"Director: Robert Siodmak"

• Custer Of The West | DVD | (01/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  General George Armstrong Custer has been portrayed as everything from a vain but ultimately honourable hero (Errol Flynn in They Died with Their Boots On) to an insane, pompous incompetent (Richard Mulligan in the biting Little Big Man), but few have attempted an ambitious look at the man in all his contradictions. Robert Siodmak's Custer of the West, his final American production, attempts the task with fine results, portraying the career soldier as a pragmatist, a disciplinarian with a bullying streak, a loner and ultimately an Old World romantic in the modern age. Robert Shaw gives the role a regal bearing (though his continental accent keeps drifting in) and a sense of dignity, depicting a man who ironically identifies more with the Indians than with the US Army. Jeffrey Hunter and Ty Hardin co-star as his battling junior officers and Robert Ryan is memorable in a brief appearance as a gold-mining deserter. Shooting in handsome widescreen and vivid Technicolor, Siodmak makes his outdoor settings come alive and nimbly handles the many action scenes, most notably a chase that sends an escaping soldier whooshing down a log water chute like a Disney ride. Siodmak's sweeping visuals deliver both grand images and ironic counterpoint, but ultimately Custer of the West eschews the heroism of Hollywood adventures for a portrait of the corrupt state of the American military and one man's hopeless fight against it. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Menschen Am Sonntag | DVD | (15/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

• Killers | DVD | (22/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Killers (1946): Uses Ernest Hemingway's classic short story as a jumping-off point for an intense hard-edged and stylish tale of robbery unrequited love double-crosses and brutal betrayal. The Killers (1964): Two hired killers muscle their way into a school for the blind and terrorize the secretary until she reveals the whereabouts of racecar driver Johnny North. When the gunmen track him down Johnny wordlessly accepts his fate with the passivity of a man already dead. Why?

• Custer of the West | DVD | (13/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  General George Armstrong Custer has been portrayed as everything from a vain but ultimately honorable hero (Errol Flynn in They Died with Their Boots On) to an insane, pompous incompetent (Richard Mulligan in the biting Little Big Man), but few have attempted an ambitious look at the man in all his contradictions. Robert Siodmak's Custer of the West, his final American production, attempts the task with fine results, portraying the career soldier as a pragmatist, a disciplinarian with a bullying streak, a loner, and ultimately an Old World romantic in the modern age. Robert Shaw gives the role a regal bearing (though his continental accent keeps drifting in) and a sense of dignity, depicting a man who ironically identifies more with the Indians than with the U.S. Army. Jeffrey Hunter and Ty Hardin costar as his battling junior officers and Robert Ryan is memorable in a brief appearance as a gold-mining deserter. Shooting in handsome widescreen and vivid Technicolor, Siodmak makes his outdoor settings come alive and nimbly handles the many action scenes, most notably a chase that sends an escaping soldier whooshing down a log water chute like a Disney ride. Siodmak's sweeping visuals deliver both grand images and ironic counterpoint, but ultimately Custer of the West eschews the heroism of Hollywood adventures for a portrait of the corrupt state of the American military and one man's hopeless fight against it. --Sean Axmaker

• Menschen Am Sonntag | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A taxi driver a travelling wine dealer a sales girl (who sells records - anything from Caruso to Sonny Boy) another girl a film extra and a model - and what happens? Nothing actually.Except: One Saturday afternoon Christl a young film extra meets by chance Wolfgang. They make a date for an outing on the following day - a trip to the Wannsee a popular lake. The taxi driver Erwin gets off work. He plans to see a movie with his girlfriend Annie. Instead they quarrel and stay home.Then Wolfgang turns up and spends the evening at Erwin's place. They meet again the next morning - the two men and Christl who brings along Brigitte her best friend. Annie stays home; she sleeps through the whole Sunday while the others spend the day at the Wannsee: picnicking riding pedalboats taking walks. (Wolfgang even has a little sexual contact with Brigitte.) And that's it. The day-trippers return by train. Brigitte hopes for another date next weekend. Early Monday morning they all rush back to work.