"Actor: Robert"

• Columbia Noir #1 (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (30/11/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Six tough, no-nonsense noirs from six of the genre's toughest, no-nonsense directors: Budd Boetticher's Escape in the Fog, in which a nurse and a war veteran take on Nazi spies in San Francisco; Joseph H Lewis' The Undercover Man, inspired by the real-life case against Al Capone; Richard Quine's Drive a Crooked Road, which finds Mickey Rooney moving away from comedies and musicals to a tougher persona; Phil Karlson's 5 Against the House, starring Kim Novak as a nightclub singer embroiled in a casino heist; Vincent Sherman's The Garment Jungle, from which Kiss Me Deadly director Robert Aldrich was famously fired; and Don Siegel's police procedural The Lineup, based on the radio and television series, and as brutal a film as he ever made. All six films are presented for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK, with The Undercover Man and Drive a Crooked Road making their world Blu-ray premieres. This stunning collection also boasts a 120-page book, and is strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units. ESCAPE IN THE FOG (Budd Boetticher, 1945) THE UNDERCOVER MAN (Joseph H Lewis, 1949) DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD (Richard Quine, 1954) 5 AGAINST THE HOUSE (Phil Karlson, 1955) THE GARMENT JUNGLE (Vincent Sherman and Robert Aldrich, 1957) THE LINEUP (Don Siegel, 1958) Extras: 2K restorations of Escape in the Fog, The Undercover Man and The Garment Jungle High Definition presentations of Drive a Crooked Road, 5 Against the House and The Lineup Original mono soundtracks Audio commentary with film historian Pamela Hutchinson on Escape in the Fog (2020) Audio commentary with writer and film programmer Tony Rayns on The Undercover Man (2020) Audio commentary with critic Nick Pinkerton on Drive a Crooked Road (2020) Audio commentary with critic David Jenkins on 5 Against the House (2020) Audio commentary with film historian Kevin Lyons on The Garment Jungle (2020) Audio commentary with author James Ellroy and the Film Noir Foundation's Eddie Muller on The Lineup (2009) Audio commentary with film historian David Del Valle and author and screenwriter C Courtney Joyner on The Lineup (2020) Introduction to Drive a Crooked Road by Martin Scorsese (2014) It's a Jungle Out There (2007): archival interview with actor Robert Loggia conducted after a screening of The Garment Jungle Appreciation of The Garment Jungle by Tony Rayns (2020) The Influence of Noir (2009): appreciation of The Lineup by filmmaker Christopher Nolan Two episodes of The Lineup radio series: The Candy Store Murder (1950), written by Blake Edwards and Richard Quine; and The Case of Frankie and Joyce (1951) Screen Snapshots: Mickey Rooney, Then and Now (1953): Columbia Pictures promotional short featuring the famed performer looking back at his series of Mickey Maguire comedies Man on a Bus (1955): short film directed by Joseph H Lewis for the United Jewish Appeal, featuring a star-studded cast, including Walter Brennan, Broderick Crawford, Lassie, and Ruth Roman, and presented in High Definition Original theatrical trailers for Drive a Crooked Road, 5 Against the House, The Garment Jungle and The Lineup The Lineup trailer commentary: short critical appreciation by A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson Image galleries: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive 120-page book with new essays by Iris Veysey, Paul Duane, Jill Blake, Wheeler Winston Dixon, Nathalie Morris, and Sergio Angelini; archival interview extracts with Budd Boetticher, Joseph H Lewis, Phil Karlson, and Robert Aldrich; extracts from the autobiographies of Don Siegel and Vincent Sherman; and film credits World and UK premieres on Blu-ray Limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units MORE EXTRAS TO BE ANNOUNCED All extras subject to change

• The Amsterdam Kill | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £8.98   |  Saving you £7.00 (100.14%)   |  RRP £13.99

  In a world gone soft there's still one tough guy! Former DEA Agent Quinlan removed from the force some years earlier for stealing confiscated drug money is hired by Chung Wei a leader in the Amsterdam drug cartel who wants out of the business. Quinlan's job is to use Chung's information to tip DEA agents to drug busts thereby destroying the cartel. But when the first two ""tips"" go awry resulting in murdered DEA officers the feds must decide whether to trust Quinlan fur

• Town Without Pity | DVD | (16/03/2015) from £14.83   |  Saving you £-1.84 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Gottfried Reinhardt directs this grim courtroom drama set in West Germany. Four American GIs are accused of raping a German girl, but their wily defence lawyers seek to get them all acquitted. The cast includes Kirk Douglas, Robert Blake, Frank Sutton and Christine Kaufmann.

• The Hornblower Collection (8 discs) | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Based freely on the classic novels by CS Forester, Hornblower is a series of TV films following the progress of a young officer through the ranks of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The series greatest asset is the handsome and charismatic Ioan Gruffudd in the lead role, surely a major star in the making. For television films, the production values are very good, though as Titanic, Waterworld and The Perfect Storm demonstrated, filming an aquatic adventure is a very expensive business, and it is clear that the Hornblower dramas simply make the best of comparatively small budgets. No more faithful to Forester's books than the 1951 Gregory Peck classic Captain Horatio Hornblower, the real inspiration seems to have come from the success of Sharpe, starring Sean Bean, which likewise featured a British hero in the Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, while rather more easy-going than the real British navy of the time, the Hornblower saga delivers an entertaining adventure, greatly enhanced by the presence of such guest stars as Denis Lawson, Cheri Lunghi, Ronald Pickup and Anthony Sher. --Gary S Dalkin

• Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads - The Very Best Of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £4.95   |  Saving you £8.04 (162.42%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads was actually a revival, in 1973, of the successful Dick Clements/Ian La Frenais 1960s comedy The Likely Lads, so notable for its fibrous but sympathetic treatment of life for two young men coming of age in North East England. This "Very Best of" collection brings together classic episodes from the 1973 series. Although tinged with nostalgia--the décor and styles of the early 1970s are almost pungently evocative--the quality of the writing defies the passage of time. Seven years on from their initial adventures, Rodney Bewes (upwardly mobile, self-improving Bob) and James Bolam (feckless, chippy Terry) meet by accident on the train. Bob is about to marry Thelma and move into modern semi-detached heaven, while Terry is just out of the army and drifting back home without a great deal of purpose. The relationship between the two men, basically sound but frequently compromised by their very different aspirations, is very cleverly drawn and played so that your sympathies never stay on one side for very long. Best of all, Brigit Forsyth's Thelma, a dragon in the making, adds an astringent dynamic. She is, says Terry, "so stuck up she thinks her backside's a perfume factory". The insecurity he generates in her is responsible for much of the comedy. On the DVD: The Very Best of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads comes to disc with no extras, simply standard 4:3 picture format video production and episode selection. But it's still fresh as a daisy all the same. --Piers Ford

• The Last Showing | Blu Ray | (25/08/2014) from £18.01   |  Saving you £-0.76 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When projectionist Stuart Lloyd (Englund) is made redundant by the multiplex cinema he has given his life to he looks to exact vengeance on a generation that no longer requires his skills. Trapping an innocent young couple inside the cinema after a midnight screening of a horror movie he decides to create his own film using the CCTV cameras. As the pair struggle to escape his deadly plot Stuart’s movie has one final killer twist: he wants to become the hero.

• Napoleon 1812 - The Road To Moscow | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It was to be Napoleon Bonaparte's greatest adventure; an invasion of Russia with an army of more than 650 000 men the largest the world had yet seen. The Emperor's irresistible progress into the vast Russian interior saw many brutal conflicts including the Battle of Borodino one of the bloodiest day's fighting in military history. Napoleon would not be defeated in battle but by Russian guile and the savages of winter snows. To this day the infamous retreat from Moscow epitomises the

• New York, New York | DVD | (13/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The day WWII ends Jimmy (De Niro) a selfish and smooth-talking musician meets Francine (Minelli) a lounge singer. From that moment on their relationship grows into love as they struggle with their careers and aim for the top...

• Prison Break S3 Red Tag Boxset | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £14.98   |  Saving you £25.01 (166.96%)   |  RRP £39.99

  It was always going to be a challenge to move a show whose premise effectively fitted comfortably inside a single series to a third season. And so perhaps inevitably, Prison Break moves the action back to the slammer, this time in Panama. It proves to be a wise choice, as, while plausibility has long since been thrown out of the window, it’s a more natural setting for the show. Prison Break still follows brothers Lincoln and Michael Burrows, but this time there’s a far tougher prison that needs to be broken out of. It’s a little less claustrophobic than the last one, but more dangerous. And along with the usual terrific supporting cast of characters, the tension, twists and violence that underpin the show are all very much present and correct. Powering Prison Break forwards, of course, is the pin-up star Wentworth Miller, who owns his role as Michael, and grounds many of the show’s extremities. And while it’s a shorter season than the first two, this third run still manages to cram in some strong entertainment. Perhaps season three isn’t Prison Break’s finest hour, and perhaps the concept has diluted somewhat since the show first began. But this is still really good, assured entertainment, that knows what it wants to do and simply gets on with it. For that alone, it remains a show hard to resist. --Jon Foster

• Extras - Series 2 | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £6.29   |  Saving you £15.70 (249.60%)   |  RRP £21.99

  The story of a man with small parts. The second series sees Andy (Gervais) experience the highs he has longed for with his newly written sitcom 'When The Whistle Blows'. However while the show achieves high ratings Andy's creative integrity is under threat from the catchphrase-riddled mainstream appeal of it all. The answer; artistic credibility and celebrity friends which leaves poor Maggie out in the cold now working as a background artist on Andy's breakthrough venture. As before a slew of high-profile celebrities pop up for some hilarious cameos including Sir Ian McKellen Robert De Niro and Orlando Bloom amongst others all willing and able to humiliate themselves!

• Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence | Blu Ray | (19/11/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Charles Dickens Collection | DVD | (19/03/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.91

  Great ExpectationsThe key ingredient in this modern-day version of Charles Dickens's classic is director Alfonso Cuarón, who made the glowing, estimable A Little Princess. If you saw that (and you should), understand that Expectations has those ingredients (great sense of time, place, and timing) but adds modern music and sex appeal; the latter personified by the long-legged Gwyneth Paltrow. Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke as an adult, Jeremy James Kissner at age 10) is the new version of Dickens's Pip. He's a child wise beyond his years, befriending an escaped convict (Robert De Niro) in the warm waters of Florida's Gulf Coast. Finn is also the plaything for Estella (Paltrow as an adult, Raquel Beaudene at age 10), the niece of the coast's richest and most eccentric lady, Ms. Dinsmoor (a fun and flamboyant Anne Bancroft). The prudish Estella likes Finn (catch the best first kiss scene in many a moon) but has been brought up to disdain men; she'll break hearts. As the object of Finn's desires, Estella unfortunately is a one-dimensional character, yet what a dimension! Clad in Donna Karan dresses and her long, sun-kissed hair, Paltrow is luminous. She and Hawke make a very sexy couple. Mitch Glazer's script does better by Finn. He's a blue-collar worker with a gift for drawing (artwork by Francesco Clemente). Following his Uncle Joe's (Chris Cooper) honest ways, Finn grows up as a fisherman, thoughts of Estella and art drifting away in the hard work. When a mysterious benefactor allows him to follow his dream, Finn finds himself in New York, preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime art exhibit--and in the arms of the engaged Estella. Filled with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's golden-drenched light, the film has an irresistible, wildly romantic look. Dinsmoor's place is certainly gothic, Estella and Finn's longing encounters glamorous. Cuarón uses an MTV-friendly soundtrack with a confident touch. Songs by Tori Amos and the band Pulp--along with Patrick Doyle's silky score--create passionate scenes. It all ends far too swiftly with a seemingly tacked-on ending (reflecting the book, as it happens) but the film is splendid storytelling. It's a stylish, sweet valentine. --Doug Thomas Oliver TwistIf Charles Dickens were alive to see Roman Polanski's faithful adaptation of Oliver Twist, he'd probably give it his stamp of approval. David Lean's celebrated 1948 version of the Dickens classic and Carol Reed's Oscar-winning 1968 musical are more entertaining in some ways, but Polanski's rendition is both painstakingly authentic (with superb cinematography and production design) and deeply rooted in the emotional context of the story. Both Polanski and Dickens had personal experiences similar to those of young Oliver (played here by Barney Clark)--Polanski in the Nazi-occupied ghettos of Poland during World War II, and Dickens during his hard-scrabble youth in Victorian London--and this spiritual kinship lends a certain gravitas to the tale of a tenacious orphan who escaped from indentured servitude in London society and is taken in by Fagin (Ben Kingsley) and his streetwise gang of pickpockets. As the evil Bill Sykes, who exploits Oliver for his own nefarious needs, Jamie Foreman is no match for Oliver Reed (in the '68 musical) in terms of frightening menace, but even here, Polanski's direction hews closer to Dickens, while the screenplay by Ronald Harwood (who also wrote Polanski's The Pianist) necessarily trims away subplots and characters for the sake of narrative economy. All in all, this Oliver Twist rises above most previous versions, and with the benefit of Kingsley's nuanced performance, Polanski arrives at a compassionate conclusion that captures the essence of Dickens' novel in a way that viewers of all ages will appreciate for many years to come.-- Jeff Shannon Nicholas NicklebyWhile it necessarily streamlines the Charles Dickens classic, this delightful adaptation of Nicholas Nickelby captures the essence of Dickens in all of its Victorian splendor and squalor. With Charlie Hunnam (the U.K. Queer as Folk) doing noble work in the title role, this quintessentially Dickensian tale begins with the death of Nicholas's father, and the subsequent scheme by his cruel uncle (Christopher Plummer, perfectly cast) to separate Nicholas from his now penniless sister and mother. Stuck in a squalid school run by the evil Mr. and Mrs. Squeers (Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson), Nicholas escapes with his loyal friend Smike (Billy Elliott's Jamie Bell), whose lineage will determine the greedy uncle's fate. As he did with Jane Austen's Emma, writer-director Douglas McGrath has crafted a prestigious production that shifts effortlessly between comedy and tragedy without compromising its warm, inviting tone. His dialogue rings true throughout, inspiring a stellar cast including Nathan Lane, Alan Cumming, Edward Fox, and Timothy Spall. Dickens himself would almost certainly have approved. --Jeff Shannon

• The Longest Day | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £14.95   |  Saving you £8.04 (53.78%)   |  RRP £22.99

  The Longest Day is Hollywood's definitive D-day movie. More modern accounts such as Saving Private Ryan are more vividly realistic, but producer Darryl F Zanuck's epic 1962 account is the only one to attempt the daunting task of covering that fateful day from all perspectives. From the German high command and front-line officers to the French Resistance and all the key Allied participants, the screenplay by Cornelius Ryan, based on his own authoritative book, is as factually accurate as possible. The endless parade of stars (John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, and Richard Burton, to name a few) makes for an uneasy mix of verisimilitude and Hollywood star-power, however, and the film falls a little flat for too much of its three-hour running time. But the set-piece battles are still spectacular, and if the landings on Omaha Beach lack the graphic gore of Private Ryan they nonetheless show the sheer scale and audacity of the invasion. --Mark Walker

• The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £18.72   |  Saving you £-5.73 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Brilliant brain surgeon Banzai has just made scientific history. Shifting his Oscillation Overthruster into warp speed he's the first man ever to travel to the Eight Dimension...and come back sane! But when his sworn enemy the demented Dr. Lizardo devises a plot to steal the Overthruster and bring an evil army of aliens back to destroy Earth Buckeroo goes cranium to cranium with the madman in an extra-dimensional battle that could result in total annihilation of the universe.

• Beat The Devil | DVD | (23/08/2004) from £8.48   |  Saving you £4.51 (53.18%)   |  RRP £12.99

  'Beat The Devil' is a wacky comedy that's played as straight as any film noir and is even funnier as a result. Five men (Bogart Lorre Morley Barnard and Tulli) are out to garner control over East African land which they believe contains a rich uranium ore lode. Billy Dannreuther (Bogart) is married to Maria (Gina Lollobrigida) the other four are their ""business associates"" and Jones and Underdown are added to the mix for some interesting diversification. As the boat leaves from

• Guilty By Suspicion | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A witch hunt has begun. The hunters are politicians sitting before clicking cameras in HAUC hearing rooms. Hollywood is on trail. An David Merrill is asked to 'name names'. This powerful directorial and screenwriting debut of veteran producer Irwin Winkler vividly recreates the creative community's infamous Blacklist era. De Niro plays Merrill an A-list director who can revive his stalled career by testifying against friends who are suspected communists. Annette Bening is Merrill's e

• The Smoking Room - Series 1 & 2 Box Set | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £13.89   |  Saving you £16.10 (115.91%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Smoking Room continues the rich vein of comedy that's being shown on BBC3 - fast becoming the channel for British comedy. In the world of work there is only one place where seniority counts for nothing where shop-talk is banned and where the last bastions against fresh air and desk-based massage gather regularly to discuss the minutiae of their lives: the smoking room. Here in this protected environment crossword addict Barry; lazy chav lothario Clint; self-obsessed cigarette-pinching Annie; and lovelorn skiver Robin; nurse that last ciggie and are always ready to ask ""have you got time for another?"" Features the complete first and second series. Episode Listing - Series 1: 1. Do De Dum De Da 2. R.I.P. 3. Pantball 4. Light My Fire 5. Chocolate Box 6. Feeding Time 7. Only Temporary 8. Happy Birthday 9. Christmas Special Series 2: 1. Buzz 2. No Place Like Home 3. 1987 4. Smashed 5. Pity The Fool 6. Quitters 7. Last Night A Graphic Designer Saved My Life 8. Significant Others

• Sneakers | Blu Ray | (11/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A group of security experts from a variety of backgrounds are enlisted by National Security to recover a mysterious black box that contains a device that can penetrate the computer systems of the Federal Reserve and other vital government services.

• Murphy's Law | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Murphy's Law is a thoroughly unpleasant 1986 thriller stars Charles Bronson as a cop systematically framed for one murder after another. The killings, though, turn out to be the work of a female nutcase (Carrie Snodgress) he had once sent away to prison. Everyone involved in this leans on the atrocity-and-revenge formula, particularly Bronson and director J Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone), two Hollywood guys who once upon a time made plenty of classic films. Snodgress's performance is unhinged, interesting but hard to watch, as we never really got to know her onscreen after Diary of a Mad Housewife. Just think of this movie as having come from the same creepy planet as the Death Wish series. --Tom Keogh

• Sebastiane | DVD | (18/06/2001) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first and only film shot entirely in subtitled Latin, Sebastiane is Derek Jarman's first work as a director (though he shared the job with the less well-known Paul Humfress) and is a strange combination of gay nudie movie, pocket-sized Ancient Roman epic and meditation upon the image of Saint Sebastian. It opens with the Lindsay Kemp dance troupe romping around with huge fake phalluses to represent the Ken Russell-style decadence of the court of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 303, then decamps to Tuscany as Diocletian's favourite guard Sebastian (Leonardo Treviglio) is demoted to ordinary soldier and dispatched to a backwater barracks because the Emperor (Robert Medley) suspects him of being a covert Christian. The bulk of the film consists of athletic youths in minimal thongs romping around the countryside, soaking themselves down between bouts of manly horseplay or sylvan frolic. It all comes to a bad end as the lecherous but guilt-ridden commanding officer Severus (Barney James) fails to cop off with Sebastian and instead visits floggings and tortures upon his naked torso, finally ordering his men to riddle the future saint with arrows, thus securing him a place in cultural history. The public schoolboy cleverness of scripting dialogue in Latin--a popular soldier's insult is represented by the Greek "Oedipus"--works surprisingly well, with the cast reeling off profane Roman dialogue as if it were passionate Italian declarations rather than marbled classical sentences. The film suffers from the not-uncommon failing that the best-looking actor is given the largest role but delivers the weakest performance: Treviglio's Sebastian is a handsome cipher, far less interesting than the rest of the troubled, bullying, awkward or horny soldiers in the platoon. Peter Hinwood, famous for the title role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, can be glimpsed in the palace orgy. The countryside looks as good as the cast, and Brian Eno delivers an evocative, ambient-style score. --Kim Newman