The second of the terrific Stewart/Mann Westerns is characteristic of their pairings: adult themes played out against prairie vistas in which betrayal and violence can erupt at any time. Formerly a vicious Missouri raider, Stewart now leads an Oregon bound wagon train that, having brushed aside ineffective Native American resistance to the invasion, becomes embroiled in a conflict over resources between farmers (decent folk) and miners (womanising, drinking, thieving, scumbags). Welcome to Middl find out more...

An all time classic 60s movie glamourising the real life story of the Barrow gang who terrorised the American South in the early 30s. 'Reclaiming the American gangster movie, after it had been stolen by the Nouvelle Vague, Penn's film was so successful (and so imitated) that it inevitably met with some grudging devaluation. But it's still great, half comic fairytale, half brutal fact, it reflects the essential ambiguity of its heroes by treading a no man's land suspended between reality and fant find out more...

The story of an Arkansas farm girl who, as a young girl, witnessed the death of her father in a horrific crash and then gained revenge on his boss. On the run she hits the road in a life of crime and meets up with an assortment of characters, including a trade unionist, a black friend of his and a small-time Yankee conman. find out more...

Errol Flynn, in his starring debut, plays a doctor wrongly condemed to prison who escapes and leads his fellow prisoners to a life of piracey. He then goes onto form the 'Brotherhood of Buccaneers' to fight the villainous James II. find out more...

David Lean's much-acclaimed production of the gloomy Dickens classic. Briefly, a young boy befriends an escaped convict who later repays him anonymously, creating a bond which the now upwardly-mobile youngster could well do without...an interesting probe of Victorian class structure. Visually flawless, perfectly paced, it's a masterpiece. find out more...

A slightly surreal story of a man with no name who rides into the town of Lago, knocks off some desperados who try to kill him and gets hired to defend the timid townsfolk from some other baddies. One of Clint's best. find out more...

Based on Jules Verne's fantasy adventure we follow Professor Lindenbrook and his motley posse into the bowls of the earth where they discover a land that time forgot (or something very similar). Very bad baddies, huge ravenous lizards, and giant mushrooms are just a taster of the goodies on offer. There's also a bit of effective sexual symbolism, in typical Hollywood style, which greatly enhances the syrupy romantic subplot. Excellent and with the added bonus of the late, great James Mason. find out more...

Among the lavish sets one can detect a plot in which one of Nero's Roman commanders falls in love with a Christian girl and they both get thrown to the lions. Ustinov barks, foams at the mouth, sets fire to the eternal city, and steals the show. Rivetting acting in one of the last great cinema epics.

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...

The John Huston classic about the prim missionary lady forced to team up with a drunken ne'er-do-well for a dangerous journey when the war comes to their remote bit of Africa. Their trying odyssey downriver, of course, gradually sees the two incompatibles falling in love, with the as always detached Bogart finally discovering commitment and attacking a German gunboat. find out more...