Well Rupert Murdoch might be fed up with them, but this weekend, free DVDs in newspapers were back with a vengence. Yesterday, The Guardian had the not bad Let Him Have It starring Christopher Eccleston, while the Independent and its Sunday sister was on a mission to get its readers to appreciate world cinema by presenting a pair of Best Foreign Film winners that I can honestly say that I’ve never heard of – Closely Observed Trains and The Official Story. I have yet to watch either. Meanwhile the Daily and Sunday Express had a pair of Cary Grant films. Both are public domain and hence are much cheaper to include. But please, go out and buy the superb Columbia version of His Girl Friday. It’s worth the extra and is one of my favourite films of all time. This free version is terrible, and I say that without having sent any cash Richard Desmond’s way by actually purchasing a copy. The Sunday film was similarly a public domain title – Penny Serenade. I can’t find a DVD version to recommend for this, so buyer beware – lots of companies who specialise in putting out this out of copyright fare have released this title.
The Mirror stable gave away a pile of BBC comedy DVDs this weekend, while the Mail had Inspector Morse on Saturday – the first in a series of TV detective DVDs. This is despite the Mail’s chief executive calling free DVDs in newspapers “madness”.
[UPDATE] I’ve just noticed that The Observer’s giving away Dune next weekend!