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Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / The Sound Of Music (2 Disc 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition) [1965]
Actors & Directors
  • Christopher Plummer
  • Anna Lee
  • Eleanor Parker
  • Julie Andrews
  • Richard Haydn
  • Robert Wise
Release date: 2006-11-13
Run time: 165 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £6.98

Review The Sound Of Music (2 Disc 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition) [1965] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Mary Poppins (2 Disc 40th Anniversary Special Edition)
Actors & Directors
  • David Tomlinson
  • Robert Stevenson
  • Dick Van Dyke
  • Glynis Johns
  • Hermione Baddeley
  • Julie Andrews
Release date: 2005-03-07
Run time: 133 min.
RRP: £21.99
Price: £9.54

Review Mary Poppins (2 Disc 40th Anniversary Special Edition) / Buena Vista Home Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / Gone With The Wind [1940]
Actors & Directors
  • Victor Fleming
  • George Cukor
  • Sam Wood
  • Ann Rutherford
  • Barbara O'Neil
  • Evelyn Keyes
  • Thomas Mitchell
  • Vivien Leigh
Release date: 2006-06-01
Run time: 224 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £2.49

Review Gone With The Wind [1940] / Warner Home Video:

Gone with the Wind is a sprawling mosaic of a picture, one of the best-loved and most successful in movie history, but also one of the most frustrating. Wonderfully epic in scope, the decline and fall of the antebellum South as seen through the eyes of feisty, independent and wilful heroine Scarlett O'Hara makes the first half of the picture an absolutely riveting spectacle. From the aristocratic old world of Tara to the horrors of Atlanta under siege, Gone with the Wind features any number of indelible scenes and images: the genteel girls taking an enforced siesta during the Twelve Oaks barbecue, a horrified Scarlett walking through the wounded, the flight from burning Atlanta, and Scarlett's moving pledge against a burnished sunset set to Max Steiner's glorious music score. But the second half shifts gear, the melodramatic quotient is upped yet further as tragedy piles upon tragedy, and despite its unwieldy length everything feels rushed. Add to that the central problem that the audience never really understands, why Scarlett could ever fall for weak-chinned Ashley in the first place, and the picture begins to unravel unsatisfactorily. Behind the scenes problems doubtless contributed, with directors coming and going, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable apparently barely able to stand the sight of each other, and producer David O Selznick's endless rewrites and interference. Nonetheless, this 1939 box-office smash remains one of Hollywood's finest achievements, an irresistible spectacle chock-full of the finest stars in the filmic firmament striking sparks off one another. They really don't make 'em like this anymore. On the DVD: No extra features on this DVD, which is a pity given the amount of material that must be available, but it has to be admitted this disc is worth the asking price simply to drink in the astonishing quality of the picture, sumptuously presented in its original 1. 33:1 "Academy" ratio. [+]
The mono sound is vivid, too, showcasing Max Steiner's headily romantic score. -Mark Walker.

Review Warner Home Video / The Wizard Of Oz [1939]
Actors & Directors
  • Mervyn LeRoy
  • Richard Thorpe
  • Victor Fleming
  • Jack Haley
  • Judy Garland
  • Frank Morgan
  • Bert Lahr
  • King Vidor
  • Ray Bolger
Release date: 2006-06-19
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £18.99
Price: £3.75

Review The Wizard Of Oz [1939] / Warner Home Video:

Like the Tin Man's heart, the true test of a real classic is how much it is loved by others. The enduring charms of The Wizard of Oz have easily weathered the vicissitudes of changing fashions making the film one of the world's best-loved, most-quoted and frequently imitated movies. It's now as ubiquitous an American pop-cultural icon as McDonald's, making judging the movie purely on its own merits an almost impossible task. Judy Garland's tragic later life, for example, makes her naïve and utterly beguiling Dorothy seem all the more poignant in retrospect. But this at least is clear: much of this movie's success depends on the winning appeal of Garland's "Everygirl" figure, who creates the vital identification and empathy necessary to carry the audience with her into the land of Oz. We always care deeply about Dorothy, her quest for home and the strength of her friendship with her companions. Garland's assured dancing and singing routines with her ideally cast Broadway comedy co-stars Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley are still endlessly delightful, of course, and the songs and score (by Arlen, Harburg and Stothart) are as good as anything in the Hollywood musical canon. It is Garland's deeply felt rendition of "Over the Rainbow" that is both the film's emotional core and the reason why adults as much as children the world over still respond so strongly to this movie. So long as people long for home and the love of their friends and family, the nostalgic appeal of Oz will never fade. On the DVD: another splendid digital restoration from the MGM vaults keeps this wonderful classic as vivid and alive as it was back in 1939, if not more so. [+]
The 1. 33:1 picture is clear and defined, bursting with the vibrant colours of Oz (you can even see the wires holding up the Lion's tail). Even more remarkably, because the original microphone tapes have been preserved the soundtrack has been remastered in 5. 1 stereo, thereby accentuating the lush tones of the MGM orchestra and Garland's famous singing. The disc is also chock full of extras, including outtakes, audio sequences, composer Harold Arlen's backstage movies, extracts from earlier silent Oz films, clips from the Academy Awards and interviews with the stars among many other fascinating nuggets. The new 50-minute documentary hosted by Angela Lansbury, and irritatingly narrated in the present tense, is oddly the weakest part, with too little hard information and too much padding about how everyone loves the movie. The only gripe is Warners' trademark cardboard slipcase, which is awkward and easily damaged. But this is still an essential disc for the young at heart everywhere. -Mark Walker.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Romeo And Juliet [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Pete Postlethwaite
  • Claire Danes
  • Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Baz Luhrmann
  • Brian Dennehy
  • John Leguizamo
Release date: 2002-03-04
Run time: 115 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.25

Review Romeo And Juliet [1996] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

While perhaps not the defining moment in the making of Leonardo DiCaprio's career, his appearance in this dazzling take on William Shakepeare's Romeo & Juliet back in 1996 did the careers of both Clare Danes and himself no harm at all. Perhaps the real star of the show here though is director Baz Luhrmann, who employs a frenetic, at times downright-brilliant style to the age-old tale of tale of star-crossed lovers. Luhrmann would go on to make Moulin Rouge a few years' later. From the off, his take on Romeo & Juliet explodes unpredictably onto the screen, bubbling with vision and originality, accompanied throughout by an excellent score and soundtrack that rightly spawned two spin-off CDs. There are sacrifices made along the way to support Luhrmann's vision though, with the text being stripped down to leave the core of the story in tact, and that's just one of a number of complaints that Shakespeare purists may have. And yet, perhaps more than any other attempt to bring the work of the Bard to the screen of late, this is an extremely accessible entry-point to Shakepeare's work. That it's also by turns breathtaking, dazzling and a sheer joy to watch doesn't harm its cause either. The two leads are charming, the support cast backs them up superbly, and the end result is one of the most interesting visual treats that Hollywood mustered up throughout the 1990s. -Simon Brew.

Review MGM Entertainment / Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2 Disc Special Edition) [1968]
Actors & Directors
  • Sally Ann Howes
  • Gert Fröbe
  • Anna Quayle
  • Ken Hughes
  • Lionel Jeffries
  • Dick Van Dyke
Release date: 2003-11-10
Run time: 136 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.39

Review Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2 Disc Special Edition) [1968] / MGM Entertainment:

This re-mastered, pan-and-scan 30th-anniversary edition of that kiddie-car caper is flawed but solid family fare. It retains a quaint charm while some of the songs-including the title tune-are quite hummable. A huge plus is Dick Van Dyke, who is extremely appealing as an eccentric inventor around the turn of the century. With nimble fingers and a unique way of looking at the world, he invents for his children a magic car that floats and flies. Or does he? The special effects are tame by today's standards, and the film is about 20 minutes too long-but its enthusiasm charms. The script was cowritten by Roald Dahl and based on the novel by Ian Fleming, best known for his James Bond adventures. -Rochelle O'Gorman Chitty Chitty Bang Bang entranced and thrilled children and their parents when it puttered into the cinema in 1968. More than three decades later, and despite the eventual arrival of a stage version that throws the full weight of blockbuster effects at the story, the original remains the real thing for fans of all ages. The flying car is the star and it's impossible not to feel a surge of thrilling relief as the wings kick in when she plunges over the cliff and soars off on her great adventure. The songs might not be the greatest in musical history, but they are delivered with great charm by Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts (a toned-down version of his infamous Bert in Mary Poppins), Sally Ann Howes (Truly Scrumptious) and the children. [+]
And then there is Robert Helpmann's child catcher, a terrifyingly sinister figure who exudes a pungent whiff of undiluted evil unmatched by any character since Dorothy squared up to the witch in The Wizard of Oz. Cameos from British character actors abound: Benny Hill, Lionel Jeffries, Anna Quayle, James Robertson Justice and Max Wall all put in appearances that add some fibre to the overall sweetness of the story. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the ultimate nostalgic confection for family viewing. On the DVD: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Special Edition comes to DVD in widescreen format with a Dolby soundtrack to recreate the authentic cinematic experience for everyone who remembers it from the first time round. The picture quality is robust, revealing some rather homespun aspects to the special effects. Extras are dominated by Dick Van Dyke remembering his time on the film, plus a short item on the origins of the car itself and various trailers. -Piers Ford.

Review Buena Vista Home Entertainment / The Jungle Book : 40th Anniversary 2 Disc Special Edition [1967] [1968]
Actors & Directors
  • Wolfgang Reitherman
Release date: 2007-11-05
Run time: 75 min.
Creator: Walt Disney
RRP: £21.99
Price: £7.98

Review The Jungle Book : 40th Anniversary 2 Disc Special Edition [1967] [1968] / Buena Vista Home Entertainment:

One of the very best animated films that the Walt Disney Studio has ever released (and the last to be produced by Walt Disney himself), and as downright brilliant as it was on its debut in 1967, The Jungle Book makes a very welcome return to DVD in this excellent 40th anniversary double-disc set. Based loosely on the Rudyard Kipling's book of the same name, the film tells the story of man-cub Mowgli, and the friends he makes in the jungle. And it's these friends who ignite the film, with some of the most memorable characters and songs that Disney has ever put on the screen. Kings of The Jungle Book are the likes of Baloo the Bear, King Louie the villainous Shere Khan the Tiger, while supporting characters such as Colonel Hathi are just as memorable. It's astonishing that it packs so much and so many into its relatively short running time. It's an amazing achievement too that The Jungle Book bristles with such energy and fun, and that it's just as likely to enthral the current generation of youngsters as well as those of us who saw it first time round. And when those songs start playing-from Bare Necessities through to I Wanna Be Like You-it'll take some effort to not start tapping your feet. A brilliant, brilliant film, and as vintage as the Disney back catalogue gets. -Simon Brew.

Review Uca / Camberwick Green - The Complete Collection [1966]
Actors & Directors
  • Brian Cant
Release date: 2007-10-29
Run time: 180 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.75

Review Camberwick Green - The Complete Collection [1966] / Uca:


Review Disney / Sleeping Beauty (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [1958]
Actors & Directors
  • Clyde Geronimi
  • Bill Shirley
  • Mary Costa
  • Verna Felton
  • Eleanor Audley
Release date: 2008-10-27
Run time: 75 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.98

Review Sleeping Beauty (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [1958] / Disney:

Disney's 1959 Sleeping Beauty was the studio's most ambitious effort to date, a lavish spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapted from the music of Tchaikovsky. In the 14th century, the malevolent Maleficent (not dissimilar to the wicked queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) taunts a king that his infant Aurora will fatally prick her finger on a spinning wheel before sundown on her sixteenth birthday. This, of course, would deny her a happily-ever-after with her true love. Fortunately, some bubbly, bumbling fairies named Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are on hand to assist. It's not really all that much about the title character-how interesting can someone in the middle of a long nap be, anyway? Instead, those fairies carry the day, as well as, of course, good Prince Phillip, whose battle with the malevolent Maleficent in the guise of a dragon has been co-opted by any number of animated films since. See it in its original glory here, alongside Maleficent's castle, which, filled with warthogs and demonic imps in a macabre dance celebrating their evil ways, manages a certain creepy grandeur. -David Kronke, Amazon. com.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Lawrence of Arabia - Two Disc Set [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • David Lean
  • Peter O'Toole
  • Donald Wolfit
  • Norman Rossington
  • Fernando Sancho
  • Claude Rains
Release date: 2001-04-09
Run time: 218 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £3.99

Review Lawrence of Arabia - Two Disc Set [1962] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

In 1962 Lawrence of Arabia scooped another seven Oscars for David Lean and crew after his previous epic, The Bridge on the River Kwai, had performed exactly the same feat a few years earlier. Supported in this Great War desert adventure by a superb cast including Alex Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole gives a complex, star-making performance as the enigmatic TE Lawrence. The magnificent action and vast desert panoramas were captured in luminous 70mm by Cinematographer Freddie Young, here beginning a partnership with Lean that continued through Dr Zhivago (1965) and Ryan's Daughter (1970). Yet what made the film truly outstanding was Robert (A Man For All Seasons) Bolt's literate screenplay, marking the beginning of yet another ongoing collaboration with Lean. The final partnership established was between director and French composer Maurice Jarre, who won one of the Oscars and scored all Lean's remaining films, up to and including A Passage to India in 1984. Fully restored in 1989, this complete version of Lean's masterpiece remains one of cinema's all-time classic visions. -Gary S Dalkin On the DVD: This vast movie is spread leisurely across two discs, with Maurice Jarre's overture standing in as intermission music for the first track of disc two. But the clarity of the anamorphic widescreen picture and Dolby 5. 1 soundtrack justify the decision not to cram the whole thing onto one side of a disc. The movie has never looked nor sounded better than here: the desert landscapes are incredibly detailed, with the tiny nomadic figures in the far distance clearly visible on the small screen; the remastered soundtrack, too, is a joy. [+]
Thanks are due to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg who supervised (and financed) the restoration of the picture in 1989; on disc two Spielberg chats about why David Lean is his favourite director, and why Lawrence had such a profound influence on him both as a child and as a filmmaker (he regularly re-watches the movie before starting any new project). Other features include an excellent and exhaustive "making-of" documentary with contributions from surviving cast and crew (an avuncular Omar Sharif is particularly entertaining as he reminisces about meeting the hawk-like Lean for the first time), some contemporary featurettes designed to promote the movie and a DVD-ROM facility. The extra features are good-especially the documentary-but the breathtaking quality of both anamorphic picture and digital sound are what make this DVD package a triumph. -Mark Walker.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / I'm Not There [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Ben Whishaw
  • Marcus Carl Franklin
  • Richard Gere
  • Cate Blanchett
  • Christian Bale
Release date: 2008-07-14
Run time: 130 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.98

Review I'm Not There [2007] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Unapologetically audacious, I'm Not There is more post-modern puzzle than by-the-numbers biopic. A title card sets the scene: "Inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan. " Yet the film features no figure by that name. Instead, writer/director Todd Haynes presents six characters, each incarnating different stages in the artist's career. Perfume's Ben Whishaw, a black-clad poet, serves as a slippery sort of narrator. The action begins with the wanderings of an 11-year-old black runaway named "Woody Guthrie" (Marcus Carl Franklin)-his raucous duet with Richie Havens on "Tombstone Blues" is a highlight-and ends with a silver-haired Billy the Kid (Richard Gere) watching the Old West die before his eyes. In the interim, there's the folk singer-turned-preacher (Christian Bale), the actor (Heath Ledger), and the rock star (Cate Blanchett, who has Don't Look Back Dylan down to a science). The chronology is purposefully non-linear, and editor Jay ! Rabinowitz cuts rapidly, Jean-Luc Godard-style, between cinéma vérité black-and-white and saturated colour, Richard Lester-like slapstick and Fellini-inspired surrealism (Ed Lachman served as cinematographer). What makes the picture fun for Dylan fans-and potentially frustrating for neophytes-is that every album and movie bears an alternate title. Ledger's Robbie, for instance, stars in "Grain of Sand," actually a reference to the Pete Seeger song. [+]
As in Haynes' glam rock reverie Velvet Goldmine, the trickery involves the entire cast. While Julianne Moore plays former lover Alice, a dead ringer for Joan Baez, Michelle Williams embodies elusive scenester Coco, i. e. Edie Sedgwick. If I'm Not There is less affecting than Control, the year's other big music film, it rewards repeat viewings like few biographical features. The soundtrack mixes originals with covers, like Jim James's heartfelt "Goin' to Acapulco. " -Kathleen C. Fennessy.

Review Warner Home Video / Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Tim Burton
  • Johnny Depp
  • Alan Rickman
  • Helena Bonham-Carter
  • Sacha Baron Cohen
  • Timothy Spall
Release date: 2008-05-19
Run time: 111 min.
RRP: £23.99
Price: £12.74

Review Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [2007] / Warner Home Video:

After years of rumours, it turns out that Tim Burton was the perfect visionary to film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway masterpiece, and the result is a macabre and moving musical movie as enthralling as anything Burton has ever done. The show's mix of gothic horror, Grand Guignol, very dark humor, and witty and beautiful music never was the stuff of traditional musical comedy, but it's a powerful work, and perhaps the richest of the late 20th century. In the movie, Burton's frequent collaborator, Johnny Depp, plays Todd, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 19th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber). Helena Bonham Carter, another Burton mainstay, is Mrs. Lovett, the barber's partner-in-unspeakable-crime. It's no surprise that Depp is an excellent choice to convey Todd's brooding intensity and volcanic rage, but he can also sing a score that is so challenging it has often played in opera houses (though not with the same style as the Broadway original, Len Cariou, and he occasionally lapses into pop style). Bonham Carter is small of voice and lacks the humour of the original Broadway Lovett, Angela Lansbury, but she sings on pitch, in rhythm, and in character at the same time, which is no small feat for a Sondheim show. Aficionados will regret the loss of certain musical passages-"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is just an instrumental overture and the chorus is gone altogether, among others, but the reassuring presence of orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and conductor Paul Gemignani ensures that the music feels right and sounds great. And the film's depiction of a Victorian London hellhole, with cinematography by Dariusz Wolski and costumes by Colleen Atwood, also looks and feels right. The excellent cast is filled out by Alan Rickman as the villainous Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as his seedy Beadle, Sacha Baron Cohen as a rival barber, Jamie Campbell Bower as the young lover Anthony, Jayne Wisener as his object of affection, and Ed Sanders as the young Toby. [+]
For fans of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp who don't think they like musicals, Sweeney Todd should be a revelation (though not for the squeamish, as the gore is intense and completely appropriate). For fans of Broadway and Sondheim, it's hard to imagine getting a better adaptation than this. The fact that there's no newly composed Oscar-bait song sung by a Josh Groban-type over the end credits only makes it better. -David Horiuchi.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Doctor Who - The Brain Of Morbius [1976]
Actors & Directors
  • Elisabeth Sladen
  • Christopher Barry
  • Tom Baker
Release date: 2008-07-21
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.98

Review Doctor Who - The Brain Of Morbius [1976] / 2 Entertain Video:

Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen join forces for this latest classic Doctor Who release. And in The Brain Of Morbius, the pair find themselves on the planet Karn, where they encounter not only the mysterious Sisterhood, but also a scientist by the name of Solon. Solon, it turns out, is a bit of a problem, as he's busy trying to find the parts, Frankenstein-style, to put together a new body for Morbius. Morbius-you still following this?-is a once-executed criminal Time Lord, who now only exists in brain form. Hence, as you probably put together, The Brain Of Morbius, a story that digs into the Time Lords a little, and also makes for an entertaining four episodes. The adventure is best taken in the spirit of old-style Doctor Who, as it's a lot of fun, with the odd logic gap that you need to cut it a little bit of slack for. And, to be fair, some of the sequences really make the most of the comparably tiny budget, to very good effect. Backed by an excellent supporting cast, The Brain Of Morbius is a welcome Doctor Who release, and an ambitious, engaging story from the mid-1970s. Coupled with good extra features, it's well worth your time, whether old Who fan or new. -Jon Foster.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Grease [1978]
Actors & Directors
  • Stockard Channing
  • John Travolta
  • Jeff Conaway
  • Randal Kleiser
  • Barry Pearl
  • Olivia Newton-John
Release date: 2002-09-23
Run time: 105 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.57

Review Grease [1978] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Grease was a phenomenal hit with its target teenage audience when it was released in 1977. The songs dominated the pop charts and brought heady success for its lead actors, John Travolta (Danny) and Olivia Newton-John (Sandy) despite the fact that-as with their energetic co-stars-their own teenage years were some way behind them. As they seize the chance to relive their schooldays, their verve and enthusiasm explodes from the screen. The real class, though, comes from Stockard Channing as feisty Rizzo and, in a couple of cameos, wisecracking silver screen actresses from yesteryear Eve Arden and Joan Blondel. Based on the 1972 stage show and adding several new numbers, Grease is at heart a rites-of-passage movie with plenty of feel-good moments and a euphoric buzz. "You're the One That I Want", "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights" became the soundtrack for a generation of high-school students on the cusp of adulthood. Today, it looks like a pastiche of those 1950s Connie Francis rock & roll beach films. But the steady stream of double entendres and knowing body language render it more accessible to the less innocent late 1970s. It's overwhelming nostalgia for anyone in the vicinity of 40. On the DVD: The 25th anniversary special edition of Grease rolls back the years: the 2. [+]
35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation transports you instantly back to fifth-form heaven in the local fleapit. The Dolby Digital 5. 1 surround sound ensures that the songs-ever the staple of MOR radio-complete the nostalgia trip with real zip. The main extra is a short series of fond reminiscences from the actors and director Randal Kleiser, actually filmed for the 20th anniversary. -Piers Ford.

Review Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm / Dumbo (Special Edition) [1941]
Actors & Directors
  • Ben Sharpsteen
Release date: 2007-05-07
Run time: 64 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £6.74

Review Dumbo (Special Edition) [1941] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:


Review Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm / 101 Dalmatians Platinum Edition [1961]
Actors & Directors
  • Ben Wright
  • Cate Bauer
  • Rod Taylor
  • Betty Lou Gerson
  • Wolfgang Reitherman
  • Lisa Daniels
  • Hamilton Luske
  • Clyde Geronimi
Release date: 2008-03-03
Run time: 79 min.
RRP: £21.99
Price: £7.97

Review 101 Dalmatians Platinum Edition [1961] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:

Back in 1961, Walt Disney got a little hip with 101 Dalmatians, making use of that flat Saturday morning cartoon style that had become so popular. The result is a kitschy change in animation and story. Pongo and Perdita are two lonely Dalmatians who meet in a London park and arrange for their pet humans to marry so they can live together and raise a family. They become proud parents of 15 pups, who are stolen by the dastardly Cruella De Vil, who wants to make a fur coat out of them. Cruella has become the most popular villain in all of Disney-she is flamboyantly nasty and lots of fun. But it is the Dalmatians who shine in this endearing classic, particularly those precocious pups. Telling the story from the dogs' point of view is a clever conceit, a fundamental flaw of Disney's 1996 live-action remake. -Bill Desowitz Disney may throw around the word 'classic' with a little too much abandon when it comes to some of its animated releases, but its take on 101 Dalmatians is very much the real deal. With lively songs, a terrifically-realised story and one of its very best villains, it remains a towering achievement, over four decades since it first appeared. The story of 101 Dalmatians starts with the two heroes of the tale, Pongo and Perdita. [+]
But when their litter of dalamatian puppies is dognapped by the evil Cruella De Vil's cronies, the pair must spring into action to save their offspring before Cruella gets herself the new coat that she desires. But while Pongo and Perdita may be the pair you end up rooting for, the undoubted star of 101 Dalmatians is Cruella De Vil. A wonderfully twisted, genuinely nasty villainess, she's an astounding creation and adds a real menace to the film. That said, it's not a downbeat or scary tale: toe-tapping musical numbers, plenty of imagination and a good few chuckles make up the rest of the ingredients, and rarely have they all come together quite so well as they do here. Retold by Disney in live action form in 1996, it's nonetheless its animated take on 101 Dalmatians that remains the definitive filmed version. And now packed into a special collectors' DVD set, there's never been a better reason to treat your family to a copy. Unmissable, and a reminder of why Disney's reputation in this field is quite so towering. -Simon Brew.

Review MGM Entertainment / Twelve Angry Men [1957]
Actors & Directors
  • E.G. Marshall
  • Martin Balsam
  • John Fiedler
  • Lee J. Cobb
  • Sidney Lumet
  • Jack Klugman
Release date: 2001-03-19
Run time: 112 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.25

Review Twelve Angry Men [1957] / MGM Entertainment:

Sidney Lumet's directorial debut Twelve Angry Men remains a tense, atmospheric (though slightly manipulative and stagey) courtroom thriller, in which the viewer never sees a trial and the only action is verbal. As he does in his later corruption commentaries such as Serpico or Q & A, Lumet focuses on the lonely one-man battles of a protagonist whose ethics alienate him from the rest of jaded society. As the film opens, the seemingly open-and-shut trial of a young Puerto Rican accused of murdering his father with a knife has just concluded and the 12-man jury retires to their microscopic, sweltering quarters to decide the verdict. When the votes are counted, 11 men rule guilty, while one-played by Henry Fonda, again typecast as another liberal, truth-seeking hero-doubts the obvious. Stressing the idea of "reasonable doubt", Fonda slowly chips away at the jury, who represent a microcosm of white, male society-exposing the prejudices and preconceptions that directly influence the other jurors' snap judgments. The tight script by Reginald Rose (based on his own teleplay) presents each juror vividly using detailed soliloquies, all which are expertly performed by the film's flawless cast. Still, it's Lumet's claustrophobic direction-all sweaty close-ups and cramped compositions within a one-room setting-that really transforms this contrived story into an explosive and compelling nail-biter. -Dave McCoy, Amazon. com.

Review Cinderella / Cinderella (Special Edition) [1950]
Release date: 2005-10-24
Run time: 62 min.
RRP: £21.99
Price: £7.87

Review Cinderella (Special Edition) [1950] / Cinderella:

Worry not, Disney fans-this special edition DVD of the beloved Cinderella won't turn into a pumpkin at the strike of midnight. One of the most enduring animated films of all time, the Disney-fied adaptation of the gory Brothers Grimm fairy tale became a classic in its own right, thanks to some memorable tunes (including "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," and the title song) and some endearingly cute comic relief. We all know the story-the wicked stepmother and stepsisters simply won't have it, this uppity Cinderella thinking she's going to a ball designed to find the handsome prince an appropriate sweetheart, but perseverance, animal buddies, and a well-timed entrance by a fairy godmother make sure things turn out all right. There are a few striking sequences of pure animation-for example, Cinderella is reflected in bubbles drifting through the air-and the design is rich and evocative throughout. It's a simple story padded here agreeably with comic business, particularly Cinderella's rodent pals (dressed up conspicuously like the dwarf sidekicks of another famous Disney heroine) and their misadventures with a wretched cat named Lucifer. There's also much harrumphing and exposition spouting by the King and the Grand Duke. It's a much simpler and more graceful work than the more frenetically paced animated films of today, which makes it simultaneously quaint and highly gratifying. -David Kronke, Amazon. com.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Doctor Who - The Trial Of A Time Lord [1986] [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • Colin Baker
Release date: 2008-09-29
Run time: 349 min.
RRP: £49.99
Price: £37.49

Review Doctor Who - The Trial Of A Time Lord [1986] [1963] / 2 Entertain Video:

Few of Doctor Who's long-standing fans will tell you that The Trial Of A Time Lord is a story that hits their top ten list, and with good reason. A 14-episode opus that formed an entire series of Colin Baker's reign in the Tardis, it's a patchy production, that does have some qualities to it, but is probably one for the hardened Who fan rather than the casual viewer. The key to the story is that the Doctor is on trial, facing a potential death penalty, and the courtroom saga works as a backdrop to a collection of stories that sit on top. So there's The Mysterious Planet, which is a decent enough yarn, the weak and puzzling Mindwarp, the surprisingly enjoyable Terror Of The Vervoids, and then the twisty The Ultimate Foe. While The Trial Of A Time Lord does have a few notable missteps, with some occasionally muddled writing, and while it does introduce arguably the worst companion the Doctor has ever travelled with (Bonnie Langford's Mel), it's still a fascinating series to watch, warts and all. Fortunately, it's backed by a substantive collection of extras, including numerous commentaries and documentaries, that provide an honest glance back at a story that arrived in the midst of one of Doctor Who's most troubled periods. All that, ultimately, makes it a worthwhile purchase for Who fans, even if after reacquainting themselves with it, they're still not likely to put The Trial Of A Time Lord near their aforementioned top ten list… -Jon Foster.

Review Uca / Trumpton - The Complete Collection [1967]
Actors & Directors
  • Brian Cant
Release date: 2007-10-29
Run time: 180 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £4.87

Review Trumpton - The Complete Collection [1967] / Uca:


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