Produced by Thames Television in 1981 (the video opens with that immortal logo), Edward & Mrs Simpson was made at a time when the "Royal Wedding" of Charles and Diana had revived interest in the monarchy's past. As well as topicality, the series benefited greatly from the quality of the script and casting. Frances Donaldson's biography, with its many insights into a still-controversial period of recent British history, was sensitively adapted for the screen by Simon Raven. As Edward VIII, Edward Fox gets to the heart of the urbane but emotionally vulnerable heir to the throne, unable to reconcile the callings of state with the promptings of his heart. Cynthia Harris is wholly plausible as the charming but scheming Wallis Simpson-part-femme fatale, part-social climber-who dupes herself into misjudging the protocol of the British aristocracy. The supporting cast, including Cherie Lunghi as the flirtatious Lady Thelma Furness, Peggy Ashcroft as the formidable Queen Mary and David Waller as the long-suffering Stanley Baldwin, uphold the highest standards of TV drama, while Ron Grainer's theme-song effortlessly evokes the glamour of the era. Both videos in this boxed set contain three episodes and the credits are retained at the beginning and end of each episode, as-more surprisingly-are the mid-episode breaks. Considering its age, the picture quality of the series has survived remarkably well. As the winner of BAFTA and Emmy Awards, this series certainly does its subject justice, and the story is unlikely to ever be told more stylishly. -Richard Whitehouse.

One of the greatest Westerns ever made gets the deluxe treatment on this superior disc. Written by Carl Foreman (who was later blacklisted during the anticommunist hearings of the 1950s) and superbly directed by Fred Zinnemann, this 1952 classic stars Gary Cooper as just-married lawman Will Kane, who is about to retire as a small-town sheriff and begin a new life with his bride (Grace Kelly) when he learns that gunslinger Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is due to arrive at high noon to settle an old score. Kane seeks assistance from deputies and townsfolk, but soon realises he will have to stand alone in his showdown with Miller and his henchmen. Innovative for its time, the suspenseful story unfolds in approximate real time (from 10:40 a. m. to high noon in an 84-minute film), and many interpreted Foreman's drama as an allegorical reflection of apathy and passive acceptance of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist campaign. Political underpinnings aside, this remains a milestone of its genre (often referred to as the first "adult" Western), and Cooper is flawless in his Oscar-winning role. The first-rate DVD gives this landmark film all the respect it deserves, beginning with a digitally remastered transfer from the original film negative. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

The Living Daylights, new boy Timothy Dalton's first Bond outing, gets off to a rocking start with a pre-credits sequence on Gibraltar, and culminates in a witty final showdown with Joe Don Baker's arms dealer, set on a model battlefield full of toy soldiers. While the Aston Martin model whizzing through the car chase has been updated for the late 1980s-including lethal lasers and other deadly gizmos-the plot is pretty standard issue, maybe a little more cluttered and unfocused than usual, involving arms, drugs and diamond smuggling. Nevertheless, the action-formula firmly in place, this one rehearses the moves with ease and throws in some fine acting. Maryam d'Abo, playing a cellist-cum-spy, is the classy main squeeze for 007 (uncharacteristically chaste for once). Dalton, with his wolfish, intelligent features, was a perfectly serviceable secret agent, but never caught on with the viewers, perhaps because everyone was hoping for a presence as charismatic as Sean Connery's in the franchise's glory days. -Leslie Felperin On the DVD: Casting the new Bond takes up much of the "making-of" documentary: first Sam Neill was in the running, but vetoed by Cubby Broccoli, who wanted Timothy Dalton and had considered him as far back as On Her Majesty's Secret Service (but Dalton felt he was just too young at the time). When Dalton proved unavailable, Pierce Brosnan was hired. Then, at the last minute, Brosnan's Remington Steele contract was renewed and he had to drop out. Dalton came back in, on the proviso that he could give Bond a harder, more realistic edge after the action-lite of the Roger Moore years. The second documentary attempts to profile the enigmatic Ian Fleming, who was apparently as mysterious and chameleon-like as his alter ego. [+]

Sometimes dismissed as a pale descendant of a great original, The New Avengers deserves a second look and is perhaps best considered as a largely successful attempt to re-imagine its predecessor for 1970s audiences. Patrick McNee was never the most convincing of action heroes, and the decision to make his John Steed the supervisor and mentor of two younger agents was a sensible one-Steed's virtues are style, wisdom and fortitude rather than physical prowess. Gareth Hunt's Gambit has an unattractively smug side, but has also a louche charm. Joanna Lumley's Purdey is one of the most attractive heroines of genre television, astonishingly leggy and beautiful. Those who only know her later incarnation as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous will understand now why such a fuss is made over her. The script team overlaps heavily with that of the original series; the new show has the same quirkiness, only occasionally varying it with a rather darker leCarrésque complexity or sudden outbreaks of Hammer Horror. If it lacks some of the sheer style of the original, that is a reflection of its period-the 1970s were less visually imaginative than the 60s. Tightly plotted, imaginatively cast with interesting guest stars, it is only with The Avengers that The New Avengers suffers by comparison. -Roz Kaveney.

Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler actually work together pretty well as action-flick buddies on opposite sides of the law. The storyline is familiar, to put it mildly, as car-thief and drug-courier Sandler is set up and busted by Wayans' undercover cop, a man he's come to trust with his life. Dozens of movies, including Quentin Tarantino's great Reservoir Dogs, have tilled this fallow field before. But for once we can actually feel the bonds connecting the two tough guys, and the pain of their falling out, even when the movie dawdles over repetitious squabbling scenes. Cinematographer-turned-director Ernest Dickers.

Geena Davis and her former husband, director Renny Harlin, attempted to pick up the pieces after the debacle of their box-office disaster, Cutthroat Island. What they came up with was The Long Kiss Goodnight, a repulsive ode to American film noir, based on a script by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) about an amnesiac schoolteacher (Davis) who searches for her true identity and finds she is actually a secret agent immersed in a deadly plot to topple the government. Mechanistic in its violence, obnoxious in its attitude, the film makes Davis, a once-promising actress, nothing more than a special effect. She tosses one to sadists in the audience by allowing her character to be beaten, punched unconscious and tortured. -Tom Keogh.

It was directed with energetic skill by Top Gun Tony Scott, but this breathtaking 1993 thriller (think of it as an adolescent crime fantasy on steroids) has Quentin Tarantino written all over it. True Romance is really part of a loose trilogy that includes Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, with a crackling Tarantino screenplay that rides a fine line between raucous comedy and violent excess. Christian Slater plays Clarence, the comic-book lover who meets a beguiling prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette), confronts her vicious pimp (Gary Oldman), and embarks on a cross-country odyssey with $5 million worth of Mafia cocaine. Mayhem ensues, culminating in a favourite Tarantino climax-the "Mexican standoff"-in which a roomful of guys are pointing guns at each other, waiting to see who shoots first. Brutal, profane, and totally outrageous, True Romance is not for everyone, but with a supporting cast that includes Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, and Val Kilmer (as the ghost of Elvis!), you can be sure this movie will never be boring. -Jeff Shannon It was directed with energetic skill by Top Gun Tony Scott, but t his breathtaking 1993 thriller (think of it as an adolescent crime fantasy on steroids) has Quentin Tarantino written all over it. True Romance is really part of a loose trilogy that includes Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, with a crackling Tarantino screenplay that rides a fine line between raucous comedy and violent excess. Christian Slater plays Clarence, the comic-book lover who meets a beguiling prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette), confronts her vicious pimp (Gary Oldman), and embarks on a cross-country odyssey with $5 million worth of Mafia cocaine. Mayhem ensues, culminating in a favourite Tarantino climax-the "Mexican standoff"-in which a roomful of guys are pointing guns at each other, waiting to see who shoots first. Brutal, profane, and totally outrageous, True Romance is not for everyone, but with a supporting cast that includes Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, and Val Kilmer (as the ghost of Elvis!), you can be sure this movie will never be boring. [+]

Produced by Thames Television in 1981 (the video opens with that immortal logo), Edward & Mrs Simpson was made at a time when the "Royal Wedding" of Charles and Diana had revived interest in the monarchy's past. As well as topicality, the series benefited greatly from the quality of the script and casting. Frances Donaldson's biography, with its many insights into a still-controversial period of recent British history, was sensitively adapted for the screen by Simon Raven. As Edward VIII, Edward Fox gets to the heart of the urbane but emotionally vulnerable heir to the throne, unable to reconcile the callings of state with the promptings of his heart. Cynthia Harris is wholly plausible as the charming but scheming Wallis Simpson-part-femme fatale, part-social climber-who dupes herself into misjudging the protocol of the British aristocracy. The supporting cast, including Cherie Lunghi as the flirtatious Lady Thelma Furness, Peggy Ashcroft as the formidable Queen Mary and David Waller as the long-suffering Stanley Baldwin, uphold the highest standards of TV drama, while Ron Grainer's theme-song effortlessly evokes the glamour of the era. Both videos in this boxed set contain three episodes and the credits are retained at the beginning and end of each episode, as-more surprisingly-are the mid-episode breaks. Considering its age, the picture quality of the series has survived remarkably well. As the winner of BAFTA and Emmy Awards, this series certainly does its subject justice, and the story is unlikely to ever be told more stylishly. -Richard Whitehouse.