Paul Newman revels in his role as the sassy and irreverent Luke Jackson, a rebellious prisoner, (sentenced for cutting the heads off parking meters one drunken night!), in one of Florida's notorious prison chain gangs. His refusal to conform wins him the respect of his fellow inmates, but, following the death of his mother, he decides to escape. Newman's role won critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination. A witty and well-observed film, with some very funny scenes, (see the boiled egg race!) find out more...

Phyllis Dietrichson is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who inspires in her nothing but contempt, but rather than leave him Phyllis decides to kill him and collect on the insurance policy she's had set up with the help of her lover, and naive partner in crime, insurance salesman Walter Neff. The only flaws in their plan are the company's reluctance to pay out so much, the diligence of Neff's increasingly suspicious colleague, (and his 'little man'), and the exemplary ruthlessness of Ph find out more...

We follow the everyday travails of a group of WW2 French resistance fighters in Marseille, including their engineer leader and a middle-aged woman who sets up anti-German attacks without telling her husband or daughter, as they do battle against the occupying Nazis, collaborators and traitors in their own camp. This tense and atmospheric classic, based partly on Joseph Kessel's novel and partly on Melville's own experiences as a resistance fighter who later escaped France to join the Free French find out more...

One of the greatest war films ever made; three captured French soldiers, one an aristocrat, one a mechanic and one a Jew, bond together when imprisoned together by German soldiers. Their attempts to escape and their relationships with their captors, especially that between the French aristocrat and his German counterpart, are superbly dramatised in this indictment of the mass slaughter that is war. Subtle, emotive and timeless. find out more...

One of two classic Lean adaptations of Charles Dickens. From the opening shot of Oliver's mother struggling through the snow to reach the workhouse. The film brilliantly recreates the feeling of poverty-stricken Victorian England. Look out in particular for Alec Guinness' superb performance as Fagin. find out more...

Guinness restores the morale of British PoWs by building a bridge which is of military value to the Japanese, and then attempts to thwart the RAF's destruction of it! A classic film which swept 7 Oscars including "Best Picture". find out more...