The collection opens with Len Lye's modernist abstraction ‘Tusalava’, which, heavily influenced by Maori and Aboriginal art, shares an interest in ‘primitive’ cultures that was typical of the Modernist movement of the time. It was almost refused a certificate by the puzzled British Board of Censors who suspected that the dancing abstract shapes might be about sex. Lye's own explanation was that it showed the beginnings of organic life. ‘Crossing the Great Sagrada’, is a lowbrow spoof on travel find out more...

Noirish, black and white thriller, adapted by Kurosawa from a novel by Ed McBain. Wealthy tycoon Kingo Gondo is prepared to face financial ruin when his young son is kidnapped, but it soon emerges that the ruthless abductor has accidentally snatched the chauffeur's child instead. With the ransom demand still standing, Kingo faces a terrible moral dilemma, while wily policeman Inspector Tokuro employs ever more cunning methods in his hunt for the kidnapper. Tense and thought-provoking. find out more...

Melville's masterful take on the American crime thriller perfectly combines the Hollywood gangster film with his uniquely French style. Alain Delon as a master thief, Yves Montand as an alcoholic ex-cop and Gian-Maria Volonte as an escaped criminal plot a daring heist of an upmarket Parisian jewellery store against impossible odds. find out more...

Set within the vibrant dancehalls and low-life hang-outs of 1940s Paris, ambitious young actress Jenny, her covetous, piano-playing husband/manager Maurice Martineau and their devoted confidante Dora Monier attempt to cover one another's tracks when a sexually ogreish high-society business acquaintance is murdered. Enter Inspector Antoine whose seasoned instincts lead him down a circuitous path in this classic whodunit murder mystery. find out more...

Anthony Quinn stars as an Eskimo whose daily routine is a constant struggle to survive in one of the most hostile and hauntingly beautiful of climates. As the white trappers begin to invade the Eskimo's lands, they find it harder and harder to survive in the harsh landscape. When the clash of cultures results in the accidental death of a missionary, Inuk must use all his skills to keep one step ahead of the two Mounties on his trail. Savage Innocents is at its heart a rip roaring action adventur find out more...

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece. find out more...