) and T.E.B. Clarke (Passport to Pimlico, The Titfield Thunderbolt) from the stage play by Dennis Ogden. Extras: Interview with Matthew Sweet, Stills gallery

• Scrooge | DVD | (23/11/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Dead Of Night (Ealing) - Special Edition | Blu Ray | (24/02/2014) from £12.98   |  Saving you £12.00 (109.19%)   |  RRP £22.99

  A portmanteau work from four of Ealing's best directors, Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer. Starring Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave and Googie Withers, Dead Of Night represented a departure for Ealing from the classic comedy mode and is instead a spooky psychological thriller made up of five chilling ghost stories.

• Pink String And Sealing Wax | DVD | (21/03/2016) from £8.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 1890's Brighton the young son of a puritanical chemist longs to escape the repressive environment of his family life and the overbearing restraints of his cruel, pious father. Eventually finding refuge in a local tavern he is immediately attracted to the sordid glamour of the drinking classes and the gritty world that they inhabit. He also finds himself becoming infatuated with the tavern's landlady, which will inadvertently lead to him being drawn into a plot to kill her abusive husband. Directed by Robert Hamer (Kind Hearts And Coronets, School For Scoundrels), Pink String And Sealing Wax stars Googie Withers (The Lady Vanishes), Mervyn Johns (Dead Of Night) and Gordon Jackson (Whisky Galore, The Quatermass Experiment) in a film that cleverly entwines the dynamics of a thriller with biting social commentary and a multi-layered plot structure that contrasts the parallels of the British class system.

• My Learned Friend | DVD | (27/04/2009) from £9.49   |  Saving you £6.50 (68.49%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Will Hay (Dandy Dick The Goose Steps Out) plays a disbarred solicitor who with the help of Claude (Claude Hulbert) embarks on a frantic chase in pursuit of a psychopathic murderer newly released from prison. The prisoner is working through a vengeance list with Claude's name near the top... Directed by Basil Dearden and Will Hay My Learned Friend offers a fascinating insight into the direction Will Hay might have taken if ill health had not caused this Ealing picture to be his last. The tone is much darker than his previous films and the humour much of it revolving around a sequence of grisly murders foreshadows the blackest of Ealing's post-war comedies such as Kind Hearts and Coronets.

• The Bells Go Down (Vintage Classics) | Blu Ray | (24/06/2024) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Set in the heart of wartime London, this 1943 masterpiece from Ealing Studios vividlycaptures the urgency of the era, epitomized by the alarm bells that pierce the air witheach call to action.Under the visionary production of Michael Balcon and the deft direction of Basil Dearden, this ensemble piece starring Tommy Trinder and James Masonvividly chronicles the trials and triumphs of the ordinary heroes of the British Auxiliary Fire Service from the eve of the war to the relentless aerial bombardment of the Blitz. Seamlessly blending fictional settings with authentic wartime footage, the film portrays the camaraderie and rivalry between the part-time AFS and the full-time London Fire Brigade. With a profound exploration of character motivations and harrowing experiences, The Bells Go Down delivers a poignant testament to sacrifice and solidarity and the indomitable spirit of an entire nation. London Auxiliary Fire Brigade Parade (1939)Fires Were Started (1943)Directed by: Humphrey Jennings © 1943 Crown Copyright The British Film InstituteBehind the Scenes Stills Gallery

• Dead Of Night (Ealing) - Special Edition | DVD | (24/02/2014) from £10.09   |  Saving you £7.90 (78.30%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A portmanteau work from four of Ealing's best directors, Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer. Starring Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave and Googie Withers, Dead Of Night represented a departure for Ealing from the classic comedy mode and is instead a spooky psychological thriller made up of five chilling ghost stories.

• 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

• The Captive Heart (Digitally Restored) | DVD | (04/01/2016) from £7.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (125.16%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Ealing studios' output from the 1940s and 1950s helped define what was arguably the golden age for British cinema. THE CAPTIVE HEART, released in 1946, comes from this legendary studio. Starring a host of Ealing favourites, including Michael Redgrave, Basil Radford and Jack Warner, THE CAPTIVE HEART is the story of a group of British prisoners of War, captured after Dunkirk in 1940. Amongst them is a man known as Captain Geoffrey Mitchell who has assumed the identity of a dead man after escaping from the Marlag and Milag North concentration camp. With exposure seeming inevitable, the man seeks desperately to escape the camp and therefore the fate which awaits him.

• Dead Of Night | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Architect Walter Craig seeking the possibility of some work at a country farmhouse soon finds himself once again stuck in his recurring nightmare. Dreading the end of the dream that he knows is coming he must first listen to all the assembled guests' own bizarre tales.... A relatively unknown Ealing gem Dead Of Night is a portemanteau of the stories Christmas Party & The Ventriloquist's Dummy (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti) Golfing Story (dir. Charles Crichton) Hearse Driver (dir. Basil Dearden) and The Haunted Mirror (dir. Robert Hamer).

• 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

• The Bells Go Down | DVD | (19/07/2010) from £9.64   |  Saving you £6.35 (65.87%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Bells Go Down

• Scrooge - A Christmas Carol (1951) | DVD | (08/10/2012) from £15.99   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Christmas just would not be the same without Alastair Sim giving the performance of a lifetime as Scrooge in this truly wonderful British adaptation of Charles Dickens immortal A Christmas Carol...

• The Counterfeit Plan | DVD | (15/02/2016) from £5.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (66.78%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A classic high-tension thriller directed by Montgomery Tully, this rarely seen gem features an exceptional transatlantic cast including Zachary Scott (on magnificently sinister form as a brutal master-criminal), Mervyn Johns, noir heroine Peggie Castle, fan favourite Lee Patterson and British screen spiv Sydney Tafler. The Counterfeit Plan is featured here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements, in its original theatrical aspect ratio.With the aid of his accomplices, convicted murderer Max Brandt escapes whilst being escorted to a French prison and flees across the Channel. Arriving in England he seeks out a wartime acquaintance, Louie. An expert forger, Louie has now turned his back on his criminal career but Brandt is determined to blackmail him into putting his formidable skills to use once more...SPECIAL FEATURES:Alternative Titles (mute)Original Theatrical TrailersImage GalleryOriginal Synopsis PDF

• The Captive Heart (Digitally Restored) | Blu Ray | (04/01/2016) from £11.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (91.74%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Ealing studios' output from the 1940s and 1950s helped define what was arguably the golden age for British cinema. THE CAPTIVE HEART, released in 1946, comes from this legendary studio. Starring a host of Ealing favourites, including Michael Redgrave, Basil Radford and Jack Warner, THE CAPTIVE HEART is the story of a group of British prisoners of War, captured after Dunkirk in 1940. Amongst them is a man known as Captain Geoffrey Mitchell who has assumed the identity of a dead man after escaping from the Marlag and Milag North concentration camp. With exposure seeming inevitable, the man seeks desperately to escape the camp and therefore the fate which awaits him.

• The Day Of The Triffids | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £13.58   |  Saving you £-3.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  All reports confirm that the world is witnessing an unprecedented shower of meteorites - a once in a lifetime spectacle that must be seen. And seen it is by most of the world's population. Bill Masen lies in his hospital bed in frustration with his eyes bandaged. When he finally gets to remove them the following morning he discovers the previous nights' light show has blinded all those who saw it. He is one of the few people to still have their sight. But worse is to come. With the meteorite shower has come the spores of a man-eating alien plant form Triffidus Celestus. The fate of mankind is in the hands of a few in this classic 1962 adaptation of the John Wyndham novel.

• Tony Hancock: The Rebel / The Punch And Judy Man | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Rebel (1961) and The Punch and Judy Man (1963) are the only two feature films made expressly as star vehicles for the great television comic Tony Hancock. The Rebel is by far the more ambitious, being in colour with Parisian locations, a large cast, and not least a supporting role for international star George Sanders. The opening rebellion against office life surely inspired The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, while references follow to Look Back in Anger (1958) and Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960) and Some Like It Hot (1959). Hancock goes to Paris to follow his artistic muse and as he rises through the art world his naivety is taken for genius, allowing for some very funny moments and spot-on satire, which are just as relevant today as 40 years ago. Filmed in black-and-white in Bognor Regis, The Punch and Judy Man is a more modest yet evocative portrait of life in a small coastal resort. Hancock is the titular beach entertainer who is happy to live from day to day with the affable companionship of John Le Mesurier and Hugh Lloyd. The problem is he's burdened with a socially ambitious wife, Sylvia Syms. Gentle humour comes from Hancock's frustrations as a proto-Basil Fawlty, and the film, packed with familiar British character actors, has an old-fashioned charm. It makes for an enjoyable supporting feature to The Rebel, which is undoubtedly a minor classic. On the DVD: Tony Hancock Double Feature presents both films at 4:3 ratio. The earlier film looks decidedly cropped in several scenes, though the latter survives the reformatting largely unscathed. The Rebel's colour is faded and the image grainy, while The Punch and Judy Man generally has a much stronger black and white image. Even so, there is some flickering and print damage. The music is distorted in The Rebel but the mono sound is fine during The Punch and Judy Man. There are no extras. --Gary S Dalkin