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Great new home entertainment releases, suggested by Simon Evans

A Complete Unknown (Elevation, DVD and Blu-ray), is not the first Bob Dylan biopic, and probably won’t be the last, but it is hard to imagine anyone capturing the enigmatic singer-songwriter more effectively than Timothy Chalamet.

Following Dylan’s progress from East Village folkie to counter-cultural icon, the film is rich in period detail – you can almost smell the exotic substances being ingested at the various New York folk clubs – and, although the film plays fast and loose with the facts in the interest of narrative cohesion, at least one Dylanophile of my acquaintance is prepared to tolerate even a major rewriting of rock history such is the power of the film.

It was brave, verging on foolhardy, of Chalamet to perform some of the songs live rather than mime to existing tracks but it all adds to the realism of the film – it really is an extraordinary central performance, one bafflingly overlooked at all the major awards ceremonies.

Plaudits, too, for Ed Norton, who plays Pete Seeger, the left-wing folk singer discarded by Dylan as he moves from acoustic to electric, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, who would also, ultimately, be similarly cast aside.

Extras include a making-of documentary and features on Chalamet, the story and the design of the film…

In 1974 Slade were at the height of their powers, having dominated the charts over the previous two years with a series of glorious, good-time singles. The logical next step was to make a film, probably a Hard Day’s Night-type affair, which would showcase their affable, blokeish charm and deliver all the hits.

It’s safe to say, however, that no one saw Slade In Flame – newly reissued by the BFI on Blu-ray and DVD, coming. Rather than indulge their teeny-bopper fanbase, the film, which was originally released in 1975, took the band back to their late-Sixties roots, telling the story of a band grinding out a living in soul-sapping clubs and dance halls.

The film was a gritty, realistic, sometimes violent, portrayal of life on the road and while it is now regarded as a classic of the genre it did much to hasten the end of Slade’s career, despite an excellent accompanying soundtrack album. It’s definitely worth revisiting and includes an excellent documentary featuring interviews with the band and Tom Conti, who was making his first major film role…

Series Two of Recipes for Love and Murder is now available through Acorn Media International (DVD) starring Maria Doyle Kennedy as food columnist turned agony aunt and amateur sleuth Tannie Maria. Set in the South African town of Eden, and based on Sally Andrew’s best-selling novels, it finds Maria faced with the unexpected arrival of her former sister-in-law Aileen and husband, DI Gordon McClintock, as well as becoming embroiled in a multiple murder investigation that threatens to unearth some of the town’s darkest secrets…

Emilia Fox returns as disillusioned former spy turned amateur detective Sylvia Fox in the second series of the Italian-set Signora Volpe (Acorn Media International, DVD). Having reconnected with her sister Isabel (Tara Fitzgerald) Sylvia has set about restoring a house in the Umbrian countryside, but the pull of a good mystery proves too much to resist, everything from the murder of a pillar of the local community to an undercover mission at a perilous house party. But one particular case threatens everything, including Sylvia’s burgeoning relationship with Carabinieri Captain Riva (Giovanni Cirfiera)…

New on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment, Laurel and Hardy: The Silent Years (1928) features ten silent shorts dating from 1928 showcasing the great comic duo just as their partnership started to gather up a head of steam. The films include Leave ‘em Laughing, which sees Stan seeking treatment for a toothache, You’re Darn Tootin’, which follows the pair as they turn their hand to busking, and Should Married Men Go Home?, in which a relaxing trip to the golf course quickly turns into chaos…

A remote cliffside house on the Scottish coast provides the setting for Simon Perry’s atmospheric psychological thriller, Eclipse, starring Tom Conti as a bereaved brother troubled by memories of his twin, whom he saw die at sea. After returning to his childhood home for a Christmas celebration with his brother’s alcoholic widow and her son, things begin to go awry as dark secrets and sibling rivalries surface once more. This odd, unsettling film has been barely seen since it was shot nearly 50 years ago and is now available on Blu-ray through the BFI’s Flipside label. Extras include a new interview with Tom Conti…

New on DVD and Blu-ray are the complete first two seasons of The Serpent Queen (Dazzler Media), with Samantha Morton delivering a powerful performance as Catherine de Medici, following this key historical figure as she journeys from orphaned Italian noblewoman to becoming Queen of France. Catherine faces a battle to survive amidst a 16th-century French court riddled with intrigue and religious upheaval, and she has to draw on all her reserves of cunning and ruthlessness to keep one step ahead of her enemies…

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