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Granada Ventures Ltd Liverpool FC - Steven Gerrard My Story
Release Date: 2005-11-21, Rating Exempt,
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£16.19
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Granada Ventures Ltd George And Mildred - The Movie [1980]
Release Date: 2003-02-17, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£4.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Boys From Brazil [1978]
Robustly entertaining and bracingly sinister, <I>The Boys from Brazil</I> stars Gregory Peck as the infamous Dr Josef Mengele, the former Nazi chief who intends to resurrect the Führer and create a Fourth Reich through genetic experiments that commence with the assassination of some 94 fathers. Elderly Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier, in an Oscar-nominated performance) is tipped to the plot, but his efforts to expose Peck (fiendishly cast against type) are thwarted by a set of menacing triplets played by Jeremy Black. <p> Back in 1978, <I>The Boys from Brazil</I> (adapted from Ira Levin's novel) was an incalculably tense, straight-faced entertainment whose lack of irony allowed the viewer to indulge the film's outrageous premise without moral offence. But in view of the scientific advancements made since the release of the film, it's now a cautionary tale, and all the more compelling for being so. Jerry Goldsmith's richly conceived, Oscar-nominated score--replete with echoes of Mahler and Strauss--reinforces this impression.--<I>Kevin Mulhall</I>
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Intelligence Men [1965]
Release Date: 2002-05-20, Rating Universal, suitable for all,
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£4.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd Kavanagh Q.C. - The Complete Collection - Series 1 To 5 [1995]
Release Date: 2004-08-16, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£69.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Jesus Of Nazareth [1977]
Originally made for TV in 1977, this in-depth version of Jesus' life is so thorough that the first hour is devoted solely to the story of his birth. The film doesn't skimp on some of the other landmark events of this famous story either. Director Franco Zeffirelli gives ample screen time each to the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. Passages of the Bible are quoted verbatim, the locations have a Palestine-like authenticity, and, aside from some of the principals (Robert Powell as Jesus, Olivia Hussey as Mary, and Stacy Keach as Barabbas), many of the non-Roman characters are actually played by Semitic-looking actors. Zeffirelli diligently provides the socio-political background that gave rise to Jesus' following and the crisis in belief it caused for the people of Israel (and one or two Romans). --<I>Kimberly Heinrichs, Amazon.com</I>
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£16.44
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Granada Ventures Ltd Liverpool FC - Ours To Keep [1977]
Release Date: 2005-10-17, Rating Exempt,
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£29.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Carry On Up The Jungle [1970]
<I>Carry On Up the Jungle</I> has worn less well than some of the others in the series, simply because the African exploration genre it parodies--with its cannibals, great white hunters and lost Amazon tribes--is so entirely out of fashion. Still, Frankie Howerd made so comparatively few films that in one which has him as an ornithologist searching for rare birds in the company of Joan Sims and Sid James is not going to be entirely without interest. He has few great moments here, but runs through his usual repertoire of groans and horse-faced sorrowful expressions with brio. The idea of Terry Scott playing Tarzan is in itself such a good joke that it hardly matters that most of what follows is him swinging, on ropes, into obstacles. --<I>Roz Kaveney</I>
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£12.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Sharpe's Justice Sharpe's Waterloo [1997]
Release Date: 2002-10-07, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£14.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Company Of Wolves
Release Date: 2005-10-17, Rating Suitable for 18 years and over,
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£11.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd Ray Winstone - Vincent Henry VIII Births, Deaths And Marriages
Release Date: 2005-11-21, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£29.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Oliver Twist -- Special Edition [1948]
There have been many film and TV adaptations of <I>Oliver Twist</I> but this 1948 production from director David Lean remains the definitive screen interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic. From the ominous symbolism of its opening storm sequence (in which Oliver's pregnant, ill-fated mother struggles to reach shelter before childbirth) to the mob-scene climax that provokes Bill Sikes's dreadful comeuppance, this breathtaking black-and-white film remains loyal to Dickens while distilling the story into its purest cinematic essence.<p>Every detail is perfect--Lean even includes a coffin-shaped snuffbox for the cruel Mr. Sowerberry--and as young Oliver, eight-year-old John Howard Davies (who would later produce <I>Monty Python's Flying Circus</I> for the BBC) perfectly expresses the orphan's boyish wonderment, stern determination and waifish vulnerability. Best of all is Alec Guinness as Fagin, so devious and yet so delightfully appealing under his beak-nosed (and, at the time, highly controversial) make-up. (Many complained that Fagin's huge nose and greedy demeanour presented an anti-Semitic stereotype, even though Lean never identifies Fagin as Jewish; for this reason, the film wasn't shown in the US until three years after its British release.) Likewise, young Anthony Newley is artfully dodgy as Fagin's loyal accomplice, the Artful Dodger.<p> Guinness's performance would later provide strong inspiration for Ron Moody's equally splendid portrayal of Fagin in the Oscar-winning <I>Oliver!</I> and while that 1968 musical remains wonderfully entertaining, it is Lean's film that hews closest to Dickens' vision. The authentic recreation of 19th-century London is marvellous to behold; Guy Green's cinematography is so shadowy and stylised that it almost qualifies as Dickensian <I>film noir</I>. Lean is surprisingly blunt in conveying Dickens's theme of cruelty but his film never loses sight of the warmth and humanity that Oliver embodies. <I>--Jeff Shannon</I>
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Granada Ventures Ltd Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons - Vol. 4 - Episodes 19 To 24 [1967]
First broadcast in 1967, <I>Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons</I> was the most grown-up of all Gerry Anderson's SuperMarionation adventures. There are gadgets and toy-friendly machines galore, of course--like the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, the Angel Aircraft and Cloudbase itself--but, unlike the colourful fantasies of <I>Stingray</I> and <I>Thunderbirds</I> ;, this series' concern with an implacable, vengeful enemy, conspiracies and double-agents drew its inspiration from James Bond and the Cold War spy dramas of the 1960s. Special effects whiz Derek Meddings imbues the action sequences with a truly Bondian grandeur and, like the sinister Spectre of the Bond films, the Martian Mysterons seem all the more hostile for their unseen presence, their agents infiltrating every organisation dedicated to their destruction just as it seemed the Soviets were doing at the time. The indestructible Captain Scarlet is killed then resurrected every week (though not like <I>South Park</I>'s Kenny), and more often than not the unstoppable Mysterons emerge triumphant, and always undefeated. The varied cast of Spectrum agents and their voice characterisations also aim at verisimilitude (Captain Scarlet, voiced by Francis Matt hews, sounds like a grim Cary Grant), while the puppetry is more realistic than ever. Now with newly remastered picture and Dolby 5.1 surround sound, <I>Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons</I> still looks and sounds like the epitome of 60s cool. --<I>Mark Walker</I>
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Cassandra Crossing [1977]
Release Date: 2000-02-28, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£9.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Movie [1998]
Competing with the time-tested, 1964 original <I>Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer</I>, with the abominable snowman, the misfit toys, the lovably clunky motion, and Burl Ives as narrator, is no easy task. So this feature-length, animated musical skirts a straight squaring-off of versions. The storyline is a bit more complex, with the abominable snowman's antagonist role played by the Whoopi Goldberg-voiced Ice Queen, Stormella, and Rudolph's running buddies depicted as a polar bear (excellently voiced by Bob Newhart) and, not surprisingly, a cutesy doe, Zoey. The animation is first-rate and completely convincing, making this new Rudolph ideal for the discriminating 3- to 7-year-old viewer. Stormella looks for all the world like a hybrid of King Triton and Ursula, the Sea Witch from Disney's <I>The Little Mermaid</I>. As for the story, none of it is either heavyhanded on the good vs. evil front for the younger set, or so sappy that it's intolerable for adults. As with so many animated features this decade, the presence of seasoned actors with experience in comedy makes for dialogue that's entertainingly nuanced. Since there are moments of tension and conflict, the comic relief is important and unmistakable, even for younger viewers. The themes are the same as the original, and the ultimate embrace by Santa (done well by John Goodman) of Rudolph's difference still packs a good lesson. <I>--Andrew Bartlett</I>
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£13.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Medusa Touch, The The Boys From Brazil [1977]
Release Date: 2003-03-17, Rating Suitable for 18 years and over,
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£12.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Stepfather [1987]
Release Date: 2002-09-09, Rating Suitable for 18 years and over,
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£4.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Eagle Has Landed [1977]
This 1976 adventure story set in World War II concerns a Nazi plot to kidnap Churchill from his retreat--or murder him if need be. <i>The Eagle Has Landed</i> has a large, great cast and a director, John Sturges, who's been down this road of ensemble action before (<i>The Magnificent Seven</i>, <i>The Great Escape</i>) make this project exciting if not as memorable as Sturges's more famous works. The weak ending doesn't help. <I>-- Tom Keogh</I>
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Granada Ventures Ltd Cindy Crawford - The Next Challenge Workout [1993]
Release Date: 2005-12-27, Rating Exempt,
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£5.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Escape To Athena [1974]
Release Date: 2004-06-07, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£12.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Sharpe's Regiment Sharpe's Siege [1996]
Based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell, <I>Sharpe</I> (1993-7) ran to 14 full-length television films that follow the adventures of the titular soldier through the later years of the Napoleonic Wars. The programmes are an outstanding achievement for the small screen, dominated by Sean Bean's central performance as the heroic, troubled outsider who turns out to be a resourceful and loyal leader. Bolstered by a strong supporting cast, particularly Daragh O'Malley as Harper and (in later episodes) Abigail Cruttenden as Jane, <I>Sharpe</I> is often visually striking, the action tense and gripping. Consistency is maintained by all 14 episodes being directed by Tom Clegg. <p> <B>On the DVD:</B> <I>Sharpe</I>'s sound is full-bodied stereo while the very sharp picture has been transferred slightly letterboxed at 14:9. Though looking much better than the original TV transmissions the occasionally cropped framing makes it apparent the films were shot in 16:9 widescreen, so it is regrettable they have not been transferred to DVD in that format. Otherwise these are first-rate releases. --<I>Gary S Dalkin</I>
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£14.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Red Shoes - Plus Documentary [1948]
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's most celebrated Technicolor fairy-tale, <I>The Red Shoes</I> is both metaphor and melodrama of unparalleled boldness. So extravagantly theatrical a movie was regarded as simply unreleasable by the Rank Organisation back in 1948, but in spite of their attempted suppression it has long since been acknowledged as one of British cinema's landmark achievements. Not only were Powell and Pressburger unorthodox enough to populate the cast with real ballet dancers (including the radiant Moira Shearer in the pivotal role), they built the whole film around an extraordinarily daring 17-minute ballet sequence in which the camera moves from outside the proscenium arch into a subjective whirl of impressionistic images inspired and informed by Brian Easdale's marvellous score. Only after seeing this, so the story goes, was Gene Kelly able to see how he could make <I>An American in Paris</I>. <p> The melodramatic plot, metaphorically acted out in the Red Shoes Ballet then re-enacted for real by the main characters, presents Great Art as something worth dying for, and, in the person of Anton Walbrook's Lermontov, gives us a portrait of the artist as a man for whom anything and everything is worth sacrificing in its pursuit. Loosely based on Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes, Walbrook's magnetic central performance is of sufficient stature to conceal the rather trite predicament of his ballerina protégée, and the film's contrived, over-the-top tragic ending.<p> <B>On the DVD:</B> Sadly for a film in which music is such a central element, the advertised digital remastering doesn't seem to have extended to the mono soundtrack, which shows its age quite badly. The colour print, however, looks very vibrant. This special edition also includes a new 25-minute making-of feature with a few comments from crew members (or their relatives) and admirers of the film, including ballerina Darcey Bussell. The Ballet of the Red Shoes can be seen on its own in a separate featurette, and there are text biographies and a trailer.--<I>Mark Walker</I>
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Granada Ventures Ltd Inspector Morse - Series 2
Release Date: 2005-02-21, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£24.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Will Hay - Oh Mr Porter Convict 99 [1937]
Though he gets solo above-the-title billing, Will Hay was no more a solo comedian than Groucho Marx. Teamed with sidekicks Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt the trio formed one of British cinema's greatest comedy gangs. <I>Oh, Mr Porter!</I>, one of their finest vehicles, finds Hay as congenial William Porter, an inept railway worker who is shunted off to the dead-end job of stationmaster in Buggleskelly, Northern Ireland. The delight of the film is in the interplay between Hay and Marriott, the single-toothed dotty old-timer, and Moffatt, the chubby smart kid, as they fail the most basic requirements of their jobs but come up trumps when investigating the ghost of One-Eyed Joe and his haunted mill. --<I>Kim Newman</I> <p> One of Will Hay's brisker comic efforts, 1936's <I>Convict 99</I> sees Dr Benjamin Twist, Hay's clueless schoolmaster, caught in a case of mistaken identity and invited to head up a prison for especially hard-boiled criminals. It's a typical outtake from Hay's bizarrely lawless universe in which, for all his harrumphing and bluster, he's unable to exercise any sort of discipline whatsoever over the men in his charge. Hay plays exactly the same character from film to film, one so ill-equipped for any situation he's equally suited for all. Whereas Twist is an incompetent who somehow muddles through, Hay the comic actor is a master of timing and double-takes who knows precisely how to create the air of a shambles. --<I>David Stubbs</I>
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Granada Ventures Ltd Captain Scarlet - Series 1 - Vol. 3
Release Date: 2006-01-30, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£7.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Captain Scarlet - Series 1 - Vol. 4
Release Date: 2006-01-30, Rating Parental Guidance,
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Granada Ventures Ltd Captain Scarlet - Series 1 - Vol. 2
Release Date: 2006-01-30, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£7.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Cindy Crawford - Shape Your Body - Workout [1992]
Release Date: 2005-12-27, Rating Exempt,
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£5.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Complete Series 2 [1983]
First broadcast in 1983 with its second series airing in 1986, <I>Auf Wiedersehen Pet</I> was an unlikely comedy hit about a group of British labourers forced to work in Germany during the recession. Scripted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, (previously responsible for <I>Porridge</I> and <I>The Likely Lads</I>) its main players are likeable stereotypes from all over England: Barry (Timothy Spall), the bumbling, haplessly pretentious Brummie; gentle West Country giant Bomber (Pat Roach); amiable Scouse Moxey (Christopher Fairbank); and the three Geordies, nervous Neville (Kevin Whately), loudmouth xenophobic lummox Oz (Jimmy Nail) and put-upon Dennis (Tim Healy), the reluctant gaffer of the mob. <p> The second series saw the lads reunited to work for a dubious entrepreneur called Ally Fraser to whom Dennis owes money, and the location varying from Spain to Derbyshire. Gary Holton (cheeky cockney Wayne) died during the making of the series and Clement and La Frenais farmed out several episodes to other writers like Stan Hey, but the characters were well established by this point and the comedy held up. An episode in which the gang upset the locals of a stuffy country pub with their very presence is particularly memorable. A belated third series followed in 2002.--<I>David Stubbs</I>
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£37.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Widow's Peak [1993]
Release Date: 2004-03-15, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£9.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Henry VIII [2003]
At the heart of <I>Henry VIII</I> stands a towering performance by Ray Winstone, who literally grows into the role, impressively doubling in size and ageing 40 years over the course of two feature-length episodes. Focusing on Henry's relationships with his six wives, this lavish mini-series also makes a good job of explaining the complex court intrigues of the period, detailing Henry's split with Rome and the political crisis following the creation of the Church of England. Winstone initially seems to play the King as little more than a London gangster, but he gradually unfolds a complex, brutal, manipulative, romantic, dedicated and driven man with great skill. <p> In a role which harks back to <I>Lady Jane</I> (1986), Helena Bonham Carter makes an intelligent and sardonic Anne Boleyn, her bold performance contrasting strongly with Geneviève Bujold in <I>Anne of the Thousand Days</I> (1969). Emily Blunt impresses as the sexpot Katherine Howard, and Emilia Fox is compelling as Henry's greatest love, Jane Seymour. There's fine support from an all-star cast, including Sean Bean, Charles Dance and David Suchet. The production is unflinching, with burnings, torture, marital violence and executions graphically portrayed. If there's a weakness it lies in too-modern dialogue and an uncertain visual style, with noticeable borrowings from John Boorman's <I>Excalibur</I> and Ridley Scott's <I>Gladiator</I>, as well as setting <I>Shakespeare in Love</I>-style elegance against the ugly colours and graininess of reality TV. Ultimately <I>Henry VIII</I> plays most like a prequel to <I>Elizabeth</I> (1999)--right down to using the same piece of Elgar to underscore the finale--and has most of the same faults and virtues as that Oscar-winning film. <I>--Gary S Dalkin</I>
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Royle Family - Series 1 [UMD Mini for PSP]
Release Date: 2006-01-30, Rating Suitable for 12 years and over,
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£9.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Deep Jungle
Release Date: 2005-06-20, Rating Exempt,
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£15.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd 3 Modern Classics - The Stepfather Glengarry Glen Ross The Last Seduction [1987]
Release Date: 2003-10-20, Rating Suitable for 18 years and over,
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£17.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Inspector Morse - Series 1
Release Date: 2005-02-21, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£17.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd 3 Classic World War 2 Naval Battles - The Battle Of The River Plate In Which We Serve We Dive At Dawn [1942]
Release Date: 2003-10-20, Rating Universal, suitable for all,
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£17.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Inspector Morse - Series 4
Release Date: 2005-02-21, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£24.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Auf Wiedersehen Pet - Series 2 - Vol. 1 : Episodes 1-3 [1983]
Release Date: 2002-07-08, Rating Suitable for 12 years and over,
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£12.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Battle Of The River Plate [1956]
Something of a swan song for the legendary Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger partnership, 1956's <I>The Battle of the River Plate</I> is their penultimate film together (the following year's <I>Ill Met By Moonlight</I> was the last). Shot in a semi-documentary style that stands apart from the magical realism of much of their previous work--<I>Canterbury Tales</I>, <I>A Matter of Life and Death</I>, <I>The Red Shoes</I>--the film tells the story of the pursuit of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee by three British cruisers off the River Plate in Uruguay during November 1939. <p>Incorporating actual wartime footage adds to the authentic air, albeit one that sits uneasily with the obviously studio-bound look of the rest. Among the solid cast Peter Finch stands out as the beleaguered Captain Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, while John Gregson is his counterpart, the stalwart British hero type. Things get a bit odd when Christopher Lee pops up in the unlikely role of a Latin-American nightclub boss. It's an atypical Powell and Pressburger picture and not exactly their best, but still a fine World War II picture that documents an important incident in the opening salvos of the war. --<I>Mark Walker</I>
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£9.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Bertie And Elizabeth [2002]
Release Date: 2002-06-10, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£4.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Shawshank Redemption--3 Disc Special Edition [1995]
When The Shawshank Redemption was released in 1994, some critics complained that this popular prison drama was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its plot. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace.<p> Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who is sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we soon realise his claims of innocence are credible. We also realise that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that <i>The Shawshank Redemption</i> builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film (which many movie lovers count among their all-time favourites) that signalled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker. --<i>Jeff Shannon</i>
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Magnificent Two [1967]
Release Date: 2002-05-20, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£4.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd A Touch of Frost: Series 10 [1992]
Release Date: 2004-10-18, Rating Suitable for 12 years and over,
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£24.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Carry On Abroad [1972]
One of the last decent <I>Carry On</I> movies, <I>Carry On Abroad</I> is a 1972 venture into the world of package holidays. After this, the series descended into unfunny coarseness as opposed to camply laboured double entendre, culminating in the dreadful <I>Carry On Emanuelle</I>. Here, publican Sid James and dutiful mother's son turned sex maniac Charles Hawtrey are among a brace of Brits heading for the paradise island of Elsbels. Kenneth Williams is the out-of-his-depth tour operator, reverting to the sort of effete types he played in the 1950s, Peter Butterworth a pre-Manuel-style manager of a half-built hotel. A series of disasters ensue, with the entire gang landing up in jail following a fracas in a brothel at one point, but everyone finds romantic and sexual fulfilment in a quaint disco finale. This includes a gay character who is dissuaded from his homosexuality in a typical example of the thoroughly reactionary subtext that constitutes the really naughty bit of most <I>Carry On</I> films. Nonetheless, this throwback to an imaginary time when the lewdest innuendo of a dirty old man was greeted by young females with a flirty Ooh, saucy! is enjoyable on condition that you enter into its seaside-postcard spirit. June Whitfield is fine as a sexually uptight wife, Kenneth Connor a model of red-faced frustration as her wimpish husband. <p> <B>On the DVD:</B> Sadly, no extra features except scene selection. The picture is a 4:3 ratio full-screen presentation. --<I>David Stubbs</I>
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 4 to 7 days
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£12.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Cadfael - The Complete Series 1 [1994]
Brother Cadfael, the medieval mystery-solving monk, is a fascinating detective, at once a man of God, of science, and even of action. Derek Jacobi stars as the former soldier, sailor, sinner, and Crusader who has his faith tested by crimes of royal intrigue and baffling murders that seem to plague 12th-century Shrewsbury. You'll find few Benedictine monks so skilled at using a quarterstaff, but beware never to tell him your theory of how a crime must have been committed. We must always be wary of 'must', he states. Nothing is certain. And so attest these divine mysteries based on the books by Ellis Peters. Each feature-length episode is self-contained but plays against the backdrop of England's civil war between forces loyal to King Stephen and those to Empress Maud. Eoin McCarthy costars as local Under-Sheriff Hugh Beringar, who relies on Cadfael when murder subverts his efforts to keep the peace. --<I>Donald Liebenson</I>
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 4 to 7 days
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£14.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Casper's Haunted Christmas [2000]
In <I>Casper's Haunted Christmas</I>, a direct-to-video animated film, the haunted world of spooks meets the happy spirit of Christmas--a faulty premise to begin with. The plot gets even more absurd when Kibosh, supreme ruler of all ghosts, declares that Casper's scare quota is way down. To avoid serious repercussions, Casper must scare at least one person before Christmas Day, or he will be banished to the dark side. Talk about a merry holiday tale! To force the fear factor, Kibosh catapults Casper and the Ghostly Trio to Chrismassachusetts, where they must find an unsuspecting victim to scare. Kindhearted Casper doesn't have the nerve to scare anyone, so the Ghostly Trio secretly hires Casper's loo k-alike cousin, Spooky, to do the job. There's no doubt the wide-eyed little ghost is endearing, but his heyday may have ended with his series in Harvey Comics. There are some redeeming moments of humour, such as when Spooky mistakenly calls himself Casper, the Frenzied Ghost, and country singer Randy Travis does his best to add his musical charms to the score, but overall, Scrooge would be more welcome under the mistletoe than these bunch of ghouls. Teens may discover a few laughs (if the video can keep their attention), but mildly scary scenes, thematic elements and irreverent language suggest parental guidance for the younger set. (Ages 5 and older.) --<I>Lynn Gibson, Amazon.com</I>
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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£15.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Doctor At Sea [1955]
Release Date: 2002-09-30, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£4.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd Inspector Morse - Series 8
Release Date: 2005-02-21, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£17.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd A Touch of Frost: Series 7, 8 and 9
Release Date: 2004-10-04, Rating Suitable for 12 years and over,
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£24.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Inspector Morse - Disc 9 And 10 - The Last Enemy Deceived By The Flight [1987]
When <I>Inspector Morse</I> 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 story lines 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 another. 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. <p> 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! --<I>Piers Ford</I>
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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£14.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Sherlock Holmes - The Adventures The Return
Release Date: 2005-02-21, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£32.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd Kavanagh Q.C. - The Complete Series 3 - Episodes 1 To 6 [1995]
Release Date: 2004-06-14, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£19.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Cindy Crawford - A New Dimension
Release Date: 2005-12-27, Rating Exempt,
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£5.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Doctor In Love [1960]
Release Date: 2003-04-14, Rating Parental Guidance,
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 3 to 6 days
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£9.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Peter Kay: The Getaway Driver And 3 Coronation Street Episodes
Release Date: 2005-10-03, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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£4.97
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Granada Ventures Ltd The Prisoner - 35th Anniversary Companion [1990]
Primarily aimed at fanatic completists, <I>The Prisoner 35th Anniversary Companion</I> gives us an alternative version of the opening episode Arrival recently rediscovered from Canadian archival material, along with the broadcast version for comparison. The collection also has text files on associative material like the score for the music, the novelisations and the Dinky model of the mini-moke, clips of the interval bumpers, alternative clips of the opening credits and a sequence in which the opening credits shot of a filing cabinet labelled Resignations is reshot in a variety of languages for foreign markets. The episode included reminds us, in both its versions, what an innovative and sinister show <I>The Prisoner</I> was--George Baker in particular is an impressive foil to Patrick McGoohan. <p> There are also text files on the careers of McGoohan and his collaborator George Markstein, as well as an extended interview with Bernard Williams in which he talks frankly about the difficulties of producing a show whose scripts were being written by the star as it was being shot, and tells us of the last-minute improvisation of the sinister balloon, Rover. There is also a short documentary about the show, its fans and the memorabilia shop at Portmeirion, plus a <I>Prisoner</I> parody Renault ad. <p> <B>On the DVD:</B> <I>The Prisoner 35th Anniversary Companion</I> is presented in standard 4:3 television visual ratio; the mono sound has not worn well, especially in the alternative version of Arrival where it is at times painfully scratchy. The interface is user-confusing; if you don't already know the shape of The Village it is not immediately obvious that the menu continues on two screens. The packaging includes a lavish booklet that includes a facsimile of the production notes for the show. --<I>Roz Kaveney</I>
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 4 to 7 days
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£19.99
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Granada Ventures Ltd Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Set 4
Release Date: 2005-11-21, Rating Parental Guidance,
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£21.24
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Granada Ventures Ltd Great Expectations [1946]
David Lean's handsome adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel captures the warm humour and richness of character that so many film-makers miss in their reverent recreations of Victorian England. From the nightmarish opening sequence on the windswept graveyard where young orphan Pip (Anthony Wager) meets the desperate escaped criminal Magwitch (Finlay Currie) to the shadowy, musty mansion of the widow Miss Haversham (Martita Hunt) where he first meets the impertinent young beauty Estella (Jean Simmons), Lean captures a child-like exaggeration of reality with his elegant expressionism. When Pip's sudden change in fortune sends him to London as a burgeoning gentleman in high society, Lean sketches a beautiful, bustling city. <P>John Mills's performance as the adult Pip charts his change from the wide-eyed wonder and generous spirit of the child he was to the class snob transformed by money and social standing, an ugly flaw that Pip confronts when his mysterious benefactor is finally revealed. The outstanding cast also features Valerie Hobson as the grown-up Estella, now a beguiling enchantress, a bright young Alec Guinness in his film debut as Pip's jovial London roommate Herbert Pocket, and the imposing Francis L. Sullivan as the decidedly humourless lawyer Jaggers. Exquisitely photographed by Guy Green (who won an Oscar for his work). Lean and his collaborators effectively maintain the heart of Dickens's epic drama while cutting it to its essentials in this vivid, compelling film. --<I>Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com</I>
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