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Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Belles Of St Trinians [1954]
Actors & Directors
  • Alastair Sim
  • George Cole
  • Frank Launder
  • Beryl Reid
  • Joyce Grenfell
  • Hermione Baddeley
Release date: 2007-01-01
Run time: 87 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.98

Review Belles Of St Trinians [1954] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Second Sight Films Ltd. / Hellzapoppin' [1942]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Paige
  • Ole Olsen
  • H. C. Potter
  • Hugh Herbert
  • Martha Raye
  • Chic Johnson
Release date: 2007-02-05
Run time: 80 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £4.71

Review Hellzapoppin' [1942] / Second Sight Films Ltd.:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Father Goose [1964]
Actors & Directors
  • Leslie Caron
  • Ralph Nelson
  • Cary Grant
  • Trevor Howard
Release date: 2007-05-04
Run time: 112 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £7.02

Review Father Goose [1964] / Universal Pictures UK:

Cary Grant's penultimate feature before retirement was this cheerful 1964 effort to overturn his career-long image of urbane sophistication. As the unshaven, messy misanthrope Walter Eckland, a World War II-era beach bum who monitors Japanese air activity for the Australian navy in exchange for booze, Grant makes a convincingly hard-bitten, hard-drinking antihero. Until, that is, a pretty French schoolmistress (Leslie Caron) and her seven little charges (all girls) survive a nearby plane crash and invade Eckland's raunchy isolation. Directed by 1960s hit-maker Ralph Nelson (The Lilies of the Field, Charly), Father Goose is a glossy comedy that also does justice to its more suspenseful scenes (a deadly snakebite suffered by Caron's character is especially memorable) and leaves plenty of room for Grant to indulge in some entertaining if atypical screen behaviour. All in all, this is a minor treat in the actor's magnificent filmography. -Tom Keogh.

Review Network / The League Of Gentlemen - Special Edition [1960]
Actors & Directors
  • Roger Livesey
  • Richard Attenborough
  • Nigel Patrick
  • Jack Hawkins
  • Bryan Forbes
  • Basil Dearden
Release date: 2007-01-29
Run time: 115 min.
Creator: John Boland
RRP: £14.99
Price: £6.46

Review The League Of Gentlemen - Special Edition [1960] / Network:

The League of Gentlemen is a sardonic crime drama in which Jack Hawkins plays an embittered retired army officer who recruits seven fellow ex-soldiers to carry out a bank raid with military precision. The film presents an England between post-war austerity and the more liberated 1960s where traditional moral certainties were rapidly being discarded; a London where ex-officers left on the scrapheap at war's end could justify turning their military experience to armed robbery. Unfortunately the tale is neither particularly amusing or thrilling, with an overlong central detour via an army camp prefacing the exciting heist and a largely anti-climactic ending. Nevertheless Hawkins effectively subverts his heroic officer type from The Cruel Sea (1953) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and there's excellent support from a great cast including Nigel Patrick, Richard Attenborough and Roger Livesey. Bryan Forbes not only wrote the cynical screenplay but costarred with wife Nanette Newman in her first significant screen role. More influential than truly classic, The League of Gentlemen has lent its name to a modern BBC comedy, an "Extraordinary" comic strip-turned-movie, and proved the template for heist films ever since, including both versions of The Italian Job (1969 and 2003). On the DVD:The League of Gentlemen is presented in an anamorphically enhanced 16:9 transfer from an excellent condition print and mostly looks and sounds fine. There's minimal print damage, though sadly Philip Green's ironically patriotic main title music suffers from significant distortion. The only extra is the original trailer, which is now something of a period piece itself. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Network / Till Death Us Do Part [1972] [1965]
Actors & Directors
  • Alfie Bass
  • Colin Strong
  • Patricia Hayes
  • Douglas Argent
  • Hugh Lloyd
  • Dandy Nichols
  • Pat Coombs
Release date: 2004-01-26
Run time: 225 min.
Creator: Johnny Speight
RRP: £15.99
Price: £14.99

Review Till Death Us Do Part [1972] [1965] / Network:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Marlene Dietrich
Actors & Directors
  • Mischa Auer
  • Josef von Sternberg
  • Charles Winninger
  • Marlene Dietrich
  • James Stewart
  • Clive Brook
  • George Marshall
Release date: 2006-08-28
Creator: Max Brand
RRP: £49.99
Price: £9.93

Review Marlene Dietrich / Universal Pictures UK:


Review ITV DVD / Blithe Spirit [1945]
Actors & Directors
  • David Lean
  • Margaret Rutherford
  • Kay Hammond
  • Constance Cummings
  • Rex Harrison
  • Hugh Wakefield
Release date: 2003-05-12
Run time: 91 min.
Creator: Anthony Havelock-Allan
RRP: £9.99
Price: £7.61

Review Blithe Spirit [1945] / ITV DVD:

Noel Coward's favourite play, Blithe Spirit, was certainly a departure for David Lean, best known at the time for adapting Dickens. While it's the director's only comedy, the result is a delightful gem. Rex Harrison is an acerbic author haunted by the ghost of first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond), who tries to seduce him all over again. This throws his second wife (Constance Cummings) into a panic, second-guessing her lack of passion. It's a celestial sex romp that hasn't lost its bite. Margaret Rutherford, as always, steals the show as the sardonic medium. -Bill Desowitz.

Review Second Sight Films Ltd. / The Girl Can't Help It [1956]
Actors & Directors
  • Edmond O'Brien
  • Tom Ewell
  • Frank Tashlin
  • Jayne Mansfield
  • Julie London
  • Ray Anthony
Release date: 2004-09-06
Run time: 93 min.
Creator: Herbert Baker
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.50

Review The Girl Can't Help It [1956] / Second Sight Films Ltd.:


Review Warner Home Video / Charlie Chaplin Complete Box Set [1921]
Actors & Directors
  • Jackie Coogan
  • Charlie Chaplin
  • Edna Purviance
  • Claire Bloom
Release date: 2003-09-22
Run time: 724 min.
RRP: £139.99
Price: £39.99

Review Charlie Chaplin Complete Box Set [1921] / Warner Home Video:

This Chaplin Collection DVD box set contains the following films, also available separately: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and Limelight (1952). Full details can be found in our Chaplin Collection feature. There are also two films exclusive to this box set: A Woman of Paris (1923) and A King in New York (1957), plus the documentary Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin-see DVD Description below.

Review 2 Entertain Video / The Very Best of Dad's Army - Volume Two [1968]
Actors & Directors
  • Arthur Lowe
  • Clive Dunn
  • John Le Mesurier
  • James Beck
  • Ian Lavender
Release date: 2002-09-30
Run time: 149 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.83

Review The Very Best of Dad's Army - Volume Two [1968] / 2 Entertain Video:

The Very Best of Dad's Army, Vol 2 is a further helping of episodes from the BBC's most durable comedy, well chosen to illustrate the variety of situations and predicaments in which Warmington-on-Sea's home guard find themselves. "Menace from the Deep" sees them marooned on the town pier, having to contend with a rogue mine and an inebriated Hodges. "Mum's Army" has Captain Mainwaring set up a women's division and promptly fall for the charming Miss Gray, in a cunning take on Brief Encounter. "No Spring for Frazer" charts Frazer's beleaguered attempts to locate a missing gun part with predictably disastrous results. "When Did You Last See Your Money?" similarly puts Corporal Jones through the mill after he switches a package containing £500 with one containing a half-pound of sausages. Finally, "The Honourable Man" brings the enmity of Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson to a head when the latter inherits an honorary title. The performances have that spontaneity and gently self-mocking humour so familiar, yet so enjoyable, however many times around. On the DVD: The Very Best of Dad's Army, Vol 2 on disc has an accompanying documentary (partially reprised from that on Volume 1) containing interviews with surviving cast members, present-day comedians and Messrs Croft and Perry, whose inspired scriptwriting continues to amuse and entertain. The early-70s prints have come up well, with subtitles and six chapter headings per episode to make locating favourite scenes easier than ever. -Richard Whitehouse.

Review MGM Entertainment / The Raven [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • Hazel Court
  • Peter Lorre
  • Vincent Price
  • Olive Sturgess
  • Roger Corman
  • Boris Karloff
Release date: 2003-10-20
Run time: 88 min.
Creator: Richard Matheson
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.27

Review The Raven [1963] / MGM Entertainment:

One of the most sublimely silly products to emanate from Roger Corman's studio, The Raven has the very loosest of connections with the Edgar Allen Poe poem that gives it its title and which Vincent Price intones sepulchrally at the beginning. A retiring magician, Craven (Price) has opted out of the power struggles of peers such as Dr Scarabus (Boris Karloff) to brood on his dead wife and bring up his daughter. The arrival of Bledlo (Peter Lorre), an incompetent drunk whom Scarabus has turned into the raven of the title, involves him in everything he had renounced-life is complicated further by the arrival of Bledlo's son Rexford, played by a staggeringly young Jack Nicholson. The special effects are almost perfunctory, yet the culminating magical duel between Price and Karloff is inventive and charming; this is one of those films that looks as if the actors enjoyed making it; while the script by Richard Matheson has a blithe awareness of its own shortcomings that makes it hard to dislike. On the DVD: The Raven comes to DVD with very boxy remastered mono sound, but is presented in its original widescreen 2. 35:1 ratio, formatted for 16:9 TVs. The only extra is the original theatrical trailer. -Roz Kaveney.

Review Showbox Home Entertainment / Comedy Classics - The Love Match [1955]
Actors & Directors
  • Arthur Askey
  • Jill Adams
  • Shirley Eaton
  • William Franklyn
  • Dorothy Blythe
  • David Paltenghi
Release date: 2007-04-02
Run time: 85 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £7.97

Review Comedy Classics - The Love Match [1955] / Showbox Home Entertainment:


Review Optimum Home Entertainment / The Anniversary [1968]
Actors & Directors
  • James Cossins
  • Roy Ward Baker
  • Jack Hedley
  • Sheila Hancock
  • Bette Davis
Release date: 2007-07-09
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.69

Review The Anniversary [1968] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Whisky Galore! [1949]
Actors & Directors
  • Basil Radford
  • Joan Mackenzie
Release date: 2005-10-10
Run time: 80 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.17

Review Whisky Galore! [1949] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review 2 Entertain Video / The Best of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore [1965]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Cook
  • Dudley Moore
Release date: 2003-09-29
Run time: 99 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.25

Review The Best of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore [1965] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm / The Ugly Dachshund [1966]
Actors & Directors
  • Dean Jones
  • Suzanne Pleshette
  • Norman Tokar
  • Kelly Thordsen
  • Charles Ruggles
  • Parley Baer
Release date: 2004-03-29
Run time: 89 min.
Creator: G.B. Stern
RRP: £14.99
Price: £3.93

Review The Ugly Dachshund [1966] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:

When a Great Dane puppy is raised with a litter of Dachshunds, it naturally thinks it's a Dachshund too-even when it grows to 10 times the size. Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette star as the hapless couple who took in the galumphing dog, which wreaks havoc on their house and home. The Ugly Dachshund is mostly a series of spectacular disasters (the doggy demolition of Jones's art studio will delight kids and reduce adults to nervous wrecks), but it's held together by the convincing domestic banter of Jones and Pleshette (who was quite a dish in 1965); the pair went on to star in a couple of other Disney live-action flicks, Bluebeard's Ghost and The Shaggy D. A. Despite some racial and gender stereotypes, it's a good-natured and amusing movie in the Disney mold. Also featuring classic character actor Charlie Ruggles (Bringing Up Baby, The Parent Trap). -Bret Fetzer.

Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Carry On Cleo [1965]
Actors & Directors
  • Kenneth Connor
  • Gerald Thomas
  • Jim Dale
  • Joan Sims
  • Sid James
  • Kenneth Williams
Release date: 2007-01-29
Run time: 91 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.81

Review Carry On Cleo [1965] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Blue Hawaii [1961]
Actors & Directors
  • Joan Blackman
  • Elvis Presley
  • Angela Lansbury
  • Nancy Walters
  • Norman Taurog
  • Jenny Maxwell
Release date: 2002-03-18
Run time: 97 min.
Creator: Hal Kanter
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.74

Review Blue Hawaii [1961] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Elvis Presley's seventh film was the first of his "Hawaii trilogy" (a group completed by Girls! Girls! Girls! and Paradise, Hawaiian Style). While its story is daft-the King has just been released from his army-posting in Italy and returned to the islands, where he's trying to avoid working in his father's fruit business-the music, including "Blue Hawaii," "Almost Always True" and the beautiful "Can't Help Falling in Love", is not. Angela Lansbury plays Elvis's mother, who can't seem to get through to him. The film is directed by Elvis's frequent collaborator, Norman Taurog. -Tom Keogh.

Review MGM Entertainment / The Fortune Cookie [1967]
Actors & Directors
  • Billy Wilder
  • Ron Rich
  • Cliff Osmond
  • Walter Matthau
  • Jack Lemmon
  • Judi West
Release date: 2001-11-26
Run time: 121 min.
Creator: I.A.L. Diamond
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.84

Review The Fortune Cookie [1967] / MGM Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / The Great Race [1965] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Blake Edwards
  • Tony Curtis
  • Natalie Wood
  • Keenan Wynn
  • Jack Lemmon
  • Peter Falk
Release date: 2002-06-04
Run time: 160 min.
Creator: Martin Jurow
Price: £8.96

Review The Great Race [1965] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Models & Brands:
Belles Of St Trinians [1954], Hellzapoppin' [1942], Father Goose [1964], The League Of Gentlemen - Special Edition [1960], Till Death Us Do Part [1972] [1965], Marlene Dietrich, Blithe Spirit [1945], The Girl Can't Help It [1956], Charlie Chaplin Complete Box Set [1921], The Very Best of Dad's Army - Volume Two [1968], The Raven [1963], Comedy Classics - The Love Match [1955], The Anniversary [1968], Whisky Galore! [1949], The Best of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore [1965], The Ugly Dachshund [1966], Carry On Cleo [1965], Blue Hawaii [1961], The Fortune Cookie [1967], The Great Race [1965] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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