Five decades on from its first UK broadcast, The Prisoner remains as fresh and dynamic as when it was first unleashed upon an unsuspecting world in 1967. This set presents the complete series, stunningly restored, together with a wealth of special features. THE SERIES All 17 episodes, presented with text commentaries on each episode, detailing the production history. IN MY MIND A feature length documentary in which director Chris Rodley recalls his 1983 efforts to interview Patrick McGoohan for a Channel 4 documentary. The film features interviews with Catherine McGoohan, rare archive footage and never-before-seen interview sessions with McGoohan himself. MANY HAPPY RETURNS A short revisiting the original locations used in the Prisoner. FILMING ARRIVAL Recently-discovered home movie footage of the filming of Arrival. THE PRISONER PUZZLE In a rare appearance to talk about the series, Patrick McGoohan is interviewed by Warner Troyer in an exclusive programme for TV-Ontario from 1977. STILLS GALLERIES Featuring rare and never-before-seen photographs from official and personal archives. CATHERINE McGOOHAN Reflects on her father s work and legacy. PORTMEIRION 1939 Recently-discovered 16mm Kodachrome amateur footage of Portmeirion showing the early days of its development circa 1939. PATHE NEWS: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Pathe News' initial visit to Portmeirion in 1939 presents the first opportunity to give the village mass exposure via Britain's cinema screens. PATHE NEWS: ITALY IN WALES Pathe News returns to Portmeirion in 1962, this time in Technicolor. LESLIE GILLIAT RECCE 35MM TRANSPARENCIES Producer Leslie Gilliat was assigned to The Prisoner in the early stages of the project and visited Portmeirion in 1966 to photograph the village. These 35mm transparencies are the results of that recce and present some initial ideas for the buildings' use in the series. TRIMS A selection of trims from Arrival, Many Happy Returns, The Chimes of Big Ben and The Girl Who Was Death. RADIO ON Radio 1 DJ Simon Bates was given a rare opportunity to interview Patrick McGoohan when he visited the NEC in Birmingham to be presented with a Caterham Super 7. PATRICK MCGOOHAN 1983 An outtake from one of Chris Rodley's full interview sessions with Patrick McGoohan for the original Six Into One The Prisoner File documentary.
12 great Norman Wisdom movies in one big value box set! Films Include: 1. The Bulldog Breed (1960) 2. The Early Bird (1965) 3. Follow A Star (1959) 4. Just My Luck (1957) 5. Man Of The Moment (1955) 6. On The Beat (1962) 7. One Good Turn (1954) 8. Press For Time (1966) 9. The Square Peg (1958) 10. Stitch In Time (1963) 11. Trouble In Store (1953) 12. Up In The World (1956)
The three films in this Terry Thomas Collection--The Naked Truth, Too Many Crooks and Make Mine Mink--are each an unalloyed delight from beginning to end. Though produced on slim budgets they possess witty scripts by Michael Pertwee, deft direction in two instances by Mario Zampi, inventive music scores and marvellous casts featuring two generations of British actors, from Athene Seyler to a young Kenneth Williams. Individually and as an ensemble these players are a pleasure to watch. But of course Terry Thomas, the catalyst of the collection, runs the gamut with a plethora of facial expressions, body language and verbal repartee that contribute so much to the unbuttoned joy of each film. In the earliest of them, The Naked Truth (1957), TT plays a dodgy peer of the realm being blackmailed in the company of Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount and Shirley Eaton by a gutter press journalist, Dennis Price ("Don't try to appeal to my better nature, because I haven't one"). The moments of slapstick are brought off to a tee as when the larger-than-life Peggy Mount attempts a suicide drop from her window to be saved by an awning on a shop front. Too Many Crooks (1959) has TT being blackmailed once again, this time for the hoards he's stashed away as a renowned tax dodger. Look out for the very funny court scene, where TT makes three appearances on separate charges, before a bemused magistrate, John Le Mesurier. Make Mine Mink (1960), the odd one out in this collection, was adapted from a West End stage farce, Breath of Spring. TT leads a gang of middle-aged biddies who decide to brighten up "the dullness of the tea time of life", by staging a series of robberies on furriers, then donating the proceeds to charitable concerns. The splendid cast includes Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams. On the DVD: The Terry Thomas Collection comes in an attractive box containing the three discs. All are 4:3 ratio and with mono sound. The only extras are a trailer for each film which, in the instance of Make Mine Mink, is introduced by Terry Thomas himself, who presents us to his gang of fur thieves as the voice on the soundtrack announces him as "fur, fur funnier than you've seen him before". --Adrian Edwards
During World War II the Pathfinder squadrons of RAF Bomber Command were the elite. All volunteers their particularly dangerous task was to fly in advance of bombing raids over occupied Europe later Nazi Germany to 'light up' the target with flares and incendiaries... Based on material supplied by surviving members of the force Pathfinders is a gripping and highly realistic TV series. Tense and action-packed this classic ITV series brilliantly evokes the combat experience
BOTTOMS UP! Chiselbury School, according to the prospectus, is an academy 'for the sons of gentlefolk'. Regardless of what the prospectus says, however, the boys are very far from being gentlemen; they are an undisciplined rabble! DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK Bill Ferguson's troubles begin when he gives a house key to each of the glamorous girls he meets on a continental holiday all of whom turn up at his flat just as he is about to marry his British fiancée! SHE'LL HAVE TO GO When Francis and Douglas Oberon learn that their late grandmother has bequeathed the family fortune to distant cousin Toni, they immediately start plotting to get their hands on the money either by murder... or marriage! THE IRON MAIDEN Aviation designer Jack Hopkins' greatest passion is an old showman's traction engine called The Iron Maiden. Jack has his heart set on entering the prestigious Annual Steam Rally at Woburn Abbey, but hadn't reckoned on some fierce and devious opposition!
Morecambe And Wise Movie Collection (3 Discs)
This Norman Wisdom Collection contains 12 vintage Wisdom comedies, from 1953's Trouble in Store to 1966's Press for Time. All are also released as six separate two-in-one sets. Please refer to our individual film reviews for each release: Trouble in Store/Up in the World The Square Peg/Follow a Star On the Beat/Man of the Moment The Bulldog Breed/One Good TurnA Stitch in Time/Just My Luck The Early Bird/Press for Time On the DVDs: The Norman Wisdom Collection has four brand-new audio commentaries from Norman Wisdom himself in conversation with film historian Robert Ross. The four films with commentary are: Trouble in Store (1953), On the Beat (1962), A Stitch in Time (1963) and The Early Bird (1965). All the discs come with a trailer and English subtitles as standard.
Morecambe and Wise are special agents 00 oh oh! in this hilarious spy caper. James Bond has nothing to fear when Eric and Ernie get mixed up with Colonel Grant MI5 and the KGB. Their task: to protect the Ballerina Madam Petrovna the idol of the Russian people and God help Madam Petrovna. Her life is in the hands of two of the world's most incompetent spies dressed as Ballerina's and one of them showing off his short fat hairy legs. Intelligence work has never been so funn
The Intelligence Men: Morecambe and Wise are special agents 00, oh oh! in this hilarious spy caper. James Bond has nothing to fear when Eric and Ernie get mixed up with Colonel Grant, MI5 and the KGB. Their task: to protect the Ballerina Madam Petrovna, the idol of the Russian people, and God help Madam Petrovna. Her life is in the hands of two of the world's most incompetent spies, dressed as Ballerina's and one of them showing off his short fat hairy legs. Intelligence work has never been so funny as when Britain's best loved comedy duo get involved in the world of spying!That Riviera Touch: Eric and Ernie star as a pair of traffic wardens, heading for far away shores after giving a parking ticket to someone of royal rank by mistake. They set off in a 'vintage' car, and are soon spotted by a gang of jewel thieves who see in Eric, Ernie and their decrepit motor car the perfect cover for smuggling stolen goods. As the two settle into their villa, a rival gang begins to stalk them. Eric and Ernie must foil all the crooks, who become most anxious when Eric wins in the casino and plans to buy a new car!The Magnificent Two: Not only do our two amigos, Eric and Ernie, find themselves selling toys to make ends meet, but they end up selling them in Latin America. The land where revolutions are the national sport and the seoritas the national past time. Things can only become more bizarre when Eric is persuaded by a hot blooded Latin beauty, and the threat of being shot, to pose as a dead rebel leader...
Terry-Thomas one of Britain's finest cinematic cads gets his very own box set. Good show! Featuring: 1. School For Scoundrels (1960) 2. His & Hers (1961) 3. Private's Progress (1956) 4. Make Mine Mink (1960) 5. Too Many Crooks (1959) 6. The Naked Truth (1957)
Norman Pitkin's ambition is to be a policeman. But he has to be content with washing police cars until the police realise that the only way to solve a spate of jewel thefts is to make use of Norman's uncanny resemblance to the chief suspect...
Fifty years on from its first UK broadcast, The Prisoner remains as fresh and dynamic as when it was first unleashed upon an unsuspecting world in 1967. This set presents the complete series, stunningly restored, together with a wealth of new special features.
The Morecambe & Wise Collection brings together the total cinematic oeuvre of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise: The Intelligence Men (1965), That Riviera Touch (1966) and The Magnificent Two (1967). Though intermittently amusing, they serve mostly to confirm that Morecambe & Wise did the smart thing in devoting the majority of their career to television sketch show. Their comedy was most potent in small doses. The Intelligence Men is an obvious but likeable parody of the early Bond films and sets the pattern for all three films: Eric and Ernie as two well-meaning blunderers cast into an unfamiliar milieu (in this case, international espionage) and forced to survive armed with little more than a repertoire of wince-inducing puns. That Riviera Touch is an obvious but likeable parody of the heist genre. Again, Eric and Ernie are cast as hapless ingénues, in this case a pair of traffic wardens whose holiday in France intersects with the plottings of a gang of jewel thieves. If anything, its even more contrived than that sounds, but the scenes in which Eric cleans out the casino by accident are wonderfully understated, and a reminder of a peerless comic actor. The Magnificent Two, the final and by some distance the least funny of the three, is an updated though rather laboured subversion of the Spaghetti Western, relying rather too much on the notion that anything and everything to do with foreigners is inherently hilarious. On the DVD: The Morecambe & Wise Collection has English subtitles for all three discs and all include the original cinematic trailer. That Riviera Touch is presented in 4:3 format, the remaining two in 16:9. As special features go, these are annoyingly desultory for a release that will certainly only be purchased by die-hard fans. It wouldnt have killed the producers to commission some liner notes at the very least.--Andrew Mueller
An hilarious comedy about the deadly rivalry between a giant milk marketing company and an old-fashioned one-horse dairy.
Make Mine Mink (1960) was adapted from a West End stage farce, Breath of Spring. In a mansion block in Knightsbridge, a gang of middle-aged biddies decide to brighten up "the dullness of the tea time of life" by staging a series of robberies on furriers, then donating the proceeds to charitable concerns. Terry Thomas as a retired army officer leads the gang, which includes Athene Seyler and Hattie Jacques, on a series of capers that nearly go awry when their maid, Billie Whitelaw, an ex-con and also a resident of the block, falls for a police officer. Among many funny scenes is a particular gem between Seyler and Kenneth Williams, her nephew to whom she hopes to palm off a stolen mink, and another where Terry Thomas enters a low-down dive to the accompaniment of the "Harry Lime theme". The playing of the whole cast is second to none under the direction of Robert Asher, who with his cameraman disguises the stage origins of the piece very adeptly. On the DVD: Make Mine Mink comes to DVD in 4:3 ratio with a mono soundtrack. The theatrical trailer is introduced by Terry Thomas, who presents us to his gang of fur thieves as the voice on the soundtrack announces him as "fur, fur funnier than you've seen him before". More TT tomfoolery can be found in the three-disc Terry Thomas Collection. --Adrian Edwards
Norman Wisdom reprises his famous Pitkin character for the third time in A Stitch in Time, and Edward Chapman is also back to provide Norman with the excuse to reprise his immortal catch-phrase "Mr Grimsdale!". Here he succeeds in causing chaos in a St John Ambulance unit, as well as donning drag to play a blonde nurse complete with suspender belt and silk stockings. Each Norman Wisdom movie usually sees him as the accidental Lord of Misrule in one institution or another, and this time it's the NHS: after being banned from his local hospital, Norman resorts to subterfuge to visit a little orphan girl. There's an autobiographical touch here, as Wisdom himself was raised in an orphanage and centred the plot of One Good Turn (1954) around such an establishment. --Gary S Dalkin An important step in the career of Norman Wisdom, Just My Luck is principally notable for the introduction of actor Edward Chapman, whom many would come to know as series regular Mr Grimsdale. Here he's the stuffy foil to Norman's romantic plans regarding his jewel-making job, where he'll do anything to possess some of the wealth about him. The chance comes in the form of an accumulator bet at Goodwood races thanks to a slimy Leslie Phillips. Another star cameo of note was a second appearance by Margaret Rutherford (after Trouble in Store) as an eccentric animal owner. But the real advance with the Wisdom formula was that--after a reasonably serious plot line--Norman finally gets the girl. --Paul Tonks
Starring Bob Monkhouse Alfred Marks Hattie Jacques and many key comedy supporting actors from the 1960s She’ll Have to Go is a stylish hugely enjoyable farce co-produced by BAFTA-nominated Hammer Films stalwart Jack Asher. Released in the US as Maid for Murder it is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. When Francis and Douglas Oberon learn that their late grandmother has bequeathed the family fortune to distant cousin Toni they immediately start plotting to get their hands on the money. They dream up a plot whereby they cannot fail to acquire a comfortable future; the lovely Toni must either be murdered or married... Bonus Features: Original Theatrical Trailer Image Gallery Original Pressbook PDF
The final box set in the series draws the curtain on the career of Mrs Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) and introduces swinging new assistant Tara King! Featuring the following episodes: The ''50 000 Breakfast Dead Man's Treasure You Have Just Been Murdered The Positive-Negative Man Murdersville Mission... Highly Improbable The Forget-Me-Knot
Further adventures of the oh so dapper John Steed and his sidekick Emma Peel. Features six episodes from the 1967 season: 'From Venus With Love' 'The Fear Merchants' 'Escape In Time' 'The See-Through Man' 'The Bird Who Knew Too Much' and 'The Winged Avenger'.
In The Square Peg Norman Wisdom plays one of a pair of council workmen who, while repairing the road outside an army base, come to illustrate the oxymoronic nature of the phrase "military intelligence". Finding themselves drafted, the workmen are sent to repair the roads ahead of the Allied advance through war-torn Europe by the sergeant they previously embarrassed. Norman finds himself behind the German lines, joins up with French Resistance, gets captured then sets out to rescue British prisoners from a German military HQ by impersonating General Schreiber. Of course Wisdom plays Schreiber too. The Square Peg is the film that introduced Norman Wisdom's famous catch-phrase, "Mr. Grimsdale!". Also here Hattie Jacques gets to sing a remarkable duet with Wisdom, and a pre-Goldfinger Honor Blackman provides the love interest. Following his rising star was just what Norman Wisdom's audience had been doing all through the 1950s and, by 1959, and after six films with director John Paddy Carstairs, it was time for a change. Hence Robert Asher made his directorial debut with Follow a Star. The plot is a comedy version of A Star is Born (1954), with Norman yet again playing a dreaming shop worker, this time aspiring to singing stardom. Vernon Carew (played by Wisdom regular Jerry Desmonde) is the fading singer who schemes to use Wisdom's talent to sustain his own rapidly failing career, while the girl is overlooked starlette June Laverick. Norman is surrounded by a particularly strong supporting cast, with Hattie Jacques returning from The Square Peg (1958), Richard Wattis, John Le Mesurier, Fenella Fielding, Ron Moody and, uncredited, future Bond villain Charles Grey. --Gary S Dalkin
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