"Actor: Peter Fraser"

• The Lord of the Rings (Animated Version) | DVD | (26/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is a bold, colourful, ambitious failure. Severely truncated, this two-hour version tackles only about half the story, climaxing with the battle of Helm's Deep and leaving poor Frodo and Sam still stuck on the borders of Mordor with Gollum. Allegedly, the director ran out of money and was unable to complete the project. As far as the film does go, however, it is a generally successful attempt at rendering Tolkien's landscapes of the imagination. Bakshi's animation uses a blend of conventional drawing and rotoscoped (traced) animated movements from live-action footage. The latter is at least in part a money-saving device, but it does succeed in lending some depth and a sense of otherworldly menace to the Black Riders and hordes of Orcs: Frodo's encounter at the ford of Rivendell, for example, is one of the movie's best scenes thanks to this mixture of animation techniques. Backdrops are detailed and well-conceived, and all the main characters are strongly drawn. Among a good cast, John Hurt (Aragorn) and C3PO himself, Anthony Daniels (Legolas), provide sterling voice characterisation, while Peter Woodthorpe gives what is surely the definitive Gollum (he revived his portrayal a couple of years later for BBC Radio's exhaustive 13-hour dramatisation). The film's other outstanding virtue is avant-garde composer Leonard Rosenman's magnificent score in which chaotic musical fragments gradually coalesce to produce the triumphant march theme that closes the picture. None of which makes up for the incompleteness of the movie, nor the severe abridging of the story actually filmed. Add to that some oddities--such as intermittently referring to Saruman as "Aruman"--and the final verdict must be that this is a brave yet ultimately unsatisfying work, noteworthy as the first attempt at transferring Tolkien to the big screen but one whose virtues are overshadowed by incompleteness. --Mark Walker

• Casanova | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £5.03   |  Saving you £12.96 (257.65%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Fast paced and edgy this mini-series (first shown on BBC3) alternates between the gripping love triangle involving the young Casanova Henriette and her husband Grimani and the swan song of the world's most notorious lothario! Written by Russell T. Davies creator of 'Queer As Folk' and the scribe behind the new 'Doctor Who'.

• Carry On Behind | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £6.22   |  Saving you £6.77 (108.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The discovery of valuable archaeological remains beneath a holiday caravan site is the cause of the mayhem in Carry On Behind. That said, the sub-"plots", which involve Windsor Davies and Jack Douglas as a pair of randy fishermen, a couple sharing their caravan with an outsize dog (no, it's not like that...), the obligatory giggling dolly birds and so on are all typical grist to the Carry On mill. The location is of course as bleakly miserable as such a place could ever be and will bring a frisson of familiarity to many Brits. Widely held to be one of the best in the series, the film would in fact have been a rather lacklustre effort were it not for the superbly over-the-top presence of Elke Sommer, whose performance as the strapping assistant to archaeologist Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) seems like a wonderful hybrid of Ute Lemper and Charlie Dimmock. --Roger Thomas

• The Flight Of The Phoenix | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In a gripping tale of courage resourcefulness and determination the consequences of a plane crash strip bare the morals of the survivors. The pilot of the doomed aircraft Frank Towns (James Stewart) is an aviator of the old school used to seat-of-the-pants flying distrustful of new technology. With his navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) he is piloting a cargo-cum-passenger plane high above the Arabian desert when a powerful sandstorm rises from below. Trusting his instincts Frank decides to fly through and above the storm; a risky move which leads to the starboard engine overheating and catching fire shortly followed by the demise of the port engine. Without power the plane begins a long dive towards the ground a sequence memorably intercut with the opening credits before impacting messily. Staggering from the wreckage the living find themselves deep within the Arabian desert far off their original flight plan and with little hope of rescue. Two of their number were killed instantly while a third (a young oil-worker) has been gravely wounded - right from this beginning the crosses of the dead loom over those left alive. Frank blames himself bitterly for this tragedy (correctly so from an objective perspective) but still tries to exert some authority over the rabble and provide reassurance. Since they have enough water for about ten days according to Dr.Renaud (Christian Marquand) and plenty of dates as food Frank and Lew spin the yarn that they will surely be found by search aircraft. Meanwhile a pecking order emerges among the men (a mix of oil-workers soldiers technical personnel and the aircrew) with the more learned/respected exerting control over the manual workers. As time passes the situation becomes increasingly bleak and Captain Harris (Peter Finch) decides to march to the nearest oasis with Sgt.Watson (Ronald Fraser) who is less than keen on the idea. In fact Sgt.Watson manages to fake a sprained ankle just to get out of the desert trip (a move symptomatic of his hatred of the military) and his superior leaves with another passenger. Unfortunately another survivor Trucker Cobb (Ernest Borgnine) is so deranged that he staggers after the departed pair. Frank is still so wracked with guilt that he goes after Cobb risking his own life in the brutal midday heat and fails once again in his task. Just when the situation looks irretrievably lost Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Kruger) comes up with an audacious idea - why not build a smaller plane from the debris of the first? Initially he is ridiculed both for being German and for having such a crackpot scheme but attitudes change slightly when he reveals that he is actually an aircraft designer. Once again there is hope no matter how slim that they won't become vulture food - just as long as the struggle for control between Frank and Heinrich doesn't destroy the entire enterprise...

• Star Wars Trilogy (Episodes IV-VI) | DVD | (20/09/2004) from £9.99   |  Saving you £35.00 (350.35%)   |  RRP £44.99

  Four-disc set includes: Episode IV, A New Hope (Special Edition)--with commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren and Carrie Fisher; Easter egg: credit roll (2 min) Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition)--with commentary by George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren and Carrie Fisher; Easter egg: credit roll (2 min) Episode VI, Return of the Jedi (Special Edition)--commentary by George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren and Carrie Fisher; Easter egg: credit roll (2 min) Bonus disc: all-new bonus features, including the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced on the Star Wars saga, and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three filmsSubitles (all material across all four discs): English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish Click here to see detailed information on the special features included on the bonus disc. Amazon.co.uk Review George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy is a clever synthesis of pop-cultural and mythological references, taking classic fairy-tale themes, adding more than a dash of Arthurian legend, and providing cinematic high adventure inspired as much by Kurosawa's Samurai epics as by Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. As a result, audiences of all ages can find something to identify with in Luke Skywalker's journey from disaffected teenager dreaming of adventure to Jedi Knight and saviour of the galaxy. He not only rescues a Princess, but discovers she's a close relative. And if there's a lesson to be gleaned from the Skywalker clan, it's that no matter how bad things get in the average dysfunctional family, it's never too late for reconciliation. Originally released in 1977, Star Wars, the first film, was made as a standalone. Perhaps that's why Obi-Wan Kenobi seems a tad inconsistent in his attitude towards his old pupil Anakin Skywalker, and perhaps also why Luke is allowed to develop a guilt-free crush on Princess Leia. Lucas's story, told from the point of view of the two bickering droids (a device taken from Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress), also borrows freely from Errol Flynn's Robin Hood, as does John Williams's seminal Korngold-inspired music score. Thanks in equal part to Leigh Brackett's screenplay and Irvin Kershner's direction The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is the most grown-up instalment in the series. The basic fairy-tale is developed and expanded, with the principal characters experiencing emotional turmoil--blossoming romance, mixed feelings and confused loyalties--amid a very real threat of annihilation as Darth Vader's motivations become chillingly personal. Luke's quasi-Arthurian destiny is complicated still further by the half-truths of his wizardly mentors; and swashbuckler Han Solo finds the past catching up with him, quite literally in the form of bounty hunter Boba Fett. The film is graced by more fabulous landscapes (ice, forest, clouds), more unforgettable new characters (Yoda), more groundbreaking special effects (the asteroid chase), and John Williams's finest score. The difficult third film, 1983's Return of the Jedi, seems schizophrenic in its intentions, hoping to please both the kiddies who bought all the toys and an older audience who appreciated the narrative's epic and mythological strands. The result is a film that splits awkwardly into two. One thread, which might be subtitled "The Redemption of Anakin Skywalker", pursues the story of the Skywalker family to a cathartic conclusion. The other thread, which might be described as "The Care Bears Go to War", attempts to say something profound about primitivism versus technological sophistication, but just gets silly as furry midgets doing Tarzan whoops defeat the Emperor's crack legions. In 1997 Lucas re-released the three original films in digitally remastered "Special Edition" versions, in which many scenes have been restored and enhanced (some would say "unnecessarily tinkered with"). Despite loud and continued criticisms from fans, these Special Editions are now considered definitive, if only by Lucasfilm. --Mark Walker

• Two Way Stretch | DVD | (18/06/2012) from £8.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (77.86%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Starring the finest comic actor of his generation Peter Sellers (The Pink Panther) Two-Way Stretch is one of the funniest comedy crime capers of 1960s British Cinema. Also starring a supporting cast of comedy legends including Lionel Jeffries (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and Bernard Cribbins (Crooks In Cloisters). Constantly taking advantage of the prison governor’s liberal methods towards authority convict and criminal mastermind Dodger Lane (Sellers) decides to commit the ultimate crime with the ultimate alibi. Along with a misfit crew of fellow inmates he plans to escape from prison steal a priceless cache of diamonds and then return to his cell before anyone notices. Who said genius was easy? - See more at: http://studiocanal.co.uk/Film/Details/8cae7219-3eb1-4ea0-9a17-a06e010068d3#sthash.VvUb9P0A.dpuf

• Two Way Stretch | DVD | (08/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A great British crime comedy always worth another watch, Two Way Stretch is the one about the cosily imprisoned crooks who hatch a scheme to pull off a heist with a perfect alibi by breaking out of their nick, doing the job and then breaking back into the jug again to serve out their sentences. Peter Sellers, usually an eccentric support in these things, takes a rare lead as cocky mastermind Dodger Lane, confident enough to share the screen with performers who would be doing serious time if scene-stealing were an actual offence. The chief delight of the film, obvious inspiration for Blakey from On the Buses, is Lionel Jeffries' bristling, infuriated, hilariously humiliated warder Sidney Crout, forever fuming as Dodger gets away with some new scheme. Also in on the scam: Wilfrid Hyde White as a bogus clergyman of extreme unctuousness, David Lodge as the dim-witted muscle bloke, and Bernard Cribbins in the nice young man part. The wayward plot finds room for cameos from such national institutions as Beryl Reid, Irene Handl and Liz Fraser. Director Robert Day, probably best known for the Hammer version of She, is nobody's idea of an auteur, but he puts this pacey little gem together perfectly. The British cinema has been turning out an unheralded series of wonderful caper comedies for decades, from The Lavender Hill Mob through A Fish Called Wanda to The Parole Officer; this effort--along with the follow-up The Wrong Arm of the Law--ranks among the best. On the DVD: Two Way Stretch comes to disc in a nice print. The film is also available as part of the four-disc Peter Sellers Collection.--Kim Newman

• Northanger Abbey | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £7.14   |  Saving you £8.85 (123.95%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A tale of intrigue adventure and romance. This enchanting BBC dramatization captures the spirit and wit of Austen's classic novel Northanger Abbey. The setting is eighteenth-century Bath a society of decadence and deceit into which Catherine Morland arrives bursting with freshness integrity and a passion for macabre Gothic novels. In a time when materialism not love governs marriage Catherine's head is full of fantasy and fiction of maidens being abducted to sinister c

• Ronnie Barker - A Home Of Your Own | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A groundbreaking comedy and a subtle satire of the UK building industry in the 1960s (which is still frighteningly relevant today!) an excellent cast of comedians in their early days (Ronnie Barker Richard Briers Peter Butterworth Bernard Cribbins) will have you rolling in the aisles!

• The Picture Of Dorian Gray | Blu Ray | (18/11/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Melissa | DVD | (06/08/2007) from £10.78   |  Saving you £6.21 (57.61%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Adapted from the best-selling novel My Wife Melissa by Francis Durbridge this classic serial thriller features journalist Guy Foster who returns home to find that his wife Melissa has been murdered. Foster retraces her steps and discovers that she has been leading a double life.

• I'm All Right Jack | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £14.21   |  Saving you £2.78 (16.40%)   |  RRP £16.99

  After a decade on radio in The Goons, 1959's I'm All Right Jack set Peter Sellers on the road to international stardom. Sellers played both Sir John Kennaway, and unforgettably, the Bolshy trade union leader Fred Kite (he would go on to take three roles in Dr Strangelove and featured endless disguises in The Pink Panther in 1963) series. The result is laugh-out-loud comedy with a satiric edge, lampooning the then burning issue of industrial relations. Bertram Tracepurcel's (Dennis Price) plans to make a fortune from a missile contract, a scheme which involves manipulating his innocent nephew Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) into acting as the catalyst in an escalating labour dispute, from which the socialist Mr Kite is only too keen to make capital. Management and labour both have their self-serving hypocrisy dissected in this ingenious comedy, actually a sequel to the military comedy Private's Progress (1956), but which stands independent of the earlier film. Both films were made by the brothers John and Roy Boulting, director and producer of such British classics as Brighton Rock (1947), Seven Days to Noon (1950), Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959) and Heaven's Above (1963). The superb cast of I'm All Right Jack also features Richard Attenborough, John Le Mesurier, Margaret Rutherford and Terry Thomas. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Carry On Behind | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £7.66   |  Saving you £2.33 (30.42%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The discovery of valuable archaeological remains beneath a holiday caravan site is the cause of the mayhem in Carry On Behind. That said, the sub-"plots", which involve Windsor Davies and Jack Douglas as a pair of randy fishermen, a couple sharing their caravan with an outsize dog (no, it's not like that...), the obligatory giggling dolly birds and so on are all typical grist to the Carry On mill. The location is of course as bleakly miserable as such a place could ever be and will bring a frisson of familiarity to many Brits. Widely held to be one of the best in the series, the film would in fact have been a rather lacklustre effort were it not for the superbly over-the-top presence of Elke Sommer, whose performance as the strapping assistant to archaeologist Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) seems like a wonderful hybrid of Ute Lemper and Charlie Dimmock. --Roger Thomas

• A Warning To The Curious | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £28.78   |  Saving you £-12.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Dim the lights stoke up the fire and settle down for a classic chiller from the BBC's much loved A Ghost Story for Christmas series. Based on a story by the master of the supernatural tale M.R. James A Warning to the Curious tells the tale of three fabled crowns buried on the Norfolk coast which according to legend protect England from invasion. When an amateur archaeologist (Peter Vaughan) goes treasure hunting for the last remaining crown he digs up more than he bargained for.

• The Flight Of The Phoenix | DVD | (17/04/2006) from £13.23   |  Saving you £-0.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In a gripping tale of courage resourcefulness and determination the consequences of a plane crash strip bare the morals of the survivors. The pilot of the doomed aircraft Frank Towns (James Stewart) is an aviator of the old school used to seat-of-the-pants flying distrustful of new technology. With his navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) he is piloting a cargo-cum-passenger plane high above the Arabian desert when a powerful sandstorm rises from below. Trusting his instin

• A Case Of You | DVD | (02/06/2014) from £3.58   |  Saving you £12.41 (346.65%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A young writer tries to impress a girl he meets online with an embellished profile, but he finds himself in a real mess when she falls for him and he has to keep up the act.

• Waltz Of The Toreadors | DVD | (14/05/2007) from £8.98   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The immortal Peter Sellers is hilarious as a pompous retired general who still has a taste for the ladies in French playwright Jean Anouilh's philosophical farce. A lusty comedy of manners ""Waltz of the Toreadors"" tempers its treatment of an old rake's delusions with generous dollops of wit and compassion.

• Fury At Smuggler's Bay | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A small coastal village is the setting for smuggling and ship wrecking. Only the Squire's son is prepared to speak out against the man responsible...

• Waltz Of The Toreadors | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £6.97   |  Saving you £3.02 (43.33%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The immortal Peter Sellers is hilarious as a pompous retired general who still has a taste for the ladies in French playwright Jean Anouilh's philosophical farce. A lusty comedy of manners 'Waltz of the Toreadors' tempers its treatment of an old rake's delusions with generous dollops of wit and compassion.

• The Sorcerers | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  The Sorcerers, the second film directed by the lost "wunderkind" of British cinema Michael Reeves, may not have the scope and visceral impact of his masterpiece, Witchfinder General (1968), but there's enough fierce originality here to show what a tragic loss it was when he died from a drugs overdose aged only 24. The film also shows the effective use he made of minimal resources, working here on a derisory budget of less than £50,000--of which £11,000 went to the film's sole "named" star, Boris Karloff. Karloff plays an elderly scientist living with his devoted wife in shabby poverty in London, dreaming of the brilliant breakthrough in hypnotic technique that will restore him to fame and fortune. Seeking a guinea-pig, he hits on Mike, a disaffected young man-about-town (Ian Ogilvy, who starred in all three of Reeves' films). But the technique has an unlooked-for side effect--not only can he and his wife make Mike do their bidding, they can vicariously experience everything that he feels. At which point, it turns out that the wife has urges and desires that her husband never suspected. Karloff, then almost at the end of his long career, brings a melancholy dignity to his role; but the revelation is the veteran actress Catherine Lacey as the seemingly sweet old lady, turning terrifyingly avid and venomous as she realises her power. The portrayal of Swinging London, with its mini-skirted dollybirds thronging nightclubs where the strongest stimulant seems to be Coke rather than coke, has an almost touching innocence, but Reeves invests it with a dream-like quality, extending it into scenes of violent death in labyrinthine dark alleys. By this stage, some ten years after it started, the British horror cycle was winding down in lazy self-parody. Reeves had the exceptional talent and vision to revive it, had he only lived. On the DVD: The Sorcerers DVD has original trailers for both this film and Witchfinder General (both woefully clumsy); filmographies for Reeves, Karloff and Ogilvy; an "image gallery" (a grab-bag of posters, stills and lobby cards); detailed written production notes by horror-movie expert Kim Newman; and an excellent 25-minute documentary on Reeves, "Blood Beast", dating from 1999. The transfer is letterboxed full-width, with acceptable sound. --Philip Kemp