"Director: Woody Allen"

• Sleeper | DVD | (03/10/2016) from £13.04   |  Saving you £4.95 (27.50%)   |  RRP £17.99

  If Interiors was Woody Allen's Bergman movie, and Stardust Memories was his Fellini movie, then you could say that Sleeper is his Buster Keaton movie. Relying more on visual/conceptual/slapstick gags than his trademark verbal wit, Sleeper is probably the funniest of what would become known as Allen's "early, funny films" and a milestone in his development as a director. Allen plays Miles Monroe, cryogenically frozen in 1973 (he went into the hospital for an ulcer operation) and thawed 200 years later. Society has become a sterile, Big Brother-controlled dystopia, and Miles joins the underground resistance--joined by a pampered rich woman (Diane Keaton at her bubbliest). Among the most famous gags are Miles' attempt to impersonate a domestic-servant robot; the Orgasmatron, a futuristic home appliance that provides instant pleasure; a McDonald's sign boasting how many trillions the chain has served; and an inflatable suit that provides the means for a quick getaway. The kooky thawing scenes were later blatantly (and admittedly) ripped off by Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. --Jim Emerson

• Love And Death | Blu Ray | (03/10/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Writer-director Woody Allen's 1975 comedy finds the familiar Allen persona transposed to 19th-century Russia, as a cowardly serf drafted into the war against Napoleon, when all he'd rather do is write poetry and obsess over his beautiful but pretentious cousin (Diane Keaton). A total disaster as a soldier, Allen's cowardice serves him well when he hides in a cannon and is shot into a tent of French soldiers, suddenly making him a national hero. After his cousin agrees to marry him, thinking he'll be killed in a duel he miraculously survives, the couple must hatch a ludicrous plot to assassinate Napoleon in order to keep the coward Allen out of yet another war. Allen and Keaton show what a perfect comic team they make in this film, even predating their most celebrated pairing in Annie Hall. Working so well as the most unlikely of comedies, of all things a hilarious parody of Russian literature, Love and Death is a must-see for fans of Woody Allen films. --Robert Lane

• The Purple Rose Of Cairo | DVD | (11/03/2002) from £11.16   |  Saving you £4.83 (43.28%)   |  RRP £15.99

  I've just met a wonderful new man. He's fictional but you can't have everything." So says Cecilia (Mia Farrow), the central figure in Woody Allen's lyrically humorous Purple Rose of Cairo. The era is the Great Depression, and she is the bullied wife who finds escape in romantic movies, falling in love with the explorer hero, Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), of the eponymous film. So far, nothing remarkable. But Allen has Baxter spot her in the audience, fall in love with her, and desert the picture, much to the irritation of the other characters. The surreal quality of the situation develops further when Gil Shepherd--the actor who played Baxter (Daniels again)--seeks out his fictional alter ego to persuade him back into the film and thus save both their reputations. Naturally Shepherd, too, falls in love with Cecilia, and she's left to choose between fiction and reality, chooses the latter and is then cruelly jilted. The message seems clear: fairytales are just that, make-believe. There's no such thing as a happy ending. Dating from 1985 (after Broadway Danny Rose and immediately before Hannah and her Sisters), this is one of the few movies in which Allen doesn't actually appear, though he's recognisable in every line of Farrow's character. It's also a nostalgic tribute to the era that defined movie glamour, the close-up of Cecilia's face at the end a moment of pure Hollywood. At 81 minutes, this is a small but brilliant gem. On the DVD: Aside from the technological improvement of DVD over video, the new format adds little by way of features: you can view the original trailer, scan the film scene by scene, and there's a choice of subtitles in eight languages.--Harriet Smith

• Husbands And Wives | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Husbands and Wives, another typical Woody Allen exploration of relationships between screwed-up New Yorkers, the drama centres on two married couples who have been close friends for years. When Jack and Sally (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis) announce they're breaking up, it exposes the cracks in the relationship between Gabe and Judy (Allen and Mia Farrow). The shenanigans that result are touching, funny and horribly true to life. Jack finds himself a cliché trophy blonde, Sam--an aerobics instructor--and thinks he's got it made until she expounds the eternal truths of astrology to his friends, humiliating him in the process; Gabe, meanwhile, finds himself increasingly drawn to his precocious student, Rain--beautifully portrayed by Juliette Lewis--while Judy and Sally get involved with the same guy (though not simultaneously), the shy but alluring Michael (Liam Neeson). The touch of genius is to have an off-screen narrator, with whom the main characters share their innermost thoughts, thus drawing the viewer right into the emotional heart of the movie. This is vintage Woody, with gentle but witty observations of human failings. On the DVD: Husbands and Wives is delivered in widescreen with a Dolby Digital soundtrack. The only extra features are trailers for both this and Allen's previous movie, Manhattan Murder Mystery. In addition the audio set-up option is in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and subtitles in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Finnish. --Harriet Smith

• Whatever Works | DVD | (22/11/2010) from £8.93   |  Saving you £7.06 (79.06%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Larry David stars in Woody Allen's latest, bittersweet comedy as a suicidal New Yorker looking for a second chance at life.

• You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger | DVD | (11/07/2011) from £4.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (75.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Follows a pair of married couples, Alfie (Hopkins) and Helena (Jones), and their daughter Sally (Watts) and husband Roy (Brolin), as their passions, ambitions, and anxieties lead them into trouble and out of their minds.

• Annie Hall | Blu Ray | (26/08/2013) from £9.69   |  Saving you £3.30 (34.06%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Annie Hall is one of the truest, most bittersweet romances on film. In it, Allen plays a thinly disguised version of himself: Alvy Singer, a successful--if neurotic--television comedian living in Manhattan. Annie (the wholesomely luminous Dianne Keaton) is a Midwestern transplant who dabbles in photography and sings in small clubs. When the two meet, the sparks are immediate--if repressed. Alone in her apartment for the first time, Alvy and Annie navigate a minefield of self-conscious "is-this-person-someone-I'd-want-to-get-involved-with?" conversation. As they speak, subtitles flash their unspoken thoughts: the likes of "I'm not smart enough for him" and "I sound like a jerk". Despite all their caution, they connect, and we're swept up in the flush of their new romance. Allen's antic sensibility shines here in a series of flashbacks to Alvy's childhood, growing up, quite literally, under a rumbling roller coaster. His boisterous Jewish family's dinner table shares a split screen with the WASP-y Hall's tight-lipped holiday table, one Alvy has joined for the first time. His position as outsider is incontestable when he looks down the table and sizes up Annie's "Grammy Hall" as "a classic Jew-hater".The relationship arcs, as does Annie's growing desire for independence. It quickly becomes clear that the two are on separate tracks, as what was once endearing becomes annoying. Annie Hall embraces Allen's central themes--his love affair with New York (and hatred of Los Angeles), how impossible relationships are, and his fear of death. But their balance is just right, the chemistry between Allen's worry-wart Alvy and Keaton's gangly, loopy Annie is one of the screen's best pairings. It couldn't be more engaging. --Susan Benson

• Manhattan Murder Mystery | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £13.97   |  Saving you £2.01 (18.31%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Carol Lipton is a bored housewife who becomes convinced that her next door neighbour has commited a murder. When her sceptical husband Larry rejects the idea Carol turns to a flirtatious friend to help her search for clues. And as their entusiasm for the case grows so does their interest in each other. Spurred on by jealousy - and by a seductive writer who's also excited by the mystery - Larry reluctantly joins the chase only to learn that much more than his marriage is at stake. A

• Radio Days | Blu Ray | (20/02/2017) from £14.84   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Woody Allen's gentlest and most unassuming movie, Radio Days isn't so much a story as a series of anecdotes loosely linked together by a voice-over spoken by the director. The film is strongly autobiographical in tone, presenting the memories of a young lad Joe (clearly a stand-in for Allen himself) growing up in a working-class Jewish family in the seafront Brooklyn suburb of Rockaway during the late 1930s and early 40s. In this pre-TV era the radio is ubiquitous, a constant accompaniment churning out quiz shows, soap operas, dance music, news flashes and Joe's favourite, the exploits of the Masked Avenger. Given Allen's well-publicised gallery of neuroses, you might expect childhood traumas. But no, everything here is rose-tinted and even the outbreak of war makes little impact on the easygoing, protective tenor of family life. Now and then Allen counterpoints his family album with the doings of the radio folk themselves (blink, and you'll miss a young William H Macy in the studio scene when the news of Pearl Harbour comes through). The rise to fame of Sally (Mia Farrow), a former night-club cigarette girl turned crooner, is the nearest the film comes to a coherent storyline. But most of the time Allen is content to coast on a flow of easy nostalgia, poking affectionate fun at the broadcasting conventions of the period and basking in the mildly rueful Jewish humour and small domestic crises of Joe's extended family. There aren't even any of his snappy one-liners, and the humour is kept low-key, raising at most an indulgent smile. A touch of Allen's usual acerbity wouldn't have come amiss. But for anyone who shares these memories, Radio Days will surely be a delight. On the DVD: Not much besides the theatrical trailer, scene menu and a choice of languages. The screen's the full original ratio, but nothing seems to have been done to enhance the soundtrack, and the dialogue's not always clear. A boost in volume may help.--Philip Kemp

• Cassandra's Dream | DVD | (29/09/2008) from £5.52   |  Saving you £12.47 (225.91%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Woody Allen returns with this dark and brooding drama about two brothers coming to terms with the immoral implications of helping out a family member.

• Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah & Her Sisters) | DVD | (12/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Annie Hall: Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director ""Annie Hall"" is Woody Allen's supreme masterpiece. Coming between such early slapstick farces as ""Sleeper"" and ""Love and Death"" and darker more reflective comedies like ""Manhattan"" and ""Hannah and Her Sisters "" this endearing semi-autobiographical film put Woody in the league with the best directors we have. Starring Allen as New York comedian Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton (in a Best Actress Oscar-winning role) as Annie the film weaves flashbacks flash forwards monologues a parade of classic Allen one-liners and even animation into an alternately uproarious and wistful comedy about a witty and wacky on-again off-again romance. Manhattan: Nominated for two Academy Awards in 1979 and considered one of Allen's most enduring accomplishments Manhattan is a wry touching and finely-rendered portrait of modern relationships against the backdrop of urban alienation. Sumptuously photographed in black and white (Allen's first film in that format) and accompanied by a magnificent Gershwin score Woody Allen's aesthetic triumph is a ""prismatic portrait of a time and place that may be studied decades hence"" (Time Magazine). 42-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates a seventeen-year-old girlfriend (Mariel Hemingway) he doesn't love and a lesbian ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep) who's writing a tell-all book about their marriage... and whom he'd like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend's sexy intellectual mistress Mary (Diane Keaton) Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginning of Isaac's quest for romance and fulfillment in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gate to true love... is a revolving door. Hannah And Her Sisters: Brimming with laughter tears and subtle beauty Hannah And Her Sisters is a magnificent ""summation of (Woody Allen's) career to date"" (The New York Times). Winner of three Oscars and featuring a brilliant all-star cast Hannah And Her Sisters spins a tale of three unforgettable women and showcases Allen ""at his most emotionally expansive working on his broadest canvas with masterly ease"" (Newsweek)! The eldest daughter of show-biz parents Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife loving mother and successful actress. A loyal supporter of her two aimless sisters (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) she's also the emotional backbone of a family that seems to resent her stability almost as much as they depend on it. But when Hannah's perfect world is quietly sabotaged by sibling rivalry she finally begins to see that she's as lost as everyone else and in order to find herself she'll have to choose - between the independence her family can't live with... and the family she can't live without.

• Magic in the Moonlight | Blu Ray | (09/02/2015) from £4.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (400.80%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Set in the 1920s on the opulent Riviera in the south of France Woody Allen’s MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT is a romantic comedy about a master magician (Colin Firth) trying to expose a psychic medium (Emma Stone) as a fake. Chinese conjuror Wei Ling Soo is the most celebrated magician of his age but few know that he is the stage persona of Stanley Crawford (Firth) a grouchy and arrogant Englishman with a sky-high opinion of himself and an aversion to phony spiritualists’ claims that they can perform real magic. Persuaded by his life-long friend Howard Burkan (Simon McBurney) Stanley goes on a mission to the Côte d’Azur mansion of the Catledge family: mother Grace (Jacki Weaver) son Brice (Hamish Linklater) and daughter Caroline (Erica Leerhsen). He presents himself as a businessman named Stanley Taplinger in order to debunk the alluring young clairvoyant Sophie Baker (Stone) who is staying there with her mother (Marcia Gay Harden). Sophie arrived at the Catledge villa at the invitation of Grace who is convinced that Sophie can help her contact her late husband and once there attracted the attention of Brice who has fallen for her head over heels. From his very first meeting with Sophie Stanley dismisses her as an insignificant pip-squeak who he can unmask in no time scoffing at the family’s gullibility. To his great surprise and discomfort however Sophie accomplishes numerous feats of mind-reading and other supernatural deeds that defy all rational explanation leaving him dumbfounded. Before long Stanley confesses to his beloved Aunt Vanessa (Eileen Atkins) that he has begun to wonder whether Sophie’s powers could actually be real. If they were to be true Stanley realizes that anything might be possible even good and his entire belief system would come crashing down. What follows is a series of events that are magical in every sense of the word and send the characters reeling. In the end the biggest trick MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT plays is the one that fools us all.

• What's Up Tiger Lily? | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £23.99   |  Saving you £-21.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  We took a Japanese film made in Japan with Japanese actors and actresses and I took out all the soundtrack and knocked out all the voices and I wrote a comedy. The result is a movie where people are running around doing all these James Bondian things but what's coming out of their mouths is something wholly other. It was done before actually in Gone With the Wind but not many people know that. Those were Japanese people actually and we dubbed in American voices Southern voices. But that was years ago. - Woody Allen

• Shadows And Fog | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  ""Rich! Deliciously eccentric! [A] brazen irrepressible original!"" -The New York Times. ""Lovely! Poignant!"" (The Wall Street Journal) and laugh-out-loud funny Shadows and Fog confirms Woody Allen's ""genius"" with its brilliant portrait of the hopeless - but hilarious - tragicomedy of human existence. Boasting a dazzling ""galaxy of stars"" (Leonard Maltin) including Woody Allen Mia Farrow John Malkovich Madonna Donald Pleasence Lily Tomlin Jodie Foster Kathy Bates John Cusack

• The Woody Allen Collection | DVD | (02/07/2012) from £24.97   |  Saving you £-14.58 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.39

  Annie Hall Considered to be the movie that kick-started Woody Allen's long and inspiring career, Annie Hall won four Oscars including Best Picture and established Allen as the premier auteur filmmaker. Alvy Singer (Allen) is one of Manhattan's most brilliant comedians, but when it comes to romance, his delivery needs a little work. When he falls in love with the ditzy but delightful nightclub singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), his own insecurities sabotage the affair, and Annie is forced to leave Alvy for a new life - and lover (Paul Simon) - in Los Angeles. Knowing he may have lost Annie forever, Alvy's willing to go to any lengths to recapture the only thing that ever mattered... true love. Manhattan Nominated for two Academy Awards, and widely considered as one of the greatest movies ever made, Manhattan is a wry, touching and finely rendered portrait of modern relationships set against the backdrop of urban alienation. Forty-two-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates, a seventeen-year-old girlfriend, Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), he doesn't love, and a lesbian ex-wife, Jill (Meryl Streep), whom he'd like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend's sexy intellectual mistress, Mary (Diane Keaton), Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy, bedding Mary and quitting his job is just the beginning of Isaac's quest for romance in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gateway to true love... is a revolving door. Hannah And Her Sisters Hannah and Her Sisters spins a tale of three unforgettable women and showcases Woody Allen with his most emotionally charged film to date. The eldest daughter of show-biz parents, Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife, loving mother and successful actress. A loyal supporter of her two aimless sisters Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest), she's also the emotional backbone of a family that seems to resent her stability almost as much as they depend on it. But when Hannah's world is sabotaged by sibling rivalry, she finally begins to see that she's as lost as everyone else, and in order to find herself, she'll have to choose - between the independence her family can't live with... and the family she can't live without. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* But Were Afraid To Ask Woody Allen pushes the frontiers of comedy by consolidating his madcap sensibility and wickedly funny irreverence with his developing penchant for visually arresting humour. Giving complete indulgence to the zany eccentricity of his medium, Allen reveals himself as a filmmaker of true wit and sophistication. Allen rises to the occasion with aphrodisiacs that prove effective for a court jester (Allen) who finds the key to the Queen's (Lynn Redgrave) heart. Unnatural acts get wild and woolly when a good doctor (Gene Wilder) falls for a fickle sheep. Jack Barry gives fetishism 20 questions on a wacky TV show called What's My Perversion? Sex research goes under the microscope when a mad scientist (John Carradine) unleashes a marauding breast. And the absurdity comes to a frenzied climax with Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds and Allen as sperm... having second thoughts about ejaculation!

• Bullets Over Broadway | DVD | (07/07/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Set in 1920's New York City, this movie tells the story of idealistic young playwright David Shayne. Producer Julian Marx finally finds funding for the project from gangster Nick Valenti. The catch is that Nick's girl friend Olive Neal gets the part of a psychiatrist, and Olive is a bimbo who could never pass for a psychiatrist as well as being a dreadful actress. Agreeing to this first compromise is the first step to Broadway's complete seduction of David, who neglects longtime girl friend E.

• Hannah And Her Sisters | Blu Ray | (20/02/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  One of Woody Allen's best-loved films, this won three richly deserved Oscars* (for Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest and the screenplay), and is a joy from start to perfectly judged finish. Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife, loving mother and successful actress. She's also the emotional backbone of the family, and her sisters Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) depend on this stability while also resenting it because they can't help but compare Hannah's seemingly perfect life with theirs. But with her husband Elliot (Michael Caine) becoming increasingly interested in Lee, it's clear that Hannah might have problems of her own. An unusually strong supporting cast includes Allen himself as Hannah's existentially conflicted ex-husband and Max von Sydow as a perfectionist artist, but it's Caine who practically steals the film as a middle-aged man behaving like a lovesick teenager. It also has some of Allen's greatest one-liners, with a philosophical discussion about the nature of good and evil getting shot down with How should I know why there were Nazis? I don't even know how the can opener works.

• Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask | DVD | (10/07/2000) from £7.79   |  Saving you £8.20 (105.26%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A collection of vignettes, loosely based on the book by Dr. David Rueben, written and directed by Woody Allen, Everything contains some very funny moments. It's easy to forget that the cerebral Allen excelled at the type of broad, Catskill, dirty jokes and visual gags that run amok here. It's also remarkable how dirty this 1972 movie really was--bestiality, exposure, perversion and S&M get their moments to shine. The Woody Allen here, who appears in many of the sketches, is a portent of the seedy old Allen of Deconstructing Harry. Although the final bit, which takes place inside a man's body during a very hot date, is hilarious, most of Everything feels like the screen adaptation of a 70's bathroom joke book. Still, a must for Allen fans. --Keith Simanton

• Annie Hall | DVD | (03/03/2014) from £10.55   |  Saving you £-0.56 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Woody Allen directs, co-writes and stars in this Oscar-winning romantic comedy. Neurotic comedian Alvy Singer (Allen) falls for the titular heroine (Diane Keaton), a budding singer, and the two of them attempt to build a solid relationship. They face problems, however, which include their opposing feelings towards California and their own mutual paranoia. Realising their differences stand in the way of a lasting relationship, they split up. It is not long before Alvy wants Annie back but she ...

• Sweet and Lowdown | DVD | (07/07/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A comedic biopic focused on the life of fictional jazz guitarist Emmett Ray. Ray was an irresponsible, free-spending, arrogant, obnoxious, alcohol-abusing, miserable human being, who was also arguably the best guitarist in the world. We follow Ray's life: bouts of getting drunk, his bizzare hobbies of shooting rats and watching passing trains, his dreams of fame and fortune, his strange obsession with the better-known guitarist Django Reinhardt, and of course, playing his beautiful music.