"Director: Emeric Pressburger"

• One of Our Aircraft Is Missing | DVD | (12/05/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Now stunningly repackaged 50p from the sale of this DVD will be paid to Royal British Legion Trading Limited which gives its taxable profits to The Royal British Legion (Charity no. 219279) and Poppy Scotland (Scottish Charity No. SC014096). Nominated for two Academy Awards One of Our Aircraft Is Missing is a dramatic and suspenseful World War II action story based on the actual methods by which the Dutch smuggled crashed British airmen back to England. Six such airmen parachute from their crippled plane into a wood and are discovered by children who take them to a farm where the Dutch question them at length before offering them help. They endure many narrow escapes from the Nazis before they reach a sea port. Their attempted journey across the Channel is fraught with many dangers and an unexpected turn of events.

• The Red Shoes - Plus Documentary | DVD | (06/07/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  One of Powell and Pressburger's most famous films, "The Red Shoes" is the tragic and romantic story of Vicky Page, the brilliant young dancer who must give up everything if she is to become a great ballerina.

• Classic Films Triple - A Night To Remember/Caesar And Cleopatra | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £5.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (116.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A Night To Remember: On April 10th 1912 RMS Titanic sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage. On her fourth night at sea she struck and iceberg and sank with the loss of 1 500 passengers and crew. The film faithfully depicts the drama heroism and horror of the night the unsinkable sank. The Red Shoes: The tragic and romantic story of Vicky Page the brilliant young dancer who must give up everything if she is to become a great ballerina is one of Powell and Pressburger's most famous films. Creators of classics such as Black Narcissus A Matter of Life And Death and The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp they were renowned for their use of brilliant colour and wonderful costumes and with the exhilarating cinematography of Jack Cardiff were among the most influential film makers of their time. The Red Shoes is one of the finest examples of their work and has become an inspiration to artists film makers and musicians all over the world. Caesar And Cleopatra: Vivien Leigh is the young Cleopatra and Claude Rains is Julius Caesar in the spectacular 1945 version of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. As Rome invades Egypt Julius Caesar (Rains) stumbles across the young and unrefined princess Cleopatra (Leigh) sheltering in the Sphinx. Impressed by her spirit and intelligence seduced by her charm he determines to make her Queen. Cleopatra learns about power and politics at the feet of a master but her downfall begins when she is seduced by Mark Antony. This witty brilliantly designed movie features a memorable cast including Stewart Granger Flora Robson Stanley Holloway and a very young Jean Simmons as a harpist. Caesar and Cleopatra was the most expensive movie made in Britain at the time with director Gabriel Pascal even using sand from Egypt to get the right cinematic colour.

• 3 Powell And Pressburger Films - A Matter Of Life And Death / Life And Death Of Col. Blimp | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £24.28   |  Saving you £-6.29 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp: Drama about the life of Clive Candy an English soldier who served in three wars (Boer World War I World War II) and had relationships with three women along the way (each played by Deborah Kerr). Despite Candy's tours-of-duty he harbors no ill will towards the Germans instead he believes they have been the pawns of military leaders. Colonel Blimp an old befuddled British military officer reminisces about his past glories in this witty w

• The Battle Of The River Plate | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £12.20   |  Saving you £-2.21 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It is the early years of World War II and the Royal Navy must fight a desperate battle to stop Germany's best battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, from sailing to the South Atlantic.

• Life And Death of Colonel Blimp, The / A Matter Of Life And Death | DVD | (17/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Two masterpieces of British cinema are paired here--Powell and Pressburger's first Technicolor triumph, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and their even more ambitious A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Both pictures are transcendent examples of the filmmakers' craft, and remain models of great cinema long after their original wartime propaganda brief has expired. Based on a famously satirical cartoon strip that mocked outmoded attitudes of fair play at a time of "total war", Blimp subsequently became notorious as the film Churchill tried to have banned. Because the War Office objected to the screenplay, they refused to allow P&P's first choice for the role, Laurence Olivier, and the duo cast unknown stage actor Roger Livesey in his place. It is Livesey's sympathetic performance that transforms Clive "Sugar" Candy from an object of satire to one of warm affection, effectively reversing the film's intended message about old-fashioned decency versus wartime pragmatism. Anton Walbrook is a profound presence in a role that mirrored the actor's own plight as a German in Britain, while Deborah Kerr is a living leitmotif in the film, playing no fewer than three distinct but deliberately related roles. Briefed by the Ministry of Information to make a film that would foster Anglo-American relations in the post-war period, the duo, known as "the Archers", came up with A Matter of Life and Death, an extravagant and extraordinary fantasy in which David Niven's downed pilot must justify his continuing existence to a heavenly panel because he has made the mistake of falling in love with an American girl (Kim Hunter) when he really should have been dead. National stereotypes are lampooned as the angelic judges squabble over his fate. In a neat reversal of expectations, the heaven sequences are black and white, while earth is seen in Technicolor. Daring cinematography mixes monochrome and colour, incorporates time-lapse images, and even toys with background "time freezes" 50 years before The Matrix. Roger Livesey and Raymond Massey lead the fine supporting cast. On the DVD: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Matter of Life and Death are presented in reasonably sharp 4:3 ratio with good mono sound. Blimp comes with a 25-minute documentary feature that tells us nothing revelatory about making the film, but has good new interviews with cinematographer Jack Cardiff (then an apprentice) and eloquent admirer Stephen Fry. Text biographies and stills are also included. Life and Death has no extras. --Mark Walker

• Gone To Earth | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Hazel Woodus is a peculiar young girl living on the Welsh border at the turn of the century. Dominated by superstitions and lore which she reads from a book she is devoted to her pet fox and to all the local creatures. One of the legends she reads says she must marry the first man who proposes. This turns out to be the mild mannered minister Marston and fearing the legend she agrees to marry him. Hazel feels no true desire for her husband and cannot resist the advances of the r

• The Powell & Pressburger Collection - 9 DVD Box Set | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £49.98   |  Saving you £-9.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  ***WARNING***ALL DVD TITLES CONTAIN ENGLISH SUBTITLES EXCEPT FOR THE DVD TITLE - A CANTERBURY TALE*** Never in the history of British film have two figures become as iconic as those of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Reigning throughout the 40s and 50s these two magnificent filmmakers brought to life British films and continue to radiate immense critical acclaim and inspiration for all contemporary film making. Includes: 1. A Matter of Life & Death (1946) 2. The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) 3. A Canterbury Tale (1944) 4. I Know Where I am Going (1945) 5. 49th Parallel (1941) 6. The Battle of the River Plate (1956) 7. Ill Met By Moonlight (1957) 8. They're A Weird Mob (1966) 9. The Red Shoes (1948)

• The Red Shoes | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  One of Powell and Pressburger's most famous films, "The Red Shoes" is the tragic and romantic story of Vicky Page, the brilliant young dancer who must give up everything if she is to become a great ballerina.

• The Small Back Room | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Adapted from Nigel Balchin's famous novel about a military bomb disposal expert 'The Small Back Room' traces the struggles of Sammy Rice a crippled neurotic scientist. Sammy plagued by feelings of inferiority because of his lameness labours to solve the problem of a new type enemy bomb that is causing many casualties. When a close friend and collegue is killed attempting to dismantle one of the bombs Sammy is forced to face his demons take his life in his hands and prove his worth; to the military and himself...

• Black Narcissus | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £22.94   |  Saving you £-2.95 (-14.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When Bernardo Bertolucci went to the Himalayas to film Little Buddha, so the anecdote runs, he was disappointed by the scenery. Somehow, the real thing didn't quite live up to what he'd been led to expect by Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. It's not hard to see why he felt let down. Their film is almost ridiculously gorgeous--a procession of saturated Technicolor, Expressionist angles, theatrical lighting and overwrought design. It has a good claim to being the high watermark of lushness in the British cinema (and, incidentally, every original foot of it was actually shot in Britain). No wonder it took the Oscar for colour cinematography (shot by Jack Cardiff) as well as for art direction and set decoration (created by Alfred Junge).Audiences loved it on its first release, but the critics were cooler: hadn't the story been upstaged by the baroque images? Well, probably, but that's not altogether a bad thing, since the plot--quite faithful to Rumer Godden's popular novel --isn't wholly free of corn. A group of five Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) establish a school and hospital in a former harem among the Himalayan peaks. The wind blows, the drums pound, the Old Gods stir, and one by one the celibate sisters succumb to unchaste thoughts, above all Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron, terrific in the role), so consumed by erotic yearning for the one Englishman in sight (David Farraar) she puts on crimson lipstick, wears her wimple-free tresses like an early Goth and takes a downward turn. (Black Narcissus features the greatest scene involving a nun and a high place this side of Hitchcock's Vertigo and Jacques Rivette's La Religieuse.) Silly, to be sure, but also sublime at times and as curiously entertaining as it is picturesque. --Kevin Jackson

• Black Narcissus | Blu Ray | (23/06/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Powel and Pressburger added to their run of daring stimulating and stylistic pictures with this melodrama about a group of Anglican nuns establishing a remote mission high in the Himalayas. Their physical environment - extreme temperatures illness and a young Indian Prince's perfume (Black Narcissus) - leads to psychological disturbance coupled with emotional weakness. Jealousy sexual repression and hysteria all play their part in a fantastic climax which ripped through the British stiff upper lip attitude of the time. The casting is inspired with brilliant performances from the principals and the film deservedly won Oscars for Colour Cinematography and Art Direction.

• Fleet Air Arm At War And Peace | DVD | (11/06/2007) from £9.64   |  Saving you £5.35 (55.50%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The Fleet Air Arm: At War and Peace is a unique DVD collecting together rare and previously unseen and unavailable films celebrating the Royal Navy's aviation history. As well as providing fascinating film records of Royal Navy aircraft carriers operations and aircraft it also offers an invaluable 'behind the scenes' look at life in the Fleet Air Arm. This collection features three films and covers the period 1943 to 1959. The Volunteer (1943) Ralph Richardson stars in this dramatised Fleet Air Arm wartime documentary which was produced written and directed by the distinguished team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Following the fortunes of a pilot and an air mechanic in the Fleet Air Arm it offers a fascinating look at life on board a wartime British aircraft carrier and action with Seafires Albacores and Martlets as well as footage of other Fleet Air Arm stalwarts including the Kingfisher and Walrus Flying Boat. Eagles Of The Fleet (1950) Ralph Richardson provides the narration for this stirring look at the Home Fleet on exercises off Gibraltar with the emphasis on the role of British carriers and their contingent of Hawker Sea Furies and Fairey Fireflies.