"Actor: Rob Brown"

• Ultimate Lie | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• The Stranger | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Stranger, according to Orson Welles, "is the worst of my films. There is nothing of me in that picture. I did it to prove that I could put out a movie as well as anyone else." True, set beside Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, or even The Trial, The Stranger is as close to production-line stuff as the great Orson ever came. But even on autopilot Welles still leaves most filmmakers standing. The shadow of the Second World War hangs heavy over the plot. A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G Robinson, tracks down a senior Nazi, Franz Kindler, to a sleepy New England town where he's living in concealment as a respected college professor. The script, credited to Anthony Veiller but with uncredited input from Welles and John Huston, is riddled with implausibilities: we're asked to believe, for a start, that there'd be no extant photos of a top Nazi leader. The casting's badly skewed, too. Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead as the investigator and Robinson as Kindler, but his producer, Sam Spiegel, wouldn't wear it. So Welles himself plays the supposedly cautious and self-effacing fugitive--and if there was one thing Welles could never play, it was unobtrusive. What's more, Spiegel chopped out most of the two opening reels set in South America, in Welles' view, "the best stuff in the picture". Still, the film's far from a write-off. Welles' eye for stunning visuals rarely deserted him and, aided by Russell Metty's skewed, shadowy photography, The Stranger builds to a doomy grand guignol climax in a clock tower that Hitchcock must surely have recalled when he made Vertigo. And Robinson, dogged in pursuit, is as quietly excellent as ever. On the DVD: not much in the way of extras, except a waffly full-length commentary from Russell Cawthorne that tells us about the history of clock-making and where Edward G was buried, but precious little about the making of the film. Print and sound are acceptable, but though remastering is claimed, there's little evidence of it. --Philip Kemp

• The Tales of Hoffmann (Criterion Collection) | Blu Ray | (07/06/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Cinema Collection - Vol. 3 | DVD | (09/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Bullitt (2 Disc Special Edition) | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-13.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  The word 'cop' isn't written all over him - something more puzzling is. In one of his most memorable roles Steve McQueen stars as Detective Frank Bullitt a hard-driving tough-as-nails San Francisco cop. Bullitt has just received what sounds like a routine assignment: keep a star witness out of sight and out of danger for 48 hours then deliver him to the courtroom on Monday morning. But before the night is out the witness will lie dying of shotgun wounds and Bullitt a no-glitter all-guts cop won't rest until he nabs the gunmen and the elusive underworld kingpin who hired them. Famed for it's Lalo Schifrin score and one of the greatest car chases in cinema-history 'Bullit' won the 1969 Oscar for Best Film Editing (Frank P. Keller).

• Ladder 49/The Guardian | DVD | (05/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ladder 49: (Dir. Jay Russell) (2004): What does it take for a man to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out? Why do firemen leave their families each morning to risk their lives for strangers? The film chronicles Baltimore firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) as he makes the transition from inexperienced rookie to seasoned veteran. As he struggles to cope with a risky demanding job that often shortchanges his wife and kids he relies on the support of his mentor and chief Mike Kennedy (John Travolta) and his second family - the brotherly bond between the men of the firehouse. But when Jack becomes trapped in the worst blaze of his career his life and the things he holds important - family dignity courage - come into focus. As his fellow firemen of Ladder 49 do all they can to rescue him Jack's life hangs in the balance. Guardian: (Dir. Andrew Davis) (2006): In an effort to find his place in life a troubled young man enlists in the Coast Guard where he's taken in by a renowned rescue swimmer who's hardened by the loss of his team from an accident years back. Unfortunately for the pair the past is about to re-incarnate itself...

• Bullitt (Special Edition) | DVD | (18/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  The word 'cop' isn't written all over him - something more puzzling is. In one of his most memorable roles Steve McQueen stars as Detective Frank Bullitt a hard-driving tough-as-nails San Francisco cop. Bullitt has just received what sounds like a routine assignment: keep a star witness out of sight and out of danger for 48 hours then deliver him to the courtroom on Monday morning. But before the night is out the witness will lie dying of shotgun wounds and Bullitt a no

• Sure Fire | DVD | (25/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £18.44

• Thief Special Edition | DVD | (16/12/2016) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A