David Lean's wintry adaptation of Boris Pasternak's melodramatic Russian Revolution romance, Doctor Zhivago, is a masterpiece of epic filmmaking, but one that risks leaving the viewer cold. Though none of the film was shot in the then USSR, Lean's assured technique nevertheless illuminates the breathtaking backgrounds magnificently: from the snowy wastes of the Urals to the strife-torn streets of Moscow, Lean stages a series of wonderful set-pieces showing war, revolution and its terrible aftermath. The problem lies in the foreground. Omar Sharif's entirely passive Zhivago is, we are told, a romantic poet of great sensitivity who internalises all his emotions and expresses them in verse. The trouble is the audience never gets to see a line of his poems, not even the centrally important "Lara" cycle. Thus Zhivago at the end of the picture is as much an emotional blank to us as he was at the beginning. His affair with the idealised beauty that is Julie Christie's Lara is also taken for granted by the filmmakers rather than set up in any convincing way, their mutual attraction remaining a mystery that creates a vacuum at the core of the picture. Given that none of the central characters with the exception of Rod Steiger's fire-breathing lecher Komarovsky ever give way to strong emotions, the romantic heart of the film remains oddly frigid. Matters are not helped by composer Maurice Jarre's incessant "Lara's Theme", which many will find teeth-grindingly irritating. Still, any David Lean epic, even a flawed one, is always going to be a first-class cinematic experience, and Zhivago is assuredly that. On the DVD: A stunning anamorphic widescreen print is the ideal way to appreciate David Lean's craftsmanship and this movie's glorious, wintry cinematography. Maurice Jarre's "Lara's Theme" and the rest of his patchwork score can be heard in a music-only track, while Omar Sharif is joined by Lean's widow Sandra and Rod Steiger for an intermittent commentary. The second bonus disc contains a good hour-long making-of documentary plus 10 shorter contemporary documentaries giving various insights into the location shooting and the cast and crew. But it's the sheer beauty of the picture that will astonish and make this disc forever treasurable. --Mark Walker
Sam Mendes, the Oscar®-winning director of Skyfall, Spectre and American Beauty, brings his singular vision to his World War I epic, 1917. At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiersBlake's own brother among them. Bonus Features The Weight Of The World: Sam Mendes Allied Forces: Making 1917 The Score Of 1917 Feature Commentaries
Enter At Your Own Risk! Step inside, we've been expecting you! Arrow Video is proud to present all four films in the classic House horror franchise, brought together on Blu-ray. Featuring a host of stars including William Katt ( Carrie) George Wendtt ( Cheers), Arye Gross ( Ellen) and Lance Henriksen ( Aliens), the frightfully popular House series brings together tales of vindictive supernatural beings, zombie cowboys, sadistic serial killers and even singing pizzas in a pleasing potpourri of tongue-in-cheek horror goodness! Returning in glorious new HD restorations, the House films come loaded with a host of exclusive special features- now that's a full house! Special Editions Content: High Definition Blu-ray ( 1080p) Presentations of all four House Films Original Mono/Stereo and 5.1 Surround Audio Options. Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. House Audio commentary with director Steve Miner, producer Sean S. Cunningham, actor William Katt and screenwriter Ethan Wiley Ding Dong, You're Dead! The Making of House brand new documentary featuring interviews with director Steve Miner, producer Sean S. Cunningham, screenwriter Ethan Wiley, story creator Fred Dekker, stars William Katt, Kay Lenz and George Wendt, composer Harry Manfredini and others. Vintage Making-of Still Gallery Theatrical Trailers, Teaser and TV Spots. First Draft Screenplay and Fred Dekker's original 15-page Twilight Zone-inspired story which served as the basis for House (BD-ROM Content) House II: The Second Story Audio commentary with writer-director Ethan Wiley and producer Sean S. Cunningham It's Getting Weirder! The Making of House II: The Second Story brand new documentary featuring interviews with writer-director Ethan Wiley, producer Sean S. Cunningham, stars Arye Gross, Jonathan Stark, Lar Park Lincoln and Devin DeVasquez, composer Harry Manfredini and others. Vintage EPK Still Gallery Theatrical Trailer House III: The Horror Show Uncut European Version Alternate US Theatrical Version Audio commentary with producer Sean S. Cunningham The Show Must Go On interview with actor/stuntman Kane Hodder House Mother interview with actress Rita Taggart Slaughter, Inc. brand new featurette with special make-up effects creators Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger Behind-the-Scenes Footage Deleted Scene Theatrical Trailer Still Gallery House IV: The Reposession Audio commentary with director Lewis Abernathy Home Deadly Home: The Making of House IV documentary featuring interviews with director Lewis Abernathy, producer Sean S. Cunningham, stars Terri Treas, and William Katt actor/stunt coordinator Kane Hodder and composer Harry Manfredini Theatrical Trailer Still Gallery
Times are hard for habitual guest of Her Majesty Norman Stanley Fletcher (Ronnie Barker). The new prison officer Beale makes Mackay (Fulton Mackay) look soft and what's more an escape plan is hatching from the cell of prison godfather Grouty and Fletcher wants no part of it. The breakout is set for the day of a morale-raising football match between a ""celebrity"" football team and the inmates of Slade. Everything is going to plan until Godber (Richard Beckinsale) is injured on th
In 1971 when Carry On at Your Convenience hit our screens, the series had long since become part of the fabric of British popular entertainment. Never mind the situation, the characters were essentially the same, film after film. The jokes were all as old as the hills, but nobody cared, they were still funny. But it's just too easy to treat them as a job lot of postcard humour and music hall innuendo. This tale of revolt at a sanitary ware factory--Boggs and Son, what else?--certainly chimed in with the state of the nation in the early 1970s when strikes were called at the drop of a hat. Here, tea urns, demarcation and the company's decision to branch out into bidets all wreak havoc. Kenneth Williams as the company's besieged managing director, Sidney James and Joan Sims give their all as usual, but it's the lesser roles that really add some lustre. Hattie Jacques as Sid's budgerigar-obsessed, sluggish put-upon wife and Renee Houston as a superbly domineering battleaxe with a penchant for strip poker remind us that in the hands of fine actors, even the laziest of caricatures become real human beings. --Piers Ford
All 12 feature-length episodes from the first four series of the BBC crime drama starring Kenneth Branagh as the Swedish detective. Inspector Kurt Wallander (Branagh) and his team at Ystad police station investigate a number of violent and terrifying murders in the beautiful setting of Skane County, Southern Sweden. Series 1 episodes are: 'Sidetracked', 'Firewall' and 'One Step Behind'. Series 2 episodes are: 'Faceless Killers', 'The Man Who Smiled' and 'The Fifth Woman'. Series 3 episodes are: 'An Event in Autumn', 'The Dogs of Riga' and 'Before the Frost'. Series 4 episodes are: 'The White Lioness', 'A Lesson in Love' and 'The Troubled Man'.
Sylvester Stallone never courted as much controversy as he did with the screen violence of the Rambo trilogy. From 1982 to 1988, they kept his name above Schwarzenegger's in the muscle hero league, with "Rambo" becoming a descriptive phrase in the language to describe gung-ho aggression (in Japanese, "rambo" means "violence"). The strangest part of the character's success is that originally he had none. Both David Morrell's novel and the original incarnation of First Blood had the Vietnam vet committing suicide after his rampage through small town America. The un-Hollywood ending was changed when Stallone and the producers recognised here was a character with possibilities. First Blood: Part II was co-written by James (Titanic) Cameron, a man who has always recognised box office possibilities. Stallone took a very relevant (to 1985) issue of surviving POWs and created an alternative end to the Vietnam War. This was achieved courtesy of the Cold War animosity that still existed towards the Russians, embodied in a suitably vile cameo from Steven Berkoff. A little love interest helped ground the movie and prevent it from completely turning into a video game, as did the best of Jerry Goldsmith's stirring scores for the trilogy. After saving himself and then his Country, Rambo III was simply about saving his friend Richard Crenna. The code of honour was by this point watered down into a song lyric, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". Nevertheless the final instalment continues to say something about the indomitable American spirit that will not accept defeat lightly. Patriotism may never have been portrayed quite so bloodily before Rambo's arrival, but at least a generation learned to question attitudes to war veterans, as well as the benefits of carrying a compass in your hunting knife. On the DVD: The Rambo trilogy on disc brings together all three movies in crisp 2.35:1 widescreen transfers. Sadly the extras are a little thin considering how much more was on the old Laser Discs. The first film has but a trailer; the third has a few minutes of behind the scenes material; the second has quite a few mini-documentaries that could really have done with being edited together, and having repeated interviews cut out. But there's still fun to be had hearing how deep and meaningful the movies were in conception.--Paul Tonks
The incredible story of a hard-working student and the warped way of life that made her go wacky! Virginia Madsen (Candyman, Sideways) and Richard Cox (Cruising) star in this humorous thriller about the bizarre happenings that occur in a prestigious boarding school. It seems to Andrea Miller (Madsen) that the upperclassmen act like robots. They're the perfect students dedicated, involved and loyal. Their clothes are perfectly pressed and their hair is perfectly styled. It seems that the teachers have something to do with this ingratiating behaviour. And when Andrea, the new kid at school, sees her friends turning into clones, she starts to suspect the worst. The film features a great supporting cast including Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks, Ray Donovan), Scott Coffey (Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway) and Paul Feig, who would go on to create the TV series Freaks And Geeks and direct such films as Spy, Bridsmaids and the 2016 remake of Ghostbusters.
It's easy to forget that this Spartan, violent film, which begat the Rambo series, was such a big hit in 1982 because it was a good movie. Green Beret vet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) wanders into the wrong small town to find a fellow 'Nam buddy and gets the living heck kicked out of him by the local law enforcement (led by Brian Dennehy). The vet strikes back the only way he knows how, leading to a visceral, if unrealistic, flight and fight through the local mountains. Based on the 1972 novel by David Morrell, this film saved Stallone's then-foundering career and the Rambo character became the inspiration for countless political cartoons. But this film is Deliverance without the moral ambiguity. --Keith SimantonThe Rambo trilogy is also available on DVD as a complete set.
In mid-1800's England Oscar (Ralph Fiennes) is a young Anglican priest a misfit and an outcast but with the soul of an angel. As a boy even though from a strict Pentecostal family he felt God told him through a sign to leave his father and his faith and join the Church of England. Lucinda (Cate Blanchett) is a teenaged Australian heiress who has an almost desperate desire to liberate her sex from the confines of the male-dominated culture of the Australia of that time. She buys a
Open All Hours (Series 1-4): Arkwright (Ronnie Barker) a stammering tight-fisted corner shop owner from Yorkshire has a special way of running his business with nephew Granville (David Jason). When he buys a large batch of damaged tinned goods with no labels he thinks nothing of passing them off as good stock to his customers. Always on the look out for a bargain he spots a broken down ice cream van. Before you know it he's got himself a mobile store. But will Nurse Gladys
When Wallis Simpson meets Edward Prince of Wales he is charmed by her flirtatious and straight-talking manner and begs her to divorce her husband Ernest. George V dies and Edward becomes King but he has no desire to give up Wallis for a life of Royal duty. As a constitutional crisis grips the nation Edward and the British Government lock horns. The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin insists that Wallis cannot become Queen. Despite Wallis's pleas for him to remain King Edward feel
One house four hugely popular horror films. Creepy goings on in four stories where our characters do battle with evil zombies hideous monsters and a terrifying mass murderer exacting revenge on the detective who captured him. House In his obsessive search for his missing child Vietnam veteran Roger Cobb returns to his Aunt's creepy house where his child disappeared. Evil zombies force Roger to relive his nightmares and Roger must battle these spirits in order to save his life and that of his child who is somewhere inside the house... House II When exploring the house left to him Jesse discovers his great great grandfather alive and kicking thanks to a magical skull which gives its owner immortality. Such an important piece is coveted by many. When the skull is taken Jesse and his friends must battle monsters in order to return it to Gramps to save his life. House III Upon his execution mass murderer Klaus Jenke curses the detective who captured him - Lucas and his family. Jenke returns from the dead to exact his hideous revenge. The horrors he performed before his death are insignificant compared to the circus of evil he now unleashes on Lucas's family. House IV A young father is suddenly killed in an automobile accident and to honour his memory his widow and daughter move into the family's dilapidated Victorian estate. Thus begin a series of some very terrifying apparitions...
All three feature-length episodes from the third series of the BBC crime drama starring Kenneth Branagh as the Swedish detective. Inspector Kurt Wallander (Branagh) and his team at Ystad police station investigate a number of violent and terrifying murders in the beautiful setting of Skane County, Southern Sweden. In this instalment, Wallander must investigate the disappearance of a Swedish citizen while attending a conference in South Africa. After returning home, the detective struggles with the onset of Alzheimer's whilst trying to solve his final cases. The episodes are: 'The White Lioness', 'A Lesson in Love' and 'The Troubled Man'.
Disney's classic animated retelling of the French fairy tale, with a new scene added for the forthcoming Imax exclusive re-release.
All 12 feature-length episodes from the first four series of the BBC crime drama starring Kenneth Branagh as the Swedish detective. Inspector Kurt Wallander (Branagh) and his team at Ystad police station investigate a number of violent and terrifying murders in the beautiful setting of Skane County, Southern Sweden. Series 1 episodes are: 'Sidetracked', 'Firewall' and 'One Step Behind'. Series 2 episodes are: 'Faceless Killers', 'The Man Who Smiled' and 'The Fifth Woman'. Series 3 episodes are: 'An Event in Autumn', 'The Dogs of Riga' and 'Before the Frost'. Series 4 episodes are: 'The White Lioness', 'A Lesson in Love' and 'The Troubled Man'.
Roger Moore is Simon Templar better known as The Saint. The Saint out-swindles the swindlers for the good of the little guy: he's handsome charming suave and sophisticated! This monolith of a box set contains every colour episode ever made from 1966 to 1969. Majestic stuff! Disc 1: 1. The Russian Prisoner 2. The House of Dragon's Rock 3. The Convenient Monster 4. The Helpful Pirate Disc 2: 1. The Angel's Eye 2. Queen's Ransom 3. The Reluctant Revolution 4. Int
A collection of David Lean's finest films. Include: 1. The Sound Barrier (1952) 2. Hobsons Choice (1954) 3. Blithe Spirit (1945) 4. Brief Encounter (1945) 5. Great Expectations (1946) 6. Oliver Twist (1948) 7. Madeleine (1950) 8. The Passionate Friends (1949) 9. This Happy Breed (1944)
Fantasy thriller in which Dan (Richard Hatch) and Carrie (Kay Lenz) inadvertently follow crazed scientist Dr Hartmann (Kenneth Hendel) into a parallel universe where humans and monsters are under the brutal rule of Kleel (John Saxon). They discover that they pre-historical style universe they are inhabiting is actually called Vonya and that the evil Kleel is preparing to kill Dan and take Carrie as his servant bride. Directed by Sword and Sorcery film director Terry Marcel (Hawk the Slayer).
The final western from one of the genre's greatest directors, Budd Boetticher (Ride Lonesome), and the last screen appearance of war hero-turned-movie star Audie Murphy (To Hell and Back), A Time for Dying is an offbeat, elegiac look at the Old West, prefiguring Don Siegel's classic western, and John Wayne's final picture, The Shootist. Richard Lapp stars as a young man with fine shooting skills who crosses paths with real-life figures, such as Jesse James (played by Murphy) and Judge Roy Bean (Victor Jory), and discovers the true violence of the West. Beset by post-production and distribution problems, A Time for Dying is overdue the recognition it deserves. This world Blu-ray debut, featuring an all-new restoration and a host of insightful extras, will finally enable the film to find its rightful audience. Extras New restoration from a 2K scan of the original negative by Powerhouse Films Original mono audio Audio commentary with western experts C Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke (2022) Appreciation by filmmaker and author Christopher Petit (2022) Just Like Jesse James (2022): Kim Newman, author of Wild West Movies, discusses the many film portrayals of the famed outlaw New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Paul Duane, archival interviews with Budd Boetticher and Audie Murphy, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 2,000 copies for the US All extras subject to change
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