Madman October DVD Releases

Oh oh oh is October, and what better way to kick off the month.....

Babies. From first breath to first steps.

Exploring the world of its tiny heroes in locations that are worlds apart - the Namibian savannah, the Mongolian steppe, a Japanese megalopolis and sunny California - Babies makes a universal statement with strength and passion. Babies is a visual and sensorial experience that will reveal the most basic human emotions.

Apart from establishing shots of locations and seasons, and close-ups of the baby's physical environment, the film is composed of the unique moments that, as every parent knows, punctuate a child's first year and tell a fascinating story. Every shot tells a story by its content and its framing, confronting the baby with a world that seems gigantic, potentially hostile or simply needing to be explored.

“Smart and totally irresistible” – Sunday Age
"Wonderful” – Margaret Pomeranz, At the Movies

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Smile, be brilliant..... No pressure! Mrs Careys Concert.

At a Sydney girls' school, music director Karen Carey prepares her young students for a concert at the Opera House. Believing in the transformative power of great music, Carey insists upon a classical repertoire, sets a dauntingly high performance standard and requires the participation of every girl in the school. Carey inspires many of her girls, but some do not share her passion and are not afraid to say so.

Her greatest challenge will be firing up the unwilling, and her antagonist is 16 year old Iris Shi. Waging open warfare against authority, the charismatic Iris is the focal point of student resistance to Carey's Opera House ambitions, and the only girl who gets seriously under her skin. Emily Sun is Carey's star musician and a different sort of headache – a gifted but troubled teenager on the threshold of a brilliant musical career if only... Carey wants Emily to solo in a Bruch Violin concerto. But to bring out her best, she needs to keep the girl from going off the rails, and then get inside her head. And that proves no easy task, because young Emily has her own distinctive take on everything.

Mrs Carey's Concert is about music making and coming of age, about talent and courage, compliance and rebellion. About those prepared to open their minds and hearts to what the world has to offer... and those yet to discover the potential within.

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Let’s get our teeth into some TV classics. We are mad for them....

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin – The Complete Collection. One of the greatest comedies ever broadcast.

From a terminally frustrated commuter who fakes his own suicide, to the boss of GROT - a shop selling useless junk, to running a commune for the middle-aged and the middle-class, Reginald Perrin - and his family and colleagues - provide a hilarious satire on modern life.

The magnificent performance of Leonard Rossiter held the series together, but the show also boasted David Nobbs' consistently witty scripts and a supporting cast of fantastic characters and a host of enduring catchphrases.

The series The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (made after the sad death of Rossiter) saw the return of Jimmy, CJ, Tom, Doc and the others, as a deceased Reggie's will inspires them to do something totally and utterly absurd. And, from the BBC's The Funny Side of Christmas (which featured festive sketches of top comedy shows of the day), comes a five-minute sketch of Reggie's Christmas Day.

The BBC Comedy Connections documentary on the making of the series completes this comprehensive 5 disc collection.

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That’s My Boy – Series Two

What do you do when your housekeeper behaves like your mother?

Adopted at birth, Dr Robert Price was in for the mother of all dilemmas when his domineering new housekeeper turned out to be his real-life mother! Now settled in, Ida is making her maternal presence felt in every way, whilst continually locking horns with Robert's adoptive upper-class mother. Award-winning comedy legend Mollie Sugden stars in the second series of the hit comedy that proves you can never escape your mother!

The Rag Trade – Series Two

A colourful parade of scatty seamstresses and hilarious situations which will leave audiences nursing their stitches!

Work is a four-letter word for the fine females of Fenner Fashions, who spend more time dodging duties and getting into comic capers than concentrating on the job in hand. Despite union shop steward Paddy and her button-sewing battalion waging a comic war that tries the patience of their employer, Mr. Fenner, somehow they manage to deliver the goods. All 7 episodes from the second series of the '70s revival is now on DVD.

You Rang, M ‘Lord? Upstairs, Downstairs meets 'Allo!, 'Allo!

During the First World War, soldiers Alf and James come across the body of an officer. Thinking him dead, Alf robs the man much to James' disgust. When the body is delivered to the field hospital, it turns out to be the Honourable Teddy Meldrum - and not dead, just unconscious. Awakening, Teddy thanks the men for saving his life, and promises it be forever in their debt.

Ten years later and Teddy has kept his promise, employing James as head of his brother's household. When Alf joins the team, the scene is set.

With "goings-on" a plenty in the Meldrum household, this is a hoot of a comedy from the talented pens of Jimmy Perry and David Croft.

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Let’s finish off the month with something mega!

National Geographic: Megafactories – Euro Luxury Cars. Mercedes, Audi, Rolls Royce, Bentley.

It's a truly European obsession: the quest to combine the power and precision that is intrinsically linked to high-performance vehicles with the style and elegance synonymous with luxury car makers. Visiting four renowned car manufacturers, we are privy to a world where every inch of the car is lovingly crafted and exhaustively tested to produce an end result that is without peer. Enter these state-of-the-art factories and see what it takes to make a Euro luxury car.
 

Published 30th Sep 2011

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