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Review Warner Home Video / Billy Liar [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • Mona Washbourne
  • Ethel Griffies
  • John Schlesinger
  • Tom Courtenay
  • Wilfred Pickles
  • Julie Christie
Release date: 1994-08-01
Run time: 94 min.
Creator: Willis Hall
RRP: £5.99
Price: £4.70

Review Billy Liar [1963] / Warner Home Video:

Billy Liar was the multimedia phenomenon of its era. Starting out as a novel by Yorkshire writer Keith Waterhouse, it rapidly became a long-running stage play, adapted by Waterhouse with playwright Willis Hall, which lead to the movie, scripted by Waterhouse and Hall for John Schlesinger to direct, then a stage musical and finally a spin-off TV series. Do you get the feeling it caught the mood of the times? The basic set-up owes a lot to James Thurber's classic short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Our hero, Billy Fisher, lives at home in a Bradford semi with his nagging parents and works as a lowly clerk in an undertaker's parlour. But, in his imagination he lives a rich and varied fantasy life as gallant military leader, suave socialite, best-selling novelist and so forth. Trouble is, he can't always keep fantasy and reality apart, any more than he can the keep two girls he's engaged to separate. Not to mention his other problems…. Schlesinger's direction brings out the desperation behind the comedy, and Tom Courtenay, at once defiant and hangdog, slips perfectly into the role created on stage by Albert Finney. But the whole cast's a joy, not least the great Leonard Rossiter as undertaker Mr Shadrach, Billy's saturnine boss. And then there's Julie Christie-the luminous spirit of the Swinging 60s-in her first starring role as the girl who offers Billy a chance of real escape. [+]
At the end, when she takes the train to London, away from the smoke and the grimness "oop" north, the whole British New Wave went with her. On the DVD: just the theatrical trailer which is a fairly crass affair. There's been no remastering, it seems, but both sound and vision are clean enough and the print preserves the original's full 2. 35:1 widescreen ratio. -Philip Kemp.

Review Momentum Pictures / Cléo de 5 à 7 [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • Corinne Marchand
  • Michel Legrand
  • Dominique Davray
  • Agnès Varda
  • Dorothée Blank
  • Antoine Bourseiller
Release date: 2001-07-16
Run time: 86 min.
Creator: Georges de Beauregard
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.97

Review Cléo de 5 à 7 [1962] / Momentum Pictures:


Review Alpha Video / The Student of Prague [1913] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Paul Wegener
  • Paul Wegener
  • John Gottowt
  • Lothar Körner
  • Grete Berger
  • Stellan Rye
  • Lyda Salmonova
Release date: 2004-05-25
Run time: 85 min.
Creator: Hanns Heinz Ewers
Price: £2.17

Review The Student of Prague [1913] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Alpha Video:


Review Universal Studios / The Heiress [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Vanessa Brown
  • Ralph Richardson
  • Montgomery Clift
  • William Wyler
  • Olivia de Havilland
  • Miriam Hopkins
Release date: 2007-02-06
Run time: 116 min.
Price: £5.60

Review The Heiress [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Universal Studios:


Review Republic Pictures / A Double Life [1947] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Ronald Colman
  • George Cukor
  • Shelley Winters
  • Signe Hasso
  • Edmond O'Brien
  • Ray Collins
Release date: 2003-07-22
Run time: 104 min.
Creator: Garson Kanin
Price: £5.89

Review A Double Life [1947] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Republic Pictures:


Review Eureka Entertainment / Prisoner of Shark Island - Masters of Cinema series
Actors & Directors
  • John Ford
  • Claude Gillingwater
  • Warner Baxter
  • Arthur Byron
  • O.P. Heggie
  • Gloria Stuart
Release date: 2006-03-20
Run time: 91 min.
Creator: Nunnally Johnson
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.96

Review Prisoner of Shark Island - Masters of Cinema series / Eureka Entertainment:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Doctor Who - The Movie [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Paul McGann
  • Sylvester McCoy
  • Geoffrey Sax
  • Eric Roberts
  • Daphne Ashbrook
  • Yee Jee Tso
Release date: 1996-05-22
Run time: 90 min.
Creator: Sydney Newman
Price: £14.99

Review Doctor Who - The Movie [1996] / 2 Entertain Video:

Made to re-launch television's most famous time traveller, Doctor Who: The Movie is an expensive feature-length episode which attempts to continue the classic series and work as a stand-alone film. Transporting the remains of the Master, Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor is diverted to San Francisco in 1999. Regenerating in the form of Paul McGann, the Doctor gains a new companion in heart surgeon Dr Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook) and must stop the Master from destroying the world. All of which might have been fine, had not the most eccentrically British of programmes been almost entirely assimilated by the requirements of American network broadcasting. Matthew Jacobs' screenplay is literally nonsense, dependent on arbitrary, unexplained events while introducing numerous elements that contradict established Doctor Who mythology. The Tardis is re-imagined as a bizarre pre-Raphaelite/Gothic folly, while the Doctor, now half-human, becomes romantically involved with his lady companion. From the West Coast setting to metallic CGI morphing, from the look of Eric Roberts as the Master to a motorcycle/truck freeway chase, director Geoffrey Sax borrows freely from James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Doctor Who fans should feel relieved this travesty was not successful enough to lead to lead to a series, though McGann himself does have the potential to make a fine Doctor. This is the slightly more violent US TV edit, rather than the cut version previously released on video. On the DVD: There are two BBC trailers and a Fox promo "introducing the Doctor" to American audiences. [+]
The interview section features Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook, director Geoffrey Sax and executive producer Philip Segal, twice. The main interviews are on-set promotional sound-bites. However, Segal's second interview was filmed in 2001 and finds him spending 10 minutes explaining why the programme turned out as it did, and coming very close to apologising for it. He also offers a two-minute tour of the new Tardis set. Alongside a gallery of 50 promotional stills is a four-minute compilation of behind-the-scenes "making of" footage. There are alternative versions of two scenes, though the "Puccini!" scene is so short as to be pointless. As usual with Doctor Who DVDs there are optional production subtitles and these offer a wealth of background information. Four songs used in the film are available as separate audio tracks, and John Debney's musical score can be listened to in isolation. Finally there is a commentary track by Geoffrey Sax, which contains some interesting material but does tend to state the obvious a lot. The sound is very strong stereo and the 4:3 picture is excellent with only the slightest grain. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review 20th Century Fox / Les Miserables (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Debra Paget
  • Michael Rennie
  • Robert Newton
  • Fredric March
  • Charles Laughton
  • Lewis Milestone
  • Richard Boleslawski
Release date: 2007-04-24
Run time: 216 min.
Creator: W.P. Lipscomb
Price: £8.96

Review Les Miserables (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:


Review 20th Century Fox / Phone Call from a Stranger [1952] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Shelley Winters
  • Jean Negulesco
  • Gary Merrill
  • Keenan Wynn
  • Bette Davis
  • Michael Rennie
Release date: 2008-04-08
Run time: 105 min.
Creator: I.A.R. Wylie
Price: £8.13

Review Phone Call from a Stranger [1952] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:


Review Whe Europe Limited / Gung Ho [1943]
Actors & Directors
  • Ray Enright
  • Alan Curtis
  • Noah Beery Jr.
  • J. Carrol Naish
  • Sam Levene
  • Randolph Scott
Release date: 2004-01-26
Run time: 83 min.
Creator: W.S. LeFrançois
RRP: £4.99
Price: £5.07

Review Gung Ho [1943] / Whe Europe Limited:


Review Warner Home Video / The Nun's Story [1959] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Audrey Hepburn
  • Dean Jagger
  • Peggy Ashcroft
  • Peter Finch
  • Edith Evans
  • Fred Zinnemann
Release date: 2006-04-04
Run time: 152 min.
Price: £8.29

Review The Nun's Story [1959] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review 4 Front Video / The Hunchback Of Notre Dame [1939]
Actors & Directors
  • Cedric Hardwicke
  • Thomas Mitchell
  • Maureen O'Hara
  • Charles Laughton
  • Edmond O'Brien
  • William Dieterle
Release date: 1997-01-13
Run time: 111 min.
Creator: Victor Hugo
RRP: £5.99
Price: £12.77

Review The Hunchback Of Notre Dame [1939] / 4 Front Video:


Review ITV DVD / This Sporting Life (DVD) [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • Alan Badel
  • William Hartnell
  • Richard Harris
  • Lindsay Anderson
  • Rachel Roberts
  • Colin Blakely
Release date: 2005-08-22
Run time: 93 min.
Creator: David Storey
RRP: £5.99
Price: £37.00

Review This Sporting Life (DVD) [1963] / ITV DVD:

Prolific British filmmaker Lindsay Anderson weaves this small, evocative tale of young life at the crossroads in early 1960s Northern England. A rough, sullen young man (Richard Harris) working in the local coal mines begins to make a name for himself as a star rugby player, but even as he begins to fall in love he cannot escape the harsh realities of the bleak life around him. The rugby sequences in the film are striking, but no more so than the depiction of downtrodden people living in the shadow of industry and corruption that too often crushes their spirit. Harris in one of his first roles, is remarkably effective as an unlikeable but sympathetic figure trying against hope to savour the small joys life has to offer, and the film also features the debut of renowned actress Glenda Jackson. One of a series of working-class, character-driven British imports, This Sporting Life is one of the best on the field. -Robert Lane.

Review Elstree Hill Entertainment / Reefer Madness [1936]
Actors & Directors
  • Louis Gasnier
  • Dave O'Brien
  • Pat Royale
Release date: 2003-08-11
Run time: 64 min.
RRP: £2.99
Price: £1.20

Review Reefer Madness [1936] / Elstree Hill Entertainment:


Review 20th Century Fox / The Third Secret [1964] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Pamela Franklin
  • Charles Crichton
  • Richard Attenborough
  • Jack Hawkins
  • Stephen Boyd
  • Diane Cilento
Release date: 2007-05-22
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: Robert L. Joseph
Price: £5.81

Review The Third Secret [1964] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:


Review Universal Studios / Madigan [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Henry Fonda
  • Harry Guardino
  • James Whitmore
  • Don Siegel
  • Inger Stevens
  • Richard Widmark
Release date: 1999-03-16
Run time: 101 min.
Price: £3.50

Review Madigan [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Universal Studios:


Review Warner Home Video / Angels With Dirty Faces [1938]
Actors & Directors
  • Humphrey Bogart
  • Pat O'Brien
  • Ann Sheridan
  • Michael Curtiz
  • George Bancroft
  • James Cagney
Release date: 2000-03-06
Run time: 94 min.
Creator: Warren Duff
RRP: £10.99
Price: £4.94

Review Angels With Dirty Faces [1938] / Warner Home Video:

Gangster Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) returns from prison to make a name for himself in the crime world. He's soon discovered by the Dead End Kids, who idolise him, and childhood pal Father Jerry Connolly (Pat O'Brien), who has taken a different turn from Rocky and is struggling to bring the Kids around. While still friends with Rocky, the good Father tries to persuade him to steer clear of the gang of urchins. Rocky runs foul of the law, however, when he guns down his former partners Frazier (Humphrey Bogart) and Keefer (George Bancroft) after they betray him over a cut of crime-related profits. Seen as a whole, Angels with Dirty Faces may seem dated to many viewers, but its ending is still enough to bring chills. Director Michael Curtiz infused this gritty l938 effort with an amazing amount of energy and pacing; the Dead End Kids, in their screen debut, supply a fair amount of comic relief along with their dramatic roles. It's also worth noting that at the time, the notion of a criminal being a product of his environment was a controversial one. The swaggering bantam-rooster role played by Cagney, one of the screen's greats, helped define how he would be perceived (and parodied) for years to come. This movie easily stands along with The Roaring Twenties and Little Caesar as one of the most important, archetypal gangster films of the 1930s. -Jerry Renshaw, Amazon. [+]
com.

Review Warner Home Video / Film Noir Classics Collection, Vol. 3 [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Audrey Totter
  • Anthony Mann
  • John Cromwell
  • Ida Lupino
  • Robert Ryan
  • Fred Zinnemann
  • Robert Montgomery
  • Robert Mitchum
  • John Farrow
  • Ida Lupino
Release date: 2006-07-18
Run time: 557 min.
Price: £27.47

Review Film Noir Classics Collection, Vol. 3 [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Image Entertainment / Combat: Season 1 - Campaign 1 (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Boris Sagal
  • Howard Duff
  • Rick Jason
  • Pierre Jalbert
  • Herman Hoffman
  • Burt Kennedy
  • Byron Paul
  • Bernard McEveety
  • Shecky Greene
  • Vic Morrow
Release date: 2004-07-20
Run time: 748 min.
Price: £14.90

Review Combat: Season 1 - Campaign 1 (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Image Entertainment:


Review Fox Lorber / Z [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Charles Denner
  • Costa-Gavras
  • Jean-Louis Trintignant
  • Irene Papas
  • Yves Montand
  • Jacques Perrin
Release date: 2002-07-02
Run time: 127 min.
Creator: Jorge Semprún
Price: £107.95

Review Z [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Fox Lorber:

Costa-Gavras's Z, winner of the 1970 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, is a classic political thriller, combining intrigue with raw emotional power. The story turns on the investigation of the assassination of a left-wing Greek politician (Yves Montand), and his government's attempts to cover up the murky circumstances. Montand receives death threats as he prepares to give a speech condemning the government, and is then run down in front of numerous witnesses. Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Conformist) plays the judge assigned to the investigation, who gradually discovers how far the state will go to rid itself of political opposition. As he is warned off the case by his superiors, the judge becomes even more determined to discover the truth, no matter where it might lead. Costa-Gavras (Missing, Mad City) is in familiar territory here, but no one handles this type of material better. Z is a classic of political intrigue and social consciousness. -Robert Lane.

Models & Brands:
Billy Liar [1963], Cléo de 5 à 7 [1962], The Student of Prague [1913] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Heiress [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC), A Double Life [1947] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Prisoner of Shark Island - Masters of Cinema series, Doctor Who - The Movie [1996], Les Miserables (REGION 1) (NTSC), Phone Call from a Stranger [1952] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Gung Ho [1943], The Nun's Story [1959] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Hunchback Of Notre Dame [1939], This Sporting Life (DVD) [1963], Reefer Madness [1936], The Third Secret [1964] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Madigan [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Angels With Dirty Faces [1938], Film Noir Classics Collection, Vol. 3 [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Combat: Season 1 - Campaign 1 (REGION 1) (NTSC), Z [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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