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• El Cid | DVD | (30/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sumptuous in every way, visually magnificent, with grandiose sets, panoramic Spanish vistas and intricately detailed costumes, possessor of one of cinema's greatest music scores, boasting vast and astonishingly kinetic battles, and breathing heroic virtue in every scene, El Cid is the very epitome of epic. For this reworking of the medieval legend of the Cid (Arabic for "Lord") who united warring factions and saved 11th-century Spain from invasion, producer Samuel Bronston and director Anthony Mann insisted every set had to be created from scratch, every costume specially made for this movie alone; they also shot entirely on location in La Mancha and along the Mediterranean coast of Spain to enhance the film's authenticity. The cinematography is saturated with the burnished hues of the Spanish landscape, as are the palatial sets and rich costumes; Miklos Rozsa's resplendent score is also the result of painstaking research into medieval Spanish sources. The screenplay is imbued with knightly gravitas and more than a little salvation imagery, from the opening scene of the young Rodrigo rescuing a cross from a burning church, to the movie's indelible finale as The Cid rides "out of the gates of history into legend".Charlton Heston is at his most indomitable as Rodrigo, "The Cid", a natural leader of men and the embodiment of every manly virtue (note that he fathers twins--a sure token of his virility); Sophie Loren is ravishing as Chimene, the woman whose love for Rodrigo conflicts with her filial instincts after he kills her father, the king's champion, over a point of honour. Their scenes together create a humane warmth at the heart of this vast movie: the moment when Chimene finally declares her love (beneath a shrine of three crosses--more symbolism) to the exiled Rodrigo forms a pivotal and very intimate centrepiece. Shortly thereafter he must rise from their rural marriage bed to lead his followers into battle, and the tension between his public and private lives adds a piquancy to the film's stunning battle sequences. The international supporting cast sometimes look like makeweights, especially when chewing on the occasionally stilted dialogue, but any such faults are easily forgiven as the scale and spectacle of El Cid carries the viewer away on a tide of chivalry.On the DVD: This disc is a sadly missed opportunity to present a classic epic in its original form. Although formatted for 16:9 widescreen TVs, which initially gives hope that this might be an anamorphic widescreen presentation, only the opening and closing titles appear in the correct cinematic ratio. Otherwise this is essentially the same picture as the pan & scan VHS version with the same poor print quality. Since a restored 35mm print of El Cid has been shown at cinemas and on TV in recent years there seems to be no excuse for this cut-down presentation. Add some decidedly minimal extras and the result is a disappointing disc. --Mark Walker

• Revenge Of Billy The Kid | DVD | (21/08/2000) from £49.99   |  Saving you £-44.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The Revenge of Billy the Kid is an outrageous farce like no other comedy film you've ever seen. Its bizarre blend of murder and mirth terror and titters simply defies sane description! When horney-handed farmer Gyles MacDonald has his wicked way with the farmyard goat little does he realise the freakish consequences of his strange desires. The Macdonalds are crude and grotesque living by their (dim) wits on a desolate island. Shunned by the mainlanders the family's laughable lifestyle is shattered when the unfortunate goat finally gives birth! Only Gyles' soft-headed daughter takes pity on the hideous creature. Naming it Billy she warns her brutish brothers to keep their hands off her new-found friend! But Billy doesn't beat about the bush. He grows quickly... Too quickly for Gyles who realises his diabolical secret will soon be out and the legacy of his evil lust is about to drop him deep in the manure....

• White Noise | DVD | (09/05/2005) from £14.29   |  Saving you £28.70 (200.84%)   |  RRP £42.99

  In the 1920s, Thomas Edison speculated that a device would be created which would allow humans to conduct conversations with the dead. In the 1970s, Sarah Estep picked up some mysterious voices on her husband's reel-to-reel tape recorder, and set up the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) to help track the phenomenon. In 2005, following a welter of evidence gathered by Estep and others, EVP forms the backbone for director Geoffrey Sax's shocking feature film WHITE NOISE. Architect Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) has little time to mourn the passing of his wife Anna (Chandra West) when he starts receiving signals from her. A faint sound of her voice is caught by Rivers in radio static on the night of her death, followed by incessant cell phone calls coming from Anna's old number. Rivers is convinced he can hear Anna's voice saying 'go, Jon' to him in the resulting calls. With a little help from expert EVP practitioner Raymond Price (Ian McNeice), Rivers contacts Anna and begins a hazy dialect with her. From the garbled dialogue Rivers receives, he deduces that Anna is sending him to save the lives of people who are about to die. This joins Rivers, in his plight, with a former client of Price's, Sarah Tate (Deborah Kara Unger). However, meddling with messages from the dead leads the pair into a world of trouble, producing some startlingly anxious moments, and a spine-chilling forewarning of the possible consequences facing real-life users of EVP.

• Starsky And Hutch - The Complete Second Season | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Starsky & Hutch: The Complete Second Season proves the 1970s series, in its sophomore year, both codified its earliest strengths while continuing to evolve into a sharper, wittier and often darker show. Contributing to those improvements were the stars themselves: David Soul (who plays maverick police detective, intellectual and health nut Ken Hutchinson) and Paul Michael Glaser (as Hutch's more impulsive, junk-food-junkie partner Dave Starsky), each of whom directed exemplary episodes in the second series. The series' creators also struck a more entertaining balance between the comic and dramatic possibilities inherent in Starsky and Hutch's bluntly honest, fraternal relationship. A number of stories placed the guys in intentionally funny undercover situations: as garish gamblers in the two-part opener "The Las Vegas Strangler"; entertainment directors (named Hack and Zack) on a luxury cruise ship in "Murder at Sea"; gigolo-like dance aficionados in the playfully-titled "Tap Dancing Her Way Right Back into Your Hearts"; and, most amusingly, stunt men in "Murder on Stage 17". Those are all good shows, and the duo often bicker within them, to great comic effect, like an old married couple. But it's the relentlessly tougher episodes that prove each character's mettle and demonstrate the depth of Starsky and Hutch's mutual trust. Among these is the powerful "Gillian", in which Starsky discovers Hutch's classy new girlfriend is a prostitute and breaks the news to his shattered friend. Somewhat lighter but just as revealing is "Little Girl Lost", starring a young Kristy McNichol as an orphaned street urchin whom Hutch, lately in a misanthropic, anti-Christmas mood, takes into his home. Glaser's directorial debut, the harrowing "Bloodbath", gives Soul a lot of room for an intensely physical and psychological performance as Hutch scurries to find his kidnapped partner. Soul returns the favour with "Survival", in which Starsky desperately seeks his missing pal, trapped and slowly dying beneath a car wreck. All in all, a very good series, with (of course) Antonio Fargas still sharp as sidekick Huggy Bear. --Tom Keogh

• Messiah of Evil | Blu Ray | (27/11/2023) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A woman arrives in a sleepy seaside town after receiving unsettling letters from her father, only to discover the town is under the influence of a strange cult that weeps tears of blood and hunger for human flesh.Product FeaturesComing Soon

• The Blue Max | DVD | (04/07/2005) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-12.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Blue Max is a raging war time thriller featuring spectacular aerial combat sequences. It is the story of Bruno Stachel a cold ambitious German combat pilot in World War I. As brave as he is ruthless he excels in combat wins the highest medals The Blue Max and becomes a national hero. The Blue Max is among the best aviation films with outstanding photography spectacular dogfights and a dramatic score.

• Victor/Victoria | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  One of the world's most talented and best-loved performers, Julie Andrews reaches new heights in the most challenging role of her career as a women pretending to be a man impersonating a woman! Filmed on the Broadway stage, the immensely popular VICTOR/VICTORIA is a warm, funny wildly energetic look at the nature of love, gender perceptions and the battle of the sexes. Written and directed by Blake Edwards with an unforgettable score by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse, VICTOR?VICTORIA tells...

• Higher Learning | DVD | (06/01/2003) from £16.79   |  Saving you £-3.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Director John Singleton's Higher Learning follows three very different freshman students in their first term of university who find themselves having to reassess their lives and confront such thought-provoking issues as prejudice racism and sexism... Former high school track star Malik Williams finds that instead of cruising through his first year of an athletic scholarship he's actually going to have to run faster and harder in order to make the grade. Naive Kirstin Conne is il

• Patton - Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu Ray | (02/06/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  A critically acclaimed film that won a total of seven 1970 Academy Awards (including) Best Picture Patton is a riveting portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest military geniuses. One of its Oscars went to George C. Scott for his triumphant portrayal of George Patton the only Allied general truly feared by the Nazis. Charismatic and flamboyant Patton designed his own uniforms sported ivory-handled six-shooters and believed he was a warrior in past lives. He outmanoeuvred Rommel in Africa and after D-Day led his troops in an unstoppable campaign across Europe. But he was rebellious as well as brilliant and as Patton shows with insight and poignancy his own volatile personality was the one enemy he could never defeat.

• A Private Function | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A Private Function is a hysterically funny tale of social climbing and a stolen pig starring Monty Python legend and famous world traveller Michael Palin (A Fish Called Wanda; Brazil; Time Bandits; The Missionary).

• Navy Seals | DVD | (18/09/2000) from £8.41   |  Saving you £4.58 (54.46%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Navy's elite SEAL (Sea Air and Land) squad is made up of the best of the best: supreme warriors who take on dangerous missions no other fighting force would dare attempt. Sent to rescue the crew of a US aircraft held hostage by Middle East terrorists the SEALs know that their skills will be put to the test. But when they discover that the terrorists have seized the plane's arsenal of deadly Stinger missiles they're thrust onto the frontlines of the battle of a lifetime...

• You Rang My Lord - Series 4 | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Working class chancer Alf Stokes (Paul Shane) and James Twelvetrees (Jeffrey Holland) first meet as soldiers in the trenches in France during the First World War. They find the body of an officer and assuming that he's dead Alf robs him of his valuables. Then they find that the officer the Honourable Teddy Meldrum (Michael Knowles) is still alive so they carry him off to a field hospital. Ten years later James is working in the household of Teddy's brother Lord Meldrum (Donald

• Too Late the Hero | DVD | (01/01/2008) from £17.87   |  Saving you £-11.88 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Three years after he made 'The Dirty Dozen', Robert Aldrich returned to the theme of war and not only produced and directed but wrote the story and screenplay for this action-packed adventure epic, featuring reluctant heros and a stunning climax!It is WWII, November 1942 and the U.S launches a major naval offensive in the South Pacific. To ensure battle plans remain secret, a Japanese radio installation must be destroyed and so American naval officer (Cliff Robertson) is ordered by his commander (Henry Fonda) to join a squad of British misfits on a suicide mission to take out the facility. Michael Caine is one of the misfits - a cynical soldier who'd just as likely shoot his commanding officer as obey him. However, when the ragtag band learn of secret Japanese plans, what began as a simple suicide mission becomes a war.

• Z Nation | Blu Ray | (26/10/2015) from £13.19   |  Saving you £6.38 (48.37%)   |  RRP £19.57

  After the zombie apocalypse, a ragtag group of survivors journey across the country with the potential savior of humanity.

• Dante's Cove | DVD | (29/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The sexy young residents of Dante's Cove a peaceful beachside town are plunged into a world of intrigue secrets and shifting romantic ties when their town's sinister supernatural past comes alive.

• Hannibal Brooks | Blu Ray | (02/12/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Fiend Without A Face | DVD | (24/07/2017) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Few 1950s creature features deliver in the way Fiend Without a Face does. The first hour is all build-up as tension grows between an Air Force research base and a small Canadian town (this is one of those British B films that pretends to be set overseas) as a series of mystery deaths are blamed by the superstitious on weird military experiments. It's not a spoiler to give away the big revelation, since every item of publicity material, including the DVD cover, blows the surprise: the initially invisible culprits turn out to be a killer swarm of disembodied brains with eyes on stalks and inchworm-like spinal cord tails. These creatures have a nasty habit of latching onto victims and sucking out their grey matter. The finale is a siege of a house by the fiends, which swarm en masse making unsettling brain-sucking sounds, and are bloodily done away with by the heroes. Using excellent stop-motion animation, this climax goes beyond silliness and manages to be genuinely nightmarish. The orgy of splattering brains stands proud among the cinema's first attempts at genuine horror-comic glee, setting a precedent for everything from The Evil Dead to Peter Jackson's Braindead. Marshall Thompson is a bland, stolid uniformed hero and most of the rest of the cast struggle with "anadian" accents, but Kynaston Reeves is fun as the decrepit lone researcher whose fault it all is. On the DVD: Fiend Without a Face on disc comes with a montage of scenes from other films in this batch of releases (The Day of the Triffids, The Stars Look Down) that plays automatically when the disc is inserted, but otherwise not even a trailer, much less the commentary track and other material found on the pricey but luxurious US Region 1 Criterion release. The print has nice contrasts but is pretty grainy. --Kim Newman

• The Four Minute Mile | DVD | (27/03/2006) from £6.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  In 1954 four athletes across three continents were trying to run a mile under the milestone 4 minute mark - a feat then thought impossible. With two supremely gifted athletes emerging as front runners: England's Roger Bannister and Australia's John Landy a race into the history books was on...Based on Roger Bannister's sporting achievement this film is a story of dedication perseverance and glory.

• Brideshead Revisited | Blu Ray | (09/03/2009) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  One of the most important novels of the 20th Century is brought back to life in this lush period drama.

• Regarding Henry | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £13.47   |  Saving you £2.52 (18.71%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Ruthless lawyer Henry Turner is left an amnesiac after being shot when caught up in a store robbery. Trying to rebuild his life Henry must learn to walk again tie his shoelaces and become a better husband...