The lack of accuracy in the calculation of longitude had caused the death of countless sailors. In 1714 Parliament, worried by the loss of British ships and mindful to the military advantage of knowing where one was at sea, offered a £20,000 prize to anyone who could accurately measure longitude. This is the story of John Harrison, a brilliant carpenter, whose timepieces solved the problem that had long defeated the scientists, it was a hard fought victory and Harrison was forced to endure pover find out more...

1918 and The First World War has just come to an end, Max has only just escaped the trenches with his life but the loss of an arm has left his dreams of continuing as an artist in tatters. While in Munich, Max meets another young veteran of the war, Adolph Hitler, an aspiring painter unfortunately devoid of artistic imagination. The two men strike up an unlikely friendship, but while Max's wealthy middle class Jewish background leaves a number of options open to him, poverty stricken and increas find out more...

 

Successful Screenwriter Gil wanders the lanes of Paris with his head in the clouds and walks right into his own best fantasy. Gil is there with his fiancée, taking a break from his career, and wishing he was in the bohemian Paris of the 1920’s with his literary heroes. Sure enough, a midnight encounter finds him in a world of the pa find out more...

It's the off-season at the lonely Beauregard Hotel in Bournemoth, and only the long-term tenants are still in residence. Life is stirred up, however, when the beautiful Ann Shankland arrives to see her alcoholic ex-husband, John Malcolm, who is secretly engaged to Pat Cooper, the woman who runs the hotel. Meanwhile, snobbish Mrs Railton-Bell discovers that the kindly if rather doddering Major Pollock, played by David Niven, who won an Oscar for his performance, a retired officer who likes to find out more...

Ursula 'undress' Andress is wonderfully seductive, numerous scenes demonstrate her true sensual nature, as "She who must be obeyed". In Palestine, after WWI, archaeologist Holly and buddy Leo are penniless. Leo is abducted and told a beautiful woman is waiting for his return, he is given a ring and a map and told that all will be revealed if he travels beyond the Mountains of the Moon. Leo tells Holly about the encounter and the two friends set out on an expedition to seek the mythical city of K find out more...

Set in Shanghai during the Chinese Revolution, the storyline explores the relationship between a missionary, Megan, and a Chinese warlord, General Yen. It's refreshing to see Capra tackling something more alien to him than the struggles of idealistic American men and he seems to have taken a healthy interest in a culture that at the time was still shrouded in mystery and secrecy. The style of the film is infused with the Orient, from its zen-like mise en scene to the director's inclusion of c find out more...

The Railway Children; an affectionate adaptation of the great children's novel capturing the innocence of childhood and the comfy certainties of a bygone era. Not that their world is boring, they meet a wry bunch of characters, save a train from derailment and harbour a Bolshevik refugee etc. A high nostalgia count. find out more...

Based on a novel by Somerset Maugham, this adaptation stays faithful to the book's questing spirit. Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power) returns home from military service in World War I, and after much soul-searching decides he needs to find something in life deeper than money and conformity. The search takes him away from fiancée (Gene Tierney) and her skeptical uncle into Parisian streets and Himalayan mountain ranges. Herbert Marshall deftly plays the role of Somerset Maugham, the find out more...

Much vaunted tale of mens' greed; sacrificing family, friends and principles to gain profit in the early years of the 20th Century. Danny Day Lewis is superb, as always, as the sinister Daniel Plainview. find out more...