More than half a century after its release in 1950, Sunset Boulevard is still the most pungently unflattering portrait of Hollywood ever committed to celluloid. Billy Wilder, unequalled at combining a literate, sulphurous script with taut direction, hits his target relentlessly. The humour–and the film is rich in this, Wilder’s most abundant commodity–is black indeed. Sunset Boulevard is viciously and endlessly clever. William Holden’s opportunistic scriptwriter Joe Gillis, whose sellout proves fatal, is from the top drawer of film noir. Gloria Swanson’s monstrously deluded Norma Desmond, the benchmark for washed-up divas, transcends parody. And her literal descent down the staircase to madness is one of the all-time great silver-screen moments.

Sunset Boulevard isn’t without pathos, most notably in Erich von Stroheim’s protective butler who wants only to shield his mistress from the stark truths that are massing against her. But its view of human beings at work in a ruthlessly cannibalistic industry is bleak indeed. Nobody, not even Nancy Olson’s sparkily ambitious writer Betty Schaefer, is untainted. And neither are we, “those wonderful people out there in the dark”. Norma might be ready for her close-up, but it’s really Hollywood that’s in the frame. No wonder Wilder incurred the charge of treachery from his peers. It’s cinematic perfection.

On the DVD: Sunset Boulevard lends itself effortlessly to a collector’s edition of this quality. The film itself is presented in full-frame aspect ratio from an excellent print and the quality of the mono soundtrack is faultless: the silver screen comes to life in your living room. The extras are superb, including a commentary from film historian Ed Sikov and a making-of documentary which includes the memories of Nancy Olson. Interactive features such as the Hollywood location map add to the fun. –Piers Ford

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A collection of insights and anecdotes, diary entries, poems, ‘true’ facts and cartoons on travel. It includes the author’s reflections on life back in England, from Salford joy riders to what his girlfriend’s mum and dad have for dinner on a Thursday.

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These great products allow office workers to add a festive touch to their desk at Christmas. The Christmas Tree will rotate his colour from red to blue and then to green!

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Duragadget water resistant Pink neoprene laptop case for 11 to 13 inch laptops.Durable, water resistant neoprene cushions provide complete laptop protection. It is a contemporary stylish black laptop sleeve finished with gunmetal piping round the entire case. Excellent for any occasion, whether you are working, in school or travelling, make sure your laptop is protected at all times. – Smooth non-scratch interior linings throughout the bag. – Provide ability to release the external shock by slowly compressing & slowly expanding, and has been designed to absorb shock energy – This compact sleeve can also be used as a stand-alone case or be placed in another bag to carry. – This case provides maximum protection from dust, scratches and other damaging agents. This item will fit 99% of 11 to 13 laptops it will also fit smaller laptops but will not provide a snug fit. We have a range of cases that are designed for all different models of laptops, we stock 9, 10, 13 14 15 16 and 17 inch laptop cases. Please look at our other listings or our shop for these cases.

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DURAGADGET Pink Duragadget premium durable water resistant neoprene black laptop sleeve dual zip pouch carry case with ultimate protection for the Apple MacBook, MacBook White, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, 13.3″ 13″ laptop life time warranty fits all 2010 13.3 inch models

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Sony ICDBX800 Digital voice recorder flash 2 GB MP3 ICDBX800CE7 MP3s MP3 Players

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This superb notebook/laptop cooling mat uses a macromolecular compound for the absorption of excess heat. This compound remains in crystal or granular form up to temperatures of 25ºC. The granuals will slowly absorb any heat and will change their molecular appearance, forming a viscous gel that will continually absorb heat and allow any item in contact to dissipate its own heat output. When a laptop computer is placed on the mat, the mat will absorb large amounts of heat from the notebook base. It is able to do this without disrupting any of the natural flow of air through the notebook’s cooling vents. It allows more than 5 hours of continual usage, depending on the ambient environment and amount of heat produced from the notebook, without the need for providing any form of external power. Under natural conditions the crystals in the mat will automatically reform as the temperature falls below 25ºC, allowing it to be used over & over again.

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Custom designed for your BlackBerry® smartphone, the BlackBerry® Pocket helps protect your BlackBerry smartphone from getting bumped and scratched. Your BlackBerry Pocket is also specially designed to maximize battery life and allows personalized in-holster profile settings to give it your added touch.

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It’s hard to imagine how shocking this film was when it first broke on the film scene in 1968. There’s never been anything quite like it, though it’s inspired numerous pale imitations. Part of the terror lies in the fact that this one’s shot in such a raw, unadorned fashion it feels like a home movie, and all the more authentic for that. Another is that it draws us into its world gradually, content to establish a merely spooky atmosphere before leading us through a horrifically logical progression that we could hardly have anticipated. The story is simple. Radiation from a fallen satellite has caused the dead to walk and hunger for human flesh. Once bitten, you become one of them. And the only way to kill one is by a shot or blow to the head. We follow a group holed up in a small farmhouse to fend off the inevitable onslaught of the dead. And it’s the tensions between the members of this unstable, makeshift community that drive the film. Night of the Living Dead establishes its savagery as a necessary condition of life. Marked by fatality and a grim humour, it gnaws through to the bone, then proceeds on to the marrow.–Jim GayGeorge Romero’s classic 1968 zombie-fest Night of the Living Dead (shot in black and white) offers some disturbing images, even decades later. In a Pittsburgh suburb people are being stalked by zombies ravenous for human flesh. In a house whose occupant has already been slain, two separate groups of people unite and board themselves in, hoping to fend off the advancing ghouls. Through radio and TV reports they learn that radiation from outer space is thought to be responsible for the wave of zombie attacks all over the eastern United States. Once the humans are trapped, Romero shifts the focus to the internal feuding between them as they decide how to handle their dreadful situation. What unfolds is an examination of human nature, and of the fear and selfishness that keep many citizens from getting involved in the world’s problems. Appropriately, both the zombies, and the authorities who later hunt them, are equally soulless. This film could also be read as a criticism of white males–it is not merely a coincidence that the film’s two most rational, constructive characters are a woman and a black man. It is also no coincidence that the sequel Dawn of the Dead (1978) takes place in a mall infested by the undead–a perfect analogy for consumer culture. –Bryan Reeseman, Amazon.com

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Black comedies don’t come much blacker than cult favourite, Harold and Maude (1972), and they don’t come much funnier either. It seems that director Hal Ashby was the perfect choice to mine a load of eccentricity from the original Colin Higgins script, about the unlikely romance between a death-obsessed 19-year-old named Harold (Bud Cort) and a life-loving 79-year-old widow named Maude (Ruth Gordon). They meet at a funeral, and Maude finds something oddly appealing about Harold, urging him to “reach out” and grab life by the lapels as opposed to dwelling morbidly on mortality. Harold grows fond of the old gal–she’s a lot more fun than the girls his mother desperately tries to match him up with- -and together they make Harold and Maude one of the sweetest and most unconventional love stories ever made. Much of the early humour arises from Harold’ s outrageous suicide fantasies, played out as a kind of twisted parlour game to mortify his mother, who has grown immune to her strange son’s antics. Gradually, however, the film’s clever humour shifts to a brighter outlook and finally arrives at a point where Harold is truly happy to be alive. Featuring soundtrack songs by Cat Stevens, this comedy certainly won’t appeal to all tastes (it was a box-office flop when first released), but if you’re on its quirky wavelength, it might just strike you as one of the funniest films you’ve ever seen. –Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

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In a history very different from our own, the Civil War rages on in Texas. Zeppelins fill the air, steam power vehicles battle horses for space on the roads and bodies lay strewn through the wreckage of the Sisters of the Merciful Truth Convent, innocent victims of a local turf war. Three sisters, raised in the convent, emerge from the horror to find their lives of family and devotion over, and their separate lives of crime about to begin.

In lawless times, where faith and love battle doubt and hate, Justice now sees the world from behind the barrel of a gun. She falls in with a handsome and mysterious miscreant as she attempts to carve a place in the ruined world and search for her lost sisters. But when her life of crime catches up to her, Justice will learn the meaning of true love, and family ties.

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