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JUST WILLIAM - THE COMPLETE FIRST SERIES NETWORK
 The writer Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born in Bury, Lancashire, in 1890, and is best known for her books of stories about the irrepressible William Brown, a mischievous 11-year-old schoolboy, his dog Jumble and his friends Ginger, Henry and Douglas - collectively called the Outlaws. Crompton’s first published short story featuring William was ‘Rice Mould’, which appeared in Home Magazine in 1919. The first collection, titled Just William and memorably illustrated by Thomas Henry, came out in 1922 and the author went on to write 38 more. The last one - William the Lawless - was published posthumously a year after her death in 1969. The wonderfully funny and beautifully written William books remain extremely popular and have sold over twelve million copies in the UK alone as well as being translated into many languages around the world. They have also been adapted for films and plays as well as for radio and television. The most popular television version of Richmal Crompton’s high-spirited tearaway was this Sunday series from LWT (1977-78). Scruffy, crafty but utterly likeable, William lives his life as an endless series of adventures. He cannot help but be wholly engaging despite his mischief and escapades. His liveliness is made all the more compelling set against the stultifying, self-satisfied dullness of his middle-England family - his banker father, terribly reasonable mother, desperately inspirational older sister Ethel and pompous ladies’ man brother Robert. The series features Adrian Dannatt as the eponymous William - fearless, ingenious and the bane of parents everywhere. The only one that would dull the spring in William’s steps is Violet Elizabeth Bott, the ghastly daughter of the nouveau riche family Mr. and Mrs. Bott, who has a fail-safe master plan for whenever William should fail to give in to her demands. Bonnie Langford plays the appalling Violet Elizabeth and featured guest stars include Diana Dors (an exuberant Mrs. Bott), Julian Fellowes and Ronald Lacey.
BIGGA THAN BEN HIGH FLIERS HFR00371
 Based on the best-selling diaries of Pavel Tetersky and Sergei Sakin, two self confessed ‘pieces of Moscow scum’, this dark comedy is the tale of two wayward young Russian immigrants who come to London to make an easy fortune. Finding themselves drawn into a shadowy underworld of backstreet drug deals and seedy nightclubs packed with refugees and nymphomaniacs, life begins to turn sour and the highs begin to fade. While Spiker (Ben Barnes) misses his girlfriend and seeks consolation in drugs, slipping into serious addiction, Cobakka (Russian heartthrob Andrei Chadov) is forced into making some life changing decisions. Bigga Than Ben also features the debut by the latest of the Fiennes dynasty, Hero Tiffin-Fiennes. This breezy, low-budget black satire on life as an outsider in a harsh, unforgiving, yet fascinating metropolis was written and directed by Suzie Halewood, with a spiky music score by Pete Doherty and Joe Strummer. The film was a hit in Russia, where it premiered to a sell out audience at the Moscow Film Festival Gala, taking $500,000 at the Russian box office. Bigga Than Ben also features the debut performance by the latest of the Fiennes dynasty, Hero Tiffin-Fiennes. This funny, fast-paced film takes an ultimately compassionate look at what it takes to survive as an outsider in a harsh, unforgiving, yet fascinating metropolis. Special features include a documentary on the making of Bigga Than Ben.
BELLE DE JOUR / BELLE TOUJOURS - BUNUEL ICA FILMS
 Spanish director Luis Buñuel’s masterpiece, Belle de Jour, is a revealing and personal exploration of eroticism and deviance. The beautiful Catherine Deneuve plays Severine, a beautiful young woman married to Pierre, a handsome surgeon. She loves her husband but is unable to be physically intimate with him so indulges instead in erotic fantasies to satisfy her sexual desires, eventually becoming a prostitute and working part-time in a brothel, where she is christened Belle de jour, while remaining chaste in her marriage. This surrealistic exercise in ambiguity, fantasy and reality has a famously mysterious ending that has had critics arguing for decades over its meaning. Much admired by Alfred Hitchcock, the film was Buñuel’s first in colour. It was awarded the Golden Lion at the 1967 Venice Film Festival, as well as the award for Best Foreign Film in 1968 from the New York Film Critics Circle, but was not seen for many years due to copyright problems until finally re-released in 1995 through the efforts of director Martin Scorcese. In celebration of its 40th anniversary ICA Films is releasing this original French classic as well as Portuguese centenarian director Manoel de Oliveira’s follow up tribute, Belle Toujours, which revisits the original Belle De Jour characters forty years later. At a concert Séverine is spotted by a man from her past, Henri (Michel Piccoli), who holds the key to long-hidden secrets. He is fuelled by ego and a sadistic desire for revenge; she by fear, uncertainty and desire unrealised. Can their meeting lead to the truth and salvation for both of them? Currently the oldest active film director, Manoel de Oliveira has produced a shrewdly observed, worldly and sometimes wickedly funny film, with excellent performances by Piccoli as roguish Henri and Bulle Ogier as the aging Severine. Luis Buñuel had an epic and groundbreaking career and was devastating in his critique of society, its hypocrisy and morals. The conflict between the most caring love and the implacable demands of desire is exposed and left raw in these two intriguing films.
THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES NETWORK
 The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is an anthology series made by Thames television and based on the collected works of former BBC Director General Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, though Greene had no hand in the production of the series. The stories are prefaced with this explanation: ‘During the years 1891 to 1914, when the Sherlock Holmes series were serialised in ‘Strand Magazine’, Conan Doyle’s hero was not the only detective operating in London, he had rivals..." Each one hour programme presented an adaptation of a short mystery, suspense or crime story featuring detectives who were literary contemporaries of the great Sherlock Holmes. The foggy, gas lit streets of the Victorian world are brought to atmospheric life in these satisfying adaptations of works by authors such as R. Austin Freeman (forensic detective Doctor Thorndyke discovers a vital clue when a girl is found with her throat cut), Arthur Morrison (Horace Dorrington, crooked private detective played with rascally relish by Peter Vaughan, investigates The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle and Tyre Company Limited), Guy Boothby (‘gentleman thief’ Simon Carne devises an ingenious scheme to obtain The Duchess of Wiltshire’s Diamonds) and Max Pemberton (professional jeweller Bernard Sutton is called in when London society is outraged by a spate of daring robberies). The BAFTA-winning series is intelligently written and attracted a top class array of acting talent, including John Neville, Robert Stephens, Roy Dotrice, Donald Pleasence, Ronald Hines, Peter Barkworth and Donald Sinden. This superb 4-DVD set contains all 13 episodes from the first series.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST NETWORK
 This classic 1952 film is Anthony Asquith’s perfect adaptation of the Oscar Wilde masterpiece - ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People’ - that gave the words ‘Bunbury’ and ‘handbag’ unique resonance. The story follows the fortunes of two lovestruck bachelors: the wealthy and eligible Jack Worthing (Michael Redgrave) and Algernon Moncrieff (Michael Denison). Jack is romantically involved with Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax (the delicious Joan Greenwood), while Jack’s ward, Cecily Cardew (Dorothy Tutin), is the object of Algernon’s affections. However, Jack’s unworthy habit of representing himself as his imaginary brother, Ernest, and Algernon’s deceitful adoption of Ernest’s name and reputation to simplify his courtship has led each girl to believe herself to be engaged to the non-existent Ernest. A simple solution occurs to Gwendolen and Cecily - but neither reckons with the forceful Lady Bracknell (the incomparable Dame Edith Evans), Gwendolen’s mother and Algernon’s aunt. It is left to Miss Prism (Margaret Rutherford), whose secret passion for the Reverend Dr. Chasuble (Miles Malleson) causes so much enjoyable confusion, to create a way out that is acceptable to all parties. Special Features include a profile of The Importance of Being Earnest, a photo gallery and the original gala premiere programme. Network is also releasing another classic adaptation of one of Oscar Wilde’s most famous and best loved plays, AN IDEAL HUSBAND. Hugh Williams is Sir Robert Chiltern, a prospective Cabinet minister who discovers that his career may be in jeopardy due to the surprising and unwelcome appearance of adventuress Mrs. Cheveley (Paulette Goddard). She attempts to enlist Sir Robert’s help in a shady Argentinean canal scheme. Her methods turn to blackmailing as Sir Robert indignantly refuses. Now the race is on for Sir Robert to come up with a solution to this dilemma as he cannot allow Mrs. Cheveley to reveal his secret past dealings. Directed by Sir Alexander Korda, the film has a star-studded cast, costumes designed by the legendary Cecil Beaton and glorious Technicolor.
MILK - GUS VAN SANT MOMENTUM
 Sean Penn stars in this inspiring story of California’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, a San Francisco supervisor who who broke barriers by becoming the first openly gay man to win an election for public office in America. Shot on location in San Francisco, this biopic from acclaimed director Gus Van Sant also stars Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna and James Franco. Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this powerful and inspiring film traces Milk’s career from his 40th birthday to his death in 1978. He opens the Castro Camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco’s gay community and organises gays’ purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office and has a continuing struggle with his fellow supervisor, Dan White, a Vietnam veteran and staunch social conservative. It’s a powerful and moving story about a man who forged coalitions across the political spectrum, from senior citizens to union workers. Harvey Milk changed the nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death, a hero for all. Sean Penn won an Oscar for his passionate performance and Dustin Lance Black earned another for his excellent screenplay. The film received six other nominations, including best supporting actor for Brolin as the increasingly unstable Dan White.
THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES - SERIES 4 ACORN AV9704
 This highly enjoyable BBC series features characters created by American author, Elizabeth George - Detective Inspector Thomas ‘Tommy’ Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton, and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. In between solving murder cases the two seemingly mismatched London detectives find time to bicker about the conflicts arising from clashes of personality, gender and class (Havers comes from a working-class background). Both naturally have troubled home lives but are dedicated to their jobs. This fourth series features four episodes: In Divine Proportion (on Havers’ first day back at work she and Lynley find themselves in a Suffolk village, where a young woman has been brutally murdered with a shot gun), In the Guise of Death (the detectives go to Cornwall and find a barn containing an apparent suicide and a lot of money), The Seed of Cunning (a doorkeeper at the House of Lords has been murdered amid the murky world of politics, lobbyists and arms dealing) and Word of God (the body of a man has been found frozen on a meat truck carrying a British passport and a valuable page from an ancient Koran). This is an old-fashioned, ingeniously plotted and amusingly anachronistic series of detective stories that improves on the original novels. The characters develop nicely and there is real chemistry between handsome Nathaniel Parker as the Bristol-driving toff detective and Sharon Small as his feisty sergeant. Extras include cast filmographies and subtitles.
FRED DIBNAH’S RAILWAY & STEAM COLLECTION ACORN AV9928
 Bolton-born Fred Dibnah was an English steeplejack, engineer and eccentric who became a television personality, a cult figure and, ultimately, a national institution. He was a great steam fan and owned a vintage traction engine as well as steam roller called Betsy. He first became known to the public in 1979 when the BBC broadcast a documentary featuring him at work, both repairing and demolishing chimneys. His rough-hewn Lancastrian manner and ever-present flat cap were an instant hit and he went on to write and present many television series, mostly concerned with the Industrial Revolution and its mechanical and architectural legacy. This superb six DVD set brings together the great enthusiast’s Railway Collection and Steam Collection, with exclusive, previously unseen footage shot for the BBC’s popular series Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age, Fred Dibnah’s Victorian Heroes, Fred Dibnah’s Age of Steam and Fred Dibnah’s Made in Britain. Dibnah endeared him to the British public and it’s a pleasure to share again his infectious passion for all things rail and steam. The collection includes The Story of Britain’s Railways; Great Little Steam Railways; Made in Britain: Railway Yards and Workshops; The Story of the Traction Engine; Britain’s Biggest Engines; and On the Road with Fred. Our hero travels the length and breadth of the country in search of the finest examples of anything and everything powered by steam - never missing an opportunity to pull a lever, open a valve and let off steam!
TRAINSPOTTING - SPECIAL EDITION 4DVD F4BD50007
 ‘Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family... But why would I want to do a thing like that?’ Trainspotting is a ground-breaking film that captured the minds of a generation. Directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and based on the of the same name novel by Irvine Welsh, this cult British film charts the drug-fuelled disintegration of a group of friends in economically-depressed Edinburgh during the early 90s. The film focuses on Renton who has chosen to live a blissful, pointless life in a heroin induced daze. We’re introduced to Renton’s friends - Sick Boy, Spud, clean-living Tommy and Begbie, a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies yet drinks like a fish. After a few attempts at getting clean, Renton kicks heroin and moves to London, where he starts to get his life on track, until his old friends turn up. Starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle and Kelly Macdonald, this critically acclaimed film is here released for the first time on Blu-Ray Collector’s Edition. Two hours of bonus materials include a specially filmed feature, ‘Memories of Trainspotting’, deleted scenes, interviews, trailers and  commentaries. The film is also released on DVD, with ‘Memories of Trainspotting’ as the sole special feature. SHALLOW GRAVE (4DVD F4BD50006) is another new Special Edition Blu-ray release, featuring the award-winning 1994 British crime thriller that was Danny Boyle’s directorial debut. This savagely entertaining neo-film noir sees three cocksure twenty-somethings sharing a flat in Edinburgh. The journalist (Ewan McGregor), accountant (Christopher Eccleston), and doctor (Kerry Fox) get more than they bargained for when they rent their spare room to a mysterious lodger named Hugo (Keith Allen). When Hugo dies of a drug overdose, the group discovers he has left a mysterious legacy in the form of a suitcase full of cash, which they decide to keep. The three friends then draw straws to choose who is going to dismember the corpse... On both the Blu-Ray and DVD releases there is a documentary ‘Digging Your Own Grave’, directed by Kevin Macdonald (brother of producer Andrew), and an insightful commentary by Danny Boyle. Brilliantly combining gallows humour and shocking violence, Shallow Grave has been much imitated since its release in 1995. This and Trainspotting are two of the most influential and imaginative British films and they both look terrific in these new releases.
EVERGREEN NETWORK
 The enchanting Jessie Matthews was an actress, dancer and singer who was a huge star on the stage in films during the 1930s. She was born to a huge, poor family in Soho, London, in 1907, and made her film debut in 1923 in the silent film The Beloved Vagabond. After appearing in a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, she developed a following in the USA, where she was called ‘The Dancing Divinity. She received many offers to work in Hollywood, including the chance a film with Fred Astaire, but her British studio refused to let her go. She took the lead role the 1932 stage production of Ever Green, a musical by Rodgers and Hart that was partly inspired by the life of music hall star Marie Lloyd and was at the time the most expensive musical ever produced in London. This funny 1934 film adaptation featured the newly composed song Over My Shoulder which was to go on to become Matthews’ personal theme song and provide the title to her autobiography. In this enduring classic, Matthews gives her finest performance as the successful, wildly popular Edwardian music hall star Harriet Green. The plot is wonderfully bizarre, involving an illegitimate daughter, a non-existent son, blackmail, and a manic producer (played by Matthews’ husband, Sonny Hale). All of which is essentially an excuse to hear the great Rodgers & Hart songs and enjoy the choreography by black American dancer Buddy Bradley, who also worked with Astaire and Busby Berkeley. Jessie Matthews’ amazing life was blighted by ill-health and fraught relationships, and though she found post-war fame again as Mrs Dale she was buried in an unmarked grave. The talents of this most effervescent of stars has been cruelly neglected so this new release of her best film is long overdue. Network is also releasing Matthews’ first Gainsborough comedy, the delightful THERE GOES THE BRIDE, as well as two more British classics - the BAFTA nominated CARRINGTON VC starring David Niven and Margaret Leighton and directed by Anthony Asquith, and the entrancing MOONLIGHT SONATA featuring concert pianist and Polish prime minister Ignace Jan Paderewski.
A TOUCH OF CLASS ARROW FILMS FCD392
 George Segal plays a brash married insurance executive Steve Blackburn, who can’t seem to avoid bumping into divorced fashion designer Vicki Allessio (Glenda Jackson) wherever he goes in London. Finally bowing to the inevitable, Steve and Vicki have the perfect love affair, until that is they fall in love. He suggests a romantic rendezvous in Spain but of course absolutely nothing goes as planned. A brilliant comedy of errors, A Touch of Class was nominated for four Academy Awards, and earned Glenda Jackson her second one for Best Actress. She remains the only British Member of Parliament ever to win an Oscar. A Touch of Class was written and directed by Hollywood veteran Melvin Frank. He saw Glenda Jackson playing Cleopatra in a comedy sketch on the Morecambe and Wise Show, recognised her comedic potential and offered her the lead role in this sparkling 1970s film. Eric and Ernie later sent her a telegram saying: ‘Stick with us kid, and we’ll get you a third Oscar!’. The classy Glenda Jackson looks beautifully feline and delivers the snappy dialogue with great panache. Beneath all the hilarity, Jackson and Segal also suggest the sadness inherent in their infidelity (they even watch Brief Encounter on television in their love nest). ‘George Segal herein justifies superbly a reputation for comedy while Glenda Jackson’s full-spectrum talent is again confirmed’ - Variety.
DEAR DIARY ARROW FILMS FCD381
 Nani Moretti’s best known films are Caro Diario (Dear Diary, made in 1993) and La stanza del figlio (The Son’s Room), which won the 2001 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Born in Bruneck but resident for his whole life in Rome, Moretti has been called ‘the Italian Woody Allen’ for directing wryly humorous and eccentric films, usually starring himself. Caro diario is a semi-autobiographical film in the style of a documentary, with Moretti taking a typically droll look at life. In the first of three episodes Moretti rides a Vespa through a half-deserted Rome as shots of beautiful architecture and monuments accompany his thoughts about Hollywood, the banality of Italian cinema, Jennifer Beals, Pier Paolo and much else. The second episode sees him cruising among the remote Aeolian Islands and visiting a friend in search of peace to finish his new film. Together they travel to the island of Stromboli, but have to deal with a megalomaniac mayor who wants to involve them in the most peculiar projects. In the final episode Moretti has to deal with the difficult diagnosis of a baffling illness, which affected him in real life and has symptoms of persistent itching and insomnia. Various medical experts make many bizarre and misguided suggestions, leading Moretti to condemn these ‘deaf’ doctors with a bitter and sarcastic brindisi alla salute. This is a highly original and entertaining film that combines wit, Verdi, football and the film Flashdance to create an enjoyable satire on Italian culture. Highly recommended.
CSI:MIAMI SEASON SIX, PART ONE MOMENTUM MP870D
 This American crime series is a spin-off of the hugely popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. CSI: Miami (Crime Scene Investigation: Miami) follows the investigations of a team of Miami-Dade cutting-edge forensic scientists as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious deaths and other crimes, including rape and kidnapping. First broadcast in 2002, this fast-paced crime series places more emphasis on police work than science - sharing its parent show’s penchant for grisly re-enactments - and boasts a flashier cinematographic style that befits its tropical locale. Season Six continues to uphold the CSI tradition of exciting, compelling and topical storytelling. During the first part of Season Six, the splendidly named former homicide detective Horatio ‘H’ Caine (David Caruso) finds out that he has an unknown son - a teenager who is arrested and jailed during the murder investigation of his probation officer. With the boy behind bars, Horatio’s criminal enemies attempt to use the him to bring Caine to his knees. Horatio’s ex-wife and Kyle’s mother (Elizabeth Berkley) resurfaces as a billionaire widow who will stop at nothing to get custody of her son. The action continues with the death of a man who is killed due to a fake 911 call, in which Horatio must face-off against a private investigator who is systematically destroying the team. A rare and illegal machine gun ‘vaporizes’ three weapons’ smugglers and the CSIs must find the killer before the gun causes more deaths; also the team hunt a vigilante who starts killing off internet predators one-by-one, whilst in another episode a wedding murder ends up leading the crew to a strip club. This three-DVD set features the first 12 episodes from the sixth series, with the moody Horatio assisted by Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter), a bilingual Southern beauty who specialises in ballistics, and Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez), an underwater recovery expert and Alexx Woods (Khandi Alexander), the no-nonsense coroner. Extras include several documentaries as well as commentaries. This may not be the most realistic police drama on television but it’s pacey, glamorous and has a great soundtrack by the likes of The Who, Sigur Rós and The Hives. ‘At CSI Miami We Never Close.’
RUNNING ON EMPTY BRITFILMS BFDVD1010
 Fox (Richard Moir) is a young man who likes to live dangerously and is one of the fastest street racers on the back streets of Sydney, Australia, in the early 1980s. His world is turned upside down by his latest challenge from factory worker Mike (appealingly played by Terry Serio), which could not only lose him his girl Julie (Deborah Conway) but also his life. The illegal street racers of down town Sydney don’t turn back, they don’t give in and they can never ask for help. The film features an impressive array of muscle cars such as the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III, Dodge Charger and an awesome ’57 Chevy, plus a multitude of other rare classics going at break neck speeds. The action scenes are staged with panache and there is a memorable performance by Max Cullen as a blind, 1950s obsessed driver/mechanic. Laconically scripted by Barry Tomblim, Running on Empty has a moody synthesizer score by Peter Crosbie and fine cinematography by David Gribble. This key film from the ‘Oz-ploitation’ era featured in the documentary ‘Not Quite Hollywood’ and Quentin Tarantino is said to be a fan. With others from this generation the film provided him with inspiration for his own work. Twenty years before The Fast and The Furious, director John Clark’s film truly encapsulates what it means to be a teenager on the streets of Sydney with a hot car and an even hotter girl. Perfect entertainment for anyone who loves the rev of the engines and the smell of burning rubber on a hot summer’s night. This Australian cult classic, released on DVD for the first time in the UK, was voted runner-up in Street Machines best hundred films, narrowly missing out to Mad Max 2, which had over ten times the budget. ‘Rebel Without a Cause meets Mad Max’ - Cinephilia.
AMERICAN DAD, VOL. 4 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
 Satirical animated American comedy has been going through a golden age in recent years, with series such as Family Guy, South Park, King of the Hill and the all-conquering Simpsons. American Dad! is one of the sharpest and funniest, created by Emmy Award-winning Seth MacFarlane and two other former Family Guy writers, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman. The series follows the outlandish misadventures of proud CIA agent Stan Smith as strives to protect his beloved America from harm. He also has to cope with a wacky family - his loyal but not-too-smart wife Francine, liberal 18-year-old hippie daughter Hayley, geeky 14-year-old son Steve, the selfish, sarcastic and alcoholic space alien Roger, and Klaus, a lascivious, attention-starved German speaking goldfish! This fourth season of American Dad sees this unlikely bunch of personalities try to find a way to love and trust each other during increasingly unpredictable times. Stand-out plots include Roger thinking that someone has stolen his identity after stealing his credit card and maxing it out, Steve plotting revenge against all of the popular girls at school who torment nerds and losers, and Stan suffering with depression and going on holiday back to Camp Refugee for three weeks. Special features with this three DVD set include an audio commentary for all of the episodes, deleted scenes, and two featurettes. The show’s brilliant political and social commentary makes fun of liberals and republicans alike and includes some of the wittiest, laugh out loud lines in television history.
THE PROMISE MOMENTUM
 From the award-winning director of Farewell My Concubine and the creative forces involved in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix comes this spectacular new legend in martial arts lore - an epic tale of a destiny foretold and of battles fought. The Promise, originally called Wú jí, is most expensive film in Chinese cinema history, so director Kaige Chen had free rein to create his stunning visuals, including many amazing gravity defying feats and exciting action sequences. Based on the wuxia romance written by P’ei Hsing at the time of the Tang Dynasty, the film stars South Korean Dong-Kun Jang as Kunlun, Japanese superstar Hiroyuki Sanada as The General of the Crimson Armour, beautiful Cecilia Cheung as Princess Qingcheng, Nicholas Tse as Wuhuan, Hong Chen as the ethereal Goddess Manshen and Ye Liu as the world’s fastest assassin Snow Wolf. Renowned Japanese CGI artist Masago Kimiya worked with Oscar-winning art director Tim Yip to evoke this world of Asian magic and wonders, with stunning cinematography by Peter Pau, Klaus Badelt music and choreography by Tung Wai and Dion Lam. A slave who can outrun stampeding bulls, battling warriors who fly through treetops, a beautiful princess torn between destiny and desire, and awe-inspiring martial arts all intertwine in this magical fairytale about love, death, time, freedom, betrayal, loyalty and the choices we make. This feast for the eyes is available on Blu-ray and DVD, and special features include a behind the scenes documentary, interviews with the director, cast and crew, trailers and a stills gallery.
L O S T AND F O U N D CONTENDER CTD10650
 Inspired by the best-selling picture book by Oliver Jeffers, this animated film tells the story of a young boy and his unlikely friendship with a penguin. Beautiful animation, an excellent score by Max Richter and narration by the great Jim Broadbent brings the enchanting story to life. When the boy finds a sad-looking penguin on his door step one day, an adventure begins. Believing the penguin must be lost, the boy tries to return him to the local lost and found office. As the search begins the boy is out of luck, no one seems to be missing a penguin. So he decides to take matters into his own hands and they set out in his row boat on a journey to the South Pole. But when they get there, the boy discovers that maybe home wasn’t what the penguin was looking for after all. First shown on Channel 4 last Christmas and now available for the first time on DVD, Lost and Found is likely to prove an enduring classic in the mould of The Snowman, though one that can be enjoyed all year round. Director Philip Hunt delivers a captivating family entertainment, with marvelously well-observed animation from the BAFTA-winning Studio AKA. The DVD also includes a half hour behind the scenes documentary charting the making of the film. This a funny, heart warming story about friendship which reminds us that what’s in front of you is sometimes all that you need.
COLUMBUS DAY DNC ENTERTAINMENT
 In this gripping thriller by first time writer/director, Charles Burmeister, Val Kilmer plays a man involved in a frantic chase as he tries to fix the damage done by his latest crime. Simultaneously, he also attempts to repair his relationship with his ex wife (Marg Helgenberger) and save his own life, all in the course of a single morning. John Cologne (Kilmer) is a thief who has pulled off the biggest heist of his life and is racing to get rid of the merchandise before he heads off to Miami to retire. Before he can leave he has to offload the mysterious briefcase to the same gangster he stole it from without being killed in the process. He’s in a race against the clock to make all the money he would ever need in his life, and at the same time stay alive. As leader of the critically acclaimed cast of Columbus Day, Kilmer takes the viewer on a tense and urgently brutal ride. Look out for Bobb’e J. Thompson’s memorable performance as a precocious African American boy who befriends John as they hide out in Echo Park, Los Angeles.
ESCAPE FROM HUANG SHI MOMENTUM MP952D
 This dramatic, war-torn epic tells a brutal and compelling story inspired by true events that took place during the Second World War. In 1937 George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a young British journalist travels to war ravaged China in search of the frontline and a big story. When the Japanese invade and massacre hundreds of innocent men, women and children in front of him, Hogg, barely escapes with his life. This courageous young journalist then risks everything to lead sixty children, orphaned and traumatised by the war, on an extraordinary 700 miles journey across the snow-bound Liu Pan Shan mountains and treacherous terrain of the Silk Road, fending off air and ground attacks by the Japanese invaders and Chinese Nationalist Movement. Hogg is thrown together with American nurse Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell) and Chen Hansheng, the leader of a Chinese partisan group (Chow Yun Fat) who meet in desperate and unexpected circumstances. The film is a passion project of director Roger Spottiswoode and the film’s creative team was assembled from around the world, including the Chinese director of photography Zhao Xiaoding, production designer Steven Jones, art director Huang Xinming and Australian costume designer Kym Barrett. Roger Spottiswoode began his career as an editor in the early 1970s, working with legendary director Sam Peckinpah on Straw Dogs and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Escape From Huang Shi was filmed in Australia and China, including some of the most famous national monuments and hauntingly beautiful locations around Dunhuang, not far from the Western end of The Great Wall. Dunhuang is close to the historic junction of the Northern and Southern Silk Roads and to where the actual orphanage was built that inspired the film’s story. Often referred to as an ‘oasis’, this most spectacular part of the Gobi desert is famous for its majestic sand dunes and unique rock formations known as the ‘Yadan’. This is a powerful, emotional story made even more touching by first hand memories from some of the surviving children at the end. credits are , now advanced in age but remarkably lucid. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is excellent as the real life hero, searching fro truth and gamely speaking in heavily-accented Mandarin for half the film. Good support comes from Yun-Fat Chow and the beautiful Michelle Yeoh, who plays a wealthy noblewoman-turned-merchant, Mrs Wang.
FRED DIBNAH’S INDUSTRIAL COLLECTION ACORN AV9723
 This three-DVD collection features five hours of previously unseen footage shot for the BBC as the great enthusiast explores Britain’s heritage, reminding us of the industrial genius that made this nation ‘the workshop of the world.’ THE INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE is a journey around the industrial Britain of yesterday, taking in Armley Mills in Leeds, North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish, Coldharbour Mill in Devon, Etruria Industrial Museum, Helmshore Textile Museum, Hook Norton Brewery, Quarry Bank Mill, Queen Street Mill in Burnley, Tees Cottage Pumping Station, Wetheriggs Country Pottery and Wigan Pier. RICHES BENEATH THE EARTH was filmed on location at Big Pit National Mining Museum, Geevor Tin Mine, Llechwedd Slate Caverns, National Coal Mining Museum, North of England Lead Mining Museum, Scottish Mining Museum, Welsh Slate Museum and Wet Earth Colliery. In IRON AND STEEL, Fred Dibnah visits Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, often described as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, as well as a modern forge in Sheffield, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, Finch Foundry in Devon and Workington Steel Works. This is a fine tribute to an endearing character who became a hugely popular television personality because of his infectious enthusiasm, knowledge and unique view on life.
BRITISH RAILWAYS: THE EARLY YEARS 1948-1961 NETWORK
 The British railway system developed during the 19th century and by 1923 four large railway companies dominated: the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). On 1 January 1948, as part of its policy to nationalise public services, Clement Attlee’s Labour Government established British Railways to take over the assets of the Big Four. This double DVD set from Network and Strike Force Entertainment provides fascinating and detailed insights into those early years, starting in the late 1940s when as a result of the Second World War the rail companies struggled to repair of tracks and engines. By the mid-fifties, steam engines were being replaced with diesel and electric power in a rail revolution. Colin Divall, Head of the Institute of Railway Studies at the National Railway Museum, takes us on a journey through these tumultuous years, supplemented with period newsreels and interviews with railway men, enthusiasts and historians. The DVD also covers topics such as the formation of the British Transport Commission and the first generation diesel electric locomotives. There are many evocative sights and sounds of engines in glorious action, including the A4 Pacific Class, the standard Britannia class, the Deltic prototype and the Blue Pullman. In spite of all the investment, railway finances continued to worsen, until operating losses were widespread. Industrialist Dr Richard Beeching became Chairman of the British Railways Board in 1961 and used the results of a traffic census - lasting only one week - to drastically reshape of the network. The infamous ‘Beeching Axe’ cut a third of all passenger services and closed more than 4000 stations. BRITISH RAILWAYS: BEECHING AND BEYOND 1962-1984 tells the story of ‘the grim reaper of the railway’ and shows how his controversial policies led to Britain’s rail network today. The documentary guides is a definitive history of the network’s modernisation and the impact Beeching had. He not only reinvented the structure of rail transport in the UK, he was also the creator of the Inter-City network and the freight transport structure still in use today. This invaluable double DVD again features Colin Divall as well as period newsreels, interviews and archive film footage, bringing these revolutionary moments in British transport history back to life. Locomotives featured include 4472 Flying Scotsman, the HS4000 Kestrel experimental loco, the Advanced Passenger Train and the High Speed Train. These detailed documentaries tell a fascinating story that will appeal not just to rail buffs but also to anyone interested in British social history.
SHAKESPEARE’S ‘TWELFTH NIGHT’ NETWORK
 William Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy Twelfth Night, Or What You Will, was first performed 1602 but not published until the First Folio in 1623, seven years after the playwright’s death. The title suggests the mind games played out in the script as well as the darkness and loss of innocence. On the Twelfth Night of Christmas, the traditional festivities consist of drink, dance, and giving in to general self-indulgence as the author skillfully weaves a story of deception, disguise and frustrated love. The subtitle implies that the audience is interested in being provoked by the sexuality and merry spirit found in the play, which focuses on the aristocrats of society who are entitled to their pleasures while the only hard work being done is by the pompous and puritanical steward, Malvolio and the wise fool, Feste. Men dress as women, servants dress as their masters, and authority is usurped. The Vitagraph Studios released the silent short adaptation of Twelfth Night in 1910 and there have been many other versions since, including this 1969 television production directed for ITC by the critically acclaimed John Sichel. The illustrious cast features Joan Plowright as Viola, the shipwrecked young noblewoman, Alec Guinness as the vain Malvolio, Ralph Richardson as drunken Sir Toby Belch and Tommy Steele as an unusually prominent Feste. Network has also released two classic comedy series: PARDON THE EXPRESSION follows the mixed fortunes of former Coronation Street boutique owner Leonard Swindley (the great Arthur Lowe) in his new position as assistant manager at a Dobson and Hawks chain store. The punctilious but ambitious Mr. Swindley seizes every opportunity that might afford him the chance to scale the social heights - from organising strategic civic functions to securing lucrative new orders for the company. Arthur Lowe is perfect as the pompous, quietly floundering buffoon and Betty Driver - soon to be installed behind the bar of the Rover’s Return - also stars as canteen manageress Mrs. Edgeley in this popular sitcom, originally screened in 1965. SURGICAL SPIRIT features the irrepressible Surgeon Sheila Sabatini, (Nichola McAucliffe, who rules her operating theatre with a sharp tongue and acerbic wit. Her larger-than-life nature and dedication to her work not only make her a force to be reckoned with, yet beneath the stern, intimidating surface beats a kind heart that only the privileged few who are fortunate enough to discover Nichola McAuliffe’s memorable performance as the spiky Dr. Sabatini make this as unforgettable a creation as Basil Fawlty or Victor Meldrew.
CLUBBED ROUTE ONE RELEASING
 Based on the best-selling autobiography of award-winning writer Geoff Thompson, Clubbed is the brutal, bloody and gruesome tale of the violent world of 80s club-land. Danny, a lonely factory worker bleak existence, is beaten and humiliated in front of his children in a random act of violence. On the verge of total breakdown, he decides to fight back. A group of nightclub doormen take him in and give him the confidence to stand his ground but as he is drawn deeper into their world he becomes embroiled with the local gangland boss, setting in motion a chain of events with shocking consequences. Uncompromising in its use of language and graphic depiction of violence, this is a convincing and honest exploration of a shady world in which honour and loyalty are essential for survival. Director Neil Thompson makes an outstanding feature film debut and the acting is superb throughout. The cast that includes Mel Raido as the troubled Danny, Maxine Peake as his estranged wife, Colin Salmon as his enigmatic mentor Louis, the brilliant Shaun Parkes as Rob, Scot Williams as the wired Sparky and Ronnie Fox as the horribly ruthless villain, Hennessy. Released on DVD and Blue-ray, extras include a ‘making of’ feature, Behind Closed Doors, as well as an audio commentary and deleted scenes.
KALEIDOSCOPE DIGITAL HOME ENTERTAINMENT
 This charming romantic comedy, directed by Jack Smight, stars Warren Beatty and Susannah York as a pair of amorous adventurers in the casinos of London and the Riviera. Beatty is Barney Lincoln, an American playboy and gambler who carries out the perfect ‘get rich quick’ plan by breaking into the Kaleidoscope playing card factory to mark the printing plates. When the doctored cards turn up later at Europe’s top casinos, he is able to break the banks and amass a considerable fortune. Along the way he meets the beautiful Angel McGinnis (Susannah York) and his unlawful activities are brought to the attention of her steam engine-loving father, who also happens to be a New Scotland Yard policeman. Superbly underplayed by Clive Revill, Inspector McGinnis persuades the reluctant playboy to bankrupt the sinister head of a narcotics ring called Harry Dominion in a tense game of poker. Much of the story is blatantly stolen from Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale and Beatty even drives an Aston Martin. Eric Porter enjoys hamming it up as Dominion, a villain with Napoleonic complex, Beatty makes a suitably dashing hero, and Susannah York is perfectly cast as the love interest. There are fine performances too by British stalwarts such as Murray Melvin as a sharp shooting policeman, George Sewell, Yootha Joyce, John Junkin and (briefly) Jane Birkin. With its bright colours, preposterous plot and general air of wackiness, Kaleidoscope represents quintessentially 1960s glamour. Austin powers would love it.
PETULIA DIGITAL HOME ENTERTAINMENT
 Digital Home Entertainment is also releasing Petulia, another delicious film from the 1960s. Set in San Francisco, Richard Lester’s underrated drama Petulia tells the story of a charmingly kooky socialite (Julie Christie), who has recently married to David (Richard Chamberlain). Unhappy with her marriage, she embarks on a love affair with a melancholy recently-divorced doctor (George C. Scott) as they try to make sense of their dispassionate lives. Dick Lester’s genius for editing combines with Lawrence B. Marcus’ literate screenplay and Nicolas Roeg’s superb cinematography to create a non-linear, fragmented love story that loops back and forth, revealing a darker reality behind the idyllic façade of sixties opulence. As the story of Petulia’s abuse at the hands of her husband unfolds, the lovers try to find the courage to change the course of their lives in the face of their respective demons. George C. Scott is excellent as the troubled doctor and Julie Christie gives real psychological depth to the eccentric, vulnerable Petulia. Richard Lester’s finest achievement.
TROUBLE THE WATER ICA FILMS
 Trouble The Water takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. This is a redemptive tale of two self-described street hustlers who become heroes - people who survive the storm and then seize their chance for a new beginning. Aspiring rapper Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband, Scott, were among those trapped in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, as the hurricane raged towards them in late August 2005. Before the storm hit and the floodwaters took over, Kimberly took out her newly acquired video camera and the couple began to compile amateur footage that vividly captures the horrors and bravery experienced in their community. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, New York, documentary filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (producers of Farenheit 9/11) watched the disaster on television and felt they had to become involved. They set out to make a film about New Orleans National Guardsmen, until they met Kim and Scott ten days after the storm broke. Their remarkable home video material, coupled with archival news footage and film verite capturing the couple’s journey, resulted in this moving documentary. Trouble the Water won the Grand Jury Prize and a standing ovation at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and is up for an Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards. The story of the government’s response to Katrina remains shocking - no public transport was organised for people to leave the city and troops had orders to fire on those seeking shelter - but this film is an ultimately inspiring call for things to be different in future. ‘You gotta have heart,’ says the formidable Kim. ‘But don’t be blind.’
SALAAM BOMBAY! ARROW FILMS
 Mira Nair’s first feature, made in 1988, is a highly acclaimed Hindi drama with a screenplay by her longtime collaborator, Sooni Taraporevala. The film chronicles the day-to-day life of children living on the filthy urban streets of one of India’s poorest cities, Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). Krishna (Shafiq Syed) is an 11-year-old country boy forced to live there while he hopes to earn 500 rupees for his mother and return home, though the all-consuming job of staying alive quickly makes that dream an unlikely reality. He develops the skills needed to survive in a seedy world of prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves, and other homeless children scrambling to survive the pitiless streets, but the harrowing experience takes a heavy emotional toll on him. Krishna, however, remains determined to raise the money he needs to return home. Mira Nair adds her angry voice to the cinema of forgotten children in a moving drama that contrasts with the fantasy of Bollywood dreams that hovers just out of reach in posters, movies, and radio tunes, momentary respites from the hard reality of a world ruled by brutal pimps and drug dealers. Salaam Bombay! is a gritty journey into the life of the city’s poorest people, filled with human spirit as well as the sights and sounds of an urban nightmare. Shafiq Syed and most of the remarkable young actors who appear in the film were themselves real-life street children. With superb cinematography (Sandi Sissel) and haunting music (L. Subramaniam), this impressive film received an Oscar nomination as well as a BAFTA and many other awards. DVD extras include a commentary by Mira Nair as well as five featurettes.
NEW NETWORK RELEASES
 Network’s April releases include the critically acclaimed, long-running private detective drama, PUBLIC EYE. The four-disc DVD set contains all 13 episodes of this 1972/3 series starring Alfred Burke as the Marlowesque, world-weary and down-at-heel Inquiry Agent Frank Marker. Always working the lower end of the spectrum - divorces, missing persons, bankruptcies - the public found a great affinity with Marker, making Public Eye a huge success. Also released on 6 April is WATCHING, an offbeat ITV comedy that follows the on-again, off-again romance of a mismatched Merseyside couple: fun-loving extrovert Brenda (Emma Wray) and shy, retiring birdwatcher Malcolm (Paul Bown). Also starring Liza Tarbuck and Patsy Byrne, the DVD includes the whole of the third series as well as a Christmas Special. John Esmonde and Bob Larbey’s GET SOME IN ran from 1975-78 and this complete third series has Robert Lindsay and Tony Selby turning in wonderfully comedic performances. A four-disc set of the fourth series of HADLEIGH stars Gerald Harper as the debonair young landowner - a man of privilege and inheritor of the magnificent Melford Hall. Guest appearance come from Stephanie Beacham, Michael Elphick, Gordon Jackson and Peter Sallis. The 1980s BAFTA-nominated family sitcom AFTER HENRY features Prunella Scales as the widowed Sarah. Though her deceased husband left her well-cared for financially, he also left her alone to deal with a demanding mother and a prickly, adolescent daughter. Joan Sanderson is the devious Eleanor and Janine Wood is the angst-ridden teenage daughter desperate to leave home.
 On 27th April, Network releases a complete eight-disc set of MANHUNT, a tense drama about downed RAF Squadron leader Jimmy Porter, who together with Resistance agents ‘Nina’ and ‘Vincent’ attempts to sabotage the activities of the Germans in wartime France and smuggle stranded airmen to safety. This addictive, fast-paced series vividly captures the fear and complex personal dilemmas experienced by those caught up in the tragedy of wartime occupation. BOON is a four-disc set of the second series with Michael Elphick as the former fireman with the heart of gold, a passion for adventures and his trademark motorbike. Humour, and heart-warming story lines made Boon a ratings success and attracted guest stars such as Amanda Burton and Ray Winstone. THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII established Alexander Korda’s reputation as a director and was the first British film to be a major success at the US box office. Opening with the execution of Anne Boleyn at the same time that Jane Seymour selects her bridal gown, a dark, tongue-in-cheek sense of humour sets the tone for the rest of the film. Charles Laughton won a well-deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Henry as flamboyant womaniser, henpecked glutton and king of an empire. STORMY WEATHER is a riotous 1936 classic starring and directed by Tom Walls, one of the most influential figures in British comedy. Written by the great Ben Travers, Stormy Weather tells the story of Polotski, a shady Russian who had been married to a French woman, Louise. Convinced that Polotski is dead, Louise remarries and is now the wife of a prominent social figure. Polotski sees the situation as an opportunity he can manipulate to his own advantage. Many Aldwych farce regulars feature in this high energy Gainsborough film, packed with physical comedy and drama. Bernard Manning, Mike Reid, Frank Carson and many others star in the THE COMEDIANS, featuring performers who honed their jokes to perfection in gritty Northern working men’s clubs. Featuring the unmistakable David Frost, FROST ON SUNDAY concentrated on light entertainment with sketches from Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker, with guests such as Rolf Harris, Matt Monro, Michael Bentine, Ted Ray, Kenneth Williams, Vincent Price and Michael Palin as Julie Andrews. This set includes the first ever show from 1968 and an edition from the London Palladium presenting 1970’s British Film and Television Awards. The complete drama series based on Howard Spring’s best-selling novel, SHABBY TIGER, stars John Nolan as Nick Faunt, the heir of a millionaire in 1930s Manchester. Rather than embracing the comfortable life that his family is able to provide, he leaves home to be an artist and immerse himself in bohemian life. He encounters Irish serving girl Anna (Prunella Gee) and a strange love story begins. Depression era Manchester is convincingly reconstructed, providing an authentic backdrop for the unfolding drama. THE COLLECTION stars Alan Bates, Helen Mirren, Malcolm McDowell and Laurence Olivier in a play by Harold Pinter Directed by multi-award winning Michael Apted and set in the exclusive world of West End boutique owners and fashion designers, the story opens as the lives of four people are shaken by the slight whiff of infidelity. A sinister phone call foreshadows an ominously deepening mystery which threatens to get out of control. Special features include a South Bank Show interview in which Harold Pinter speaks frankly to Melvyn Bragg. See the Network website for more details of these and other new releases.
CALIGULA - IMPERIAL EDITION ARROW FCD265
 This controversial film tells the epic story of the rise and fall of the mad Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus, otherwise known as ‘Caligula’, showing the violent methods he uses to gain the throne and the perverse insanity of his corrupt reign. He gives his horse political office, humiliates and fiendishly disposes of anyone who gets in his way, sleeps with his doomed sister Drusilla, arranges elaborate orgies, marries Rome’s most infamous prostitute and embarks on a hopeless ‘invasion’ of England. Directed by Tinto Brass, Caligula was written by Gore Vidal and co-financed by Bob Guccione’s Penthouse magazine. Shot on sumptuous sets at Rome’s Dear Studios, the production was troubled from the start and its distinguished cast, including Sir John Gielgud and Peter O’Toole, probably didn’t realise what they were letting themselves in for. Various hardcore sex scenes, filmed by Guccione and his friend Giancarlo Lui, were inserted later and both Brass and Vidal denounced the final version of the film. Subsequent lawsuits delayed Caligula’s release until 1979, three years after production began. This ‘Imperial Edition’ includes the full, explicitly revealing version of this lavish spectacle in a new high-definition transfer from recently uncovered negative elements. Malcolm McDowell gives a wonderfully no holds barred performance as the depraved emperor, with John Gielgud as Nerva, Peter O’Toole as the outrageous Tiberius, Teresa Ann Savoy (replacing Maria Schneider) as Drusilla, and Helen Mirren as the seductive Caesonia. This four disc DVD set includes three versions of the film - Uncut, Alternative and Theatrical - as well as separate commentaries by Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren and journalist Ernest Volkman, plus a ‘making of’ documentary, deleted and alternative scenes (Guccione claimed that Brass had shot enough film to make Ben-Hur 50 times over), Gore Vidal’s original screenplay, three Penthouse magazine features, an interview with Bob Guccione and hundreds of photographs taken on the set. Caligula remains one of the most shocking and divisive films ever made and this release gives you the chance to judge for yourself whether it is ‘shameful trash’ (Roger Ebert), a misunderstood masterpiece or somewhere in between.
W. - STONE LIONS GATE HOME ENTERTAINMENT LGD94119 / LGB94119
 Director Oliver Stone’s acclaimed, true life tragicomedy tells the story of the most ‘misunderestimated’ man in the world, George W. Bush. The film is a serious drama with a strong comic streak as we see George W. struggle with his personal demons, always wrestling with them in his father’s long shadow. A Yale graduate, a transplanted son of Texas, a one-time drunk and a recent convert; how did this improbable character transform himself from reprobate and well-known black sheep of his esteemed family into Leader of the Free World? W. follows Bush Jr.’s journey from Yale frat house initiation to Texas oilfield to The White House and, in the process, reveals the struggles, achievements and consequences for the man who would become the 43rd President of the United States of America. Starring Josh Brolin as ‘Dubya’, with James Cromwell as George Bush Snr, Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush, Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice, Richard Dreyfuss (wonderfully unnerving Dick Cheney) and Ioan Grufudd as ‘Tone’ Blair, this is a mostly sympathetic portrait of a man who is well meaning though flawed and none too bright. Brolin delivers the Bushisms with aplomb and seems to grow uncannily more like the original as the film progresses. Stone exercises uncharacteristic restraint to damning effect in this fascinating story of one of the most controversial, secretive, cynical and ruthless presidential regimes in US history. W. is available in both DVD and Blu-ray formats and the many extras include an audio commentary with the director as well as two documentaries - ‘Dangerous Dynasty: The Bush Presidency’ and ‘No Stranger to Controversy: Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush’.
WAR, INC - SEFTEL LIONS GATE HOME ENTERTAINMENT LGD94019
This anarchic and surreal satirical political comedy features magnificent performances from John Cusack (who also wrote and produced the film), Ben Kingsley, Dan Ackroyd and Joan Cusack, as well as a first adult role for Hilary Duff. The film is an absurdist political satire set in Turaqistan, an imaginary country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice-President. A lone-wolf mercenary, played by John Cusack, is hired to help the American government ‘get their message across’ to Turaqistan’s leaders. As the twisted plot unfolds, he meets a reporter (Marisa Tomei) and somehow becomes mixed up with an outrageous Middle Eastern pop star named Yonica Babyyeah, precociously played by Hilary Duff. ‘Sir’ Ben Kingsley does another of his mad villains and Joan Cusack is marvelously funny as the hero’s fraught assistant, Marsha Dillon. Director Joshua Seftel keeps the frantic action together in this entertaining film - a glimpse into the (not too distant?) future when war and international Governments are ruled by corporate big business and PR spin. With many explosive special effects, War, Inc boldly confronts the insanity and violence of modern warfare, so if you don’t like war this is probably the film for you.
SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING - REISZ BFI BFIVD784
 Albert Finney gives an unforgettable performance as the rebellious Arthur Seaton in this classic British New Wave film. Based on the Alan Sillitoe’s autobiographical novel of the same name, the film is set in the industrial streets and factories of Nottingham, where the incorrigible Arthur spends his days at the factory bench, his evenings in the local pubs and his nights in the arms of Brenda, the wife of a fellow factory worker. Irresistibly handsome and brimming with animal vitality, Arthur is anti-authority and unashamedly amoral - ‘What I’m out for is a good time. All the rest is propaganda.’. This ground-breaking film was a phenomenal success when it opened in 1960, as audiences thrilled to its anti-establishment energy, gritty realism and fresh, outspoken working-class hero. Brilliantly directed by Karel Reisz, the film is photographed in atmospheric black and white by Freddie Francis and has a fine jazz score by Johnny Dankworth. Finney is mesmerising as Arthur and there are outstanding performances too by Shirley Anne Field as the sparky girl who partly tames him, Norman Rossington as his best friend and Rachel Roberts as the unhappy Brenda. Now available in a High-Definition transfer on DVD and Blue-ray from BFI, the special features include commentary by film historian Robert Murphy, writer Alan Sillitoe and cinematographer Freddie Francis, a filmed interview with Shirley Anne Field, an audio interview with Albert Finney, ‘We Are the Lambeth Boys’ (1959) - Karel Reisz’s classic Free Cinema documentary, and an illustrated booklet containing essays and biographies. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was one of the first films made during a golden era for British cinema that also saw the release of This Sporting Life and Tony Richardson’s THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER, which has also just been re-issued by BFI on DVD and Blu-ray. Colin, played by newcomer Tom Courtenay, is a defiant teenager who rebels against the system, refusing to follow his dying father into a factory job, railing against the capitalist bosses and preferring to make a living from petty thieving. Sent to borstal, he discovers his talent for cross-country running. The governor (Michael Redgrave) offers him the chance to redeem himself in a race against a local public school, and tensions build as the day approaches. As with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe adapted another of his own works for the screen. Extras include commentary by Robert Murphy, Tom Courtenay and Alan Sillitoe, a video essay by cinematographer Walter Lassally, ‘Momma Don’t Allow (1956) - Tony Richardson’s Free Cinema documentary shot by Walter Lassally, and an illustrated booklet with essays and biographies.
WALTZ WITH BASHIR ARTIFICIAL EYE
 This critically acclaimed Israeli film, written and directed by Ari Folman, combines animation with documentary to devastating effect. Folman was a 19-year-old infantry soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. In 2006, he meets with a friend from his army service period, who tells him of the nightmares connected to his experiences from the 1982 Lebanon War. Folman is surprised to find that he does not remember a thing from that period, though later that night he has a vision from the night of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, when Israeli forces looked on as hundreds of innocent Palestinians were killed. In his memory, Folman and his soldier friends are bathing at night by the seaside in Beirut under the light of flares descending over the city. Folman meets another friend from his army service, who advises him to discuss it with other people who were in Beirut at the same time in order to understand what happened there and to relive his own memory. Folman talks to friends, a psychologist and the reporter Ron Ben-Yishai who was in Beirut at the time. Having filmed a number of these interviews, Folman then transformed the live-action footage into striking animation with the help of a team of talented artists. The film ends with actual footage of the masscre taken by a television crew at the time, showing many dead bodies including children. The result is a surreal, disturbing exploration of a horrific event that understandably haunts the lives of all those involved. This is a sad, introspective film about a war in which there were no winners.
BRITAIN’S BEST DRIVES - RICHARD WILSON ACORN AV9709
 Presented by Richard Wilson and timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the first motorway, this BBC series saw the classic comedy actor steer six classic cars round the twists and turns of six of the best drives of the 1950s, as described in various motoring guide books of the period. Driving in those days wasn’t just a stressful means to an end, it was a pastime and a Sunday drive was often looked forward to as a highlight of the week. This all changed with the introduction of the motorway in 1958, when getting from A to B as quickly and efficiently as possible became the priority. Richard Wilson puts his modern automatic in the garage - having only driven automatic cars since passing his test in 1981 - and gets behind the wheels of six classic cars - Morris Traveller, Mini, Austin A30, VW Camper Van, Austin Cambridge and Bentley - all with manual gear boxes. Along the way he meets colourful characters who have valuable insights into how each route has changed, and how Britain has changed with it. The six drives cover most regions of the UK, including the English Lake District, the Cornish Coast, the Scottish Highlands, the North Yorkshire Moors, the Wye Valley and Snowdonia. Stopping off at famous historical sites such as Tintern Abbey, sites of natural beauty like The Duddon Valley in Cumbria and The Pass of Llanberis, Wilson takes the scenic route in this entertaining and educational series, which debuted to great acclaim on BBC Two on 19 February 2009. The entire series is now available on this double DVD set. Richard Wilson makes an agreeably quirky companion on these nostalgic jaunts, though the vehicles’ owners may want hide behind the sofa as he crunches the occasional gear.
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER EUREKA EKA40287
 Stephen Vincent Benét’s Gothic folk story, The Devil and Daniel Webster, is a retelling of the German Faust legend. First published in 1937, this is a timeless morality tale and a study in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in which patriotism is cast in dramatic conflict with servitude to greed and materialism. The story inspired a Halloween episode of The Simpsons as well as two film adaptations, the most memorable being this 1941 version by émigré Hollywood director William Dieterle, combining European expressionism with quintessential Americana. In 1840s New Hampshire, a down-on-his-luck farmer, Jabez Stone, makes an existential pact with the devil - seven years of prosperity in return for his soul. When the devil incarnate Mr. Scratch comes calling, Stone begins to have second thoughts, enlisting the famous 19th-century advocate and folk hero Daniel Webster to fight what becomes, for each of them, a case of life and death. The incomparable Walter Huston is brilliant as gleefully mischievous Mr. Scratch and there are fine performances by James Craig as Stone, Ann Shirley as his righteous wife, Jane Darwell as Ma Stone, Simone Simon (best known for Cat People) as the seductive Belle, and Edward Arnold (a replacement for the injured Thomas Mitchell) as the eponymous Daniel Webster. Bernard Hermann’s excellent score won an Oscar for Best Music and Huston was nominated for Best Actor. Eureka’s Masters of Cinema Series special edition features the director’s cut in a digital transfer with restored image and sound. A lavish 60-page booklet includes archival publicity stills, an essay by professor Tony Williams, an article by director William Dieterle and a celebration of the film by Stephen Vincent Benét, whose supernatural short story is reprinted in its entirety. Elegantly directed by Dieterle and beautifully photographed by Joseph August, The Devil and Daniel Webster is an entertaining and enduring classic.
THREE CLASSIC BOND FILMS MGM AND FOX (BLU-RAY)
 The films inspired by Ian Fleming’s novels about fictional British MI6 agent James Bond, codename 007, make up one of the longest running series in cinema history. The franchise has been ongoing from 1962 to the present day - with a six-year gap between 1989 and 1995 - and in that time there have been 22 productions at an average of about one every two years. Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced the films until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer. Since 1995, his daughter Barbara and stepson Michael G. Wilson have co-produced the films. Six actors have played 007 so far: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Three of these action-packed Bond Classics have now been made available here for the first time as High Definition Blu-ray discs: Moonraker (Moore’s fourth film and the last Bond to use the title of a Fleming novel until 2006’s Casino Royale.), The World is Not Enough (with Pierce Brosnan) and the unforgettable Goldfinger (with Connery as Bond, Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore and Shirley Eaton as the original golden girl). All have been restored and re-mastered to provide the highest quality picture and sound via state-of-the-art Lowry process digital frame-by-frame restoration. A host of bonus material is also included. James Bond: ‘Do you expect me to talk?’ Auric Goldfinger: ‘No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.’
RAGING BULL - SCORSESE TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX (BLU-RAY)
Given the implicit drama, it’s almost impossible to make a bad film about boxing so it’s saying a great lot when Raging Bull is called the greatest boxing film of all time. .Shot in a crisp black and white, Martin Scorsese’s personal approach to film-making is taken to a whole new level as he tells the bloody and brutal story of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, superbly played by Robert De Niro who trained with LaMotta for the boxing sequences and put on over fifty pounds in weight to produce an Oscar-winning performance. As La Motta rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown, he falls in love with Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) and his feelings take over his life in his dealings with his brother and friend, Joey (the excellent Joe Pesci). Jealousy as well as an insatiable appetite send him into a downward spiral that costs him his title, his wife and his relationship with Joey. As the out-of-control fighter, De Niro delivers one of the screen’s most unforgettable performances. Pesci is just as intense as Joey, who finally realises that he is unable to tame his animalistic brother. Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman shoot the film with a stylish flair that fills the boxing scenes with boundless energy and adds immediacy to the endless arguments that erupt whenever Jake is outside the ring. Coupled with Thelma Schoonmaker’s breakneck editing and the film’s audacious sound design, said scenes are the most brutally realistic depiction of the sport the cinema has ever seen. One of American cinema’s masterworks is now available on this Blue-ray disc with a host of special features, including commentaries by Scorsese, his brilliant editor Thelma Schoonmaker, writer Paul Schrader and members of the cast and crew; five documentaries (including interviews with De Niro, Scorsese and LaMotta himself); newsreel footage of La Motta in action; and the original theatrical trailer.
ADDO - THE AFRICAN KING UNIVERSAL
The Dutch wildlife filmmaker and photographer Hugo van Lawick, otherwise known as Hugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick, was born in Surabaya, Indonesia, and developed an early love of animals. In 1959, he went to Africa to pursue his passion of photographing and taking footage of wild animals, finding employment as a cameraman for Armand and Michaela Dennis. By 1962, he was covering East Africa for the National Geographic Society and went to The Gombe Reservation in Tanzania to record some of the amazing discoveries that primate researcher Jane Goodall had made during her study of chimpanzees, beginning a long creative relationship that sustained his art and detailed research into the predators of the plain. Over a period of twenty years he filmed the lives of three generations of chimpanzees and it took him five years to edit the hundreds of hours of material into the feature film, People of the Forest. Shot over a period of two years, Hugo Van Lawick’s Addo The African King is a dramatised wildlife film that tells the story of Addo, a young and fierce lion, who is rejected by his original pride and then forced to wander alone across the bare and ruthless Savannah. Through astoundingly beautiful images, The African King reveals the real and unpolished story of the harsh power struggle in the world of beasts. This DVD also includes a documentary about the making of the film, which sadly was the last to be made by Hugo van Lawick, who died shortly afterwards. Also now available is van Lawick’s PLAYING IN SAVAGE PARADISE, which journeys through Africa’s most famous park, the Serengeti. From the unusual to the common, life on the great plain is portrayed with spectacular footage of birth, play, pursuit and defeat - all creating an intimate view of the animals living in the Serengeti. With breathtaking scenery accompanied by stirring music, this is an intimate view of different lives and life forms of the Serengeti. Covering wildlife ranging from the African hawk eagle to the zebra, Playing In Savage Paradise documents the idiosyncrasies of individuals to the behaviour of masses, as together, they make up life on the Serengeti. Special features include My Backyard, The Serengeti, which follows Hugo van Lawick on the trail of a wildebeest herd migrating through the Serengeti National Park.
FIGHTERS & REAL MONEY - PECK SECOND RUN DVD036
 Boxing is the the toughest and most dramatic of all sports so it’s no surprise that it has long attracted film-makers and inspired many classics, including Fat City, The Harder They Fall and Raging Bull. It seems almost impossible to make a bad film about boxing but British director Ron Peck has probably come closest to the reality of the fight game with these two remarkable films that have generated a cult following since their first release in the mid-nineties. Fighters is a powerful documentary and personal essay that follows a group of aspiring British boxers through training to fight night as they take the first steps up the professional ladder. Peck spent nine months getting to know the fighters and clearly gained their confidence as they talk frankly and revealingly about this demanding sport and the sacrifices they have to make in order to succeed. The film features Jimmy Tibbs, Mark Tibbs, Jimmy Flint, Dean Holington, Steve Roberts, Terry Dixon, Bradley Stone and especially Mark Kaylor, the former British and Commonwealth Middleweight champion making his comeback. Real Money is an improvised fictional drama starring many of the boxers from Fighters, with excellent performances also by Rita Lawrence and trainer Jimmy Tibbs, in a tale of violence and rivalries surrounding a local East End gym. This two-disc release features new digital transfers of both films on dual layer discs with restored picture and sound. The generous array of extras includes ‘Night of the Fight’, with extended backstage footage of Mark Kaylor’s fight; rehearsal footage from Real Money and the un-filmed third part of the ‘trilogy’ – Gangster; an interview with Ron Peck; an extensive stills gallery; a booklet with essays by Ron Peck and boxing writer Harry Mullan. These films are revealing documents that explore the enduring appeal and potency of the image of the professional fighter - in cinema and as part of our own fantasies and aspirations.
THE HARD WAY NETWORK
 Acting heavyweights Patrick McGoohan and Lee Van Cleef star in this pulsating thriller, executive produced by John Boorman. The life of the mercenary is transitory and violent. They roam the world in packs, feeding off obscure political upsets, war and the general shabby consequences of man’s appetite for destruction and power. Some, though, are loners. Patrick McGoohan is Irish hit-man John Connor, who has grown weary of watching men die. The anonymous hotel rooms, wet streets and ever-present fear of a tap on the door in the dead of night have led him to retire and settle down in Ireland. But ‘The Co-ordinator’, played by the Hollywood legend Lee Van Cleef, has other ideas. This is a taught thriller with a typically brooding performance by McGoohan and fans of Prisoner will find intriguing parallels with that legendary series. The film makes full use of Brian Eno’s innovative readymade ‘soundtrack’ from his Music for Films CD and has a poignant narration by the gunman’s estranged wife, played by Irish author Edna O’Brien in her only screen role. DVD extras include a trailer and a stills gallery. Atmospherically shot in and around Dublin and in the wild west of Ireland, this underrated film transcends its humble television origin to provide an existential study of violence and what it means to men who live the hard way.
ESPIONAGE NETWORK
This acclaimed 1960s drama series of plays, produced by George Justin and Herbert Hirschman, was one of Lew Grade’s earliest successes. With a transatlantic production team, Espionage featured both British and American writers and directors (including three plays by Oscar-nominated director Michael Powell (The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death). The stories cover everything from the then-current Cold War to 19th century China. One play – The Whistling Shrimp – was actually shot in New York. The series attracted the cream of the acting fraternity, including Roger Livesey, Stanley Baxter, Anthony Quayle, Sian Phillips, Donald Pleasence, Bradford Dillman, John Gregson, Dennis Hopper, Patrick Troughton, Barry Foster plus many more. This six-disc box set of the complete series includes extras such as script PDFs for Castles in Spain and Snow on Mount Kama, and extensive image galleries - many in colour.
FIRST AMONG EQUALS NETWORK
This BAFTA-nominated adaptation of Jeffrey Archer’s best-selling novel delves into the world of power, public life and private scandal. In 1964, four newly elected MPs take their seats at Westminster: grammar school boy Raymond Gould (Tom Wilkinson), born above a Leeds butcher’s shop; Andrew Fraser (David Robb), the son of a Conservative Lord Provost who joins the Labour Party; Simon Kerslake (James Faulkner), a career Conservative and Charles Seymour (Jeremy Child), a ruthless Tory landowner. Each man has his sights on Number Ten – but who will succeed? Drawing upon real situations encountered by Jeffrey Archer early in his career, the portrayal of key contemporary figures (Margaret Thatcher and Colonel Gadaffi among them) lends the series an air of authenticity that is further enhanced by the celebrated replica of the House of Commons specially constructed for the 1986 series. This three-disc DVD set includes the complete and uncut series as well as an alternate ending never been shown in the UK before.
RAILWAY WALKS WITH JULIA BRADBURY ACORN AV9677
Julia Bradbury makes a fine guide as she dons her backpack and walking boots in a series of walks that resulted from the infamous Beeching Axe of the 1960s. Britain’s lost rail empire left behind hundreds of miles of disused lines across England, Scotland and Wales, and many of these have been turned into marvelous walks. Julia Bradbury explores some of these old tracks, overgrown cuttings and ancient viaducts as she travels through stunning landscapes and urban backstreets. Each walk has a unique story to tell, providing insights into industrial Britain and how the rise and fall of the railways has altered lives and localities across the country. The six programmes in this very popular BBC series feature The Monsal Trail, The Mawddach Trail, Cornwall’s Mineral Tramways, The Strathspey Railway, The Rodwell Trail & Portland, and Callender to Loch Tay. Beautifully photographed and effortlessly informative, this was such a great idea for a series that it’s a wonder no one thought of it before. Julia Bradbury is a delightful presenter, taking a real interest in the things and people she meets along the way (including her father, who turns out to have enough natural charm to hold down a presenter’s job himself). A breath of fresh air.
COUNTY KILBURN - HEGARTY BLUE DOLPHIN
 Set in the square mile of London that is home to 63 Irish pubs, County Kilburn charts the last week in London of Mickey (Ciaran McMenamin), a young bartender at the Waggon & Horses who feels his life is going nowhere and decides to return to Ireland to work for his brother. Unfortunately, because his boss has just had a heart attack, he’s stuck minding the pub on his own for the week. The subsequent turmoil and chaos conspire to turn those seven days into a near disaster as Mickey learns some important lessons about himself and his regulars, including foul-mouthed sexual marauder Black Jack and time-locked 80s Billy. Things become complicated when one of Billy’s teenage lust objects, Unattainable Sue, turns up and a priest starts picketing the pub after overhearing Mickey’s sexual fantasies about the Virgin Mary. The film was the low budget feature debut of Elliot Hegarty, who was inspired by his own experiences and wrote a screenplay that would be easy to organise and manageable to shoot. ‘A Cheers for the UK with the wit of Clerks,’ according to producer Nick Heyworth. Set in a northwest London district that has long been heavily populated by Irish immigrants, County Kilburn features soundtrack music from Ultravox, Killing Joke, Shane MacGowan, Merle Haggard, Andy Williams and Toots and the Maytals. With well-observed characters, sharp-witted dialogue and a droll disposition, this rambunctious, warm-hearted comedy will appeal especially to fans of Roddy Doyle and Father Ted.
VICTORIAN FARM ACORN AV9699
In this enjoyable and painlessly informative series, a historian and two archaeologists are transported back to 19th-century rural England for a year. From planting and harvesting crops to animal husbandry; from building pigsties to bee-keeping; tree-felling to driving steam engines and operating period machinery, the hardy group - in search of the authentic experience - live it all, wearing period costumes and using only tools and materials available at the turn of the century. An initially daunting task, the team had to look after and breed animals ranging from heavy horses and bulls to pigs and turkeys; rotate, plough, harrow, sow and harvest crops and also repair damage to their own property, stretching their carpentry, stone masonry and plastering skills to the limit. Ruth, Alex and Peter, are an admirably game trio of protagonists, whether struggling red-faced with a mammoth laundry load, slicing mangel wurzels or enthusing over the back end of a ram. Some distance from Lark Rise to Candleford, this is a fascinating series that turns the clock back a hundred years to a time without flushing toilets, running water, street-lights, gas, electricity or motor vehicles, when people had to pull together in order to survive.
THE CITY - COPLAND NAXOS 2.110231
This classic example of Depression-era documentary was made for the New York World’s Fair in 1939 with funding from the Carnegie Corporation. The film involved some of the era’s major talents, including city planner Lewis Mumford, and advocated the building modern highways and new garden cities to replace America’s gritty urban slums. This film contrasts an idyllic old town lifestyle, where everyone gets a chance to speak their mind and kids play in the yard, with contemporary industrial city life where the air is dirty and the water poisoned. Directed and photographed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke, The City has a music by Aaron Copland that brilliantly reflects the edgy bustle of the big city as well as the more languid atmosphere of country life. The recreated soundtrack for this excellent DVD release has been freshly recorded in Dolby Digital and DTS Surround by the Post-Classical Ensemble, conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez, with a new narration by Francis Guinan. Extras include The City with its original monaural 1939 soundtrack, featuring Morris Carnovsky (narrator) and an orchestra conducted by Max Goberman; Which Playground for your Child: Greenbelt or Gutter? - a documentary from the Greenbelt Museum featuring interviews with three Greenbelt pioneers; George Stoney in conversation with Joseph Horowitz as a legendary documentary film-maker revisits The City.
HARDWARE - THE COMPLETE SERIES NETWORK
The Office’s Martin Freeman plays Mike, who works at Hamway’s, perhaps the most over-staffed and incompetent hardware store in London - or anywhere else. Alongside Mike are Kenny, student trainee Steve and their boss Rex, who is in the throes of a mid-life crisis. Mike’s girlfriend Anne works in a nearby café, run by Julie, where refreshment is provided and the motley crew congregate. Amidst the cheerful havoc and hilarity, Mike and Anne’s relationship is often tested by outbreaks of laddish behaviour, dangerous DIY and the occasional unwanted house guests. Written by Simon Nye, creator of Men Behaving Badly, Hardware has the same wry sense of humour, realistic and less than glamorous settings, sharp dialogue, quirky plots and flair for physical comedy. No one does hapless better than Martin Freeman and there are fine comic performances also by the excellent Susan Earl as Anne (see her wrestle with a recalcitrant ironing board), the droll Peter Serafinowicz as Kenny, Ryan Cartwright as put-upon Steve, Ella Kenion as Julie and Ken Morley (Coronation Street’s Reg Holdsworth) as the irrepressible Rex, who gets most of the best lines and delivers them with relish. This double DVD features all twelve episodes from both series One and Two of this quintessential modern British sitcom, complete and uncut.
OSS-117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES ICA ICA018DVD
 Hubert Bonnisseur de la Bath - code-name OSS-117 - is France’s first line of defence in the Cold War. He’s a master of disguise, deadly with a weapon, invincible in hand-to-hand combat, irresistible to women and big on charm, though small on brains. In 1955 he is sent to the Egyptian capital Cairo to execute a whole shopping list of items for the French Secret Service, including investigating the death of his friend and erstwhile Cairo-based spy, controlling the Suez Canal and establishing peace in the Middle East. OSS 177 is just the man for these missions: he does not have a clue but is very lucky in getting what he wants. Created by Jean Bruce in 1949, four years before the publication of the first James Bond novel, OSS-117 has been the hero of 265 novels, selling 75 million books worldwide. Eight feature films saw him played by a variety of actors, and now this latest incarnation was a box office hit in France last year. Beautifully photographed in Morocco, this is a clever, politically incorrect parody that will delight fans of Get Smart, Airplane or the early Bond films. Directed with a light touch by Michel Hazanavicius and starring Jean Dujardin as the chauvinistic, willfully stupid hero, Argentina-born Bérénice Béjo and Aure Atika as a sexy femme fatale, this sparkling comic satire sends up every conceivable cliche of the espionage genre on film. ‘Punches out cheeky gags and incorrect humour with the gusto of Zucker/Abrahams or Mike Myers in his Austin Powers heyday’ - The Guardian.
HUNGER PATHE DISTRIBUTION
 Written and directed by British visual artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen, Hunger is a powerful and thought-provoking real-life portrayal of the 1981 Hunger Strike led by Bobby Sands in Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison. Hailed as an artistic masterpiece, this BAFTA nominated film has received many prestigious awards, including the Caméra d’Or for best first feature at the Cannes Film Festival. Hunger begins with prison officer Raymond Logan (Stuart Graham) preparing for another gruelling day at work in H-Block. The Provisional IRA prisoners are staging a ‘dirty’ protest in a bid to gain political prisoner status, and are refusing to wash or wear the prison uniform. A new IRA prisoner, Davey (Brian Milligan) arrives at The Maze, and gets placed in a cell smeared with the excrement of fellow IRA member and cell mate Gerry (Liam McMahon). Michael Fassbender lost an astonishing 21Kg to give a powerful and captivating performance as Bobby Sands, who, following several brutal attempts by the prison officers to quell the ‘dirty’ protest, uses his own body as a last resort as he leads Davey and the other IRA prisoners in a hunger strike. In one extraordinary, long unbroken sequence Liam Cunningham, who plays Father Dominic Moran, questions Sands’ underlying motives and the morality of the strike. Extras include an excellent ‘Making of’ documentary. Hunger is a profound and shocking exploration of pain and the limits of human endurance.
7-49 UP - APTED NETWORK
Director Michael Apted’s unique series is arguably the best and most thought-provoking sequence ever made for British television. The longest running factual programme in the history of UK TV follows the lives of wide range of people from different social backgrounds, showing how they evolve between 1964 and 2005. The first captivating instalment was broadcast as a one-off World in Action special, featuring children talking about their hopes and dreams for the future. As members of the generation who would be running the country by the year 2000, what did they think they would become? Inspired by World In Action editor Tim Hewat’s passionate interest in both the Jesuit saying: ‘Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man,’ and the rigid class system of 1960s Britain, Seven Up set out to discover whether or not the children’s lives were pre-determined by their background. ‘If I can’t be an astronaut I’ll be a coach driver.’ This forward thinking television show and the longer follow-up documentaries have won an array of accolades and awards. Director Michael Apted, who also directed Hollywood films such as Gorillas in the Mist and The World Is Not Enough, returned every seven years to chart the children’s progress. Over the past five decades, the series documented the group as they became adults and entered middle-age, dealing with whatever life throws at them. The result is an inspired, engrossing series that shows how life developed for a group of ordinary people and how the world changed around them. Watching lives unfold this way is a moving and revelatory experience. The entire series so far is now available on DVD for the first time in this splendid six-disc box set. Special features include an interview with the director about making the series, a featurette with Michael Apted on his career, and audio commentary with producer Claire Lewis, film editor Kim Horton and cameraman George Jesse Turner on segments of 28 Up. ‘An inspired, almost noble, use of the film medium’ - Roger Ebert.
RAGING BULL - SCORSESE TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX (BLUE-RAY)
Given the implicit drama, it’s almost impossible to make a bad film about boxing so it’s saying a great lot when Raging Bull is called the greatest boxing film of all time. .Shot in a crisp black and white, Martin Scorsese’s personal approach to film-making is taken to a whole new level as he tells the bloody and brutal story of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, superbly played by Robert De Niro who trained with LaMotta for the boxing sequences and put on over fifty pounds in weight to produce an Oscar-winning performance. As La Motta rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown, he falls in love with Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) and his feelings take over his life in his dealings with his brother and friend, Joey (the excellent Joe Pesci). Jealousy as well as an insatiable appetite send him into a downward spiral that costs him his title, his wife and his relationship with Joey. As the out-of-control fighter, De Niro delivers one of the screen’s most unforgettable performances. Pesci is just as intense as Joey, who finally realises that he is unable to tame his animalistic brother. Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman shoot the film with a stylish flair that fills the boxing scenes with boundless energy and adds immediacy to the endless arguments that erupt whenever Jake is outside the ring. Coupled with Thelma Schoonmaker’s breakneck editing and the film’s audacious sound design, said scenes are the most brutally realistic depiction of the sport the cinema has ever seen. One of American cinema’s masterworks is now available on this Blue-ray disc with a host of special features, including commentaries by Scorsese, his brilliant editor Thelma Schoonmaker, writer Paul Schrader and members of the cast and crew; five documentaries (including interviews with De Niro, Scorsese and LaMotta himself); newsreel footage of La Motta in action; and the original theatrical trailer.
THE BLACK BALLOON - DOWN ICON HOME ENTERTAINMENT ICON10160
 When Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) and his family move to a new home and he has to start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in. When his pregnant mother (Toni Collette) has to take things easy, his father Simon (Erik Thomson), who serves in the armed forces and has to relocate regularly, puts him in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford). Thomas, with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward), faces his biggest challenge yet as Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out. This is a poignant, honest and moving film by first-time Australian director Elissa Down, who grew up with two autistic brothers. The film won six awards including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor at the 50th Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards as well as Best Feature Film at The Berlin International Film Festival and Best Original Feature Film at The Australian Writer’s Guild. DVD extras include an audio commentary with Elissa Down, cast and crew interviews, photographic slideshow and trailers.
JOHN ADAMS - HOOPER HBO HOME ENTERTAINMENT
 John Adams was the second president of the United States after being the country’s first vice president for two terms under George Washington. Adams was a man whose fiercely independent sprit, reference for the rule of law and commitment to personal liberty profoundly influenced the values on which the United States was founded. He played a leading role in persuading Congress to adopt the Declaration of Independence and his revolutionary credentials helped him secure the presidency in 1797. After being defeated for re-election by Thomas Jefferson, Adams retired to Massachusetts, where he and his wife of fifty-four years Abigail founded an accomplished family line of politicians, diplomats and historians. His achievements have received greater recognition in modern times and this epic miniseries, adapted from David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, tells his remarkable story as well as that of the first fifty years of the United States. Starring Paul Giamatti and the superb Laura Linney, the screenplay is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book John Adams by David McCullough. British director Tom Hooper elicits fine performances from his cast, which also includes English actors Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Dillane, Rufus Sewell and Tom Hollander. Partly produced by Tom Hanks, this outstanding series won the highest ever number of Emmys, for a programme in one year. As well as all seven episodes, this box set has documentaries about David McCullough and the making of the series, with cast and crew talking about bringing the book to screen as well as an on-set and location tour. A historical guide allows you to learn relevant information about John Adams and his time by means of ‘pop-ups’ during each of the episodes.
BRITISH PHANTOM PILOT NETWORK
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom is a two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber. Proving highly adaptable, it was used extensively by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force during the Vietnam War, serving as the principal air superiority fighter as well as being important in ground-attack and reconnaissance roles. Production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 being built, and the Phantom remained in use by the U.S. until finally leaving service in 1996. The fighter was also operated by the armed forces of eleven other countries, including Great Britain, where it provided a much needed replacement for the Royal Navy’s ageing sea vixens. British Phantom Pilot is a comprehensive film history of this sensational aircraft, featuring a historical overview of the Phantom alongside three complete and previously unseen Phantom films. Examining the role of the aircraft in ‘Low Level Training’, British Phantom pilot takes an exciting look at how navigators were trained to fly under the radar and pin point their targets, sometimes with near disastrous results. ‘Oversight’, a training film made by the RAF and based on a true story shows how misunderstanding and bad practice by RAF ground engineers made a fatal error and lost a Phantom. An additional film ‘Phantom Pilot’ follows a pilot being trained on the Chipmonk basic trainer, exploring the stages; Jet Provost, Folland Gnat Hawker Hunter to finally becoming a phantom pilot. Bonus features include an impressionistic overview of the F-4 in American service including its famed role as a Vietnam ‘War Horse’.
WEST END JUNGLE NETWORK SN6580
This detailed and explicit documentary explores the business of prostitution just before the dawn of ‘swinging London’ in 1961. The film saw its certification rejected by the censor due to its scandalous and delicate subject matter but this DVD makes the uncut and original banned version. West End Jungle offers an intriguing insight into the history and seedy reality of the Soho sex industry of the early sixties, examining the consequences of the introduction of the Street Offences Act in 1959. Until then, an estimated 10,000 prostitutes lined the streets and alleys of Soho with no more deterrent than a £2 fine. The film shows what happened after those streets were cleaned up and the different ways in which one of Britain’s oldest professions continued to operate and thrive. From the new breed of members clubs, which sprung up everywhere, to strip clubs, clip joints, call girls, models and hostesses, West End Jungle examines the world of prostitution and its many facets, from the techniques used to picking up customers to the recruitment of rural women lured by the glamour and hopes of fame and fortune. Filmed in private members clubs and talking to various ‘experts’ in the field from massage therapists to the overt hooker walking the streets, this notorious curio provides a glimpse into the tawdrier side of Soho life at a time when everyone smoked for England. The crisp black and white photography is by Stanley Long, who went on to make 1970s exploitation flics as well as such horror ‘classics’ as The Blood Best Terror. Extras include contemporary newsreel footage (featuring Paul Raymond in an extraordinary hairdo), an interview with Lord Wolfenden, director Arnold L. Miller in conversation, and a viewing notes booklet.
YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW - DE SICA EUREKA EKA40300
 The great Italian neo-realist director Vittorio de Sica’s delightful 1963 comedy anthology Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Italian: Ieri, oggi, domani) stars Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni in three short stories about couples in different parts of Italy. In the first story, based on a true event, Loren plays Adelina, a woman who avoids going to prison for selling black-market cigarettes in Naples by purposely staying pregnant, with the help of her willing though exhausted husband Carmine (Mastroianni). The second story features a pair of clandestine lovers who are forced to work out their problems in a car. In the final story Loren plays Mara, a Roman call girl who recruits one of her clients from Bologna (Mastroianni) to help a naive young neighbour return to his life in the seminary. The stories are mostly lightweight compared to such de Sica classics as Shoeshine or Bicycle Thieves but they are funny and heart-warming tales. Sophia Loren is in her sumptuously beautiful prime, and as Mara performs a famous strip tease that drives Mastroianni’s character understandably wild. This much-lovedl Italian film looks great in this high-definition restoration and is available for the first time on DVD in the UK, uncut and in its original aspect ratio.
THE SURVIVOR - HEMMINGS BRITFILMS BFDVD1006
 David Hemmings started his career as a boy soprano and appeared in several works by Benjamin Britten, creating the role of Miles in the opera Turn of the Screw. Hemmings went on to have a distinguished acting career, most notably in Antonioni’s Blowup and major British films such as Camelot, The Charge of the Light Brigade and Alfred the Great. In 1981, he directed this underrated film version of James Herbert’s terrifying best-selling novel, The Survivor, with a strong cast that includes Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter and Joseph Cotten in his last film. Produced by the South Australian Film Corporation and filmed on location in Adelaide, The Survivor was the first Australian movie to cost more than $1 million (Aust) to make. Moments after take off, a 747 airliner crashes to the ground killing all 300 people on board except its pilot ‘Keller’ (Robert Powell) who miraculously walks out of the disaster alive. After the investigation declares that no one should have survived the crash, Keller finds himself tortured with guilt and sets upon a journey of discovery to find out who was responsible and how he managed to survive. This intriguing, well-crafted paranormal drama has echoes of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable as well as the Lockerbie disaster that took place a few years later.
JIMMY CARTER: MAN FROM PLAINS ARTEFACT ARTF0116
 James Earl ‘Jimmy’ Carter, Jr. was the thirty-ninth President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. He put a strong emphasis on human rights and successfully negotiated a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt but the final year of his presidential tenure was marked by major crises and he lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan. After leaving office, Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded The Carter Center to work for the advancement of human rights and he has travelled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, observe elections, and advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, he maintains a particular interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Man From Plains is an intimate, surprising encounter with 83 year old President Jimmy Carter made by director Jonthan Demme. This award-winning documentary reveals a complex individual - articulate, honest, modest, intelligent and often very funny. He travels energetically and often courageously all over the country to publicise his controversial book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and get his message across, even though that creates a media onslaught in which his credibility and judgment are called into question. Man From Plains explores both the private and public sides of Jimmy Carter, whose intense sense of justice compels him to pursue his lifelong and deeply spiritual vision of reconciliation and peace. This is an absorbing and touching portrait of a truly saintly man who still carries his own suitcase.
STREET FIGHT ARTEFACT ARTF0112
This Oscar-nominated documentary chronicles a riveting story about the underbelly of American democracy. When Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Yale Law grad, bravely takes on the four-term mayor of Newark, NJ, he gets an education in the politics of the streets. The city’s political machine unleashes a campaign of harassment and voter intimidation, and the race unfolds amid accusations of terrorism, a Watergate-style burglary, and sexual scandal. When the election becomes racially charged - a surprising twist for a battle between two African-American candidates - voters are forced to ask what it means to be ‘really black’ in America today. This extraordinary film, brilliantly directed by Marshall Curry, is a gripping exploration of streetfighting US politics and gains a special resonance following the recent Presidential election. ‘A nailbiter worthy of The Best Man’ - The Guardian.
ROOM AT THE TOP - CLAYTON NETWORK
Jack Clayton’s Oscar winning Room at the Top was one of the first kitchen sink dramas and became a huge hit on its original release, marking a bold step in British movie-making with its examination of class and sexual relationships. Laurence Harvey stars as Joe Lampton, an ambitious young working-class man who moves into the Yorkshire town Warnley. There he pursues the innocent Susan (Heather Sears), against the wishes of her father, a powerful local industrialist, and falls in love with Alice (a stunning performance by Simone Signoret as an older, unhappily married French woman). Inevitably, their intense affair does not remain a secret and Joe is forced to choose between the two women – and the opposing worlds they represent. Based on a novel by John Braine set in the late 1940s, the film boldly explores sexual attitudes and the boundaries of class and wealth within small-town Sixties England. This Special Edition DVD release features a brand new transfer from the original 35mm film elements and many extras, including an audio commentary with and commemorative booklet by film historian Neil Sinyard, and image gallery and Jack Clayton’s press cuttings scrapbook.
THIS HAPPY BREED – LEAN NETWORK
This was David Lean’s first official credit as a director, and the most successful film of 1944. This happy Breed was adapted from Noel Cowards hit stage play and tells the heart-warming story of the Gibbons family, showing the spirit of a nation in a time of adversity. Robert Newton and Celia Johnson preside over their family and all its ups as we follow their trials and tribulations from the end of the Great War onwards. John Mills and Stanley Holloway provide strong support in this atmospheric slice of nostalgia, digitally re-mastered and restored in this splendid two-disc set. Extras include the original theatrical trailer, a restoration comparison featurette, an extensive South Bank Show feature on David Lean, a commemorative booklet by British film historian David Rolinson, and a stills gallery with behind the scenes images.
ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR – GOLD NETWORK
The acclaimed Escape From Sobibor is an accurate portrayal of the uprising on 14th October 1943, when inmates of death camp Sobibor, in Eastern Poland, carried out a terrifyingly audacious plan to escape. Those organising the revolt knew that the plan must include every prisoner - leaving no one behind to face reprisals from the SS. This film, on which survivors of the escape worked as consultants, recounts those events with sharp authenticity and won two Golden Globes in 1987 (Best Motion Picture Made For TV and Best Actor In A Supporting Role for Rutger Hauer). Also starring Alan Arkin and Joanna Pacula and directed by BAFTA-winning Jack Gold, Escape From Sobibor tells a true and moving story of overwhelming courage.
WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR - CATES NETWORK
This taboo-breaking crime thriller was refused certification on its original theatrical release in 1965 (and never subsequently seen anywhere in the UK) due to its sleazy subject matter. Comedian Jan Murray is cast against type as a messed up police lieutenant who embarks on a one-man crusade to track down a depraved sex maniac when a female nightclub DJ receives a disturbing series of obscene phone calls. Will the hard-boiled cop track down the relentless pervert before he carries out his sick threats..? This psychological crime thriller features exceptionally strong performances from Sal Mineo as a bodybuilding, pornography addicted bus-boy. Elaine Stritch and Juliet Prowse (showing some fine dance moves) also excel respectively as an acerbic Lesbian nightclub owner and the victimised DJ. Directed by Joseph Cates and showcasing Oscar-nominated cinematographer Joseph Brun’s breathtaking New York landscape, including a seedy Times Square and 42nd Street, this is a forgotten neo-noir masterpiece that retains the power to shock and crackles with energy due to its machine-gun dialogue, electrifying performances and magnetic soundtrack. Extras include a trailer, an episode of the 1960s legal drama Court Martial featuring Sal Mineo and ‘LSD: Insight or Insanity’, a fascinating documentary designed to warn teenagers away from drugs.
BEN X - BALTHAZAR MOMENTUM MP820D
 Ben is not your average teenage boy. With everyday life an epic struggle to overcome ignorance and bullying, Ben (a remarkable and subtle acting debut by Greg Timmermans) spends most of his time living in a virtual world, using the role playing online fantasy adventure video game Archlord to escape from the harsh realities of his life. He learns to create the real-world avatar that will allow him to survive and meets Scarlite (the beautiful Laura Verlinden), a girl destined to shape his future and help him take revenge on the people making his real life such a living hell. Based on a true story, Ben X is a compelling and moving account of a young man and his relationship with a girl, and a mother and father who would do anything to protect him. Excerpts and scenes from the original online game merge into the real world to spectacular effect. Winner of three awards at the Montreal World Film Festival, this cool, enigmatic yet moving film was written and directed in Belgium by Nic Balthazar. Essential viewing for all gaming fans, the DVD also includes a copy of the Archlord along with instructions on how to download additional content. ‘Bold and intriguing’ - Empire.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION - CAPRA UNIVERSAL 8253432
The setting for Frank Capra’s much-loved film It’s a Wonderful Life is the fictional town of Bedford Falls shortly after the Second World War. James Stewart stars as George Bailey, a man whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve gains the attention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers) who is sent to help him in his hour of need. Much of the film is told through flashbacks spanning George’s life and narrated by Franklin and Joseph, unseen Angels who are preparing Clarence for his mission to save George. Through these flashbacks we see the many people whose lives have been touched by George and the difference he has made to the community in which he lives. It’s a Wonderful Life was nominated for five Oscars without winning any of them but has since become a staple of Christmas television around the world. Due to its high production costs and stiff competition at the box office it was considered a flop when first released in 1946, but the film’s universal appeal and themes of love, family and friendship have ensured its enduring popularity. The American Film Institute ranked it as eleventh of the hundred best American films ever made, and number one on their list of the most inspirational films of all time. Extras with this Special Edition DVD include a ‘Making Of’ documentary narrated by Tom Bosley, as well as an introduction and interview by Frank Capra Jr. James Stewart is perfect as the film’s folk hero (though the part was originally intended for Cary Grant) and receives great support from the charming Donna Reed as his wife, Lionel Barrymore as a greedy skinflint trying to take over the town, Gloria Grahame, Ward Bond, and Thomas Mitchell as bumbling Uncle Billy. This unmissable classic is available to buy now.
L’ARGENT - L’HERBIER EUREKA MASTERS OF CINEMA EKA40298
 Marcel L’Herbier was one of the most important figures of 1920s French cinema but even after establishing his reputation he experienced many problems with the financial constraints under which he had to work. He became obsessed by the idea of filming - at however great a cost - a fierce denunciation of money. His 1928 film, L’Argent (Money), is a modernised adaptation of Emile Zola’s celebrated novel about the corrupting power of money throughout society. Influenced by the grandeur of Abel Gance’s Napoléon, the director envisaged a film on a huge scale that required thousands of extras and a budget of 5 million francs. Nicolas Saccard and Alphonse Gunderman are rival bankers who become locked in a bitter feud. Having nearly been ruined by his rival, the ruthless Saccard attempts to raise new capital for his company by sending a celebrated aviator, Hamelin, to Guyana to drill for oil. When Hamelin is out of the way, Saccard tries to seduce his wife but only succeeds in making another dangerous enemy and his fraudulent schemes lead to his downfall. Pierre Alcover is superb as the Melmotte-like Saccard and Brigitte Helm is sinuously sexy as wicked Baroness Sandorf. This 80th Anniversary Special Edition release makes Marcel L’Herbier’s late-silent era masterpiece available for the first time on DVD in the UK. The film has been beautifully restored in a transfer from the original negative, cut in the way that the director intended and with the film speed as projected in the late 1920s, each frame being displayed in its original aspect ratio. This restoration won the prestigious Best Silent Film DVD award at the 2008 Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy. Many special features include an introduction by French composer and pianist Jean-François Zygel (who provides a new score for the film); Jean Dréville’s 1928 film About L’Argent, arguably the first ‘making-of’ documentary; a new documentary about L’Herbier; archival footage of Brigitte Helm (who also appeared in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis a year before L’Argent) arriving in Paris for the shoot of the film; screen-tests of the L’Argent actors; a demonstration of L’Herbier’s innovative sound techniques; and an 80-page booklet with publicity stills, an essay by professor of French film Richard Abel, interviews with L’Herbier, and extracts from the director’s biography. This is a brilliantly constructed and grippingly told story that has a fresh resonance given the current financial crises. A marvelous film from one of the silent cinema’s greatest directors.
GET SMART - THE COMPLETE SERIES HBO VIDEO
Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart is a satirical American television comedy show that ran from for a total of 138 episodes between 1965 and 1970. A send-up of the James Bond movies, it starred Don Adams as the incorrigibly inept secret agent Maxwell Smart (otherwise known as Agent 86) and the delightful Barbara Feldon as his devoted Agent 99. Edward Platt played it commendably straight as ‘Chief’, the long-suffering head of a secret U.S. government spy agency, CONTROL, based in Washington, D.C. Constantly threatened by an international organization of evil called KAOS (pronounced chaos), Smart and Agent 99 are called into action to save the world on a regular basis and somehow always succeed. Other characters include Hymie the Robot (an android built originally by KAOS but now working for CONTROL), put-upon agents 13 and 44, and Fang (Agent K-13), a poorly-trained dog. Despite its intrusive laghter track, the series won seven Emmy Awards and was nominated for an additional fourteen, as well as two Golden Globe Awards. Its iconic credit sequence, absurd gadgetry and inspired silliness helped Get Smart become a cult that has produced four feature-length versions. This splendid 25 disc box set contains every digitally remastered episode of the shows five series as well as eight hours of special features that include the Museum of Television and Radio Get Smart reunion seminar, footage from Don Adams’ 75th birthday roast at the Playboy Mansion, audio commentaries by Mel Brooks, Buck Henry and Barbara Feldon, behind the scenes footage, and interviews with creators and cast. Get Smart is a witty and engaging time capsule that captures the essence of a colourful decade.
RAY WINSTONE’S FOOTBALL BLINDERS AND BLUNDERS 4DVD
Association football - better known as football or soccer - is widely regarded as the most popular sport in the world, evoking great passions and playing an important role in the life of fans, local communities and whole nations. The laws of the game are determined by the International Football Association Board, formed in 1886, and football is today played at a professional level all over the world. Millions of people go to football stadiums to follow their favourite teams and billions more watch the on television. According to a survey conducted by FIFA in 2001, more than 240 million people from more than 200 countries regularly play the game at some level. On this new DVD the Emmy award-winning actor, geezer and football nut Ray Winstone takes us on a journey through the funniest gaffes, craziest cock-ups and most brilliant bits of this marvelous - and occasionally ridiculous - game. Presented in Winstone’s usual no-nonsense style, the DVD features spellblinding goals, unbelievable blunders, brilliant free-kicks, nightmare misses, players going bonkers and moments of mind-blowing football magic. Ray Winstone talks about all aspects of the game and explains why it means so much to him. A treat for all fans of the beautiful game.
STORM BOY - SAFRAN BRITFILMS BFDVD1001
Based on Colin Thiele novel of the same name, Henri Safran's enduring 1976 film is an engaging story about a lonely boy and his pelican. Storm Boy (the excellent Greg Rowe) likes to wander alone along the bleak and beautiful coast of South Australia’s Coorong. He and his father, known to some as ‘Hideaway Tom’, live a reclusive life among the dunes that face out into the Southern Ocean. Storm Boy’s real name in the film is Mike - ‘Storm Boy’ is what he is called by Fingerbone Bill (charismatically played by the great David Gulpilil), a local Indigenous man who becomes his friend. After a pelican mother is shot, Storm Boy rescues three chicks, which he calls Mr Proud, Mr Ponder and Mr Percival, and nurses them back to health. His father eventually forces Storm Boy to release the birds, but Mr Percival returns. The story then concentrates on the conflict between the boy’s lifestyle and the externally imposed requirement for him to attend school, and the fate of the pelican. Sensitive and heartfelt, this marvelous film was made for $260,000 on location on the windswept, desolate beaches of South Australia. It won a medal at the Moscow Film Festival in 1977 for best children’s film as well as the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film in the same year. Touching sensitively on questions of race relations, ecology, family breakdown and ownership, this is a timeless, much cherished film that appeals to both children and adults alike.
MY WINNIPEG - MADDIN SODA PICTURES SODA079
 Guy Maddin’s acclaimed film featuring 86-year-old B-movie star Ann Savage is a surrealist quasi-documentary about the director’s Canadian home city, Winnipeg. This poetic, moving and often funny film explores the birthplace of personal mythologies, attempting to understand the nature of memory. Equal parts mystical rumination and personal history, city chronicle and deranged post-Freudian proletarian fantasy, My Winnipeg blends local myth with childhood trauma, all narrated with Guy Maddin’s usual entertaining and inspired energy. The film, which won the Best Canadian Feature award at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival, apes silent-era techniques; shots fall in and out of focus; and Maddin uses Super-8, 16mm, and even a cell phone camera to help drive his vision. Ann Savage gives an amazing performance as Maddin’s mother, and the director’s heartfelt commentary demonstrates both his fondness for and his frustration with Winnipeg. Mixing animation, archive and re-enactments in truly individual style, My Winnipeg is a fine example of Maddin’s extraordinary talents, providing ample proof that he is one of the most resourceful and innovative filmmakers in the independent film scene. Special features include an interview with the director at the BFI, Southbank.
THE CLOUDED YELLOW - THOMAS EUREKA EKA40285
This entertaining 1951 UK crime thriller stars Trevor Howard as David Somers, a fired British Secret Service who finds unlikely work cataloguing the butterfly collection at a country house occupied by an upper class couple and their beautiful but troubled niece, Sophie, played by Jean Simmons. When an obnoxious local handyman (Maxwell Reed) is murdered, suspicion falls on Sophie, who David has by then grown fond of. He helps her to escape arrest as they go on the run together to London, Newcastle, the Lake District and Liverpool, with the intention of leaving the country by ship. All ends satisfactorily following an exciting rooftop chase when the true identity of the murderer is revealed. With elements of Gaslight and Hitchcock’s 39 Steps, this neat psychological thriller benefits from having unusual and interesting characters. Jean Simmons is excellent as the fey Sophie and Trevor Howard brings a convincing edginess to the hero. The supporting cast of British actors includes such stalwarts as Kenneth More, Barry Jones, Richard Wattis, André Morell, Sonia Dresdel, platinum blonde Sandra Dorne and the inevitable Sam Kydd. Director Ralph Thomas went on to remake The 39 Steps in 1959, as well as many Doctor in the House and Carry On comedies.
BARAKA: REMASTERED - RON FRICKE SECOND SIGHT 2NDVD 3147
 Baraka takes its title from an ancient Middle Eastern word meaning ‘a blessing’, or ‘breath of life’. This visually stunning and inspirational film was shot over 13 months in 24 countries and is an overwhelming experience that spans the geographical, cultural and social diversity of our changing planet. A journey of rediscovery, Baraka is the power, the beauty and the rage of life itself. Often compared to Koyaanisqatsi (to which Ron Fricke’s pioneering time-lapse photography techniques contributed hugely), Baraka uses footage of landscapes, churches, ruins, religious ceremonies and cities, filmed with time-lapse photography to capture the pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity. Set to an atmospheric soundtrack inspired by various rituals and nature itself; the film captures the very essence of man’s relationship with the earth, both harmonious and catastrophic In addition to making comparisons between natural and technological phenomena, the film searches for a universal cultural perspective. Ron Fricke’s breathtaking masterpiece has been restored and re-mastered using the latest technology, with the original negative scanned frame by frame at maximum resolution so that this incredible film can be seen as never before. This stunning two disc special edition DVD release also includes a new documentary ‘Baraka – A Closer Look’, a feature on the restoration, and a soundtrack digitally restored and remixed. An unforgettable experience.
MRS MERTON AND MALCOLM NETWORK
Mrs Merton first appeared on The Mrs Merton Show in 1994. Wonderfully played by Caroline Aherne, she poked outrageous barbed fun at the likes of Debbie McGee (‘So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?’) and Bernard Manning. The character was given a spin-off series, Mrs Merton and Malcolm, an underrated and inky black comedy featuring the elderly but feisty chat show hostess in her domestic setting. She is the oppressively doting mother of 37 year old Malcolm (played by co-writer Craig Cash), who appears to be stuck in a time capsule. Apart from his physical maturity, everything else about him (mentality, intelligence, attitude etc.) seems to have frozen at the age of about nine. Also present is the neglected and bedridden, cruelly neglected Mr Merton - never seen or heard although Mrs Merton invariably carries out a one-sided conversation with him after tucking Malcolm into bed at the end of each day. Brian Murphy gives a scene-stealing performance as the wondrously forgetful family friend Arthur Capstick and Steve Coogan is a smug disc jokey on the radio, the voice of Malcolm’s motivational tapes and a vicar with Bugs Bunny teeth. All six episodes of this unique and darkly comic series are included on the DVD, complete and uncut. Marvel at Mrs Merton river-dancing, see Malcolm almost get a girlfriend and prepare to be moved by Arthur Capstick’s rendition of The Drugs Don’t Work. Champion!
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE - HOOPER SECOND SIGHT
In this controversial cult horror movie, partly based on the true story of Ed Gein, five college students are heading through the back roads of Texas in a camper van en route to their grandfather’s grave. Among them are Sally Hardesty (the excellent Marilyn Burns) and her wheelchair-bound brother Franklin (Paul A Partain). They pick up an alarming hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) who slashes both himself and Franklin with a knife. They manage to eject him from the van but soon afterwards are forced to stop at a sinister clapboard house, not realising that this is the home of the ghoulish Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and his demented family of cannibalistic psychopaths. One by one, the students are murdered for food until only Sally remains alive, held as a captive guest until she somehow escapes into the night pursued by Leatherface and his fiendish chainsaw. Her terror and screams are perhaps unequalled in cinema, even by the illustrious Fay Wray. First released in 1974, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre fully justifies its reputation as one of the scariest of American horror films. Brilliantly atmospheric and occasionally darkly funny, this classic horror film was the godfather of the ‘Slasher’ movie genre, influencing countless subsequent movies such as Halloween and Friday 13th. Its appeal lies in a gritty cinema veritè style rather than graphic depictions of blood. Despite its grisly subject matter, the film features a minimum of explicit gore (unlike its sequels and imitations) but generates mounting terror through suspense. Directed by Tobe Hooper on a meagre eighty-two thousand dollar budget, the production team saw only a small fraction of the profits even though the film was a huge success in America (it was banned in the UK until 1999). Gunnar Hansen and Marilyn Burns are particularly impressive and the final ten minutes are some of the most exciting ever filmed. This comprehensive 3-disc limited edition steelbook release features Tobe Hooper’s original classic remastered from in high definition together with brand new special features that include commentary with the director, cinematographer Daniel Pearl and Gunnar Hansen; Commentary with actors Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danziger and art director Robert A. Burns; ‘The Shocking Truth’ documentary; ‘Flesh Wounds’ documentary; A tour of the TCSM house with Gunnar Hansen; Interview with Tobe Hooper and writer Kim Henkel; ‘Off The Hook’ with actor Teri McMinn; ‘The Business of Chain Saw’ with production manager Ron Bozman; Deleted scenes, outtakes and galleries.
WHAT? - POLANSKI SEVERIN
 Widely regarded as one of the most influential and prolific directors of the past forty years, Roman Polanski’s work includes such memorable films as Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Tess and The Pianist. He described his 1972 psychedelic fairy tale What? (also known as Diary of Forbidden Dreams, Che?, Quoi?, and Was? in different countries) as ‘the ribald adventures of an innocent girl’. Critics called it ‘an amoral, depraved disaster’. The film stars the charming Sydne Rome as a young American woman travelling through Italy who finds herself in a remote Mediterranean villa inhabited by priests, pianists, perverts and a syphilitic pimp (a deliciously bizarre performance by Marcello Mastroianni, speaking English) while indulging in madcap acts of gang rape, sodomy and ping-pong. Hugh Griffith gives a typically ripe performance and other actors involved include Guido Alberti, Gianfranco Piacentini, Mario Bussolino, Carlo Delle Piane, Henning Schlüter and Polanski himself. More than three decades after its controversial release, What? remains the most butchered, debated and least seen film of the Oscar-winning director’s career. This strange, surreal and sexy comedy has now been restored to its original running time from a vault print reportedly stolen from the wine cellar of producer Carlo Ponti and is available for the first time on DVD. A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, this is an example of a genius losing himself inside his own cinematic mind to create a world where nothing seems right. Based loosely on Alice in Wonderland, Polanski’s dark comedy is bona fide cult classic.
THIS SPORTING LIFE - ANDERSON NETWORK
Director Lindsay Anderson’s gritty and powerful northern drama was one of the most notable films from British cinema’s ‘New Wave’ of the 1960s. With a screenplay by David Storey based on his own novel, the film takes an unflinching look at the lives of the working class set in the bleak landscape of northern England. Frank Machin is a miner who lodges with Mrs. Hammond, a widow. His competitive nature and powerful physique lead him to join the local rugby team. With a progressing sports career comes success - and perhaps a new sense of insecurity - which seems to make Frank harsher and cruder than he already is. But his inability to articulate his sensitive side only serves to alienate people further. The film features a career-making performance by Richard Harris with strong support from Rachel Roberts, both of whom are on tremendous form. This version has been taken from an HD print in the correct aspect ratio, so that for the first time it can be viewed on DVD as it was meant for a cinema audience. Special features include the original theatrical trailer, an extensive image gallery, promotional and script PDFs. and a commemorative booklet by film historian David Rolinson. Stylishly photographed in black and white by Denys Coop, This Sporting Life is a powerful and passionate masterpiece. Highly recommended.
BATTLE OF THE SOMME NETWORK
Battle of the Somme Battle is a pioneering battlefield documentary that was seen by huge audiences in the UK when first released in August 1916, while the battle was still being fought. Audiences hailed it as an opportunity to see the reality of the Western Front for the first time, and to share the experiences of the soldiers who were fighting there. The film inaugurated a debate about the on-screen depiction of combat that continues to this day, and is the origin of some of the most widely used and iconic moving images of the First World War. This digitally restored print by the Imperial War Museum’s Film and Video Archive and Dragon Digital Intermediate is a startling improvement on previously released video versions. Extras include an 36-page booklet, full orchestral score by Laura Rossi, a recreation of the medley of light classics, folk tunes, popular songs and military music recommended as an accompaniment for the film in 1916, interviews with composer Laura Rossi, Stephen Horne and the curators who worked on the project, and missing footage. Essential viewing.
HINGE AND BRACKET – DEAR LADIES 2 ACORN AV9678
Dr Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket inhabit a genteel English inter-war world of cucumber sandwiches, bell-ringing, church fetes and old-fashioned values, affectionately recalled through an act that was frequently decorated with double entendres. Hinge and Bracket were the stage names of George Logan and Patrick Fyffe respectively. The characters of Hinge (somewhat brittle and acerbic) and Bracket (more flamboyant) were elderly, intellectual, female musicians; in these personae the male Logan and Fyffe played and sang songs to comic effect. The ladies shared a house (The Old Manse) in the small English village of Stackton Tressel in Suffolk, where they employed an eccentric housekeeper called Maud and amused themselves with recitals of Gilbert & Sullivan, Noel Coward and Ivor Novello. This DVD features all six half hour episodes of the hugely popular Dear Ladies, series two, written by George Logan and Patrick Fyffe, as well as the hilarious Dear Ladies Masterclass. This was one of the most successful drag acts ever in the saucy British variety tradition of Old Mother Riley (Arthur Lucan) and Mrs Shufflewick (Rex Jameson), and this series reveals the ladies in their delightful prime.
ADDRESSING THE NATION BFI BFIVD75S / E
Established in 1933, the GPO Film Unit produced one of the finest and most impressive British collections of documentary, public information, animation and industrial film ever to come from a single UK source. A hotbed of creative energy and talent, it provided a springboard to many of the best-known and critically acclaimed figures in the British Documentary Movement. John Grierson, Alberto Cavalcanti, Humphrey Jennings, Basil Wright, Harry Watt, Edgar Anstey and Arthur Elton, alongside innovators and experimentalists such as Len Lye and Norman McLaren are some of the directors whose work embraced public information films, drama-documentary, social reportage, animation and advertising. Celebrating the 75th anniversaries in September 2008 of both the BFI and the GPO Film Unit itself, the BFI National Archive, in partnership with The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA), Royal Mail and BT Heritage, has curated and restored this legendary output of short films. Addressing the Nation contains 15 films from the period 1933-1935 and explores the unit’s early experimentation with sound. It features Basil Wright’s mystical Song of Ceylon and Len Lye’s A Colour Box; the critically acclaimed Weather Forecast; Coal Face - directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and Auden and Britten’s precursor to Night Mail. Other highlights include John Grierson’s poetic masterpiece, Granton Trawler, The King’s Stamp (William Coldstream), Cable Ship (Alexander Shaw and Start Legg), the 58-minute BBC - The Voice of Britain (Stuart Legg), Cavalcanti’s satirical Pett and Pott, and John Atkins Saves Up (Arthur Elton), a funny and surprisingly erotic exploration of the Post Office savings book. There are many other neglected works here, some available for the first time since their original release. They provide fascinating glimpses back to a time of steam trains, smoke and bowler hats, when the telephone was a novelty and clipped accents ruled. This invaluable double-disc box set also has an 80-page book and special features that include John Grierson’s recently-discovered On the Fishing Banks of Skye.
VERTIGO - HITCHCOCK UNIVERSAL
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was one of the twentieth century’s most successful film directors, pioneering many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. He made more than sixty feature films, from the silent era through to the talkies and the classic colour era into the 1970s. As well as being one of the few publicly recognisable directors, Hitchcock was also hugely influential with other film-makers, such as Truffaut, Chabrol and Spielberg, although he famously never won an Oscar. The psychological thriller Vertigo, made in 1958, is arguably his masterpiece and it began a great period in which he also directed North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963). Vertigo stars James Stewart as John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson, a retired San Francisco police detective who suffers from acrophobia (fear of high places). A wealthy acquaintance asks Scottie to follow his wife, Madeleine, who he fears may be going insane because she thinks she is possessed by a dead ancestor. Scottie is reluctant but agrees after seeing the beautiful Madeleine, played by one of Hitchcock’s famous cool blondes, Kim Novak, who here gives her finest film performance. Although Vertigo was modestly received when first released it remained one of Hitchcock’s favourites and has gained in reputation ever since. This 50th Anniversary Edition double DVD set features a meticulously restored print plus a host of extras, such as a commentary with associate producer Herbert Coleman and several documentaries and features that examine the making of the film. ‘One of the most painful depictions of romantic fatalism in all of cinema’ - Radio Times.
THE SIMPSONS: COMPLETE SEASON 11 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX 2251560
Matt Groening’s fabulously successful animated sitcom is a brilliant satirical parody of Middle American lifestyle. Starring Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie and set in the fictional town of Springfield, the show exuberantly lampoons the human condition, popular culture, society in general and television in particular. The family was conceived by Groening for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks and named after members of Groening’s own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became part of The Tracey Ullman Show before being developed into a half-hour prime time show that launched in 1989 and became an instant hit. Since then more than 400 episodes have been broadcast and The Simpsons has won countless awards, including 23 Emmies. Time magazine named this the 20th century’s best television series and it has become America’s longest-running sitcom as well as its most durable animated show. Following the success of The Simpsons Movie, America’s favourite dysfunctional family now returns with The Complete Eleventh Season on DVD. This ingeniously packaged collection features all 22 episodes featuring guest stars such as Mel Gibson, Lucy Lawless, Kid Rock, Tim Robbins, John Goodman, Parker Posey, Willie Nelson and Britney Spears. The many extras include an introduction from Matt Groening; audio commentaries on every episode with Groening and executive producers, writers, actors and directors; deleted scenes; animation showcases; original sketches; special language feature; featurettes, including footage of The Simpsons receiving their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Excellenttt...
MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT - ALEA MR BONGO FILMS MRBDVD011
 Memories of Underdevelopment (Spanish: Memorias del Subdesarrollo) is a 1968 film directed in Cuba by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes, who makes a cameo appearance (as does the director), the film’s style shows the influence of France’s Nouvelle Vague cinema at the time. Sergio (brilliantly played by the ultra cool Sergio Corrieri) is a wealthy bourgeois aspiring writer who decides to stay in Cuba even though his wife, parents and friends flee to Miami following the Bay of Pigs incident. Alone in a brave new world, under the constant threat of foreign invasion, Sergio looks back over the changes in Cuba, from the Cuban Revolution to the missile crisis, the problems of living in an underdeveloped country, and his relations with his girlfriends. These include the troublesome sixteen year old virgin Elena (Daisy Granados), who he attempts to mould into the image of his ex-wife. Alea was a staunch supporter of the revolution but his film is not afraid to provide an honest, raw and uncompromising analysis of the newly formed system of government. Through a moving blend of narrative fiction, still photography and rare documentary footage, the director catalogues the intricacies of the early days of the Castro regime, producing a stirring and enigmatic work that feeds from the culture of the very subject it is studying - Cuba. Hailed as perhaps the most sophisticated film ever to come out of that country, Memories Of Underdevelopment is a poetic and visionary tour de force that now makes its DVD debut in the UK. ‘A fascinating achievement’ - New York Times.
THE RONNIE BARKER COLLECTION NETWORK
The much-loved actor and comedian Ronald William George Barker was best known for his roles as Fletcher in the television series Porridge, as a wide range of characters in The Two Ronnies, and as Arkwright in Open All Hours. His skills as a character actor, his sublime facility with the English language, and his gift for comedy made him one of the country’s most highly regarded performers. Network has now released three DVD titles showcasing the versatility and talent of this fine comedian. In Hark at Barker, written by Alun Owen, Alan Ayckbourn and others, he stars as the doddering, decrepit Lord Rustless - hereditary owner of Chrome Hall and professional pontificator on whatever takes his fancy. Barker plays several roles in each show and is ably supported by David Jason as shambling gardener Dithers, the excellent Josephine Tewson as his Lordship’s secretary Bates, Frank Gatliff as the butler, and the statuesque Moira Foot as maid Effie. Pauline Yates also appears as a beautiful children’s TV presenter harassed by glove puppets. Six Dates with Barker was made in 1971 and had scripts by such luminaries as John Cleese, Spike Milligan and Barker himself (writing as Gerald Wiley). Each show featured a different story, ranging from the Phantom Raspberry Blower terrorising Victorian London to a far future where laughter is compulsory. Hark at Barker and Six Dates with Barker are available separately, or together as part of The Ronnie Barker Collection (three disc set).
TAKESHI KITANO: COLLECTION SECOND SIGHT
Filmmaker, comedian, TV host, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, singer, painter, university professor and one-time video game designer, Takeshi Kitano has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly distinctive films. When not working as a film director he is usually known as Beat Takeshi, the nickname ‘Beat’ coming from his days as part of a comedy duo called ‘The Two Beats’. His films are mostly exciting, violent, gritty yakuza gangster movies laced with dark humour and expressing a bleak or nihilistic philosophy, though beneath the graphic violence and melancholy introspection Kitano reveals a genuine affection for his characters. In 1989, after several comedy roles, he was cast in Violent Cop as a rebellious, sociopathic detective who responds to every situation with violence. When the original director (Kinji Fukasaku) became ill, Kitano took over and extensively rewrote the script. The film was a great financial and critical success and marked the beginning of Kitano’s career as a filmmaker. His second film as director - and his first as screenwriter - was Boiling Point (1990), in which Masahiko Ono plays a young man whose baseball coach is threatened by a local yakuza. He is befriended by a psychotic gangster played by Kitano, who further develops his idiosyncratic style involving shocking violence, bizarre humour and stoically shot ‘still’ scenes. His third film, A Scene at the Sea (1991) features a deaf garbage collector who, with the help of his deaf girlfriend, becomes determined to learn how to surf after discovering a broken surfboard while working. The film reveals a more romantic side Kitano, along with his trademark deadpan approach. Foreign audiences first began to take notice of him after the 1993 release of Sonatine, in which he plays a Tokyo yakuza, tired of gangster life, who is sent to Okinawa to help end a gang war. In 1995, Kitano returned to his comedic roots with Getting Any?, which mercilessly satirised popular Japanese culture. Following a serious motorcycle accident, he came back to make Kids Return (1996), a wistful tale about a pair of high school bullies confronted by a more skilled street punk. It became Takeshi Kitano’s most successful film in Japan. Second Sight’s brilliant collection features all six of these remarkable, entertaining films, with A Scene At The Sea and Kids Return making their UK DVD debut. Extra features include a 68 minute documentary, ‘Takeshi Kitano – The Unpredictable’, and commentaries for Violent Cop and Sonatine by Chris D, author of Outlaw Master Of Japanese Film. ‘An exceptional filmmaker’ - The Guardian.
JOHN SHUTTLEWORTH - 500 BUS STOPS CHIC KEN DVD010
 John Shuttleworth is an aspiring singer/songwriter in his late 50s from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, with a quiet manner and slightly nerdish tendencies. His musical talents are usually expressed through his Yamaha PSS portable keyboard, and include such greats as the classic ballad, Pigeons in Flight – a song which he attempted to have selected for the Eurovision Song Contest. Supporting characters in John’s world include his waspish wife Mary (a professional dinner lady whose hobbies include Step Class) and Malibu-drinking next-door neighbour Ken Worthington, who is John’s sole agent as well as an impresario. He was also TV’s Clarinet Man, traumatised by coming last on New Faces in 1973. John and Mary’s daughter, Karen, plays the recorder and their son, Darren, works for Victoria Wine (Augustus Barnett having failed to poach him from his employers). Not to mention Joan Chitty (work colleague and on/off friend of Mary, qualified as a physio some years ago), Doreen Melody (owner of the camper van which John and Mary borrow for their holidays), Julie Satan (Leeds based personality singer and client of Ken), Alan the Opera Singer (another of Ken’s clients, who sang on ‘Up And Down like A Bride’s Nightie’), Joyce (widow from Hope - keen on gardening but doesn’t have a garden) and Rhiannon (Ken’s ex-wife, who left him for a builder, taking everything but two wicker chairs). All these quintessentially English characters and more are the inspiration of comic genius Graham Fellows, who first came to fame as ‘Jilted John’ with a novelty hit single in 1978. John Shuttleworth and his hilariously mundane crew have featured in television and radio shows such as The Shuttleworths and Radio Shuttleworth, with Fellows supplying all the voices and performing his own compositions on the Yamaha organ. This four-part television series, 500 Bus Stops (a reference to Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels), is a no holds barred ‘rockumentary’ about John’s ill-fated UK national tour, filmed by the incompetent Ken. The early demise of John’s revered Y-Reg Austin Ambassador meant that the tour mostly took place by means of public transport, and the venues visited often fail to inspire. This is beautifully observed humour, gently poking fun at its lovable main character yet always aware of his tragi-comic predicament. John Shuttleworth’s other memorable adventures on DVD include EUROPIGEON (YREG1DVD), which documents his quest to enter the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest. This has a long list of extras, such as appearances on Saturday Zoo, ‘Catch The Fox’ on Packing ’Em In, John Does The Riverdance (remarkably well, as it happens), ‘I Don’t Want To Dance’ with Richard Whiteley, Later With Jools, The Paradise Club and ‘5 Essential Don’ts For Aspiring Artistes’. In ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVY (LAFFDVD0176), filmed live on stage at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire during his 2001 tour, John performs many favourite songs, old and new, and takes a serious look at such important issues as flooding, earthquakes, fleeces, Richard E. Grant and the little cardboard trays no longer found in Bounty bars. Brian Appleton, a rock musicologist and media studies lecturer from a college of further education in the Newcastle-under-Lyme area, makes a welcome guest appearance. In his acclaimed debut feature film, IT’S NICE UP NORTH (CHIC KEN DVD011), John travels to the Shetland Islands to test his theory that the further north you go the nicer people get - Shetland being the most northern part of the United Kingdom. He meets various real Shetland people en route, including a ubiquitous local tour guide, Elma Johnson. DVD extras include deleted scenes and a poignant animated short, Unaccompanied Lady.
LEOLO - LAUZON NETWORK
The Palme d’Or-nominated off-beat comedy drama, Leolo, is set in a gloomy and squalid tenement block in Montreal, where a boy lives with his dysfunctional, neurotic and highly strung family. His mind roams free and wild amidst the perversion and chaos that his family life throws at him. There is very little respite from the tidal waves of various problems that seem to constantly afflict one or more of the members of the family. To Leolo, these people might as well be strangers with whom he just happens to share a living space. He obsessively keeps notebooks in which he constructs a parallel universe. This dream world is beautiful, grand, and stars his first love Bianca, the sexy but remote Italian neighbour. A most extraordinary rites of passage film, director Jean-Claude Lauzon takes the audience on a journey that is in turn intense, funny, surreal and ultimately tragic. Leolo won the award for best screenplay at Vancouver International Film Festival and was named Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Film Festival. It features a strong, internationally renowned cast that includes singer Ginette Reno (making her film debut as Leolo’s mother), Julien Guiomar as the grandmother and Maxime Collin, giving an amazing performance as Leolo. Tom Waits features on the soundtrack of this audacious, lyrical and rewarding film, directed with passion and intelligence.
UNDER THE VOLCANO - HUSTON MR BONGO FILMS
Malcolm Lowry’s 1947 semi-autobiographical novel, Under the Volcano, tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, a self-destructive alcoholic British consul in the small Mexican town of Quauhnahuac (recognizably Cuernavaca). John Huston’s 1984 film takes on the formidable task of translating this complex book to the screen. Set on the eve of the Second World War in 1939 and starring Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Andrews and Katy Jurado, the film received Academy Award nominations for best actor (Finney) and best music (original score by Alex North). Under the Volcano follows Firmin’s final day as he stumbles through the town’s day of the dead fiesta, attempting to reconnect with his estranged wife Yvonne (Bisset). We are taken through one day in a life of alcoholic disrepair and obscurity. Firmin’s self-destructive behaviour is perhaps a metaphor for a menaced civilization, and is a source of perplexity and sadness to his nomadic, idealistic half-brother, Hugh (Anthony Andrews), and to Yvonne, who has returned with hopes of healing him and their broken marriage. Albert Finney gives one of the finest and most nuanced performances, described by critic Roger Ebert as ‘the best drunk performance I’ve ever seen in a film’. Huston’s film is essentially a one-man tour de force but Finney has strong support from Jacqueline Bisset and it’s always good to see Katy Jurado.
FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON - HSIAO-HSIEN NETWORK
Flight of the Red Balloon (Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge) tells the story of a French family as seen through the eyes of a Chinese student. Shot on location in Paris and commissioned by the Musee d’Orsay, Taiwanese arthouse director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s first western film is based on the famous 1956 classic French short The Red Balloon, directed by Albert Lamorisse. Suzanne, superbly played by Juliette Binoche, is a mother snowed under with her work for her puppet shows, the classes she teaches and the two children, Simon and Louise, who she has been raising alone since their father left. To help ease her burden, the frazzled mother takes in a young babysitter (Song Fang), who is a film student at Paris University. On his way home from school, seven-year-old Simon (Simon Iteanu) leads her through the streets and cafés of his neighbourhood and they are soon sharing an imaginary world in which a strange red balloon follows them, even in the exhibition space of the Musée d’Orsay. While Suzanne is involved in a court case concerning her annoying tenant downstairs who refuses to pay his rent or leave, Song helps her get a grip by adding a calmer Asian perspective to her frazzled life. Flight Of The Red Balloon is a leisurely, beautifully observed film that delicately explores the human condition. Network has also released two 1950s Albert Lamorisse classics on a single DVD: THE RED BALLOON / WHITE MANE. The Red Balloon (Le Ballon rouge), filmed in the picturesque Ménilmontant district of Paris, is a charming 34-minute fantasy in which a young boy called Pascal (played by the director’s son, Pascal Lamorisse) finds a large helium-filled red balloon while on his way to school one morning. The balloon seems to have a personality of its own and becomes his friend as they have adventures together. With gorgeous photography, brilliant special effects, haunting score and unforgettable ending, this is a treat for children and adults alike. White Mane (Crin Blanc) is set in the France’s wild Camargue region. Ranchers pursue wild horses led by the magnificent stallion, ‘White Mane’, who constantly escapes capture. A small boy witnesses the horse’s persecution and joins him in his fight for peace and freedom. This groundbreaking 1953 classic was a winner of the prestigious Palm D’Or in Cannes. view trailer
THE LIAR & JACKPOT 2 - KAURISMAKI BLUEBELL BLB020
 Mika and Aki Kaurismäki are a phenomenon of modern Finnish film-making. Aki Kaurismäki worked as a postman, dish-washer and film critic, before forming a production and distribution company, Villealfa (a play on Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville), with his older brother Mika Kaurismäki. After high school, Mika worked as a painter of houses in the small town of Kuusankoski. In the autumn of 1976, when the annual high season for house-painting was coming to an end, he bought a book on the history of cinema and decided to become a film director. He has lived in Brazil since 1992 and made several Brazilian-themed films, including his latest film, Brasileirinho, a 2005 musical documentary about traditional Brazilian choro music. Only about a dozen films are produced in Finland each year and the Kaurismäkis have been responsible for a fifth of them since the early 1980s. These have gradually grown in popularity, both at home and abroad, and some have acquired a cult following in the West. Mika Kaurismäki’s first film Valehtelija (The Liar) was made a diploma project during his studies at film school in Munich, Germany. An enjoyable pastiche of Breathless and other French New Wave films, it caused a sensation when first shown in Finland in 1981. Aki Kaurismaki, who wrote the script, plays Ville Alfa, a selfish young man with exceptional lying skills and a way with words. He spends his days hanging out with intellectuals, cadging money, trying to pick up girls and failing to write the great Finnish working-class novel. He treats most people, including his girlfriend, badly yet somehow remains sympathetic. The inspiration of Godard is evident throughout and the black and white photography almost transforms Helsinki into Paris of the 60s. This DVD includes Mika Kaurismäki’s short second film, Jackpot 2, as well as an interview with the director. Bluebell has also released Kaurismäki’s award-winning black comedy ZOMBIE AND THE GHOST TRAIN (BLB021) made in 1994. Described as part docu-fiction, part Hamlet-style tragedy and just a bit screwball, this unusual road movie tells the story of a fragile, aimless young man called Zombie as he struggles to get a grip on the world. Lost and drinking too much, he finds himself taking a desperate journey from Helsinki to Istanbul. Kaurismäki cast is made up mostly of musicians and they all give totally convincing performances, especially Silu Seppälä as Zombie and Marjo Leinonen as his girlfriend. Extras include theatrical trailers and a revealing interview with the director.
LA RONDE - OPHULS SECOND SIGHT 2NDVD 3143
Max Ophüls was born Maximillian Oppenheimer in Germany in 1902 but used the pseudonym Ophüls (the umlaut was usually dropped when he later worked abroad). He began as an actor but soon moved into production, becoming creative director of the Burgtheater in Vienna. He started in films as a dialogue director under Anatole Litvak and directed his first film in 1931 (the comedy short, Dann schon lieber Lebertran). When the Nazis came into power in 1933, Ophüls, being a Jew, fled to France, where he became a French citizen. After the fall of France, he travelled via Switzerland and Italy to the USA, where he made several distinguished films before returning to Europe in 1950. Most of his films feature characteristically smooth camera movements, with complex crane and tracking shots that have influenced many other directors, including Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Following the successful release of the first four films in Second Sight’s Max Ophuls Collection come two more highly acclaimed films. The irresistible La Ronde is an elegant adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s play of the same name. A series of character vignettes, set in Vienna in the early 1900s, is woven together by the Raconteur (Anton Walbrook). The starry cast also includes Simone Signoret, Simone Simon, Daniel Gélin, Danielle Darrieux and Jean-Louis Barrault. Ophuls uses an old-fashioned merry go round to foreshadow the film’s events, in which each segment introduces a new character, who then moves on to an affair with another as the carousel spins, revealing itself as the metaphor for the very nature of human relationships. La Ronde won the 1952 BAFTA for Best Film and was nominated for two Academy Awards that year. Bonus features include ‘Working with Max Ophuls’ (Daniel Gelin on La Ronde), ‘Circles of Desire’ (Alan Williams) and an audio commentary by Susan White, author of The Cinema of Max Ophuls. CAUGHT (SECOND SIGHT 2NDVD 3144) is an underrated film noir in which Leonora Eames (Barbara Bel Geddes in her best performance), thinking she is living out her childhood dream of marrying a man worth millions, marries the wealthy Smith Ohrig (the always excellent Robert Ryan), unaware that her new husband is a cruel monster who forces her to remain a prisoner in her own home. In an effort to escape her miserable existence she falls in love with society doctor Larry Quinada (James Mason) but only a miracle can free her from her life of lavish bondage. This magnificently photographed film shows the influence of Orson Welles on Ophüls’ work. DVD extras include a commentary by Lutz Bacher, author of Max Ophuls in the Hollywood Studios and a video essay by film historian Tag Gallagher. These are stylish, technically brilliant and hugely enjoyable films by one of cinema’s most admired directors.
ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS – VISCONTI EUREKA EKA40257
 The great Italian theatre and cinema director and writer Luchino Visconti di Modrone was born into a wealthy, aristocratic Milanese family in 1906. His privileged upbringing exposed him to art, music and theatre, meeting people such as composer Giacomo Puccini, conductor Arturo Toscanini and writer Gabriele D’Annunzio. At the age of 30, he went to Paris and began his film-making career as third assistant director in Jean Renoir’s Une Partie de Campagne. Visconti briefly visited Hollywood before returning to Rome, where he became part of the group associated with the journal Cinema. He sold some of the family jewels in 1943 to fund his first film, Ossessione, which proved a big success. After being imprisoned briefly by the Gestapo for allowing his palazzo to be used by the Communist Resistance during the Second World War, Visconti resumed his film career with La terra trema and the delightful Bellissima before going on to make such classics as The Leopard and Death in Venice. The neo-realist Rocco and His Brothers (Rocco e i suoi fratelli) was completed in 1960, when it won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival. This epic study of family, sex and betrayal follows the lives of a mother and her sons as they struggle to adjust to metropolitan life in Milan after moving from Italy’s rural south. The shock of the new is violent and immediate. The mother meddles, a whore beguiles, brother faces brother and blood-ties come undone. Claudia Cardinale has one of her earliest film roles and there are outstanding performances by Alain Delon as the saintly Rocco, Renato Salvatori as doomed Simone, and Annie Girardot, touching as the tragic Nadia. The fine Nino Rota score influenced Coppola’s Godfather films and the superbly shot boxing sequences foreshadow Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull. This double DVD in Eureka’s Masters of Cinema Series features Visconti’s masterpiece newly restored to its original Italian-language form of almost three hours. A host of extras includes newsreels from 1960, interviews with cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, Annie Girardot and Claudia Cardinale, the original Italian trailer, two excellent documentaries and a 40-page booklet. Rocco and His Brothers is a brilliant, complex and intensely moving film with some of the most powerful images ever seen, including the famously haunting final shot. Unmissable.
IRINA PALM - GARBARSKI SODA PICTURES
Marianne Faithful stars as middle-aged grandmother Maggie, desperate to provide a rare and expensive medical treatment for her cancer-stricken grandson. With all financial resources exhausted, Maggie knows she must take drastic action and when a ‘Hostess Wanted’ sign catches her eye, she naively stumbles into a Soho sex club. The true job description is a surprise for the respectable widow, even if she isn’t a prude, but the unskilled Maggie accepts this as her fastest way to raise the urgently needed cash. She adopts the pseudonym of Irina Palm as she satisfies her anonymous customers but keeps the money’s origins secret from even her own suspicious son. Discovery is inevitable though and Maggie finds she must confront provincial hypocrisy’s ugly face, as well as question her own morals. Also starring Jenny Agutter as a nosy friend who has had an affair with Maggie’s husband and Serbian actor Miki Manojlovic as the sex club owner, Sam Garbarski’s film has provokeed a wide range of responses. It received rave reviews at the Berlin Film Festival but British critics were less generous. Despite the occasional unintended laugh, this is a thought-provoking film and Marianne Faithful just about manages not to look glamorous as the widow with an unusual occupational injury. Extras include interviews with cast and crew.
UNDER THE BOMBS - ARACTINGI ARTIFICIAL EYE
Lebanese director Philippe Aractingi’s film is the riveting account of a middle-class Lebanese woman’s search for her young son amid the devastation wrought by the Israeli air assault on the country in 2006. Aractingi, who witnessed the bombing in Beirut, responded remarkably quickly to the Israeli attack and began shooting only ten days later, with just four actors and little in the way of a script. Most of the film’s protagonists, such as journalists, UN soldiers and civilians caught up in the devastation, are played by the individuals themselves. This, together with real-life settings and improvised dialogue, gives the drama a powerful documentary-like authenticity. Zeina (Nada Abu Farhat) is a well-off Shiite Muslim ex-pat living in Dubai, whose son had been staying with her sister in southern Lebanon when war broke out. She travels to her homeland to look for him, arriving on the day of the ceasefire, and hires a taxi to take her to the dangerous south. The driver, Tony (Georges Khabbaz) is a Christian and at first the pair seem to have little in common, but as their desperate search continues they grow closer and find mutual support in the chaos left behind by a messy, pointless little war. The film starts with genuine and frightening bomb footage and uses the resultant rubble as a backdrop. Director and co-writer Philippe Aractingi has made an exciting, affecting and compassionate film that is far more than an anti-Isralei diatribe. It was nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance and received the EIUC Award at Venice. The film’s two leading actors are totally convincing as they reveal this odd couple’s increasingly close relationship with great skill and sensitivity. DVD extras include interviews with the impassioned director and with Nada Abou Farhat, as well as two trailers and a stills gallery. Highly recommended.
TROPICAL MALADY - WEERASETHAKUL SECOND RUN DVD 034
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tropical Malady is a romantic psychological drama set in Thailand. The film is in two parts – the first being a romance about two homosexual men and the second part a mysterious tale about a soldier lost in the woods. Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) is a young soldier assigned to a post in a small town in the country, where he has to investigate the mysterious killing of cattle at local farms. One day he meets Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee) and the two men start taking trips together into the countryside. The film then suddenly shifts to a different story, about a soldier (played by Lomnoi) who is sent alone into the woods to find a lost villager. He encounters tigers and is taunted by the shape-shifting spirit of a shaman (Kaewbuadee again). This visionary film, originally titled Sud Pralad (meaning Strange Creature or Monster), exists in dual realms, exploring connected themes of love and desire in a radically different way. The conscious and the subconscious, the modern and the ancient, reality and myth; all become magically entwined in this hypnotic, mysterious drama. This strikingingly original film had a mixed reception when first screened at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, but went on to win the Jury Prize from a jury headed by Quentin Tarantino. It also won the 2004 São Paulo International Film Festival Critics Award and the 2005 Indianapolis International Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Directing. Lushly photographed, Tropical Malady is lyrical film with mesmerisingly beautiful images. Special Features with the DVD include Apichatpong’s 1997 short film, Thirdworld, an interview with the director, improved English subtitles, a stills gallery and storyboard sequence, and a booklet with an essay by film historian Tony Rayns. ‘A beguiling masterpiece’ - New York Sun.
LA ANTENA - SAPIR DOGWOOF DOG201
 Written and directed by the acclaimed Argentinian Esteban Sapir, La Antena (English: The Aerial) is dazzling and quirky sci-fi fantasy that echoes the work of Georges Méliès, Fritz Lang, Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. An entire mythical city has lost its voice. Mr. TV (played by Alejandro Urdapilleta), the powerful and weirdly-coiffed owner of the city’s only television channel, is carrying out a sinister, secret plan to subject all of the city’s inhabitants to his will forever. The film also features Florencia Raggi as singing sensation The Voice and Valeria Bertuccelli as her eyeless son who has secretly inherited his mother’s gift of speech. The boy teams up with his neighbour Ana (the charming Sol Moreno) and her divorced parents (Rafael Ferro and Julieta Cardinali) to take on the tyrant. La Antena is a visually stunning treat - made in monochrome - and silent almost throughout except for its musical score. The film was greatly admired when first shown at last year’s Rotterdam film festival and went on to become a considerable cult hit. Its challenging comic visions and bizarre originality have brought comparisons with Pan’s Labyrinth and the films of David Lynch, with a generous dash of German Expressionism. It is a thought-provoking allegory about the dangers of an over-powerful media and the horror of totalitarianism, zestfully and wittily told in an exciting and touching story. ‘Breathtaking in its audacity and imagination’ - Sight and Sound.
THE TOMORROW SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER: JOHN, PAUL, TOM & RINGO SHOUT! FACTORY
This 2-DVD set contains John Lennon’s last televised interview, when he spoke frankly with Tom Snyder on America’s The Tomorrow Show on April 25, 1975. No one then suspected that he was about to take an extended break from public life, or could have predicted that the interview would be re-broadcast five years later - in memoriam. This was on December 9, 1980, the day after John Lennon’s tragic death. The show also includes interviews with journalist Lisa Robinson and Lennon friend and producer Jack Douglas, both clearly still in shock, making this a poignant reminder of the aftermath of his murder and the void it created. This tribute to John Lennon is one of three conversations Tom Snyder had with the former members of The Beatles. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were each enjoying solo careers of varying success at the times of their interviews, and their comments provide further insight into the effects of Beatlemania, drugs and their futures. In his 1981 interview, Ringo Starr discusses his film and music career, as well as his band mate and friend John Lennon. It also includes a snippet of Ringo’s music video for ‘Wrack My Brain’ and a guest appearance by actress Barbra Bach (by then Ringo’s wife). The 1979 interview via satellite from a stage in London features a relaxed Paul and Linda McCartney, Denny Laine and Laurence Juber, who were then enjoying great success with Wings, as well as the band’s music video for ‘Spin It On’. There is also a slightly incongruous but interesting interview with the stunning Angie Dickinson about her film and television projects.
WHAT A CARVE UP! - JACKSON ANCHOR BAY ABD4481
 Novel proof reader Ernie’s Uncle Gabriel has died but in order to claim his inheritance the highly-strung Ernie (Kenneth O’Connor) must spend the night in the ancestral family mansion in Yorkshire with the rest of his eccentric relatives. Ernie’s imagination has been affected by his constant immersion in cheap horror novels, but his wildest fears turn out to be justified when the guests begin to drop dead around him. Written by Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton and directed by Pat Jackson, this very British farce is a successful blend of the Carry On and Ealing traditions at their best. Kenneth O’Connor is just right as Ernie and there is first-class support from a cast that includes the always brilliant Sid James, beautiful Shirley Eaton (soon to find fame appearing in a Bond film wearing nothing but a coat of paint), the sinister Donald Pleasence as a ‘zombie solicitor’, suave Dennis Price, Michael Gough as the shambling, Lurch-like butler (long before he became Alfred in the first four Batman films), Michael Gwynn, Frederick Piper as a scene-stealing hearse driver, a fleeting glimpse of an uncredited Adam Faith, and the delightful Esma Cannon as daffy Aunt Emily. Combining creepiness, laughs, suspense, innuendo and general silliness, this enjoyable romp is an under-valued gem waiting to be rediscovered. The film later inspired Jonathon Coe’s novel of the same name, satirising 1980s Thatcherite Britain and using the film to link together several plot strands.
FOYLE’S WAR - THE COMPLETE FIFTH SERIES ACORN AV9644
‘My name’s Foyle; I’m a police officer.’ Modest and courteous Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) is the lead character in this classy and highly-successful series set during the Second World War in Hastings. Foyle is a widower - quiet, methodical and supremely observant. Assisted by his determined driver Samantha ‘Sam’ Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks) and Detective Sergeant Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), he attempts to catch criminals who often take advantage of the confusion created by war to profiteer from the black market. Foyle frequently encounters high-ranking officials in the British military or intelligence services who would prefer that he mind his own business, but he is tenacious in seeking justice and regularly underestimated by his foes. Series creator and writer Anthony Horowitz named his detective after Foyles Bookshop in Charing Cross Road, famous for its archaic practices and its formidable owner, Christina Foyle. Christopher was the nearest male name to Christina. This three DVD box set features DCS Foyle’s three final investigations: Plan of Attack, Broken Souls and All Clear. In Plan of Attack, Foyle is reluctantly called back from retirement to solve two murders and decides to stay in police work until the end of the war. In Broken Souls, he meets Josef Novak for a chess game. Novak is a psychiatrist at a nearby military mental-health institution where Dr Worth is found murdered. Foyle is called in, having to delegate the finding of a missing East End boy to Sam. In All Clear - the last ever episode unless plans for the series' revival succeed – Foyle’s son returns, as do US Captain John Kiefer and the recurring character Hilda Pierce, played by Ellie Haddington. With its meticulously recreated period detail, excellent acting and intelligent plots, Foyle’s War is redolent with rich human drama subtly revealed through the lives of its main characters.
AZUR & ASMAR: THE PRINCES’ QUEST - OCELOT SODA SODA059
Acclaimed director Michel Ocelot has created this sumptuous new animation film for the whole family to enjoy. Once upon a time there were two children brought up by the same woman: Azur, the blonde, blued-eyed son of a nobleman, and Asmar, the dark-haired, dark-eyed son of the nanny. She sings to them and tells them many enchanting stories, their favourite being one about the Djinn fairy waiting to be rescued by a heroic prince. One dark day fate cruelly separates the boys. Some years later Azur sets out to rescue the Djinn fairy with the help of sparky Princesse Chamsous Sabah and a wily, scene-stealing scamp named Crapoux. Azur is reunited with Asmar but the boys have grown up to be rivals, finding themselves pitted against each other in their search to find the fairy. And so begins the Princes’ Quest - a fantastic adventure across magical, mythical lands and seas on a epic journey in which only one of them can triumph. The dazzling colour and design of the computer-generated animation is extraordinarily beautiful and this engaging story is full of excitement, passion and humour. There is also a timely moral about respect, tolerance, prejudice and open-mindedness. DVD extras include the original French-language version, an interview with the director, animation worksheets, a theatrical trailer and a gallery of stills. Best of all is an utterly captivating short animation called ‘The Princess and the Pendant’ made by Hartside Primary School.
THE LONG DAY CLOSES - DAVIES BFI BFIVD749
Terence Davies was born in Liverpool - the youngest in a family of ten children - and after leaving school at sixteen worked for ten miserable years as a shipping-office clerk and accountant. After attending Coventry Drama School he set out to become a novelist and actor before directing his autobiographical debut film, Children. The Long Day Closes, now released by the BFI on DVD for the first time, is a lyrical portrait of his own working-class Catholic childhood in post war England. Eleven-year-old Bud escapes from shyness by finding solace in trips to the cinema and in the warmth of family life. But as he gets older, the agonies of the adult world; the casual cruelty of bullying, the tyranny of school and the dread of religion, begin to invade his life. Time and memory blend and blur through Davies’ fluid camerawork; slow tracking shots, pans and dreamlike dissolves combine to create the world of Bud’s imagination and the lost paradise of his childhood. Music permeates the film, as dialogue and songs create profound emotional effects. The minimal acting is perfect, especially by young Leigh McCormack as Bud and Marjorie Yates as his stoical mother. Mocked by some of his fellow pupils as a ‘fruit’, Bud’s growing awareness of his homosexuality is handled with great subtlety in this elegiac, stream-of-consciousness masterpiece. DVD extras include a commentary by Terence Davies and Director of Photography Mick Coulter, an interview with production designer Christopher Hobbs, behind-the-scenes footage of Davies directing, and an illustrated booklet with essays, director biography and credits. The BFI has also released THE TERENCE DAVIES TRILOGY (BFIVD752), a series of short films part-funded by the BFI and now restored by the BFI National Archive. Children was made in 1976 and after this abrupt introduction to filmmaking Davies took up a place at the National Film School. He completed Madonna and Child in 1980 before ending the story of his fictional alter ego, Robert Tucker in 1983 with Death and Transfiguration, featuring a heart-rending performance by the frail Wilfrid Brambell. These uncompromising films, like those of Bill Douglas, explore many of the themes the director would develop in his later work. Made in stark black and white, Davies’ narrative slips between childhood, middle age and death, shaping the raw materials of his own life into a rich tapestry of experiences and impressions. Over the course of the films, we witness the emergence of Davies’ unique talent and style, the refinement of his technique, and the increasing audaciousness of a director growing in confidence. The films were subsequently screened together at festivals in Europe and the United States, winning many awards. Now available for the first time on DVD, with special features that include a commentary by the director, an interview with Davies by Geoff Andrew, and an illustrated booklet with essays by Derek Jarman and Jennifer Howarth. Because of funding difficulties and his refusal to compromise, Terence Davies’ output has been regrettably limited, making these new DVDs even more treasurable.
EUROPA EUROPA - HOLLAND ARROW FCD328
Set in the early days of the Second World War, Polish film maker Agnieszka Holland’s Europa Europa tells the improbable yet fact-based story of 13-year-old Solomon Perel (Marco Hofschneider), a German Jew who survived the Holocaust by concealing his identity, literally within enemy ranks. When Nazi thugs smash into the Perels’ house, Solly manages to escape with his family to Poland, from where he is again forced to run, this time with his brother. They become separated and Solly falls into the clutches of the Nazis. He quickly realises that his only chance for survival is to convince them that he is a pure-blooded Aryan, hoping that they never find out the truth. He poses as a ‘war hero’ and eventually becomes a member of the Hitler Youth. Based on Perel’s amazing autobiography, Agnieszka Holland’s beautifully photographed film is an epic drama that features fine performances, especially by the handsome Hofschneider as Solly and Julie Delpy as his frustrated lover. The director uses exquisite pacing to build ever greater tension and her screenplay for this unique and moving film was nominated for an Academy Award.
THE PATRICE LECONTE COLLECTION SECOND SIGHT 2NDVD 3141
The respected and versatile French director and screenwriter Patrice Leconte was born in Paris in 1947. While attending film school in the 1960s he began working as a cartoonist before getting the chance to direct his first feature in 1976. Most of his early films were comedies – extremely successful in France but little seen abroad. This changed in 1989 when the stylish Monsieur Hire was shown at the Cannes film festival and this radical departure from his previous work brought Leconte international attention. Based on a Georges Simenon story, the film is a psychological drama in which a girl is murdered and police suspect the reclusive Monsieur Hire. Living a mundane existence, his greatest pleasure is to watch Alice in the opposite apartment. Starring Michel Blanc and the beautiful Sandrine Bonnaire, this enigmatic tale of love and obsession is played with haunting subtlety and has an unforgettable ending worthy of Hitchcock. Since Monsieur Hire, Leconte has had further success internationally with films such as the lavish, Oscar-nominated Ridicule (with Charles Berling and Fanny Ardant) and L’homme du train, currently being remade by Hollywood. This splendid five-disc box set from Second Sight includes Ridicule and Monsieur Hire as well as three other films by Leconte: His passionate fairy tale, The Hairdresser’s Husband, the erotic Le Parfum D’Yvonne and the darkly comic Tango. Extras include a long and revealing documentary, ‘Leconte On Leconte’, and one of the director’s best short films, La Famille Heureuse.
GARAGE - ABRAHAMSON SODA SODA066
Lenny Abrahamson’s 2007 award winning Irish drama is an acutely observed tragi-comedy about loneliness and fitting in. Regarded by his neighbours as a harmless misfit, eliciting idle kindness, benign tolerance and occasional abuse, the gentle Josie has spent all his adult life as the caretaker of a crumbling petrol station on the outskirts of a small town in the mid-west of Ireland. He has a limited, lonely life yet remains amiable, relentlessly optimistic and, in his way, happy. Then over the course of a summer, Josie’s world changes when a teenage assistant, David, comes to work with him. They open up to each other and suddenly the lonely adult is drinking cans down at the railway tracks with the local kids. He is also awakened to needs in himself that have never been met as Carmel (perfectly played by Anne-Marie Duff) from the local shop stirs feelings within him that he struggles to name. He becomes even more aware of his essential loneliness as events spiral and and take a tragic turn, changing Josie’s simple life forever. Comedian Pat Shortt gives a remarkable performance as the good-natured Josie and Peter Robertson’s atmospheric cinematography lovingly captures the beauty of the location. This is a funny, compassionate and heartbreaking film, brilliantly acted and scripted throughout. Extras include a commentary by Lenny Abrahamson and the film’s writer, Mark O’Halloran.
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Mike Leigh studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company before becoming a theatre director and playwright in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he made the transition to television with classic plays such Nuts in May and Abigail’s Party. His projects begin without a script; instead, he sets out a basic premise, and lets the ideas develop through improvisation by the actors, who explore their character. The experimental Bleak Moments was Leigh’s debut feature - a haunting and disturbing study of a young woman’s isolation. Released in 1971, it won the Golden Leopard in Locarno the following year and is available now for the first time on DVD. Secretary Sylvia (Anne Raitt) spends her evenings drinking sherry and taking care of her mentally disabled sister, Hilda (brilliantly played by Sarah Stephenson). Lonely for male company, she meets a repressed schoolteacher Peter (Eric Allan) and the shy, guitar-playing Norman (Mike Bradwell), who has rented her garage to print copies of a magazine. Peter and Sylvia go out for a meal at a wincingly inhospitable Chinese restaurant while Sylvia’s annoying fellow office worker Pat (Joolia Cappleman) looks after Hilda. Back home, Sylvia makes an unsuccessful pass at Peter, who awkwardly declines and leaves. Norman then quits the garage, leaving Sylvia and Hilda once more to face the boredom and loneliness of their lives. Bleak Moments fully lives up to its title but there are undercurrents of dark humour that become more apparent with a second viewing. The unique Mike Leigh acting style is already in evidence, with a memorable performance by the Liz Smith in her first important screen role. A fascinating commentary by the director is included as an extra.
THE ESSENTIAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN DELTA 89149
 Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, better known as Charlie Chaplin, was born in London, England, in 1889. He joined Fred Karno’s touring stage company with his brother Sydney in 1908 (Stan Laurel was also a member of the company) and in 1912 the troupe went to perform in America, where Chaplin decided to stay. The following year, producer Mack Sennett saw him perform and took him on at the Keystone Studio, which already boasted such names as Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and the Keystone Kops. Chaplin went on to become one of biggest movie stars the world has ever seen, making an astonishing 35 pictures in one year alone. As well as being a wonderfully inventive comedy actor he was also a notable director, writer, producer and musician, composing scores for some of his later films. His working life spanned over 65 years, from the Victorian stage and music hall in England as a child performer, almost until his death at the age of eighty-eight on Christmas Day, 1977 . His principal character was ‘The Tramp’ (known as ‘Charlot’ in France), a vagrant with the refined manners and dignity of a gentleman. An unmistakeable toothbrush-moustached character wearing a tight coat, over-sized trousers and shoes, and a derby hat, carrying a bamboo cane, his image remains immortal and universally recognised. This superb ten volume DVD collection contains some of Chaplin’s finest films as well as ‘Chaplin - His Life and Work’, a loving and leisurely-paced documentary that includes film excerpts along with reflections on Shakespeare and Jack the Ripper. Titles on the other nine discs include Mabel’s Married Life, Laffing Gas, Face On The Barroom Floor, The Landlady’s Pet, The Fatal Mallet, The Knockout, The New Janitor, The Rival Mashers, Musical Tramp, A Fair Exchange, His New Job, A Night Out, The Champion, In The Park, The Tramp, The Bank, Shanghaied, A Night In The Snow, A Burlesque On Carmen, Police, The Floorwalker, The Fireman, The Vagabond, One A.M., The Count, The Pawnshop, Behind The Screen, The Rink, Easy Street, The Cure and The Immigrant. This collection forms a marvelous tribute to the greatest comedian of them all, currently receiving an overdue critical and popular revival. Highly recommended.
THE GREAT INDIAN WARS 1540-1890 DELTA 86240
The indigenous Native American peoples of what is now the United States comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states and ethnic groups, many of which still endure as political communities. The year 1540 was a crucial turning point in American history, when the Great Indian Wars were incited by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado when his expedition to the Great Plains launched the inevitable 350 year struggle between the white man and the American Indians. From that point forward, the series of battles between the United States and the Native American Indians began where blood was shed and ultimately tens of thousands of lives were lost on both sides. The Battle of Tippecanoe, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, all three Seminole Wars and the Battle of Little Big Horn were some of the most important conflicts that led up to the last massacre, the Battle of Wounded Knee, where America’s landscape would be forever changed. This comprehensive three DVD set documents the true and often heartbreaking story of America’s Indian Wars in the bad old days of the wild west, when there were atrocities as well as heroes on both sides. The bloody struggle between the white man and the American Indians is told in an informative, entertaining and balanced way that reveals the depth of this sad strand in the country’s history. Extras include a gallery of rare photographs and maps as well as biographies of notable participants such as Tecumseh, Colonel Custer, Black Kettle, Wild Bill Hickock, Crazy Horse, Kit Carson, Geronimo and Sitting Bull.
THE COMMANDER ACORN AV9671
Amanda Burton first came to the attention of British television in early episodes of Brookside and she has subsequently gained an even bigger following by starring in highly successful series such as Peak Practice and Silent Witness. Most recently, she has been Commander Clare Blake in Lynda La Plante’s gritty and well-crafted crime drama, The Commander. Clare Blake is a strong and capable police officer who has fought her way to the top of the male dominated Metropolitan Police Service. Hard nosed and in control, she investigates tragic deaths and mysterious murders while struggling to stay on top. The Devil You Know deals with a distressing case that arises when the body of a two-year old girl is found sealed inside an oil drum in a derelict mental hospital. As the search for the main suspect intensifies, Commander Blake is forced to make tough decisions while struggling to assert her authority. In Fraudster, a millionaire businessman comes to a suspicious end in his swimming pool days after being arrested by the Serious Fraud Office. The investigation reveals his hidden life, riddled with affairs, lies and deceit. Windows of The Soul sees the brutal murder of a priest on a grim and volatile East London estate. Suspicion falls on a talented fighter from the local boxing club but Blake and DCI James, excellently played by Mark Lewis Jones, find themselves at odds over the boxer’s innocence. DVD extras include: a biography of writer Lynda La Plante, cast filmographies and picture galleries.
L’AVVENTURA – ANTONIONI MR BONGO FILMS
Michelangelo Antonioni’s visually stunning L’avventura (The Adventure), made in 1960, stars the beautiful Monica Vitti and Gabriele Ferzetti. Notable for its slow pacing and careful composition, and for its unusual narrative structure, the film was produced on location in Italy under difficult financial and physical conditions and became the first part of a trilogy that also includes La notte and L’eclisse. The superb cinematography is by Aldo Scavarda. In L’avventura, a group of rich Italians go out on a small boat to a deserted volcanic island in the Mediterranean. One of them, Anna (Lea Massari), who had been the main character up to that point goes missing. Her boyfriend, Sandro, and Claudia, Anna’s friend, then try without success to find her and while looking develop a powerful attraction for each other. After they become lovers, they all but forget about the missing Anna. In 1962, this brilliant, subtle and enigmatic film - Antonioni's first international success - was runner-up in Sight and Sound’s poll of the top ten films of all time, coming closer than anything else to beating Citizen Kane. ‘A masterpiece’ - Time Magazine. Also available from Mr Bongo Films is Antonioni’s intriguing and mysterious IDENTIFICAZIONE DI UNA DONNA (‘Identification of a Woman’). Made in 1982, it tells of a Roman film director (Tomas Milian) who has relationships with two women (played by Daniela Silverio and Christine Boisson) in the course of his research for a new film. This is a welcome DVD release for one of the great Italian director’s most ambiguous films, which has links with earlier features such as Blow Up and The Passenger. Beautifully photographed by Carlo di Palma - especially the scenes set in a fog - this is essential viewing for all Antonioni devotees.
FORTY SHADES OF BLUE – IRA SACHS ARTIFICIAL EYE ART319DVD
 Legendary soul music music producer Alan James (played with great presence by Rip Torn) lives in Memphis with his beautiful young Russian girlfriend Laura (Dina Korzun) and their three-year-old son. They have an affluent life but Laura feels lonely, isolated and confused. When Alan’s estranged adult son from a previous marriage, Michael (Darren E. Burrows), returns home to Memphis for the first time in many years a dangerous relationship develops between him and Laura, until she is eventually forced to make a profound decision about what she wants from life. Writer/director Ira Sachs’s intelligent, cleverly crafted screenplay, together with effective cinematography and a great soundtrack (featuring the songs of Bert Berns) allows the story and characters to develop with an almost Antonioni-like slowness. The acting is superb throughout, especially by Rip Torn and the stunning Dina Korzun, previously seen in Last Resort. Her character’s inner struggles are wonderfully suggested in a performance that is both convincing and moving. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Forty Shades of Blue is a poignant story of three trapped, lonely people that offers no easy answers but reaches a hauntingly memorable conclusion. Not to be missed.
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