"Actor: Sid James"

• Ealing Comedy DVD Collection - The Ladykillers/Kind Hearts and Coronets/The Lavender Hill Mob/The Man in the White Suit | DVD | (02/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Four of the British film industry's best-loved comedies in one box set makes The Ealing Comedy Collection absolutely essential for anyone who has any passion at all for movies. The set contains Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955). Ealing's greatest comedies captured the essence of post-war Britain, both in their evocation of a land once blighted by war but now rising doggedly and optimistically again from the ashes, and in their mordant yet graceful humour. They portray a country with an antiquated class system whose crumbling conventions are being undermined by a new spirit of individual opportunism. In the delightfully wicked Kind Hearts and Coronets, a serial killer politely murders his way into the peerage; in The Lavender Hill Mob a put-upon bank clerk schemes to rob his employers; The Man in the White Suit is a harshly satirical depiction of idealism crushed by the status quo; while The Ladykillers mocks both the criminals and the authorities with its unlikely octogenarian heroine Mrs "lop-sided" Wilberforce. Many factors contribute to the success of these films--including fine music scores from composers such as Benjamin Frankel (Man in the White Suit) and Tristram Cary (The Ladykillers); positively symphonic sound effects (White Suit); marvellously evocative locations (the environs of King's Cross in Ladykillers, for example); and writing that always displays Ealing's unique perspective on British social mores ("All the exuberance of Chaucer without, happily, any of the concomitant crudities of his period")--yet arguably their greatest asset is Alec Guinness, whose multifaceted performances are the keystone upon which Ealing built its biting, often macabre, yet always elegant comedy. On the DVD: The Ealing Comedy Collection presents the four discs in a fold-out package with postcards of the original poster artwork for each. Aside from theatrical trailers on each disc there are no extra features, which is a pity given the importance of these films. The Ladykillers is in muted Technicolor and presented in 1.66:1 ratio, the three earlier films are all black and white 1.33:1. Sound is perfectly adequate mono throughout. --Mark Walker

• Carry On Collection Vol.2 | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £9.00   |  Saving you £3.99 (44.33%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Titles Comprise: 1. Carry On Regardless: It's non stop romps as the Carry On team deliver the goods in one of the rudest and funniest of the Carry On films. The cast are all on top form as a bunch of no-hoppers who join an agency in the search for a job. The anarchy mounts as they do a series of odd jobs including a chimps tea party trying to stay sober at a wine tasting and demolishing a house. 2. Carry On Cruising: A life on the ocean wave with the Carry On crew! Sid James is the long-suffering Captain of the luxury cruise liner S.S. Happy Wanderer a ship full of misfits who don't know their portholes from any other holes! It isn't long before the luckless passengers mix with the hopeless crew to raise titanic laughs on the ship of fools. 3. Carry On Jack: Able seaman Poop-Decker (Bernard Cribbins) signs up for adventure on the high seas with the wicked Captain Fearless (Kenneth Williams). Those swabbing the decks include Juliet Mills Charles Hawtrey and Donald Houston. 4. Carry On Cabby: Charlie (Sid James) owner of the Speedee Cabs company finds he has some serious competition when his wife Peggy (Hattie Jacques) sets up a rival firm consisting only of glamorous female drivers.

• Blade Runner: The Final Cut - Titans of Cult Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu Ray | (20/06/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Visually spectacular, intensely action-packed and powerfully prophetic since its debut, Blade Runner dazzles in Ridley Scott's definitive Final Cut, including extended scenes and special effects. In a signature role as 21st-century detective Rick Deckard, Harrison Ford bring his masculine-yet-vulnerable presence to this stylish noir thriller. In a future of high-tech possibility soured by urban and social decay, Deckard hunts for fugitive, murderous replicants and is drawn to a mystery woman whose secrets may undermine his soul. Extras: Introduction by Ridley Scott Three Filmaker Commentaries, Including One by Ridley Scott

• Carry On: Collection 2 | Blu Ray | (28/07/2023) from £40.90   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Sid James Collection - Comic Icons | DVD | (14/05/2007) from £7.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Featuring: 1. The Big Job (1965) 2. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) 3. Make Mine A Million (1959)

• Trapeze | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Burt Lancaster Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida star as a triangle of lovers in this powerful drama set against the magnificent background of a European circus. Filmed on location in Paris Carol Reed's Trapeze is one of the most spectacular and authentic circus movies ever made.

• Dead End | DVD | (12/07/2005) from £12.61   |  Saving you £0.38 (3.01%)   |  RRP £12.99

  On the mean streets of New York's Lower East Side Drina (Sylvia Sidney) hopes to save her brother from a life of crime. But notorious hoodlum Baby Face Martin (Bogart) has come back to his old haunts looking for trouble and threatening to drag the boy down with him. Drina turns to her childhood friend Dave (Joel McCrea) for help. But can he stop Martin without becoming just like him?

• Carry On Cruising | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £7.55   |  Saving you £5.44 (72.05%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A life on the ocean wave with the Carry On crew! Sid James is the long-suffering Captain of the luxury cruise liner S.S. Happy Wanderer a ship full of misfits who don't know their portholes from any other holes! It isn't long before the luckless passengers mix with the hopeless crew to raise titanic laughs on the ship of fools. Carry On Cruising is the sixth Carry On film and the first in colour and stars all the Carry On favourites including Sid James Kenneth Williams Kenneth Connor Joan Sims and Lance Percival.

• Once A Jolly Swagman | DVD | (24/01/2011) from £5.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (116.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  British drama about a speedway racer starring Dirk Bogarde. Bill Fox (Bogarde) is a factory worker in 1930s England who quits his job to become a motorbike rider. Success goes to his head and he leaves his wife (Sandra Dorne) for socialite Pat (Renee Asherson) but when tragedy strikes on the track he returns to his wife and joins a union to fight for riders' rights.

• Carry On Constable | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £7.20   |  Saving you £9.79 (135.97%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Made in 1960, Carry On Constable is one of the earliest Carry On comic romps, arriving before they'd carved out their bawdy niche in British cinema. In fact, this Gerald-Thomas-directed effort isn't dissimilar to most of the mainstream Brit-com of its era. A flu epidemic has forced a police station to take on a brace of callow recruits: Kenneth Connor, a superstitious bag of nerves; Leslie Phillips, playing his usual rapscallion self; the ludicrously effete Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams. The "plot" is a sequence of thoroughly creaky gags at the expense of this bumbling quartet. The staple characters hadn't settled into their "classic" personae yet. Here, Sid James is an exasperated sergeant, not the sort of crinkly rogue he played in later years, Kenneth Williams is dry, detached and supercilious, while Hattie Jacques is no matron but a sympathetic sergeant, whose every walk-on is not yet accompanied by the portly strains of tubas and bassoons. The comedy here is, frankly, dismal--banana skins are slipped upon and officers' legs urinated upon bydogs, all to a rueful soundtrack of wah-wah trumpets. The main appeal of this movie is as a period slice of damp, pre-Beatles London in glorious black and white.On the DVD: Although picture and sound are adequate (though poorly dubbed in places), there are no extras at all, a shame for the hardcore Carry On aficionados to whom this release would surely, perhaps exclusively, appeal. --David Stubbs

• ITV Christmas Compilation | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £17.98   |  Saving you £9.00 (56.29%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This bumper Christmas compilation features episodes from many of the all time sitcom greats including: On The Buses Nearest & Dearest Rising Damp Please Sir! Dustbinmen Two's Company Billy Liar Home To Roost The Rag Trade Duty Free Watching and many more! Episodes Include: 1. The Dustbinmen Christmas Special (1969) 2. Please Sir! - Peace In Our Time (1970) 3. On The Buses - Christmas Duty (1970) 4. All This And Christmas Too (1971) 5. Nearest And Dearest - Cindermel

• The Silent Enemy (Vintage Classics) | DVD | (11/04/2022) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Carry On Abroad | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  One of the last decent Carry On movies, Carry On Abroad is a 1972 venture into the world of package holidays. After this, the series descended into unfunny coarseness as opposed to camply laboured double entendre, culminating in the dreadful Carry On Emanuelle. Here, publican Sid James and dutiful mother's son turned sex maniac Charles Hawtrey are among a brace of Brits heading for the "paradise island" of Elsbels. Kenneth Williams is the out-of-his-depth tour operator, reverting to the sort of effete types he played in the 1950s, Peter Butterworth a pre-Manuel-style manager of a half-built hotel. A series of disasters ensue, with the entire gang landing up in jail following a fracas in a brothel at one point, but everyone finds romantic and sexual fulfilment in a quaint disco finale. This includes a gay character who is "dissuaded" from his homosexuality in a typical example of the thoroughly reactionary subtext that constitutes the really naughty bit of most Carry On films. Nonetheless, this throwback to an imaginary time when the lewdest innuendo of a dirty old man was greeted by young females with a flirty "Ooh, saucy!" is enjoyable on condition that you enter into its seaside-postcard spirit. June Whitfield is fine as a sexually uptight wife, Kenneth Connor a model of red-faced frustration as her wimpish husband. On the DVD: Sadly, no extra features except scene selection. The picture is a 4:3 ratio full-screen presentation. --David Stubbs

• The Definitive Ealing Studios Collection | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £109.99   |  Saving you £-69.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.00

  A box set featuring 16 of the finest efforts from the house of Ealing. 1. Champagne Charlie (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1944) 2. Dead of Night (Dirs. Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton 1945) 3. Hue & Cry (Dir. Charles Crichton 1947) 4. It Always Rains on Sunday (Dir. Robert Hamer 1947) 5. Kind Hearts and Coronets (Dir. Robert Hamer 1949) 6. The Ladykillers (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1955) 7. The Lavender Hill Mob (Dir. Charles Crichton 1951) 8. The Maggie (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1954) 9. The Magnet (Dir. Charles Frend 1950) 10. The Man in The White Suit (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1951) 11. Nicholas Nickelby (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1947) 12. Passport To Pimlico (Dir. Henry Cornelius 1949) 13. Scott of The Antarctic (Dir. Charles Frend 1948) 14. The Titfield Thunderbolt (Dir. Charles Crichton 1953) 15. Went The Day Well? (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1942) 16. Whisky Galore (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1949)

• Carry On Cabby | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £6.46   |  Saving you £10.53 (163.00%)   |  RRP £16.99

  A rare Carry On with more interest in having a proper plot than tossing off gags every line, Cabby is also one of the friendliest of the series, built around the relationship between a cackling but good-hearted Sid James and an unusually touching Hattie Jacques. Sid's so obsessed with his taxi business that he neglects his wife, spending their wedding anniversary driving expectant father Jim Dale to and from the maternity hospital on a false alarm that naturally pays off with a delivery in the back of the cab. This drives Hattie to set up her own rival firm ("Glam Cabs"), employing dolly birds in tailored uniforms to undercut the likes of Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey. It ends happily, with a pair of hold-up men trapped in a ring of taxis and the marriage saved. Among the expected Carry On bits: Connor in drag, Amanda Barrie in a corset, Hawtrey in a leather jacket as a devout rambler ("We like to go as far as we can"), Liz Fraser as Connor's perky intended. Kenneth Williams is missed, but his role as the obnoxious shop steward (Carry On producer Peter Rogers never missed a chance to be nasty about the unions) is ably taken by Norman Chappell. Other familiar faces are Bill Owen, Peter Gilmore, Milo O'Shea, Renee Houston and Michael Ward as the tweedy businessman who has apparently left a pearl earring in the back of Connor's cab. On the DVD: No extras, but it's a smashing widescreen presentation of a pristine black and white print. --Kim Newman

• Hancock's Half Hour - Vol. 3 | DVD | (24/04/2006) from £6.03   |  Saving you £6.96 (115.42%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The mercurially talented comedian Tony Hancock returns to DVD with more from his epoch-making comedy series Hancock's Half Hour. Containing all 10 episodes from the fifth series originally broadcast in 1959.

• Two In Clover - The Complete Series | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £6.99   |  Saving you £18.00 (257.51%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The comedy series about self-sufficiency written by Harry Driver and Vince Powell (""Nearest and Dearest"" ""Love Thy Neighbour"") from 1969 which pre-empted ""The Good Life"" by six years. All the episodes from the comedy series starring Carry On stalwart Sid James.

• Carry On Vol.1 | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Carry On collection includes the following films: Carry On Up The Khyber: British India 1895. The Burpas are revolting but then again 'The Devils In Skirts' who guard the Khyber Pass are not too inviting either! Can Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond (Sid James) prevent the scheming Khasi of Kalabar (Kenneth Williams) from starting a full blown rebellion massacring thousands of innocent people ending British rule and making his kushy job obselete? Can he rely on the help of the wayward Brother Belcher (Peter Butterworth)? And can he prevent the secret concerning the 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment from becoming common knowledge among the natives? All will be revealed in this masterly tale of passion greed and missing underpants! Carry On Doctor: Frankie Howerd plays Francis Bigger a charlatan faith healer who ends up in hospital and what a hospital it is! Dr. Kilmore (Jim Dale) seems more interested in the staff nurses and Dr. Tinkle (Kenneth Williams) dismisses all ill health as a weakness. The Matron (Hattie Jaques) can cure any medical problem with a frosty glance and the nurses are always raising the blood pressure of the patients in the male ward.... much to their delight of course. Carry On Don't Lose Your Head: Carry On laughing until you have hysterics but...Don't Lose Your Head as the Carry On team destroy everything sacred about the classic story of the Scarlet Pimpernel set during the French Revolution. Sid James stars as the Black Fingernail always one jump ahead of Citizen Camembert and Citizen Bidet... Carry On Follow That Camel: When the carry on team head for the sea of sand there's a legion of laughs to be had plus pure gold in the raucous performance of 'Bilko' star Phil Silvers as Sergeant Nocker. Can fresh Foreign Legion recruits 'B.O.' West (Jim Dale) and his faithful manservant Simpson (Peter Butterworth) help defeat the ruthless Sheikh Abdul Abulbul (Bernard Bresslaw)? Find out in the hysterical historical spectacular featuring a host of harem beauties a bevy of blood thirsty Bedouins and a troupe of Legionnaires getting the hump!

• Carry On Cabby | DVD | (27/02/2017) from £6.21   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A rare Carry On with more interest in having a proper plot than tossing off gags every line, Cabby is also one of the friendliest of the series, built around the relationship between a cackling but good-hearted Sid James and an unusually touching Hattie Jacques. Sid's so obsessed with his taxi business that he neglects his wife, spending their wedding anniversary driving expectant father Jim Dale to and from the maternity hospital on a false alarm that naturally pays off with a delivery in the back of the cab. This drives Hattie to set up her own rival firm ("Glam Cabs"), employing dolly birds in tailored uniforms to undercut the likes of Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey. It ends happily, with a pair of hold-up men trapped in a ring of taxis and the marriage saved. Among the expected Carry On bits: Connor in drag, Amanda Barrie in a corset, Hawtrey in a leather jacket as a devout rambler ("We like to go as far as we can"), Liz Fraser as Connor's perky intended. Kenneth Williams is missed, but his role as the obnoxious shop steward (Carry On producer Peter Rogers never missed a chance to be nasty about the unions) is ably taken by Norman Chappell. Other familiar faces are Bill Owen, Peter Gilmore, Milo O'Shea, Renee Houston and Michael Ward as the tweedy businessman who has apparently left a pearl earring in the back of Connor's cab. On the DVD: No extras, but it's a smashing widescreen presentation of a pristine black and white print. --Kim Newman

• Double Bunk | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A battered houseboat on the Thames provides the setting for this romantic British comedy. Two newlyweds rent the leaky floating home but the trouble begins when the husband decides to move the boat to a better location; as fog descends they lose all sense of direction and eventually end up in France! Fortunately their landlord's yacht is moored nearby and the pair are able to borrow some petrol from him; not without the condition though of a race back across the Channel...