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Review Warner Home Video / The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Sharyn Hillyer
  • Leo G. Carroll
  • Barbara Moore
  • Robert Vaughn
  • David McCallum
Release date: 2008-10-21
Run time: 5620 min.
Creator: Robert Foshko
Price: £144.80

Review The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Network / The Buccaneers [1956]
Actors & Directors
  • Stephanie Connell
  • C.M. Pennington-Richards
Release date: 2005-04-25
Run time: 975 min.
RRP: £39.99
Price: £17.92

Review The Buccaneers [1956] / Network:


Review ITV DVD / On The Beat / Man Of The Moment [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Asher
  • Raymond Huntley
  • Esma Cannon
  • Jennifer Jayne
  • David Lodge
  • Norman Wisdom
Release date: 2003-05-12
Run time: 186 min.
Creator: Jack Davies
RRP: £12.99
Price: £9.49

Review On The Beat / Man Of The Moment [1962] / ITV DVD:

In 1962's On the Beat, Norman Wisdom's Pitkin, the most famous incarnation of his riotous buffoon character, is dreaming of something better as usual. Pitkin wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a policeman, but being decidedly on the short side, has to settle for washing police cars. Of course it's not long before Norman is impersonating an officer of the law. Wisdom also plays his nemesis here, the German General Schreiber, as well as the chief suspect in a series of jewel robberies which only Pitkin's chaotic antics can solve. Terence Alexander effectively reprises his character from The Square Peg (1958), and Wisdom regular David Lodge, previously seen costarring in The Bulldog Breed (1960), is also on hand, though otherwise the supporting cast is less stellar than before. By the time of 1955's Man of the Moment, Wisdom was firmly established as Britain's favourite movie comedian, his shy, helpful and good-natured "gump" character forever unintentionally causing catastrophe in the great tradition of Charlie Chaplin. However, while Chaplin ventured into politics in Modern Times (1936) for satirical purposes, when Norman's minor civil servant here accidentally becomes the UK delegate at a conference in Geneva the emphasis is on farce and pratfalls. The plot sees Norman sticking up for the rights of the fictional kingdom of Tawaki against less-than-honest government interests, while his new-found status brings the attention of the ladies, including the return of his Trouble in Store (1953) costar Lana Morris. Continuing his collaboration with veteran director John Paddy Carstairs, the film is a polished laughter machine that continues to entertain. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Network / The Adventures Of Robin Hood - The Complete Series 2 [1956]
Actors & Directors
  • Brian Haines
  • Jill Esmond
  • Richard Greene
  • Hubert Gregg
  • Ronald Howard
Release date: 2004-04-26
Run time: 975 min.
RRP: £39.99
Price: £14.57

Review The Adventures Of Robin Hood - The Complete Series 2 [1956] / Network:


Review MGM Entertainment / Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [1968]
Actors & Directors
  • Lionel Jeffries
  • Gert Fröbe
  • Ken Hughes
  • Dick Van Dyke
  • Benny Hill
  • Sally Ann Howes
Release date: 2000-04-03
Run time: 136 min.
Creator: Roald Dahl
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.99

Review Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [1968] / MGM Entertainment:

This remastered, pan-and-scan 30th-anniversary edition of that kiddie-car caper is flawed, but nevertheless a 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 is charming. 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 Vci Video / The City of the Dead [1960] (REGION 0) (NTSC) (REGION 1)
Actors & Directors
  • Dennis Lotis
  • Patricia Jessel
  • Christopher Lee
  • Betta St. John
  • John Llewellyn Moxey
  • Tom Naylor
Release date: 2001-10-23
Run time: 78 min.
Price: £4.26

Review The City of the Dead [1960] (REGION 0) (NTSC) (REGION 1) / Vci Video:


Review Warner Home Video / Pete Kelly's Blues [1955] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Nesdon Booth
  • Andy Devine
  • Dick Cathcart
  • John Dennis
  • John Booth
Release date: 2008-07-22
Run time: 95 min.
Creator: Arthur Hamilton
Price: £9.39

Review Pete Kelly's Blues [1955] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Warner Home Video / King Solomon's Mines [1950] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Richard Carlson
  • Deborah Kerr
  • Lowell Gilmore
  • Hugo Haas
  • Compton Bennett
  • Stewart Granger
  • Andrew Marton
Release date: 2005-01-11
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: Ralph E. Winters
Price: £9.28

Review King Solomon's Mines [1950] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Universal Studios / Easy Living [1937] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Gertrude Astor
  • Stanley Andrews
  • Edward Arnold
  • Jean Arthur
  • Luis Alberni
Release date: 2008-04-22
Run time: 89 min.
Creator: Boris Morros
Price: £5.60

Review Easy Living [1937] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Universal Studios:


Review Alpha Video / The Smallest Show on Earth [1957]
Actors & Directors
  • Basil Dearden
  • Virginia McKenna
  • Sam Kydd
  • Francis de Wolff
  • Stringer Davis
  • Sidney James
Release date: 2007-05-29
Run time: 80 min.
Creator: William Alwyn
Price: £2.56

Review The Smallest Show on Earth [1957] / Alpha Video:


Review Republic Pictures / Long Day's Journey Into Night [1962] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Katharine Hepburn
  • Sidney Lumet
  • Jeanne Barr
  • Dean Stockwell
  • Ralph Richardson
  • Jason Robards
Release date: 2004-05-11
Run time: 174 min.
Creator: Eugene O'Neill
Price: £6.44

Review Long Day's Journey Into Night [1962] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Republic Pictures:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Lost In Space - Season 1 [1965]
Actors & Directors
  • Bill Mumy
  • Jonathan Harris
  • Marta Kristen
  • Mark Goddard
  • Angela Cartwright
Release date: 2004-02-23
Run time: 999 min.
Creator: Irwin Allen
RRP: £49.99
Price: £36.39

Review Lost In Space - Season 1 [1965] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Lost in Space began life in 1965 as a science-fiction take on The Swiss Family Robinson. Produced by Irwin Allen, then in the midst of his run of spectacular-but-childish TV SF (before he became the master of big-screen disaster movies), the show featured a family of all-American space colonists cast away on a mysterious planet. Gradually the whole thing devolved into a silly (but sometimes fun) exercise in childish camp. This box set includes all 29 black and white episodes from the first season (with a burst of colour at the end of the last show-a foretaste of the garish look of the remaining two seasons) along with "No Place to Hide", the expensive pilot show that sold the series but which prompted Allen to revamp the whole premise in comic mode when network execs responded best to its unintended humour. "No Place to Hide" has action scenes that cropped up in the first six regular episodes but is missing several of the show's trademark aspects, most notably that infectious theme from Johnny Williams (later, John Williams of Star Wars fame) and the scheming presence of Dr Smith (Jonathan Harris) and his alternately menacing and comical robot ("It does not compute"). As the series progresses (or degenerates, depending on your taste), Harris's Smith changes from pantomime villain, a saboteur who is trying to kill the family, into pantomime dame, a panicky old idiot whose foolishness, cowardice and avarice are an endless source of plots. It mostly makes do with the regular cast plus an array of shaggy-suited, snarling aliens, but you do get sterling ham from visiting astronauts such as Warren Oates ("Welcome Stranger"), Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet ("War of the Robots") and a very young Kurt Russell ("The Challenge"). Stories about surviving on an alien world give way to lifts from fairy tale, myth and old movies as Smith gets hold of a wishing cap, becomes a giant, is chosen as a sacrificial king, turns the children over to an alien zoo, squeaks in fright as a werewolf approaches or is cursed with a platinum Midas touch. -Kim Newman.

Review Elstree Hill Entertainment / Bride Of The Monster [1953]
Actors & Directors
  • Loretta King
  • Harvey B. Dunn
  • Tor Johnson
  • Bela Lugosi
  • Tony McCoy
  • Edward D. Wood Jr.
Release date: 2004-05-10
Run time: 68 min.
RRP: £2.99
Price: £1.98

Review Bride Of The Monster [1953] / Elstree Hill Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / The Illustrated Man [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Claire Bloom
  • Jack Smight
  • Robert Drivas
  • Rod Steiger
  • Don Dubbins
  • Jason Evers
Release date: 2006-12-19
Run time: 103 min.
Price: £9.17

Review The Illustrated Man [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Whe Europe Limited / Il Bidone [1955]
Actors & Directors
  • Giulietta Masina
  • Franco Fabrizi
  • Broderick Crawford
  • Richard Basehart
  • Sue Ellen Blake
  • Federico Fellini
Release date: 2004-03-22
Run time: 92 min.
Creator: Tullio Pinelli
RRP: £9.99
Price: £0.25

Review Il Bidone [1955] / Whe Europe Limited:


Review Alpha Video / Scrooge [1935]
Actors & Directors
  • Maurice Evans
  • Charles Carson
  • Henry Edwards
  • Robert Cochran
  • Donald Calthrop
  • Oscar Asche
Release date: 2004-10-26
Run time: 59 min.
Creator: William Luff
Price: £2.49

Review Scrooge [1935] / Alpha Video:


Review Warner Home Video / Doctor Who Collector's Edition - Doctor Who And The Daleks / Daleks Invasion Earth - 2150 AD [1965]
Actors & Directors
  • Bernard Cribbins
  • Ray Brooks
  • Roberta Tovey
  • Gordon Flemyng
  • Andrew Keir
  • Peter Cushing
Release date: 2002-07-29
Run time: 158 min.
Creator: Terry Nation
RRP: £24.99
Price: £29.99

Review Doctor Who Collector's Edition - Doctor Who And The Daleks / Daleks Invasion Earth - 2150 AD [1965] / Warner Home Video:

In the mid-1960s, with Dalekmania sweeping Britain, BBC TV's Doctor Who materialised on the silver screen. Doctor Who and the Daleks replaced William Hartnell with Peter Cushing and remade the Daleks' TV debut with a much bigger budget in Technicolor and Techniscope. With his two granddaughters, Roberta Tovey and Jennie Linden (and Roy Castle along for comic relief), the Doctor becomes an intermediary in a conflict between the robotic Daleks and angelic Thals on the almost dead world of Skaro. A huge hit on release, the film remains an enjoyable, well-produced family adventure, though somewhat lacking the menace of the TV original. Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD remakes the second Dalek TV serial and finds the Doctor and companions in a ravaged future London where a resistance movement has literally gone underground to fight the Nazi-like alien invaders. Peter Cushing once more makes a kindly, dependable Doctor, though Bernard Cribbins is given a cringe-making comedy routine impersonating a "roboman", and the jazzy soundtrack is wildly out of place. Nevertheless this is a superior sequel, offering lavish production values, better action set-pieces and a higher suspense and fear factor than its predecessor. The best moments remain surprisingly chilling even today. On the DVD: Doctor Who and the Daleks-the first disc-has a fun, very well-made 1995 documentary running 57 minutes and recounting the production of both feature films. Included are interviews with various surviving cast members. [+]
There is also an affectionate commentary with Roberta Tovey and Jennie Linden, hosted by Jonathan Southcote, author of The Cult Films of Peter Cushing. Sadly Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD has no substantial extra features, but both discs include the respective trailer, presented anamorphically enhanced, and a DVD-ROM reproduction of the relevant cinema brochure. The mono sound is good and the pin-sharp, vibrantly colourful, anamorphically enhanced 2. 35:1 transfers are all but flawless, making both films look good as new. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Whe Europe Limited / A Walk In The Sun
Actors & Directors
  • Dana Andrews
  • Lewis Milestone
  • Lloyd Bridges
Release date: 2005-07-25
Run time: 117 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £5.89

Review A Walk In The Sun / Whe Europe Limited:


Review Sony Wonder / Sesame Street: Elmo's World - Reach for the Sky! [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Eva Saks
  • Jim Henson
  • Loretta Long
  • Frank Oz
  • Bob Schwarz
  • Bob McGrath
  • Jim Henson
  • Jim Martin
  • Jon Stone
  • Caroll Spinney
Release date: 2006-01-31
Run time: 60 min.
Price: £5.81

Review Sesame Street: Elmo's World - Reach for the Sky! [2005] / Sony Wonder:


Review ITV DVD / The Eagle Has Landed [1977]
Actors & Directors
  • John Sturges
  • Jenny Agutter
  • Donald Sutherland
  • Donald Pleasence
  • Robert Duvall
  • Michael Caine
Release date: 2003-04-14
Run time: 118 min.
Creator: Tom Mankiewicz
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.09

Review The Eagle Has Landed [1977] / ITV DVD:

This 1976 adventure story set in World War II concerns a Nazi plot to kidnap Churchill from his retreat-or murder him if need be. The Eagle Has Landed has a large, great cast and a director, John Sturges, who's been down this road of ensemble action before (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape) make this project exciting if not as memorable as Sturges's more famous works. The weak ending doesn't help. - Tom Keogh This 1976 adventure story set in World War II concerns a Nazi plot to kidnap Churchill from his retreat-or murder him if need be. The large, great cast and a director, John Sturges, who's been down this road of ensemble action before (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape) make this project exciting if not as memorable as Sturges' more famous works. The weak ending doesn't help. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Browse Classics:

Models & Brands:
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Buccaneers [1956], On The Beat / Man Of The Moment [1962], The Adventures Of Robin Hood - The Complete Series 2 [1956], Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [1968], The City of the Dead [1960] (REGION 0) (NTSC) (REGION 1), Pete Kelly's Blues [1955] (REGION 1) (NTSC), King Solomon's Mines [1950] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Easy Living [1937] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Smallest Show on Earth [1957], Long Day's Journey Into Night [1962] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Lost In Space - Season 1 [1965], Bride Of The Monster [1953], The Illustrated Man [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Il Bidone [1955], Scrooge [1935], Doctor Who Collector's Edition - Doctor Who And The Daleks / Daleks Invasion Earth - 2150 AD [1965], A Walk In The Sun, Sesame Street: Elmo's World - Reach for the Sky! [2005], The Eagle Has Landed [1977]

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