Solving time approx. 12 minutes (I had a bit of a backlog on Monday but managed to get this and four others done on the 1 hour train journey to London - great practice for next weekend). Anyway, with DEATH WISH at 1ac and Herbert LOM appearing in 10ac I thought we were on to a theme, but it didn't pan out. The subject line above is the only film they appeared in together.
| Across |
| 1 | Hankering to get involved with Hades? (5,4) |
| DEATH WISH - (with Hades)*, so a nice anagram &lit to start us off. |
| 6 | Message about island retreats |
| CABLE - C (about) + ELBA (island) reversed. |
| 9 | Insignificant person gets out of bed to prepare for surgery (5,2) |
| SCRUB UP - SCRUB (insignificant person) + UP (out of bed). |
| 10 | Italian poet following Herbert in films (7) |
| LOMBARD - BARD (poet) after LOM (Herbert in films). |
| 11 | Bringer of good luck missing first course (5) |
| ASCOT - MASCOT (bringer of good luck), minus the first letter. |
| 13 | Penning English paper, an item remains (9) |
| LEFTOVERS - E(nglish) + FT (Financial Times, a newspaper) inside LOVERS (an item). |
| 14 | Teacher runs with class in Yorkshire town (9) |
| DONCASTER - DON (teacher) + R(uns), with CASTE (class) inside. |
| 16 | Beginning, not ending, as luminary (4) |
| STAR - START (beginning), minus the last letter. |
| 18 | Servant starts to milk Alderney in dairy (4) |
| MAID - first letters of Milk Alderney In Dairy. |
| 19 | Lose water that's heated - dry out (9) |
| DEHYDRATE - (heated dry)*. |
| 22 | Grave robber almost trapped by bear or dog (9) |
| STAGHOUND - GHOU(l) (grave robber almost) inside STAND (bear). |
| 24 | Captured by group of soldiers, left in the dark (5) |
| UNLIT - L(eft) inside UNIT (group of soldiers). |
| 25 | Small collar around a vegetable (7) |
| SPINACH - S(mall) + PINCH (collar) around A. |
| 26 | Black performer lacking right material (7) |
| BATISTE - B(lack) + ARTISTE (performer) without the R for right. |
| 28 | Old Testament character, New Testament incident (5) |
| EVENT - EVE (Old Testament character) + NT (New Testament). |
| 29 | Theatre cat rejected mysterious crop (5,4) |
| SUGAR CANE - GUS (theatre cat) + ARCANE (mysterious). Ref. TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. |
| Down |
| 1 | Shed was adequate for storing small wheels (7) |
| DISCARD - DID (was adequate) around S(mall) + CAR (wheels). |
| 2 | Musical compositionthat's inspired (3) |
| AIR - double definition. |
| 3 | Customary attire: undies and loose tops (8) |
| HABITUAL - HABIT (attire) plus first letters of Undies And Loose. |
| 4 | Spirit initially expresses life force (5) |
| IMPEL - IMP (spirit) + first letters of Expresses Life. |
| 5 | Stay on river, so to speak (4,5) |
| HOLD FORTH - HOLD (stay) + FORTH (river). |
| 6 | Improveboard (4,2) |
| COME ON - double definition. |
| 7 | Loaf in club bar for pioneer (5,1,5) |
| BLAZE A TRAIL - LAZE (loaf) inside BAT (club), RAIL (bar). |
| 8 | Customer finally swimming under sea? Not entirely (3,4) |
| END USER - (under se)*. |
| 12 | Use bits of tin and nickel on island, having cleared out store (11) |
| CANNIBALISE - CAN (tin) + NI (nickel) + BALI (island) + S(tor)E. |
| 15 | A poet, oddly trendy, reported colours (3,6) |
| TED HUGHES - odd letters of TrEnDy, + HUGHES (sounds like hues). Former poet laureate. |
| 17 | A tuxedo and overcoat left out for regulator (8) |
| ADJUSTER - A + DJ (tuxedo) + ULSTER (overcoat) minus the L for left. |
| 18 | Unmissable stone in French museum (4-3) |
| MUST-SEE - ST(one) inside MUSEÉ (French museum). |
| 20 | Old chestnut, say, about male that is very severe (7) |
| EXTREME - EX (old) + TREE (chestnut, say) around M(ale). |
| 21 | Scotchrower's bench (6) |
| THWART - double definition. |
| 23 | Start replacing tons with grams in correct code (5) |
| DEBUG - DEBUT (start) with the T(ons) switched for a G(rams). |
| 27 | Music required by ice-skaters (3) |
| SKA - found inside ice-SKAters. |