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Home › Drama
Actors & Directors
  • Jim Henson
  • Paul Weiland
  • John Hurt
Run time: 48 min.
Creator: Duncan Kenworthy
Price: £10.99

Review Storyteller 3-Three Ravens / Channel 5 Video:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Leviathan [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Richard Crenna
  • George P. Cosmatos
  • Daniel Stern
  • Amanda Pays
  • Ernie Hudson
  • Peter Weller
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £3.94

Review Leviathan [1988] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Uca Catalogue / Swept Away [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Elizabeth Banks (II)
  • Guy Ritchie
  • Madonna
  • Bruce Greenwood
  • Michael Beattie
  • Jeanne Tripplehorn
Release date: 2004-01-05
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.89

Review Swept Away [2002] / Uca Catalogue:

Madonna gives her most believable performance in Swept Away as Amber, a rich woman on a sea cruise who expects the world to obey her every whim. When she and a high-spirited crew member (Adriano Giannini) are marooned on a small deserted island the feud that sprang up between them on the ship becomes an all-out war then changes into lustful desire as Amber finds that losing status opens up a new side of her personality. Some people will want to see Swept Away for the simple pleasure of seeing Madonna being slapped; more demanding filmgoers will, sadly, be left wanting. Though the movie purports to be a satirical examination of capitalism (as was the original 1974 version), its vague discussion of money and power adds up to very little. The love story is surprisingly sincere, making Swept Away a standard romantic potboiler with gorgeous tropical backdrops. -Bret Fetzer.

Review ITV DVD / On Golden Pond [1981]
Actors & Directors
  • Jane Fonda
  • Mark Rydell
  • Henry Fonda
  • Dabney Coleman
  • Katharine Hepburn
  • Doug McKeon
Release date: 2000-02-28
Run time: 104 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £6.98

Review On Golden Pond [1981] / ITV DVD:

Writer Ernest Thompson, who came up with the original stage play of On Golden Pond and adapted it for film, is lucky to have two giants of the screen give dignity and breadth to his sometimes trite dialogue. Henry Fonda, in his last role, plays a prickly English professor at the disagreeable age of 80. Visiting his summer house by a Maine lake with his wife (Katharine Hepburn), the old man forges an unlikely bond with a lonely boy, comes to terms with his daughter (Jane Fonda) and suffers disorienting effects of mild dementia. Even playing a tired old man, Fonda is an absolute lion of a movie star, and Hepburn brings her special spirit to the part of his worried bride. The onscreen relationship between Henry and Jane Fonda naturally makes one think about their much-discussed difficulties off screen, but that's a side benefit in a movie that is really just a celebration of simple human decency. Directed by Mark Rydell (Harry and Walter Go to New York). -Tom Keogh.

Review Warner Home Video / The Sound Barrier (1952)
Actors & Directors
  • Ralph Richardson
  • Nigel Patrick
  • Ann Todd
  • Joseph Tomelty
  • David Lean
  • Robert Brooks Turner
Release date: 2000-07-03
Run time: 111 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £19.99

Review The Sound Barrier (1952) / Warner Home Video:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Once Around [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Laura San Giacomo
  • Danny Aiello
  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • Holly Hunter
  • Gena Rowlands
  • Lasse Hallström
Release date: 1999-07-01
Run time: 110 min.
RRP: £7.99
Price: £24.99

Review Once Around [1990] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Connoisseur Video / The Slingshot [1993]
Actors & Directors
  • Jesper Salén
  • Basia Frydman
  • Niklas Olund
  • Åke Sandgren
  • Stellan Skarsgård
  • Ernst-Hugo Järegård
Release date: 1996-02-12
Run time: 102 min.
Price: £15.99

Review The Slingshot [1993] / Connoisseur Video:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Chinatown [1974]
Actors & Directors
  • Roman Polanski|Jack Nicholson|Faye Dunaway|John Huston
Release date: 2001-05-07
Run time: 125 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £10.66

Review Chinatown [1974] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Roman Polanski's brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency-and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is J J Gittes, a private eye in the Chandler mould, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption. The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole centre of this tale of treachery, incest and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted colour cinematography makes the goings-on seem both bleak and impossibly vibrant. Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo as the thug who tangles with Nicholson's nose. Chinatown is one of the greatest, most completely satisfying crime films of all time. -Anne Hurley Roman Polanski's brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency-and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is JJ Gittes, a private eye in the Chandler mould, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption. The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole centre of this tale of treachery, incest, and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted colour cinematography makes the goings-on seem both bleak and impossibly vibrant. [+]
Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo as the thug who tangles with Nicholson's nose. One of the greatest, most completely satisfying crime films of all time. -Anne Hurley, Amazon. com.

Review Acorn Media / Rumpole Of The Bailey - Series 2 [1978]
Actors & Directors
  • Bill Hays
  • Peter Whitaker
  • Brian Farnham
  • Stuart Burge
  • Robert Knights
  • Edward de Souza
  • Mike Vardy
  • Derek Benfield
  • Bill Fraser
Release date: 2002-04-08
Run time: 312 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £6.45

Review Rumpole Of The Bailey - Series 2 [1978] / Acorn Media:


Review Contender Entertainment Group / Carnal Crimes [1991]
Actors & Directors
  • Alex Kubik
  • Rich Crater
  • Yvette Nelson
  • Martin Hewitt
  • Linda Carol
  • Gregory Dark
Release date: 1999-03-01
Run time: 94 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Carnal Crimes [1991] / Contender Entertainment Group:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Eastenders - The Mitchells - Naked Truths [1985]
Actors & Directors
  • Adjoa Andoh
  • Sally Sagoe
  • Barry Letts
  • Helen Caldwell
  • Dez McCarthy
  • Amerjit Deu
  • Dean Harris
  • Indra Bhose
  • Chook Sibtain
  • Chris Miller (XIII)
Release date: 1998-11-16
Run time: 60 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £4.37

Review Eastenders - The Mitchells - Naked Truths [1985] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / An Affair To Remember [1957]
Actors & Directors
  • Deborah Kerr
  • Neva Patterson
  • Cary Grant
  • Leo McCarey
  • Richard Denning
  • Cathleen Nesbitt
Release date: 1999-01-04
Run time: 110 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.50

Review An Affair To Remember [1957] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Get out your handkerchiefs for this four-star weepie, a 1957 remake of the 1939 Love Affair, directed by Leo McCarey, who also made the original. Grant and Kerr are strangers on an ocean liner, involved with other people, who can't resist each other for a shipboard romance. But they decide to test whether this is the real thing by agreeing to split up, then meeting in six months atop the Empire State Building. Is there anyone who can resist that set-up or the tragic romantic mishap that nearly splits them up? Can you keep dry eyes during the famous finale? Some prefer the original (with Charles Boyer); practically no one liked the underrated 1994 remake with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. While occasionally a shade slow, this one soars on Grant's charm and Kerr's noble suffering. -Marshall Fine, Amazon. com.

Review Artificial Eye / Russian Ark [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Mikhail Piotrovsky
  • Alexandr Sokurov
  • Sergei Dreiden
  • Maria Kuznetsova
  • Leonid Mozgovoy
Release date: 2003-09-29
Run time: 96 min.
Price: £15.99

Review Russian Ark [2003] / Artificial Eye:

Russian master Alexander Sokurov has tapped into the very flow of history itself for the flabbergasting Russian Ark. Thanks to the miracles of digital video, Sokurov (and cinematographer Tilman Buttner) uses a single, unbroken, 90-minute shot to wind his way through the Hermitage in St Petersburg-the repository of Russian art and the former home to royalty. Gliding through time, we glimpse Catherine II, modern-day museumgoers, and the doomed family of Nicholas II. History collapses on itself, as the opulence of the past and the horrors of the 20th century collide, and each door that opens onto yet another breathtaking gallery is another century to be heard from. The movie climaxes with a grand ball and thousands of extras, prompting thoughts of just how crazy Sokurov had to be to try a technical challenge like this-and how far a distance we've travelled, both physically and spiritually, since the movie began. -Robert Horton.

Actors & Directors
  • Kip Gilman
  • Barbara Law
  • James B. Douglas
  • William Fruet
  • Jayne Catling
  • Christine Cattell
Release date: 1991-06-10
Run time: 89 min.
Price: £9.99

Review Bedroom Eyes [1984] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Tinseltown Volume 3 [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Steven Duffy
  • Paul Hickey
  • David McKay (II)
  • David Paisley
  • Mandy Matthews
  • Stevie Allen
  • Stuart Davids
Release date: 2000-09-18
Run time: 116 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £6.95

Review Tinseltown Volume 3 [2000] / 2 Entertain Video:

Tinsel Town is further proof of the BBC's fervent, unwavering belief that the formula of hip, adult-themed, twentysomething drama of 1990s hit This Life is worth recycling. Tinsel Town scores with its heady, emotionally (and drug) charged world of Clubs in Glasgow. Laced with decidedly adult themes, Tinsel Town does not shy away from controversial issues (including a gay relationship between a policeman and a teenager), but skilfully adds them to a rich tapestry of human experience, set against a pulsating backdrop. In the concluding volume, the stinging betrayal that Brady and Theresa have perpetrated has been discovered, yet thoughts of revenge are interrupted by the plans of rival dealers against them. Amid all the recent events, long-time friends Jack and Sandra confront their feelings while Lewis must confront the inescapable pressures of living with a 17-year-old boy. Writer Martin McArdie effectively ties up his plot strands with a climax that is harrowing, triumphant and exhausting, as all his (brilliantly portrayed) characters get what's coming to them, completing what has been an emotionally rich and engaging series. Tinsel Town boasts an excellent soundtrack (with a theme by the Blue Nile), and while not for everyone, clubbers and fans of confrontational and fast-paced drama will get a buzz from the film's energetic beat. -Danny Graydon.

Review ITV DVD / Inspector Morse - Promised Land - Series 5 - Episode 5 [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Rhondda Findleton
  • Kevin Whately
  • Max Phipps
  • John Madden
  • John Thaw
  • John Jarratt
Release date: 1999-08-09
Run time: 104 min.
Price: £9.99

Review Inspector Morse - Promised Land - Series 5 - Episode 5 [1987] / ITV DVD:

When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world-and with his colleagues in the police force-most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to the next. And he is scarred-more deeply than he would ever admit-by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. [+]
It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! - Piers Ford.

Review Encore Entertainment / Love Crimes [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Sean Young
  • Lizzie Borden
  • Ron Orbach
  • Arnetia Walker
  • Patrick Bergin
  • James Read (II)
Release date: 1996-07-29
Run time: 86 min.
Price: £12.99

Review Love Crimes [1992] / Encore Entertainment:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Tinseltown Volume 2 [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Steven Duffy
  • Paul Hickey
  • David McKay (II)
  • Stuart Davids
  • Mandy Matthews
  • David Paisley
  • Stevie Allen
Release date: 2000-09-18
Run time: 116 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £2.75

Review Tinseltown Volume 2 [2000] / 2 Entertain Video:

Tinsel Town is further proof of the BBC's fervent, unwavering belief that the formula of hip, adult-themed, twentysomething drama of 1990s hit This Life is worth recycling. Tinsel Town scores with its heady, emotionally (and drug) charged world of Clubs in Glasgow. Laced with decidedly adult themes, Tinsel Town does not shy away from controversial issues (including a gay relationship between a policeman and a teenager), but skilfully adds them to a rich tapestry of human experience, set against a pulsating backdrop. In the concluding volume, the stinging betrayal that Brady and Theresa have perpetrated has been discovered, yet thoughts of revenge are interrupted by the plans of rival dealers against them. Amid all the recent events, long-time friends Jack and Sandra confront their feelings while Lewis must confront the inescapable pressures of living with a 17-year-old boy. Writer Martin McArdie effectively ties up his plot strands with a climax that is harrowing, triumphant and exhausting, as all his (brilliantly portrayed) characters get what's coming to them, completing what has been an emotionally rich and engaging series. Tinsel Town boasts an excellent soundtrack (with a theme by the Blue Nile), and while not for everyone, clubbers and fans of confrontational and fast-paced drama will get a buzz from the film's energetic beat. -Danny Graydon.

Review Contender Entertainment Group / Bad Girls - Series 1 [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Diana Patrick
  • David Gwillim
  • Ian White (III)
  • S.J. Clarkson
  • Jim Loach
  • Craig Lines
Release date: 2000-06-05
Run time: 525 min.
RRP: £29.99
Price: £17.95

Review Bad Girls - Series 1 [1999] / Contender Entertainment Group:

If the concept of a TV drama set in a woman's prison was one potentially fraught with cliché, the critical and commercial success of Bad Girls is a testament to fine writing, performance and production. With no preamble or scene setting, Series 1 immediately plunges the viewer into the world of Larkhall Prison, its inmates and staff. This approach leaves the characters to reveal themselves at varying pace, with each episode bringing new details about their life on the outside. Given the nature of the setting, it is unsurprising that the show is an ensemble, female-dominated piece. Simone Lahbib, Mandana Jones and Debra Stephenson are all excellent in the three key roles, with impressive support throughout the cast. Male characters are generally relegated to the sidelines, with the exception of sleazy warden Jim Fenner (played with skin crawling accuracy by Jack Ellis). The sexual realities of the environment are handled realistically and sensitively, and not for nothing is the word "uncut" splashed across the cover: there are some quite disturbing scenes, especially in the earlier episodes. On the DVD: The DVD enhances the show's attempts to capture the atmosphere of prison, with sharp contrast between light and darkness and the constant barracking, cat-calling and snide asides sounding crisp, clear and suitably nasty. Of the impressive 70 minutes of extra features much will only be of real interest to absolute devotees. A documentary examining work on the forthcoming third series may go into admirable detail, but how much interest a costume truck can actually be is perhaps debatable. [+]
The footage itself is a little unpolished, but does provide the cast members with an opportunity to reveal themselves, as does the extensive interview section. Not only do the main actors give valuable insights into their characters, but it is also interesting to see how the process has influenced their opinions on the prison system. A feature on a book signing in London certainly puts the show into an audience context, but the collection of outtakes (presented in a, supposedly intentionally, amateurish and tacky manner by Lahbib) is at best superfluous. There is more than a hint of trying to find material to fill the space, but overall this is an impressive effort. -Phil Udell.

Review Fremantle Home Entertainment / Edward And Mrs Simpson [1978]
Actors & Directors
  • Peggy Ashcroft
  • Maurice Denham
  • Waris Hussein
  • Cynthia Harris
  • Marius Goring
  • Edward Fox
Release date: 2002-02-25
Run time: 360 min.
RRP: £16.99
Price: £4.49

Review Edward And Mrs Simpson [1978] / Fremantle Home Entertainment:

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.

Browse Drama:

Models & Brands:
Storyteller 3-Three Ravens, Leviathan [1988], Swept Away [2002], On Golden Pond [1981], The Sound Barrier (1952), Once Around [1990], The Slingshot [1993], Chinatown [1974], Rumpole Of The Bailey - Series 2 [1978], Carnal Crimes [1991], Eastenders - The Mitchells - Naked Truths [1985], An Affair To Remember [1957], Russian Ark [2003], Bedroom Eyes [1984], Tinseltown Volume 3 [2000], Inspector Morse - Promised Land - Series 5 - Episode 5 [1987], Love Crimes [1992], Tinseltown Volume 2 [2000], Bad Girls - Series 1 [1999], Edward And Mrs Simpson [1978]

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