DVD Review: The Statue (1970)

I think it's fair to say that Britain's censorship laws up 'til the 1980s (and some would argue beyond) have been significantly tighter than the rest of Europe. Which meant, for many years, we had films that were suggestive and saucy, but never overstepped the legal line. Films like The Statue.

It's a film about a man's manhood. Not unusual, at the time (Percy trod similar ground in the same year). But in 2010? Well, it just seems a bit childish. Anyway, the 'Percy' in question here belongs to Professor Alex Bolt (David Niven). He's created a universal language and for his troubles, got himself a Nobel Prize. Not only that, a large nude statue of him is going up in Grosvenor Square, organised by an ambitious US diplomat called Ray (Robert Vaughn) and paid for by the US government. What could go wrong?

Coming to Blu-ray: Who Dares Wins two-disc special edition

Don't worry, I'm not going to proclaim Who Dares Wins as an underrated gem - it's still very much a guilty pleasure. But it's certainly one of my favourite guilty pleasures.

What's it about? Well, to put it simply, the movie is based on the Iranian embassy siege, with Lewis Collins playing SAS agent Skellen. infiltrating a terrorist group to find out who is in their sights. It's the American embassy - and Skellen is the key to everyone getting out alive.

The new issue of the movie comes as a DVD or Blu-ray set over two discs, newly restored and packed with extras including The Last of the Gentleman Producers (which includes interviews with Roger Moore, Honor Blackman and the cast of Who Dares Wins), The Making of Who Dare Wins and new audio commentary. Both the Blu-ray and DVD is available from April 5th 2010 .

Find out more at the Play website

Guilty Pleasure: Bless This House (1972)

I don't know about you, but I've got a list of films I'm drawn to like a moth to a flame - the kind of low-brow movies that would never make my top 10 list, let alone a serious film critic's top 1000. But the kind of a film that's perfect for a Sunday afternoon to see you through a hangover. These films are Guilty Pleasures - and up there with the best of them is Bless This House.

For the uninitiated, Bless This House was a British sitcom from the 1970s based around the Abbot family, with a cast headed up by Sid James (Sid Abbot), Diana Coupland (Jean Abbot) and Cinedelica favourite Sally Geeson as Sally Abbot. And like all good British sitcoms, it had a movie spin-off, with a few cast changes for the big screen. In came Robin Askwith as the son (Mike), Peter Butterworth as neighbour Trevor and new neighbours Ronald and Vera Baines (Terry Scott and June Whitfield, later to get their own Terry and June sitcom).