DVD: Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (15)

"We made them fast and cheap, and taste was out of the question, there was no need for taste," explains Martin Scorsese, one of the many film directors who worked for "the king of of the Bs", Roger Corman.

The rebellious director and producer has made over 200 films – including The Monster from the Ocean Floor, Attack of the Crab Monster and Teenage Cave Man – on miniscule budgets. This excellent documentary features some of Corman's beliefs on movies ("We feel monsters should kill people fairly and then at regular intervals throughout the picture") and a cavalcade of Hollywood luminaries, including Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, William Shatner and Jonathan Demme singing his praises. Corman, rather than coming across as a cigar-chomping maniac, is actually rather restrained and dignified, which is extraordinary given the ripe and gory material that he deals with. Alex Stapleton traces his work from the mid-1950s (The Undead) to the 1960s (The Cry Baby Killer, starring Jack Nicholson, who says the film "was just humiliating, but hey, Corman was the only guy who hired me for 10 years") right up to now (Camel Spiders). This is a charming, occasionally touching tribute to Corman, who did it all outside of the studio system, making "outlaw movies" that are as "disreputable as possible". There's only one Roger Corman...