"Director: Michael Curtiz"

• Casablanca | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.19   |  Saving you £4.80 (66.76%)   |  RRP £11.99

  World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz's classic love story. Colourful characters abound in "Casablanca", a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe.

• Casablanca | Blu Ray | (07/11/2022) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman light up the screen in one of the most enduring romances in movie history. At his Moroccan nightclub, cynic Rick Blaine (Bogart) turns a blind eye to the misery of WWII until his former lover, Ilsa Lund (Bergman), walks through the door, forcing Rick to choose between a life with the woman he loves or becoming the hero she needs. Special Features Introduction by Lauren Bacall Two Separate Commentaries: Roger Ebert and Film Historian Rudy Behlmer Also on Blu-ray: Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic Warner Night at the Movies Great Performances: Bacall on Bogart You Must Remember This: A Tribute to Casablanca As Time Goes By: The Children Remember Deleted Scenes Outtakes Cartoons Audio-Only Scoring Stage Sessions 19/11/47 Vox Pop Radio Broadcast Theatrical Trailers

• Mildred Pierce | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (143.41%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Joan Crawford delivers a critically acclaimed performance as Mildred Pierce a woman clawing her way to success to provide her daughter with everything she lacks. No sacrifice is too much - ending her middle class marriage climbing to the top of a male-dominated business world and marrying a man she doesn't love - but is murder a step too far? Based on a novel by James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice Double Indemnity) Mildred Pierce is a stylish film noir which rejuvenated screen icon Joan Crawford's career and earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

• John Wayne Box Set (Undefeated/The Comancheros/The North to Alaska/The Big Trail) | DVD | (01/10/2012) from £15.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Box-set featuring four classic John Wayne movies. 'The Big Trail' (1930) was Wayne's first starring role. He plays the young leader of a pioneer wagon train travelling across the Oregon Trail. Repulsing Indian attacks and battling against the hostile elements, The Duke still finds time for romance with a fellow traveller (Marguerite Churchill). In 'The Comancheros (1961), Wayne stars as Texas Ranger Jake Cutter whose path crosses with that of professional gambler Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman). The two become uneasy bedfellows in their quest to crush a powerful outlaw gang who are selling arms and alcohol to the local Indians. This was director Michael Curtiz's last film and also stars Lee Marvin and Ina Balin. 'North to Alaska' (1960) is a lighthearted Western starring Wayne and Stewart Granger as rough and tumble gold prospectors in Alaska. When Sam McCord (Wayne) and George Pratt (Granger) eventually strike it rich in the gold rush, George sends Sam to Seattle to fetch his fiancee; but Sam falls in love with her. George eventually accepts his loss and sets about finding a new gal, but only seems to find trouble. In 'The Undefeated' (1969), Confederate Colonel James Langdon (Rock Hudson) prepares to travel to Mexico with his family. When they are attacked by bandits, Union Colonel J.H. Thomas (Wayne) comes to their aid. The former enemies find themselves united in their efforts to resist Mexican Emperor Maximillian, and Juarez, the rebel leader. When the rebels kidnap the Southerners, Colonel Thomas must decide whether to surrender his valuable herd of 3,000 horses and secure their release, or leave them to their fate.

• The Adventures Of Robin Hood | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (100.14%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Dashing Errol Flynn is the definitive Robin in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood, the most gloriously swashbuckling version of the legendary story. Warner Brothers reunited Michael Curtiz, their top-action director, with the winning team of Flynn and Olivia de Havilland (Maid Marian) and perennial villain Basil Rathbone as the aristocratic Sir Guy of Gisbourne, and pulled out all stops for the production. It became their costliest film to date, a grandly handsome, glowing technicolour adventure set to a stirring, Oscar-winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold--music that became a template for countless later movies, notably John Williams' Star Wars and Indiana Jones scores. The decadent Prince John (a smoothly conniving Claude Rains) takes advantage of King Richard's absence to tax the country into poverty but meets his match in the medieval guerrilla rebel Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, who rise up and, to quote a cliché coined by the film, "steal from the rich and give to the poor". Stocky Alan Hale Sr plays Robin's loyal friend Little John (a part he played in Douglas Fairbanks' silent version), Eugene Palette plays the portly Friar Tuck and Melville Cooper is the bumbling Sheriff of Nottingham. Flynn's confidence and cocky charm makes for a perfect Robin and his easygoing manner is a marvellous counterpoint to Rathbone's regal bearing and courtly diction. The film climaxes in their rousing battle-to-the-finish sword fight, a magnificently choreographed scene highlighted by Curtiz's inventive use of shadows cast upon the castle walls. --Sean Axmaker

• Casablanca | Blu Ray | (25/01/2010) from £8.75   |  Saving you £9.24 (105.60%)   |  RRP £17.99

  World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz's classic love story. Colourful characters abound in "Casablanca", a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe.

• Mildred Pierce | Blu Ray | (27/02/2017) from £23.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Melodrama casts noirish shadows in this portrait of maternal sacrifice from the Hollywood master Michael Curtiz. Its iconic performance by JOAN CRAWFORD (Johnny Guitar) as Mildred, a single mother hell-bent on freeing her children from the stigma of economic hardship, solidified Crawford's career comeback and gave the actor her only Oscar. But as Mildred pulls herself up by the bootstraps, first as an unflappable waitress and eventually as the well-heeled owner of a successful restaurant chain, the ingratitude of her materialistic firstborn (a diabolical ANN BLYTH) becomes a venomous serpent's tooth, setting in motion an endless cycle of desperate overtures and heartless recriminations. Recasting JAMES M. CAIN's rich psychological novel as a murder mystery, this bitter cocktail of blind parental love and all-American ambition is both unremittingly hard-boiled and sumptuously emotional. Special Features: New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New conversation about Mildred Pierce with critics Molly Haskell and Robert Polito Excerpt from a 1970 episode of The David Frost Show featuring actor Joan Crawford Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star, a 2002 feature-length documentary on Crawford's life and career Q&A with actor Ann Blyth from 2002, conducted by film historian Eddie Muller Segment from a 1969 episode of the Today show featuring novelist James M. Cain Trailer PLUS: An essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith Click Images to Enlarge

• Studio Classics Religious Collection - Francis Of Assisi/The Story Of Ruth/The Bible/The Song Of Bernadette/The Greatest St | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.93

  A whole host of 20th Century Fox's most famous religious epics can be found in this here box set! Featuring: 1. Francis Of Assisi (Dir. Michael Curtiz 1961) 2. Story Of Ruth (Dir. Henry Koster 1960) 3. The Bible (Dir. John Huston 1966) 4. The Song Of Bernadette (Dir. Henry King 1943) 5. The Greatest Story Ever Told (Dir. George Stevens 1965) 6. The Passion Of The Christ (Dir. Mel Gibson 2004) 7. The Robe (Dir. Henry Koster 1953) 8. Demetrious And The Gladiators (Dir. Delmer Daves 1954

• G.I. Blues/King Creole/Blue Hawaii | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £21.33   |  Saving you £-8.34 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Titles Comprise: G.I. Blues: The year was 1960. A payola scandal shocks the music world. Movie fans are introduced to glorious Smell-O-Vision. The 50-star flag is adopted. And in G.I. Blues Elvis adopts an on-screen persona he knows well in real life - a singin' G.I. in West Germany. Eager to open a stateside nightclub after his hitch in khakis he takes part in a wager to raise the dough he needs. The bet: he can melt the heart of a willowy dancer (Juliet Prowse). But all bets may be off when real love intervenes... King Creole: The year was 1958. Everybody's dating at the drive-in. America launches its first satellite. The novel 'Lolita' stirs up controversy. And Elvis Presley gives Bourbon Street a new beat in King Creole. He plays a troubled youth whose singing sets the French Quarter rockin'. With a sweet girl to love him and nightclubbers cheering it looks like Elvis will shake off his past and head for the top. But will a mobster (Walter Matthau) and his man-trap moll (Carolyn Jones) snare him in a life of crime? Blue Hawaii: The year was 1961. Fallout shelters dot surburban backyards. Ken joins Barbie. Roger Maris slugs 61 home runs. And Elvis Presley is in paradise playing an ex-G.I. who comes home to Blue Hawaii. His mother (Angela Lansbury) expects him to climb the corporate ladder. But Elvis would rather wear an aloha shirt than a white collar so he goes to work as a tour guide. Lucky Elvis: his first customers are a carfull of cuties. Elvis lovely scenery lovelier girls and rock-a-hula songs - now that's paradise!

• The Humphrey Bogart Collection - The Maltese Falcon / Casablanca / The Big Sleep / Key Largo | DVD | (17/09/2012) from £12.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  FOUR DVD BOX SET containing the films The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep and Key Largo - THE MALTESE FALCON: Bogart's career breakthrough and John Huston's directorial debut! P.I. Sam Spade (Bogart) follows a trail of murder and high-living low-lifes to a coveted 'dingus' - the falcon statuette. Audio: 1.0 Mono - Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Full Frame / B&W - Run Time: 101 Mins. Approx - Languages: English, German, Spanish - Hearing Impaired: English, German - Subtitles: Finnish, German, Hebrew, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. CASABLANCA: The forever classic of love lost, renewed and sacrificed, with Bogart's cynical Rick becoming the all-time archetype for romantic heroes. They'll play this one for as long as time goes by! Audio: 1.0 Mono - Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Full Frame / B&W - Run Time: 98 Mins. Approx - Languages: English, French, Italian - Hearing Impaired: English, Italian - Subtitles: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch THE BIG SLEEP: In this unequaled masterpiece, the two stars are embroiled in suspense in this landmark, hard-boiled Raymond Chandler whodunit. KEY LARGO: Academy Award winner (1948): best supporting actress (Claire Trevor). Trapped by a storm and a killer! Bogart and Bacall ride out a hurricane while facing the business end of Edward G. Robinson's gun.

• Santa Fe Trail | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £9.58   |  Saving you £-4.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Hollywood journeyman par excellence Michael Curtiz directs this historical Western which tells the stories of confederate soldier Jeb Stuart (Errol Flynn) and General George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan) as they fight abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey).

• White Christmas | DVD | (05/10/2009) from £7.05   |  Saving you £-1.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Two talented song-and-dance men (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business.

• Francis Of Assisi | DVD | (28/02/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An inspirational story of one man's journey. Born into a life of privilege passion and extravagance Francis of Assisi would become one of the most beloved and revered saints in history. Bradford Dillman delivers a gripping performance as the lusty adventurer who hears the voice of God and answers by abandoning his secular life. Trading in his sword for a cross he rises to glory...only to see his life's work threatened by a corrupt and jealous church hierarchy. Helmed by famed Casablanca director Michael Curtiz this epic tale of courage and sacrifice will inspire the entire family.

• The Cary Grant Signature Collection (2011) | DVD | (19/09/2011) from £9.80   |  Saving you £20.19 (206.02%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Titles Comprise: Destination Tokyo Arsenic And Old Lace Night and Day North By Northwest

• Elvis Jukebox Movie Collection | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £79.99   |  Saving you £-25.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £54.99

  Roustabout (Dir. John Rich 1964): The year was 1964. The miniskirt is in. If you can't Watusi you can't dance. Cassius Clay (soon to be Muhammad Ali) claims the heavyweight crown. And Elvis is a karate-chopping biker who's hired as a carnival Roustabout. At first he just provides the muscle and a diversion for the beautiful carny girls. Then he picks up a guitar and gets the midway rockin'. Looks like this talented tough guy may be what the good-hearted owner (Barbara Stanwyc

• Doris Day Collection | DVD | (28/09/2009) from £16.49   |  Saving you £1.49 (11.04%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Titles Comprise: Billy Rose's Jumbo (Dir. Charles Walters 1962): Pop and Kitty Wonder are the owners of the Wonder Circus and because of Pop's addiction to gambling they are constantly in debt and the creditors are very close to foreclosing on them. Their main attraction is Jumbo the elephant and it seems that their competitor John Noble wants Jumbo and is luring away all of their acts leaving them with virtually nothing. Then all of a sudden a mysterious man named Sam Rawlins joins them as a wire walker and Kitty is taken with him what they don't know is that he's Noble's son. The Glass Bottom Boat (Dir. Frank Tashlin 1966): Jennifer Nelson and Bruce Templeton meet when Bruce reels in her mermaid suit leaving Jennifer bottomless in the waters of Catalina Island. She later discovers that Bruce is the big boss at her work (a research lab). Bruce hires Jennifer to be his biographer only to try and win her affections. There's a problem Bruce's friend General Wallace Bleeker believes she's a Russian spy and has her surveillanced. But when Jennifer catches on...Watch out! Love Me Or Leave Me (Dir. Charles Vidor 1955): Story of torch singer Ruth Etting's rise from 1920s taxi dancer to movie star simultaneously aided and frustrated by Chicago mobster Marty Sydney's headstrong ways and pressure tactics. Please Don't Eat The Daisies (Dir. Charles Walters 1960): Drama critic Larry McKay his wife Kay and their four sons move from their crowded Manhattan apartment to an old house in the country. While housewife Kay settles into suburban life Larry continues to enjoy the theater and party scene of New York. Kay soon begins to question Larry's fidelity when he mentions a flirtatious encounter with Broadway star Deborah Vaughn. Young Man With A Horn (Dir. Michael Curtiz 1950): Aimless youth Rick Martin learns he has a gift for music and falls in love with the trumpet. Legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard takes Rick under his wing and teaches him all he knows about playing. To the exclusion of anything else in life Rick becomes a star trumpeter but his volatile personality and desire to play jazz rather than the restricted tunes of the bands he works for lands him in trouble. Calamity Jane (Dir. David Butler 1953): Deadwood Dakota Territory is largely the abode of men where Indian scout Calamity Jane is as hard-riding boastful and handy with a gun as any; quite an overpowering personality. But the army lieutenant she favors doesn't really appreciate her finer qualities. One of Jane's boasts brings her to Chicago to recruit an actress for the Golden Garter stage. Arrived the lady in question appears (at first) to be a more feminine rival for the favors of Jane's male friends...including her friendly enemy Wild Bill Hickock.

• The Comancheros | DVD | (05/11/2012) from £6.88   |  Saving you £3.11 (45.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  John Wayne is a Texas Ranger in this rollicking, good humored western, assigned to bring an arms-running gang to justice. After Wayne arrests one of the criminals, matters are complicated when they wander into an area controlled by the Comancheros- a group of Anglos aiding the warring Comanche Indians. Director Curtiz' last film is based on the novel by Paul I. Wellman.

• King Creole | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £5.06   |  Saving you £7.93 (156.72%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Before his handlers persuaded him to settle for the safety of a screen franchise, the young Elvis Presley had weightier ambitions as an actor. The 1958 King Creole, his fourth feature outing, hints at the underlying seriousness of his goals. Presley plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans teenager struggling to graduate from high school while working in a sleazy French Quarter club to support his family. He's also characterised as a troubled youth with a dangerous temper and feelings of shame and resentment toward his meek, unemployed father (Dean Jagger). When Danny's gift for singing provides him with a potential career break (and the requisite excuse for Elvis's production numbers), his involvement with a ruthless gangster (Walter Matthau) and his sultry, alcoholic moll (Carolyn Jones) threatens both his future and his family. King Creole boasts an impressive production pedigree (including producer Hal Wallis and director Michael Curtiz, the team behind Casablanca) and the supporting cast helps elicit one of Presley's most emotional performances. Jones in particular overrides the inherent clichés of her role: her self-loathing and sexuality are both palpable. Presley--still a few years away from the more sanitised image that would be integral to those franchise features--is young enough to be a credible teen, but more crucially he makes his rage and yearning largely convincing. --Sam Sutherland

• James Cagney - Signature Collection Box Set (Angels with dirty faces / Public enemy / Roaring twenties / White heat) | DVD | (19/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The Public Enemy (Dir. William A. Wellman 1931): Tom's bad way of life is constantly set up against his brother Mike's who has a job during the day and goes to night school. Mike will enroll in the Marines to fight in WWI. He will come back and will constantly try to put Tom back on the right path. White Heat (Dir. Raoul Walsh 1950): Cody Jarrett is the sadistic leader of a ruthless gang of thieves. Afflicted by terrible headaches and fiercely devoted to his 'Ma ' Cody is a volatile violent and eccentric leader. Cody's top henchman wants to lead the gang and attempts to have an 'accident' happen to Cody while he is running the gang from in jail. But Cody is saved by an undercover cop who thereby befriends him and infiltrates the gang. Finally the stage is set for Cody's ultimate betrayal and downfall during a big heist at a chemical plant. Angels With Dirty Faces (Dir Michael Curtiz 1938): Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connolly were tough kids who grew up together in the toughest part of New York - Hell's Kitchen. Early on Rocky gets sent to reform school where he learns how to be a first class criminal. Jerry who had escaped from the law goes straight and becomes a priest. As adults they reunite in the old neighborhood: Jerry works with the kids who like he and Rocky could end up on either side of the law. Rocky has returned looking for a safe place to stay till he can get back into his old racketeering organization -- something that his old partner isn't anxious to have happen. Lots of rapid fire wisecracks roughhousing and gunfire ensues. The Roaring Twenties (Dir. Raoul Walsh 1939): After the WWI Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

• Comancheros, The / The Undefeated | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £10.78   |  Saving you £4.21 (39.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This is a John Wayne Western double-bill featuring The Comancheros (1961) and The Undefeated (1969). Nobody made a fuss about The Comancheros when it came out, yet it has proved to be among the most enduringly entertaining of John Wayne's later Westerns. The Duke, just beginning to crease and thicken toward Rooster Cogburn proportions, plays a veteran Texas Ranger named Jake Cutter who joins forces with a New Orleans dandy (Stuart Whitman) to subdue rampaging Indians and the evil white men behind their uprising. The Comancheros was the last credit for Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), who, ravaged by cancer, ceded much of the direction to Wayne (uncredited) and action specialist Cliff Lyons. With support from Wayne stalwarts James Edward Grant (co-screenplay) and William Clothier (camera), the first of many rousing Elmer Bernstein scores for a Wayne picture and a big, flavourful cast including Lee Marvin (the once and future Liberty Valance), Nehemiah Persoff, Bruce Cabot, and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (in his last movie), they made a broad, cheerfully bloodthirsty adventure movie for red-meat-eating audiences of all ages. In The Undefeated Wayne and Rock Hudson each play a Civil War commander who, after the ceasefire, lead a community of folks into Mexico to make a fresh start. Hudson is a Southern gentleman; Wayne commanded the Yankee cavalry at Shiloh, where Hudson's brother died. Nevertheless, Rock, with his extended family, and Duke, with his troop of cowboys and 3,000 horses to sell to Emperor Maximilian, soon join forces to outgun banditos and beam paternally over the budding romance between their respective daughter and son. Lingering North-South animosities are celebrated in an obligatory communal fistfight, and the showdown with both Maximilian's lancers and the rebel Juaristas is disconcertingly perfunctory. --Richard T Jameson