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...

Truffaut's much-admired portrait of a twenty year menage a trois that has Moreau playing the enchanting Catherine in one of her finest film roles. She holds her two boyfriends in thrall, as their relationship develops over the years. Worth watching for the inimitable style and panache alone! find out more...

Beautiful, but spoiled, Fanny has married Jewish stockbroker Job to save crooked brother Trippy's arse and for his money, but she soon denies Job access to the marital bed. Trippy disappears to get himself killed in WW1 and Fanny eventually divorces Job, who also goes to Europe, with their daughter.
Years later; the daughter has returned to the USA but Job has been whisked off to a concentration camp, where he goes blind. Fanny catches diphtheria and loses her beauty while her daughter find out more...

'Ordet' is the story of religious rural families in 1920s West Jutland divided internally, and between each other, by different interpretations of their faith. Devout Morten has three sons, one an atheist, one who believes he is Jesus Christ and one who would like to be married, but whose prospective father-in-law objects to his sect. It's going to take a miracle to heal these differences... find out more...

Adapted from a Novokshenov novel this semi-ethnographic, semi-polemical epic follows a Mongol uprising against British occupiers not long after the communist revolution in Russia. When a young herdsman is captured by the British a twist of fate leads them to believe he is a descendant of Genghis Khan and, hoping that such a presence will pacify the people, he is dully installed as a puppet leader. This as you might expect turns out to be a terrible error of judgement on the part of the interlope 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...

It's all sweetness and light in this moving music biopic classic of Glen Miller's impressive rise to fame with June Allyson playing his childhood sweetheart and James Stewart outstanding as the man himself. It's got all the great arrangements from 'Pensylvania 6-500' to 'Moonlight Serenade', all scored by Henry Mancini in homage to Miller's style, plus Louis Armstrong makes an appearance playing 'Basin Street Blues' and Frances Langford does 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo'. find out more...

After WW1, Lloyd returns to practice law, out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver and former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging. Good guy Eddie builds up a fleet of cabs through the reluctant delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. Ruthless George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere. An archetypal gangster thriller. find out more...

'Gold does funny things to a man's soul'. That's the issue tackled by this seminal movie about the pursuit of money and its effect on the brotherhood of man. Bogart plays the down-and-out Dobbs who hooks up with a fellow economic refugee. They both get to work on a building site, working for a pay packet that never materialises, but it's not until they meet up with an old prospector (Walter Huston) that they start down a tortuous path of greed and paranoia that will change their lives forever. ' find out more...

Frank Gibbons has just been released from the army at the end of WW1 and, along with his extended family, he moves out to Clapham. At first life seems good but, with the arrival of the General Strike, the Gibbons and their friends and neighbours find life has plenty in store to test their resilience and good will. This Happy Breed is adapted from a Noel Coward play by David Lean and is a fine family saga in the best tradition of early British cinema. find out more...