"Actor: Richard H"

• Seance On A Wet Afternoon | DVD | (26/01/2004) from £18.99   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An intensely claustrophobic nail-biter to rival prime Hitchcock, 1964's Séance on a Wet Afternoon is a classic British thriller written and directed by Bryan Forbes. Set largely in an imposing Gothic house in north London, the film stars Richard Attenborough as Bill Savage, a man struggling to maintain his marriage to his increasingly unbalanced wife, Myra, played in an Oscar-nominated performance by the little-known but brilliant Broadway actress Kim Stanley. Myra, who believes she is a medium, plans a scheme that will make her famous, involving kidnapping then "psychically" locating a little girl. Attenborough (who won a BAFTA) and Stanley are both superb in what is part riveting battle of wills, part nerve-wracking kidnap thriller with, just possibly, a touch of the supernatural. Gerry Turpin's precise b/w cinematography and John Barry's chilling score add significantly to the atmosphere of dread, and if the plot has one or two gaping holes, Forbes's direction covers them deftly. Forbes explored female delusion again in The Whispers (1967) and The Mad Woman of Chaillot (1969); the film also marked a major entry in his long-term collaboration with John Barry and with his wife, the actress Nanette Newman. Séance clearly had an influence on Attenborough's own directorial contribution to the genre, the highly unsettling Anthony Hopkins vehicle, Magic (1978). On the DVD: Séance on a Wet Afternoon is presented in an excellent 16:9 transfer, anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions, that effectively captures the brooding look of Gerry Tupin's BAFTA-nominated cinematography. Unfortunately the print used, though generally very good, does show some damage, including some instances that appear to run through the best part of a reel. Though noticeable and sometimes distracting, they barely mar this gripping film. The mono soundtrack is fine, though there is the very occasional touch of distortion. The disc comes with optional English subtitles, the excellent original trailer and a new and first-rate 33-minute interview with Bryan Forbes in which he engagingly explains every aspect of the making of the film. --Gary S Dalkin

• Schizoid / X-Ray | Blu Ray | (26/04/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Beyond Chritsmas | DVD | (07/09/2009) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-12.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Beyond Christmas

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £199.99

  Two words suffice to sum up the enduring and endearing qualities of Agatha Christie's Poirot: David Suchet. Despite all the careful Art Deco trappings, the light, spacious sets and luxurious country locations, despite the excellent supporting cast and atmospheric music score, despite all its admirable qualities this series would be for nothing without Suchet's magnificent grasp on the fussy little Belgian detective. Poirot's obsessive mannerisms, his mania for sartorial detail, his maniacal devotion to personal hygiene (especially when it comes to looking after the moustache) are all rendered exactly by Suchet, clearly as much a perfectionist in this respect as his alter ego in every other. Buoyed by their success with Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, Granada TV brought a lighter touch to Poirot, which first aired in 1989, and this series is often breezily humorous in contrast to the gloomy Victorian Gothic of its predecessor. The producers took similar care in maintaining the spirit of Christie's original books even when--as with the Holmes adventures--the screenwriters occasionally took pardonable liberties with story and characters. Suchet is ably supported by Hugh Fraser as the Bertie Woosterish Captain Hastings, Philip Jackson as the tenaciously bulldog-like Inspector Japp, and Pauline Moran as Poirot's often exasperated PA, Miss Lemon. --Mark Walker

• Stargate SG-1: Season 6 (Vol.29) | DVD | (23/06/2002) from £5.96   |  Saving you £17.02 (573.06%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sight Unseen: SG-1 returns through the Gate with a strange energy-emitting device and soon see mysterious discorporeal buglike creatures... Smoke And Mirrors: When SG-1's old 'friend' Senator Kinsey is assassinated O'Neill becomes the lead suspect with indisputable evidence against him; a surveillance camera that took his picture and the murder weapon in the lake near his cabin where he was purportedly fishing... Paradise Lost: Colonel Maybourne tells Jack of a planet once inhabited by the Furlings. On closer inspection it seems Maybourne has an alternative agenda... Metamorphosis: A Russian SG team brings back one of Nirrti's test subjects who self-destructs after testifying she is working to produce a perfect human a ho'tar. SG1 and the Russians go to the planet and find disfigured natives who claim Nirrti to be their saviour!

• Act Of War | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Former American embassy security agent Jack Gracy (Scalia) sneaks into a party at the building to visit his estranged girlfriend. As the pair try to resolve their personal problems terrorists storm the event and take all the attendees hostage. However they hadn't planned on Jack being in on the party...

• Fun With Dick & Jane | DVD | (13/09/2010) from £4.90   |  Saving you £5.09 (103.88%)   |  RRP £9.99

  See Dick Run. Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni star in this fantastic re-make of Ted Kotcheff's original 1977 comedy hit. Dick (Jim Carrey) and Jane (Tea Leoni) are a typical suburban couple. They have a nice house in a development she works as a travel agent to supplement his white-collar income. Things change in the blink of an eye when Dick's company folds; his pension has no future and he can't find a job to save his life. Their front lawn is even repossessed! To make matters worse Jane has quit her job their house has lost value and all their savings went down along with his former employers. In increasingly dire straits Dick has a brainstorm: he'll steal to supplant his income. Jane joins him and soon the dynamic duo is dressing in elaborate costumes and ineptly attempting to make it big on the wrong side of the law!

• Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War | Blu Ray | (28/06/2021) from £11.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• BEAUTIFUL BLONDE FROM BASHFUL BEND (1949) | Blu Ray | (01/11/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Diana - Queen Of Hearts | DVD | (21/04/2008) from £6.73   |  Saving you £6.26 (48.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Legendary director and screen actor Lord Richard Attenborough presents this touching tribute to the late Diana Princess of Wales from his unique perspective as a trusted friend to the Princess for many years. Tracing her journey from country girl to a life in London her fairytale marriage to her ultimately tragic end world figures ambassadors foreign royalty close friends and confidantes' recollections are combined with archival footage of the woman who would capture the heart of a nation and eventually the world. Those who Diana helped from the poor and homeless the HIV stricken and dying children of the world and land mine sufferers all pay heartfelt tribute to the Princess. Lord Attenborough himself adds his own special insight into Diana and her astonishing achievements. This special presentation is both a loving tribute to one of the great leaders of our generation and a celebration of a woman who had the power to heal and to inspire and of the legacy she left behind.

• Sexual Predator | DVD | (10/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Handsome Richard Grieco and the sensationally sexy Angie Everhart set the screen on fire in Sexual Predator - a blisteringly hot erotic thriller full of intrigue and suspense and packed with the most incredibly intense love scenes since 9 1/2 Weeks. Photographer J.C. Gale (Grieco) is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the fatal and accidental erotic asphyxiation of a beautiful young woman. Beth Spinella (Everhart) the agent assigned to monitor his probation is the dead

• A Map Of The World | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Sigourney Weaver stars as Alice Goodwin a mother of two and part-time school nurse who has moved from the city to help her husband Howard (David Strathairn) run a farm in rural Wisconsin. Single minded and outspoken Alice has her own way of looking at life and not everyone in the community takes to her. Tragedy strikes when Alice is minding the children of her best friend and neighbour Theresa Collins (Julianne Moore) and Theresa'a two year old daughter Lizzy strays into a pond

• High Stakes | DVD | (14/05/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  High Stakes is set in Kendrick Maple Investment Bacnk which is steeped in tradition and has recognised a need to change. The bank appoints a chairman to oversee this modernisation and in doing so causes conflict between the chairman and the existing managing director. Between the two men it Greg Hayden acting as mediator and trying to limit the fallout from their explosions. This Double DVD set contains Series one and the never before broadcast Series 2 available for the first time ever.

• Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) - Netherlands Opera | DVD | (22/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In an audio recording, the distinctive quality of this Netherlands Opera production of The Barber of Seville would go unnoticed, and a lot of people might like it better without pictures. The singing is first-class, with a pert, smart, visually appealing Rosina (Jennifer Larmore), a Count who can spin out bel canto melodies and also do a good drunk scene (Richard Croft), and a Figaro with lots of personality (David Malis). Conductor Alberto Zedda is an expert in the music of Rossini, but video reveals that, for better or for worse, this Barber of Seville differs radically from other treatments of Rossini's comic masterpiece. Usually, The Barber of Seville is an intimate little comedy with a half-dozen solo roles and a small, all-male chorus. Except for a few ensemble numbers, there are only two or three people on stage at any given moment, often conversing in stage whispers. Sometimes, in a plot full of secrets and deceptions, supernumeraries are out of place. Dario Fo's staging ignores this stylistic tradition. He gives the solo singers a crowd of artfully choreographed silent partners (including acrobats, dancers and two men rigged to imitate a donkey), who scamper around the stage carrying ladders and sheets, pushing platforms, waving banners and making sure that there is always something to amuse the eyes as well as the ears. This staging gives a solid visual embodiment to the comic spirit of the words and music, but it wipes out any pretence of dramatic realism. The Barber of Seville does not pretend to be "a slice of life" and many patrons will find that the energy of these added participants is its own justification. But those who treasure traditional staging and the conventions of realism should be ready for a lively but unconventional production. Perhaps they can listen with their eyes closed and enjoy a first-class sound recording. --Joe McLellan

• Bob Le Flambeur / Un Flic | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A double bill of Jean-Pierre Melville classics including 'Bob Le Flambeur' and the hardboiled thriller 'Un Flic'. Bob Le Flambeur (1955): Once a renowned criminal Bob the Gambler now contents himself with gambling frequenting casinos in the shady districts of Paris. He is convinced his gangster days are over - until he meets up with an old accomplice who has news which interests him. The casino at Deauville has a safe which is loaded with several hundred million francs. Short of cash Bob decides to plan one last great robbery. He recruits a number of former fellow criminals and plans the theft to the greatest detail. Unfortunately on the day of the robbery things rapidly begin to go wrong. Bob's luck appears to have taken an unexpected turn - for the better. Un Flic: Melville's last film returns to the genre in which he made the classic Le Samourai. A band of crooks carry out a bank robbery and then an incredible hold-up on a train. When he investigates the crimes Parisian detective Commissaire Coleman discovers that they were masterminded by his friend - the night club owner Simon abetted by his seductive girlfriend Cathy...

• Sands Of Iwo Jima | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £22.96   |  Saving you £-9.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Blazing action and spectacle are on the menu as battle-toughened sergeant John M Stryker (John Wayne) prepares a group of soldiers for action in the Pacific. His training methods are harsh and the men dislike him especially new recruit Peter Conway (John Agar).Slowly however this dislike turns to respect especially when Stryker saves Conway's life. But the men have got their biggest test ahead on Iwo Jima where they have to inch their way up Mt. Suribachi under constant Japanese fire.One of John Wayne's finest performances it earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Terrifying battle sequences and an excellent cast also earned three further Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay Best Editing and Best Sound Recording.

• Miami Supercops | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Here's the very lastest in the riotous series of action-packed comedies from the dynamic Hill/Spencer duo! In 'Miami Supercops' our heroes are two courageous crimefighters on the trail of $20 million stolen in a heist some years before. It's murder mayhem and pandemonium all the way as they track down the money - and their man - with of course a little help from two beautiful girls!

• Russian Fireworks | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £16.16   |  Saving you £-6.17 (-61.80%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This Russian Fireworks instalment of the "Naxos Musical Journey" series focuses on the wide geographical and cultural diversity of a vast country, from winter forest scenes near St Petersburg to the holiday resort of Yalta on the Black Sea, complemented by music drawn from a range of Russian composers linking the musical history of their homeland. The film opens with the Procession of the Sardar by Ippolitov-Ivanov with pictures of lakes and mountains in Uzbeksitan. Lyadovs charming Russian Folksongs begins east of Moscow in Suzdal, in the 13th-century cathedral. Rubinsteins Dance of the Bayaderes No. 2 takes us to Yalta, the lake resort where Chekov recovered from tuberculosis. A Galop by Kabalevsky underscores pedestrians running up and down the Potemkin steps in Odessa; while Mussorgsky accompanies scenes of the rich farm land round Kiev, Uzbekistan and oases on the silk-road to Samarkand. Lyadovs Baba Yaga is set in woods round St Petersburg, evoking the witch of Russian folk lore, and Kilimora, set in the same location, depicts a snowy landscape. The Enchanted Lake shows the Valday Heights, where the Volga rises. All these pieces are well played by the Slovak Philharmonic, following one another with very short breaks. On the DVD: Russian Fireworks comes with travel notes as a guide to each location in the filming. There are also brief composer biographies, and trailers for more "Musical Journeys". The picture and sound quality leave nothing to be desired. --Adrian Edwards

• Monteverdi: L'Incoronazione di Poppea | DVD | (04/12/2000) from £2.96   |  Saving you £23.29 (1,370.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (1642) marks one of the very foundations of opera. Revolving around real historical characters, the Roman emperor Nero, his love for Poppea, the betrayal of the empress Octavia, and death of the philosopher Seneca, Monteverdi pits human love, ambition and intrigue against the fates. The set, a symbolic part-globe, and the costumes drawn from various ages suggest--very much in the way of the surreal film of Shakespeare's Titus (1999)--that the concerns of ancient Rome are timeless. With the emphasis on the text (the music alone does not hold the attention for 150 minutes) conductor Jacobs depends upon an excellent cast to bring the production alive. Patricia Schumann dominates the stage, her Poppea is warm, sensual and likeable, without being entirely trustworthy, an effective counterpart to Richard Croft's Nero. Darla Brooks brings just the right degree of vivacious gullibility to Drusilla, while Curtis Ryam offers eccentric comedy as Arnalta. As Ottone Jeffrey Gall is a man acutely tormented by love. Recorded at the 1993 Schwetzinger Festspiele, there is no sign of an audience, the many close-ups suggesting this performance was specially given for video. On the DVD: There are subtitle options for English, French and German, but no special features. The booklet is well documented but does not contain the libretto. The sound is good PCM stereo while the 4:3 image (not 16:9 as stated on the packaging) is better than video but otherwise unremarkable. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Jaws | Blu Ray | (03/09/2012) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Directed by Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg, Jaws set the standard for edge-of-your seat suspense quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon and forever changing the way audiences experience movies. When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police (Roy Scheider), a young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strik...