"Actor: Percy Walsh"

• Will Hay - Oh Mr Porter | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Though he gets solo above-the-title billing, Will Hay was no more a solo comedian than Groucho Marx--and Oh, Mr Porter!, one of his finest vehicles, finds him congenially teamed with sidekicks Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in one of the British cinema's greatest comedy gangs. Hay's William Porter, an inept railway worker, is shunted off to the dead-end job of stationmaster in Buggleskelly, Northern Ireland, arriving as the latest in a long line of doomed souls who have left their presentation clocks on the mantelpiece of the dilapidated office. The delight of the film is in the interplay between Hay and Marriott, the single-toothed dotty old-timer, and Moffatt, the chubby smart kid, as they fail the most basic requirements of their jobs but come up trumps when investigating the ghost of One-Eyed Joe and his haunted mill, discovering a branch line being used by cross-border gun-smugglers who are defeated in a spirited final chase. There's some slapstick with an escape from the mill in a high wind and the last ride of the venerable locomotive Gladstone, but Hay works best with character comedy, pompously reprimanding his subordinates for dodges he proceeds to pull himself, reacting to every ominous line with a perfect double-take and blithely surviving the chaos his character causes wherever he goes. --Kim Newman

• The Will Hay Collection | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £31.99   |  Saving you £18.00 (56.27%)   |  RRP £49.99

  The Will Hay Collection is a nine-disc box containing the following films: Ask a Policeman / Boys Will Be Boys Oh, Mr Porter! / Convict 99 Old Bones of the River / Where There's a Will Good Morning Boys / Hey! Hey! USA! Windbag the Sailor (exclusive to this box set): dating from 1936 this is the first film to unite Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. The hapless trio find themselves as the crew of a decrepit ship.

• Pastor Hall (UK Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (27/06/2022) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When the quiet German village of Altdorf is taken over by an SS platoon which proceeds to enforce Hitler's ideals upon its inhabitants, a kindly pastor questions the agenda of 'The New Order' while members of his parish turn a blind eye to the insidious indoctrination. Before long, he is punished for his vocal opposition and is sent to Dachau, where, despite the abuse and brutality which he suffers, he refuses to give in to the madness and inhumanity of National Socialism. Adapted from Ernst Toller's 1939 play of the same name, and based on the true story of Protestant minister Martin Niemöller, Pastor Hall is the impressive third feature from the Boulting brothers (Brighton Rock). Starring Wilfrid Lawson (Pygmalion) as the iconic pastor, and Nova Pilbeam (Young and Innocent) as his formidable daughter, the film was one of the first anti-Nazi dramas ever made and had its original production delayed by British censors who were not yet ready to be openly critical of Hitler's regime. A bold and stirring tribute to the universal power of faith, courage and personal conviction, Pastor Hall has been newly restored from 4K scans of the nitrate duplicate negative by Powerhouse Films and is finally available on Blu-ray for the first time in the world. Product Features New restoration from a 4K scan of the nitrate duplicate negative by Powerhouse Films Original mono audio Matthew D Hockenos on Martin Niemöller (2022): the author of Then They Came for Me: Martin Niemöller, the Pastor Who Defied the Nazis discusses the life and legacy of the German pastor Richard Falcon on 'Pastor Hall' (2022): the ex-BBFC examiner discusses the film's history with the British Board of Film Censors Newsreel footage (1946): extract from Welt in Film featuring Niemöller speaking about post-war German guilt The Dawn Guard (1941): short film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Pastor Hall actors Percy Walsh and Bernard Miles as members of the Home Guard Minefield! (1944): documentary short film produced by Roy Boulting for the Army Film Unit New and improved subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Fiona Kelly, archival articles, new writing on the short films, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 4,000 copies for the UK and US All extras subject to change

• Will Hay - Boys Will Be Boys | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Prison teacher Dr. Smart-Alec (Will Hay) steps up the career ladder to become headmaster of Narkover public school but his innate stupidity soon begins to create havoc. Will Hay dons a mortarboard on screen for the first time in the bumbling headmaster role that was to become his trademark.

• The Man Who Knew Too Much | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £8.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (-39.90%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Alfred Hitchcock himself called this 1934 British edition of his famous kidnapping story "the work of a talented amateur", while his 1956 Hollywood remake was the consummate act of a professional director. Be that as it may, this earlier movie still has its intense admirers who prefer it over the Jimmy Stewart--Doris Day version, and for some sound reasons. Tighter, wittier, more visually outrageous (back-screen projections of Swiss mountains, a whirly-facsimile of a fainting spell), the film even has a female protagonist (Edna Best in the mom part) unafraid to go after the bad guys herself with a gun. (Did Doris Day do that that? Uh-uh.) While the 1956 film has an intriguing undercurrent of unspoken tensions in nuclear family politics, the 1934 original has a crisp air of British optimism glummed up a bit when a married couple (Best and Leslie Banks) witness the murder of a spy and discover their daughter stolen away by the culprits. The chase leads to London and ultimately to the site of one of Hitch's most extraordinary pieces of suspense (though on this count, it must be said, the later version is superior). Take away distracting comparisons to the remake, and this Man Who Knew Too Much is a milestone in Hitchcock's early career. Peter Lorre makes his British debut as a scarred, scary villain. --Tom Keogh