"Actor: Michael Bates"

• Stanley Kubrick | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  This superb nine-disc Stanley Kubrick Box Set contains all the late director's work from 1962's Lolita to Kubrick's final film, the highly controversial Eyes Wide Shut (1999). There's also the excellent and highly informative two-hour documentary: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, narrated (a little drably) by Tom Cruise. It isn't exactly a warts-and-all portrait of Stan the Man, which is not surprising, really, given that it's directed and produced by Kubrick's brother-in-law Jan Harlan, and that Kubrick's widow Christine was closely involved in the making of it. But it does give a detailed and revealing portrait of a brilliant, demanding and often infuriating man, airing rare footage that goes right back to his earliest years as a brash youngster in the Bronx, already playing to camera with a frightening degree of self-awareness. Six of the eight movies (all but Dr Strangelove and Eyes Wide Shut) have been digitally restored and remastered, and almost all (barring Strangelove again and Lolita) now boast Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo sound remixes. For some bizarre reason, Kubrick insisted on mono sound for the 1999 set, which he approved shortly before his death. Visually the improvement over the often grainy, scratchy prints previously on offer--The Shining (1980) was notoriously messy--is immense. All the features are presented in their original ratios, which in the case of Strangelove means the changing ratios in which it was originally shot, and for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) the full glorious 2.21:1 expanse of the Cinerama screen.So what don't you get? Essentially, the early Kubrick--the work of the young, hungry director before he moved to England and started to gather all the controlling strings into his own hand: most notably the tough, taut thriller The Killing (1956) and the icily furious war film Paths of Glory (1957). Too bad Warners couldn't have negotiated the rights for those too. But what we have here is the culminating phase of Kubrick's filmmaking career--the final 27 years of one of the great masters of cinema. On the DVDs: Besides the visual and sonic improvements mentioned above, each of the eight features includes the original theatrical trailer and multiple-language subtitles. The DVD of Dr Strangelove also gives us filmographies of the principal players, plus theatrical posters and a photo gallery, while Eyes Wide Shut includes interviews (taped after Kubrick's death) with Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Steven Spielberg, plus a couple of 30-second TV spots. And with The Shining we get a fascinating 34-minute documentary made by Kubrick's then 17-year-old daughter Vivian, plus--just to add a further layer--Vivian's present-day voice-over commentary on her film. --Philip Kemp

• Clockwork Orange | DVD | (13/11/2000) from £8.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (122.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The controversy that surrounded Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange while the film was out of circulation suggested that it was like Romper Stomper: a glamorisation of the violent, virile lifestyle of its teenage protagonist, with a hypocritical gloss of condemnation to mask delight in rape and ultra-violence. Actually, it is as fable-like and abstract as The Pilgrim's Progress, with characters deliberately played as goonish sitcom creations. The anarchic rampage of Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a bowler-hatted juvenile delinquent of the future, is all over at the end of the first act. Apprehended by equally brutal authorities, he changes from defiant thug to cringing bootlicker, volunteering for a behaviourist experiment that removes his capacity to do evil.It's all stylised: from Burgess' invented pidgin Russian (snarled unforgettably by McDowell) to 2001-style slow tracks through sculpturally perfect sets (as with many Kubrick movies, the story could be told through decor alone) and exaggerated, grotesque performances on a par with those of Dr Strangelove (especially from Patrick Magee and Aubrey Morris). Made in 1971, based on a novel from 1962, A Clockwork Orange resonates across the years. Its future is now quaint, with Magee pecking out "subversive literature" on a giant IBM typewriter and "lovely, lovely Ludwig Van" on mini-cassette tapes. However, the world of "Municipal Flat Block 18A, Linear North" is very much with us: a housing estate where classical murals are obscenely vandalised, passers-by are rare and yobs loll about with nothing better to do than hurt people. On the DVD: The extras are skimpy, with just an impressionist trailer in the style of the film used to brainwash Alex and a list of awards for which Clockwork Orange was nominated and awarded. The box promises soundtracks in English, French and Italian and subtitles in ten languages, but the disc just has two English soundtracks (mono and Dolby Surround 5.1) and two sets of English subtitles. The terrific-looking "digitally restored and remastered" print is letterboxed at 1.66:1 and on a widescreen TV plays best at 14:9. The film looks as good as it ever has, with rich stable colours (especially and appropriately the orangey-red of the credits and the blood) and a clarity that highlights previously unnoticed details such as Alex's gouged eyeball cufflinks and enables you to read the newspaper articles which flash by. The 5.1 soundtrack option is amazingly rich, benefiting the nuances of performance as much as the classical/electronic music score and the subtly unsettling sound effects. --Kim Newman

• The Male of The Species | DVD | (19/03/2012) from £11.98   |  Saving you £3.00 (30.03%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Featuring rare television performances from Sean Connery Michael Caine and Paul Scofield and with Anna Calder-Marshall as the increasingly savvy Mary MacNeil this trilogy of plays narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier forms a dramatic and controversial study in male behaviour. Part of ITV s celebrated anthology series Saturday Night Theatre Male of the Species was written by Oscar-nominated playwright Alun Owen and originally screened in 1969 to great acclaim earning Primetime Emmy Awards for both Paul Scofield and Anna Calder-Marshall. Never trust a man whoever he is. This is the bitter lesson learned by Mary MacNeil in her relationships with three different men: her father a mendacious womaniser; a smooth-talking office flirt Cornelius; and an elderly barrister Emlyn who is enchanted by Mary s youthful vitality and charm. Only one of these men will win her heart in the end...

• Sum Of All Fears, The / Along Came A Spider / Kiss The Girls | DVD | (11/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Morgan Freeman Collection containing three of his best known films. Kiss The Girls: North Carolina police detective Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) tracks an elusive psychopath whose modus operandi is not necessarily killing the young women he abducts but ""collecting"" them as trophies. Unfortunately his quarry includes the detective's own law-student niece so his race against time with the help of a no-nonsense medical intern Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd) who esca

• Jailhouse Wardress | DVD | (21/08/2017) from £8.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After the fall of the Third Reich, all Nazi SS officers ran away in Latin American countries. There they created special laboratories to crate beautiful women for satisfaction of their guards' sexual desires. The main warden in this prison is a cruel woman. Their main plan is to revenge for defeat of Nazi's Germany.

• Saturday Morning Pictures - The Best Of The Children's Film Foundation - Vol. 3 | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-10.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Go Kart Go Rival groups build their own Go-Karts and encounter excitement and trouble in their efforts to win the local Go-Kart race. Featuring a very young Dennis Waterman! A Hitch In Time An erratic time machine cuts a bullying teacher down to size...

• The Persuaders - Vol. 5 - Episodes 15-18 | DVD | (18/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Further action-fuelled adventures with those cool crimefighters Lord Brett Sinclair (Moore) and Danny Wilde (Curtis). Epsisodes include: The Man In The Middle: A double agent is discovered working in British Intelligence... Element of Risk: A known criminal arrives in London and gets mixed up with Danny... A Home of One's Own: Danny buys himself a cottage and gets involved with the illegal activities of the local squire... Nuisance Value: A fake kidnapping threatens to test the sleuthing skills of Brett and Danny...

• Complete Unknown | DVD | (23/01/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A mysterious woman with a remarkable past revisits a former lover, complicating the settled life he has built for himself and his wife in Complete Unknown, an unsettling exploration of identity from acclaimed filmmaker Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace, The Forgiveness of Blood).

• Clockwork Orange (Deluxe Box) | DVD | (12/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Stomping whomping stealing singing tap-dancing violating. Derby-topped teddy-boy hooligan Alex has his own way of having a good time. He has it at the tragic expense of others. Alex's journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen forms the dynamic arc of Stanley Kubrick's future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess' novel. Unforgettable images startling musical counterpoints the fascinating language used by Alex and his pals - Kubrick shapes them into a shattering whole. Hugely controversial when first released A Clockwork Orange won the New York Film Critics Best Picture and Director honors and earned four Academy Award nominations including best picture. The power of its art is such that it still entices shocks and holds us in its grasp.

• A Clockwork Orange | HD DVD | (24/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Stomping whomping stealing singing tap-dancing violating Derby-topped teddy-boy hooligan Alex (Malcolm McDowell) has his own way of having a good time. He has it at the tragic expense of others. Alex's journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen forms the dynamic arc of Stanley Kubrick's future-shook vision of Anthony Burgess's novel. Unforgettable images startling musical counterpoints the fascinating language used by Alex and his pals - Kubrick shapes them into a shattering whole.

• It Ain't Half Hot Mum - Series 6 | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The complete sixth series of adventures (and misadventures) with the Royal Artillery concert party as the end of the Second World War creeps closer... Episodes Listing: 1. The Stars Look Down 2. The Big League 3. The Big Payroll Snatch 4. The Dhobi Wallahs 5. Lead Kindly Light 6. Holidays At Home 7. Caught Short

• Gulliver's Travels | DVD | (29/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Based on Jonathan Swift's literary classic this was one of the first feature films to combine live action with animation.

• Carrington V.C. | DVD | (19/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Compelled to use his own money for his expense account Major Carrington becomes convinced that he will never see his money again and decides to take back the money from his department's funds without permission. For this error in military rules Carrington is court-martialed. During the trial Carrington's selfish wife (Margaret Leighton) gets even for a wartime affair conducted by her husband by supplying false testimony. Though Carrington is declared guilty the implication is th