"Actor: Raymond Francis"

• Miss Marple - The Body In The Library | DVD | (24/03/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The suspense of Miss Marple: The Body in the Library isn't the edge-of-your-seat variety; it's simply a perplexing puzzle that keeps niggling at the back of your mind. Just as one piece of the puzzle falls into place, another gap opens up, thanks to one of Agatha Christie's most intricate plots. Considering what a long film this is (150 minutes, lengthier than most Christie adaptations), it's impressive how tightly the mystery grips the viewer's attention. And not a second of Joan Hickson's marvellous performance as Miss Marple should be missed (the other performances, alas, fall short, except for Gwen Watford as Dolly Bantry, in whose library the body is found). To people meeting her for the first time, Jane Marple appears to be a sweet old dear, whose comments on the murder investigation are more likely to involve an obscure recollection of a frog jumping out of someone's coat than to have any direct bearing on the case. But as Christie fans know, beneath that dithery exterior lies one of the shrewdest minds in England. Hickson's understated portrayal reveals the humour in her character without ever making a mockery of Miss Marple and the results are delightful to watch. --Larisa Lomacky Moore, Amazon.com

• Battle Cry | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £15.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The most interesting--and entertaining--aspect of Battle Cry, a long, episodic World War II drama, is that it marked the debut of one Justus E McQueen, who subsequently took the name of the good ol' Arkansas boy he played in the movie: LQ Jones. He's only one of eight or nine marine recruits who divide the screen time with commanding officer Van Heflin and James Whitmore as a lifer sergeant named Mac, "just Mac", who ramrods their squad and also delivers the movie's overbearing narration. Unfortunately, the narration is necessary to maintain continuity as the CinemaScope production galumphs its way from rounding up the melting-pot cast to seeing them through basic training and sundry, mostly amatory misadventures in San Diego, to further training in New Zealand and finally to baptism of fire on Guadalcanal. Trouble is, among the recruits only McQueen/Jones (whose job is mostly comic relief) and Aldo Ray (as a brawling lumberjack who's never known family life) have any charisma or acting chops--and that's not forgetting Tab Hunter, whose matinee-idol status at the time does not speak well for the 50s. Battle Cry is also a cardinal example of Hollywood's penchant for buying big, lusty, profane bestsellers (by Leon Uris, in this case) and then bowdlerising all the lustiness and profanity to appease the censors. Raoul Walsh, the poet laureate of lowdown gusto, does what he can in the circumstances, and as one of the first guys ever to direct a widescreen movie (1930's The Big Trail), he makes the battle scenes roar. --Richard T. Jameson

• Battle Cry / Objective Burma / Operation Pacific | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £30.99

  Battle Cry: A tight-knit group of marines have adventures in both love and war as they progress from boot camp training to a New Zealand ops base and on to the hard-fought invasion of Saipan. Operation Pacific: 'Duke' Gifford an ultra devoted commander feeling guilty about the death of his former commanding officer and the failure of his marriage leads his submarine crew up into uncharted waters in the battle for the Pacific... Objective Burma: A crack squad of paratroopers parachute into Japanese-occupied Burma with a dangerous and important mission: to locate and blow up a radar station. When an ambush cuts off their only escape route his troop are forced into the swamp-infested hell of the Burmese jungle. The harrowing fight for survival begins in a realistic account of the grim hardships facing brave men in battle...

• Watching The Detectives - Vol. 1 | DVD | (29/05/2000) from £10.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The first DVD compilation of its type this features an episode from each of three classic American television police shows. Each episode contains a special guest star; Ironside 'Tagged for Murder' with Bruce Lee Columbo 'A Stitch in Crime' with Leonard Nimoy and Kojak 'The Birthday Party' with none other than Richard Gere. COLUMBO: A STITCH IN CRIME Dr Barry Mayfield (Leonard Nimoy) is a brilliant young heart surgeon on the staff of a major Los Angeles Hospital. However he cannot accept that the hospital's senior heart specialist the revered Dr Edmund Hiedeman has invited a foreign specialist to help them with their work on a drug that will combat transplant rejection. Veteran Nurse Sharon Martin believes that Mayfield is a cold opportunist who would like to take all the credit for the research project. Even she doesn't know how far he will go to reach his goal. IRONSIDE: TAGGED FOR MURDER When George Bellingham is electrocuted in his own pool Detective Sgt Ed Brown refuses to accept the accidental death verdict and discusses his suspicions with Ironside. They track down a series of mysterious numbers on the dead mans watch which leads them to some former friends of Bellingham's including a retired general who tells the strange story of a robbery in the closing days of the war. With special guest star Bruce Lee. KOJAK: BIRTHDAY PARTY Kojak's young niece Ellena is kidnapped during her birthday picnic by an unidentified woman. The kidnappers call Kojak's office threatening the safety of the child unless one of their accomplices being held for the murder of a policeman is released immediately from the precinct house. A furious Kojak works against the clock to discover the identity of the kidnappers and save his niece. With special guest star Richard Gere.

• 2000 AD | DVD | (24/07/2006) from £6.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• 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