"Actor: Patricia Raine"

• The Killing Of Sister George | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Sister George" within The Killing of Sister George is Britain's best-loved soap opera character, played by actress June Buckeridge (Beryl Reid). Buckeridge has become so identified with her character--a sweet old Miss Marple-ish nurse who putters around her quaint little village on a motor scooter--even her friends call her George. But outside the studio she's a hard-drinking, hot-tempered, foul-mouthed lesbian living with an immature young thing she's nicknamed "Childie" (Susannah York, who makes her memorable entrance in a sheer baby-doll nightie). At her worst Sister George is an abusive monster (in a moment of rage she forces Childie to eat the butt of her cigar) but beneath the bluster is an insecure television actress. When the studio decides to kill her character off and an executive makes a play for Childie, the soap star desperately clings to her young lover. Director Robert Aldrich, best known for his tough action films and gothic thrillers, brings his fierce vision of human nature to Frank Marcus's play . In its best moments the film simmers in angry suspicion and helpless frustration, brought to life by Reid's vivacious performance but other scenes are overlong and stage-bound and would have benefited greatly from judicious trimming and tightening. The caricatured portrayals of lesbian life have aged rather poorly--an inevitable sign of the times--but this acidic show-biz drama still carries a hefty emotional punch. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Pandora And The Flying Dutchman | DVD | (25/05/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Albert Lewin's adaptation of the 'Flying Dutchman' legend transposes the story into an upper-class English-speaking community in a small port in 1930s Spain. James Mason stars as Hendrick van der Zee, a man cursed to travel the seven seas until he can find a woman willing to die for his love. He certainly does not think he has discovered her when he meets beautiful, spoiled, nightclub singer and femme fatale Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), who is engaged to be married to racing driver Stephen Cameron (Nigel Patrick) but is also being courted by hotheaded bullfighter Juan Montalvo (Mario Cabre). However, the pair soon discover that love can blossom in the unlikeliest of places.

• Vice Versa | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Mr Bultitude is returning his reluctant son Dick to boarding school when he announces he wishes he were a boy again. Being in the possession of the Garuda Stone a magical Indian treasure his wish is granted. Moments later his son takes the stone and wishes to be an adult. So the two swap roles and lives but as they both live out their desires they get slightly more than they bargained for. Based on the acknowledged masterpiece of Victorian comic literature by F. Anstey this i