Betty Hutton (as Annie Oakley) and Howard Keel (as Frank Butler) star in this sharpshootin' funfest based on the Broadway smash boasting Irving Berlin's beloved score, including Doin' What Comes Natur'lly, I Got the Sun in the Morning and the anthemic There's No Business like Show Business. Directed by George Sidney this lavish, spirited production showcases songs and performances with bull's-eye precision, earning an Oscar for adaptation scoring. The story is brawling boy-meets-girl-meets-bucks find out more...

Michael Anderson had the bright idea of collecting hundreds of stars together way before Robert Altman thought of it and here they all are, in glorious technicolour. Niven is suberb, as always, as the impeccable Fogg who, for a wager, tries to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days! Hop on a sailing railroad across The West! Be attacked by fierce prairie Indians! Rescue a Princess in India! Sail a burning Atlantic paddle-wheeler! Fight bulls in Spain! Romp through Paris! Won Best Picture at 1956 Ac find out more...

A classy screen adaptation of Noel Coward's play about the problems caused to Rex Harrison's second marriage by the spirit of his dead wife who appears at a seance and proceeds to bug his new wife. Decent, dated special effects and the screenplay a fine example of Coward's finest wit. find out more...

OhtheDeadwoodStageiscomin'upoverthehill (fortissimo). Doris, bless her, belts her heart out as the pistol-packin' tomboy who has to clean up her act when she falls for Wild Bill Hickock. Much spunkier than 'Annie Get Your Gun' and with better tunes, most notably 'Secret Love'. A fine musical comedy. find out more...

Set in the heady days of Vaudeville London, this film (from the director of Went The Day Well? and the underrated horror Dead of Night) follows the career of George Leybourne (alias Champagne Charlie). The atmosphere of gaslit streets and off-stage politics has a brooding realism, while vaudeville veteran Stanley Holloway provides excellent support as The Great Vance. Very theatrical and more luvvies than you can shake a chimney sweeps brush at. find out more...

The life of comedienne Fannie Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of the Lower East Side, when only her mother believed Fanny could make it in show business, to her hilarious debut as a rollerskating chorus-girl and on to the height of her career as a star with the Ziegfeld Follies. Unfortunately she fell in love, and married, the wrong man; handsome, urbane but inept gambler Nick. Streisand won the best actress Oscar in this classic musical. find out more...

Now divorced from wealthy Nick Arnstein, Fanny teams up with songwriter Billy Rose, a brash showman bursting with enthusiasm and theatrical ambitions. They make an unusual couple, the polished performer and the upstart producer, but their friendship gradually blossoms into love. Funny Lady lacks the freshness and energy of the original Funny Girl but there are still some dazzling production numbers and Caan and Streisand make a believably feisty couple. find out more...

1st feature: Set in the 1890s this adaptation of Harold Brighouse's working class comedy sees a tyrannical bootmaker brought to heel when his plain-speaking daughter marries his down-trodden simple-minded employee and makes a successful business. Keen direction and fine performances make this a great comedy. find out more...

 Frank Capra's classic bittersweet drama about George Bailey (James Stewart), a small town businessman who has long considered himself a failure. Things come to a head one Christmas Eve in 1946, when facing financial ruin and arrest he contemplates suicide. Standing on a bridge and ready to jump George's fate now rests in the hands of an Angel eager to earn his wings. It's a Wonderful Life is widely considered to be one of the finest films ever made, it is certainly one of the greatest f find out more...

A group of idealistic young men, determined to clean up the corruption in their town, are aided by a scruffy, cynical samurai, Sanjuro, who does not at all fit their concept of a noble warrior, but, of course, runs rings round the baddies. Kurosawa's sequel to his Japanese "Western" (Yojimbo), a fast-paced classic of Japanese cinema with a frenetic finale find out more...