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Review / Tawny Pipit (1944)
Actors & Directors
  • Rosamund John
  • Bernard Miles
  • Bernard Miles & Charles Sanders
Run time: 78 min.

Review Tawny Pipit (1944):

A first rate British comedy, gentle humour set in the English countryside during WWII. Excellent cast and direction, this small film leaves a lasting impression.

Actors & Directors
  • Buddy Ebsen
  • Blake Edwards
  • George Peppard
  • Martin Balsam
  • Audrey Hepburn
  • Patricia Neal
Release date: 1991-11-22
Run time: 109 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.69

Review Breakfast At Tiffany's [1961] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

No film better utilises Audrey Hepburn's flighty charm and svelte beauty than this romantic adaptation of Truman Capote's novella. Hepburn's urban sophisticate Holly Golightly, an enchanting neurotic living off the gifts of gentlemen, is a bewitching figure in designer dresses and costume jewellery. George Peppard is her upstairs neighbour, a struggling writer and "kept" man financed by a steely older woman (Patricia Neal). His growing friendship with the lonely Holly soon turns to love and threatens the delicate balance of both of their compromised lives. Taking liberties with Capote's bittersweet story, director Blake Edwards and screenwriter George Axelrod turn New York into a city of lovers and create a poignant portrait of Holly, a frustrated romantic with a secret past and a hidden vulnerability. Composer Henry Mancini earned Oscars for the hit song "Moon River" and his tastefully romantic score. The only sour note in the whole film is Mickey Rooney's demeaning performance as the apartment's Japanese manager, an offensively overdone stereotype even in 1961. The rest of the film has weathered the decades well. Edwards's elegant yet light touch, Axelrod's generous screenplay and Hepburn's mix of knowing experience and naivety combine to create one of the great screen romances and a refined slice of high-society bohemian chic. -Sean Axmaker.

Actors & Directors
  • Jim Dale
  • Gerald Thomas
  • Charles Hawtrey
  • Kenneth Williams
  • Sid James
  • Joan Sims
Release date: 1999-09-20
Run time: 85 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.94

Review Carry on Again Doctor [1969] / Cinema Club:

The title of 1969's Carry On Again Doctor says it all; almost the same cast playing similar characters to their previous year's outing in Carry On Doctor. This one rejoices in the alternative title "Bowels are Ringing". But the enduring popularity of these films owes almost everything to their basic formula and if it occasionally seems a bit cobbled together, all the old favourites are still here. This time, the setting moves from the National Health Service to the private sector and even stretches as far as the "Beatific Islands" when Jim Dale is exiled to a missionary clinic for his overzealous attention to the female patients-who include Barbara Windsor of course. There, orderly Sid James rules the roost of the clinic with his harem of local women. Trivia addicts can spot Mrs Michael Caine in a brief role as a token dusky maiden. The second half of the Talbot Rothwell script picks up nicely as the characters converge on the private hospital back in England where Dale rakes in the money with a bogus weight loss treatment. Hattie Jacques is in fine form as Matron, Kenneth Williams fascinates with his usual mass of mannerisms and Joan Sims is stately as the Lady Bountiful figure financing most of the shenanigans. It's a tribute to their professionalism that we can still lose ourselves in some of the creakiest old jokes around. -Piers Ford.

Review Cinema Club / On The Buses - Series 1 - Episodes 1 To 3 [1969]
Actors & Directors
  • Howard Ross (II)
Release date: 2000-05-01
Run time: 73 min.
Price: £5.99

Review On The Buses - Series 1 - Episodes 1 To 3 [1969] / Cinema Club:


Actors & Directors
  • Carole Lombard
  • William K. Howard
  • Fred MacMurray
Run time: 77 min.

Review Princess Comes Across (1936):

Wonderful mystery/comedy set aboard a luxury cruise ship bound for Britain from New York. A mysterious master criminal murders the only person aboard who can identify him. When suspicion falls on an actress pretending to be a countess, the resident band leader swings into action to capture the culprit. Great acting from a comedienne whose life was cut tragically short by a plane crash.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Platinum Blonde [1931]
Actors & Directors
  • Frank Capra|Loretta Young|Robert Williams|Jean Harlow
Release date: 1999-01-05
Run time: 85 min.
Price: £4.99

Review Platinum Blonde [1931] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Cinema Club / On The Buses - Series 1 - Episodes 4 To 7 [1969]
Actors & Directors
  • Howard Ross (II)
Release date: 2000-05-01
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.99

Review On The Buses - Series 1 - Episodes 4 To 7 [1969] / Cinema Club:


Actors & Directors
  • Vanessa Redgrave
  • David Warner
  • Karel Reisz
Release date: 1996-04-29
Run time: 93 min.
Price: £9.99

Review Morgan - A Suitable Case For Treatment [1966] / Lumiere Pictures:


Review Vision Video Ltd. / Laurel And Hardy - Beau Hunks / With Love And Hisses [1931]
Actors & Directors
  • Anita Garvin
  • Oliver Hardy
  • James Finlayson
  • Josephine Dunn
  • Fred Guiol
  • Stan Laurel
Release date: 1998-09-07
Run time: 59 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Laurel And Hardy - Beau Hunks / With Love And Hisses [1931] / Vision Video Ltd.:


Review Cinema Club / On The Buses - Series 2 - Episodes 4 To 6 [1969]
Actors & Directors
  • Howard Ross (II)
Release date: 2000-05-01
Run time: 72 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.95

Review On The Buses - Series 2 - Episodes 4 To 6 [1969] / Cinema Club:


Review Warner Home Video / Private's Progress / School For Scoundrels [1956]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Hamer|Ian Carmichael|Terry-Thomas|Alastair Sim
Release date: 1995-05-29
Run time: 186 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Private's Progress / School For Scoundrels [1956] / Warner Home Video:

England's comic filmmaking duo the Boulting Brothers had several international hits in the 1950s, including such satires of British institutions as I'm All Right Jack (which skewered business and labour),Lucky Jim (higher education) and the 1956 Private's Progress, which took on the military. Boulting favourite Ian Carmichael is wonderful as Stanley Windrush, a university student who interrupts his education for the purely patriotic reason of serving his country as an army officer-and quickly flunks out of training school. Demoted to private, the refined Stanley soon discovers that a soldier's life means keeping company with some rough trade, including a particularly unpolished bloke played by Richard Attenborough. Terry-Thomas is delightful as Major Hitchcock and Dennis Price is very good as Stanley's ever-confounded commanding officer, Tracepurcel. The script eventually veers into a plot about a secret mission to reclaim art treasures confiscated by the Nazis but the film never loses its parodying edge. -Tom Keogh.

Review Warner Home Video / The Rebel / Punch And Judy Man [1960]
Actors & Directors
  • John Le Mesurier
  • Jeremy Summers
  • Tony Hancock
  • Ronald Fraser
  • Barbara Murray
  • Sylvia Syms
Release date: 1994-02-07
Run time: 189 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £24.95

Review The Rebel / Punch And Judy Man [1960] / Warner Home Video:

The Rebel (1961) and The Punch and Judy Man (1963) are the only two feature films made expressly as star vehicles for the great television comic Tony Hancock. The Rebel is by far the more ambitious, being in colour with Parisian locations, a large cast, and not least a supporting role for international star George Sanders. The opening rebellion against office life surely inspired The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, while references follow to Look Back in Anger (1958) and Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960) and Some Like It Hot (1959). Hancock goes to Paris to follow his artistic muse and as he rises through the art world his naivety is taken for genius, allowing for some very funny moments and spot-on satire, which are just as relevant today as 40 years ago. Filmed in black-and-white in Bognor Regis, The Punch and Judy Man is a more modest yet evocative portrait of life in a small coastal resort. Hancock is the titular beach entertainer who is happy to live from day to day with the affable companionship of John Le Mesurier and Hugh Lloyd. The problem is he's burdened with a socially ambitious wife, Sylvia Syms. Gentle humour comes from Hancock's frustrations as a proto-Basil Fawlty, and the film, packed with familiar British character actors, has an old-fashioned charm. It makes for an enjoyable supporting feature to The Rebel, which is undoubtedly a minor classic. On the DVD: Tony Hancock Double Feature presents both films at 4:3 ratio. [+]
The earlier film looks decidedly cropped in several scenes, though the latter survives the reformatting largely unscathed. The Rebel's colour is faded and the image grainy, while The Punch and Judy Man generally has a much stronger black and white image. Even so, there is some flickering and print damage. The music is distorted in The Rebel but the mono sound is fine during The Punch and Judy Man. There are no extras. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Born Yesterday [1950]
Actors & Directors
  • Howard St. John
  • Broderick Crawford
  • William Holden
  • Judy Holliday
  • George Cukor
  • Frank Otto
Release date: 1993-07-19
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £9.99

Review Born Yesterday [1950] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Born Yesterday was the box-office comedy hit of 1950 and won a Best Actress Oscar for the exceptional Judy Holliday, recreating her long-running Broadway triumph as Billie Dawn, the quintessential dumb blonde who finally gets herself some smarts. The film resonates with the sophisticated sparring in Garson Kanin's script and there are tightly controlled performances from William Holden as the cynical journalist hired to polish Billie up for Washington society and Broderick Crawford as Harry Brock, her rough, crooked and ambitious boyfriend. But Born Yesterday is Holliday's picture, as she runs the gamut from brassy insouciance to tentative, vulnerable enlightenment. She hasn't thought of her estranged father in five years: "It's nothing against him. I haven't thought of anything in five years. " Her gradual awakening to the realisation that she is a stooge for Brock's corrupt business deals, and the way she sheds her chorus girl's intellect in the face of growing political awareness, are brilliantly traced. Holliday's dead-pan delivery makes the pathos of her self-discovery both hilarious and deeply touching; it's the hallmark of a comic genius, which makes the sparseness of her subsequent film appearances all the more regrettable. On the DVD: Born Yesterday is presented in full screen (1. 33:1) ratio. Like the mono soundtrack, the black and white picture quality has triumphantly survived its more than half century. [+]
Extras include a gallery of vintage advertisements and an original theatrical trailer, plus filmographies and welcome, comprehensive booklet notes. -Piers Ford.

Review Warner Home Video / Marx Brothers - A Night At The Opera [1935]
Actors & Directors
  • Kitty Carlisle
  • Allan Jones
  • Sam Wood
  • Groucho Marx
  • Edmund Goulding
  • Harpo Marx
  • Chico Marx
Release date: 2000-06-05
Run time: 87 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £14.99

Review Marx Brothers - A Night At The Opera [1935] / Warner Home Video:


Review Dd Home Entertainment / I See Ice [1938]
Actors & Directors
  • Cyril Ritchard
  • Kay Walsh
  • Betty Stockfeld
  • Garry Marsh
  • Anthony Kimmins
  • George Formby
Release date: 2001-02-05
Run time: 78 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £3.25

Review I See Ice [1938] / Dd Home Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Sabrina Fair [1954]
Actors & Directors
  • Humphrey Bogart
  • John Williams (II)
  • William Holden
  • Audrey Hepburn
  • Billy Wilder
  • Walter Hampden
Release date: 1997-02-03
Run time: 109 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.94

Review Sabrina Fair [1954] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Audrey Hepburn is the delightful, young, eponymous Sabrina, the daughter of a chauffeur who is hopelessly in love with David Larrabee (William Holden), the playboy younger son in the rich Long Island household her father works for. In order to help her forget her woes, Sabrina is shipped off to cooking school in Paris. While there, she befriends a baron who provides a bit of culture-and the encouragement to snip off her childlike ponytail. Upon her return to New York, Sabrina is transformed into a sophisticated woman, and David is entranced by her. However, his older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) has arranged David's marriage to Elizabeth Tyson in order to seal a business merger and thus must steer David away from Sabrina. To do this, Linus takes on the task of wooing her for himself. Full of great dialogue ("A woman happy in love, she burns the soufflé; a woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven") and wonderful performances, this film is a romantic masterpiece. Also enjoyable is the 1995 remake, starring Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. -Jenny Brown For almost 20 years Audrey Hepburn's pixie-like features lit up Hollywood's silver screens with hit after hit and she became not only a screen icon, but also a style icon (with a little help from Givenchy), and still features high in polls of the world's most beautiful women. It's perhaps no surprise, then, that Paramount have chosen to honour her with a box set of some of her best-known films. [+]
However, this is only "some of", with the absence of her dazzling performances in Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady, leaving three out of the four films included here lacking in comparison. Breakfast at Tiffany's is the strongest and certainly the best-loved Hepburn film in this collection, offering beautifully comic performances by both Hepburn and her leading man, George Peppard. Funny Face also makes a welcome entry, if only for the wonderful performance by Fred Astaire; Hepburn, though, was not a strong enough dancer to hold her own against Astaire's brilliance. Sabrina holds its own as the Cinderella story of a chauffeur's daughter who turns into a beautiful society girl, but it was clearly a quick and easy vehicle for Paramount to produce in the wake of Hepburn's success in Roman Holiday. The mysterious entry of the collection is Paris When It Sizzles, probably one of Hepburn's least-known and most quirky films, with two parallel love stories played out on the screen. Although not an obvious hit and hard work in places it offers an interesting screwball performance by Hepburn, even if the sparks did not fly with her screen partner William Holden. On the DVD: The Audrey Hepburn Collection offers a nice clean widescreen transfer for three of its movies, but Sabrina is a full-frame transfer that lacks something in comparison. All but Breakfast at Tiffany's (which has a 5. 1 Dolby Digital soundtrack) are mono sound transfers, which is only a real disappointment in Funny Face because of George and Ira Gershwin's score. The special features are also lacking, with only a trailer offered on two of the films and a mildly interesting documentary on Sabrina. The best is the featurette on Funny Face, which charts the success of Paramount in the 1950s, but offers nothing a film fan would not have known already. All in all this is an attractive box set, but perhaps one for the die-hard Hepburn fan only. -Nikki Disney.

Review Cinema Club / On The Buses - Series 2 - Episodes 1 To 3 [1969]
Actors & Directors
  • Howard Ross (II)
Release date: 2000-05-01
Run time: 73 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.99

Review On The Buses - Series 2 - Episodes 1 To 3 [1969] / Cinema Club:


Review Warner Home Video / Pure Hell Of St. Trinian's, The / The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery [1957] [1966]
Actors & Directors
  • Frank Launder|Sidney Gilliat|Cecil Parker|Joyce Grenfell
Release date: 1993-09-06
Run time: 180 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £9.99

Review Pure Hell Of St. Trinian's, The / The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery [1957] [1966] / Warner Home Video:


Review ITV DVD / The Wrong Arm Of The Law [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Sellers
  • Bernard Cribbins
  • Davy Kaye
  • Lionel Jeffries
  • Cliff Owen
  • Nanette Newman
Release date: 2002-10-07
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.99

Review The Wrong Arm Of The Law [1962] / ITV DVD:


Review Warner Home Video / Carry On Screaming [1966]
Actors & Directors
  • Kenneth Williams
  • Fenella Fielding
  • Joan Sims
  • Gerald Thomas
  • Harry H. Corbett
  • Charles Hawtrey
Release date: 1997-08-18
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £6.99
Price: £0.56

Review Carry On Screaming [1966] / Warner Home Video:


Browse Comedy:

Models & Brands:
Tawny Pipit (1944), Breakfast At Tiffany's [1961], Carry on Again Doctor [1969], On The Buses - Series 1 - Episodes 1 To 3 [1969], Princess Comes Across (1936), Platinum Blonde [1931], On The Buses - Series 1 - Episodes 4 To 7 [1969], Morgan - A Suitable Case For Treatment [1966], Laurel And Hardy - Beau Hunks / With Love And Hisses [1931], On The Buses - Series 2 - Episodes 4 To 6 [1969], Private's Progress / School For Scoundrels [1956], The Rebel / Punch And Judy Man [1960], Born Yesterday [1950], Marx Brothers - A Night At The Opera [1935], I See Ice [1938], Sabrina Fair [1954], On The Buses - Series 2 - Episodes 1 To 3 [1969], Pure Hell Of St. Trinian's, The / The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery [1957] [1966], The Wrong Arm Of The Law [1962], Carry On Screaming [1966]

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