The original and best adaptation of Hemingway's sweeping WW1 novel. Cooper positively smoulders as the US ambulanceman who falls in love with an English nurse and finally goes AWOL to join her only to find, tragically, that he may be too late. Oscars for Best Cinematography and Sound. find out more...

In the middle of the Second World War teenage Alyosha is commended for destroying two German tanks, but, rather than take a medal, he requests a four day pass to visit his mother. Ballad of a Soldier is about this journey and the life enhancing encounters therein. Nominated at the 1962 Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, this classic of post-war Soviet Realism won many international film awards on its release, most notably a BAFTA Award for Best Film. find out more...

David Lean's epic romance set against the turbulant backdrop of the Russian revolution. One man's struggle for moral political and personal survival amidst the complex web of intrigue and tangled loyalties that accompanied the fall of the Tsar.

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One of the very finest epics produced, equally impressive in terms of script and spectacle. Heston is aptly heroic as the 11th Century patriot destined to die in the fight to evict the Moors from Spain, Mann's direction is stately and thrilling and Miklos Rosza's superb score perfectly complements the crisp and simple widescreen images. Sobriety and restraint, in fact, are perhaps the keynotes of the film's success, with the result that a potentially risible finale, in which Cid's corpse is born find out more...

Robert Jordan is an idealist and with his skills as a demolition expert he finds himself with the opportunity to marry both by helping the anti-fascists during the Spanish Civil War. Amongst the band of freedom fighters Robert joins is Maria, an innocent but impassioned and beautiful young woman. As the group draw towards their ultimate mission so Robert and Maria's friendship develops into something far deeper, intensified by their uncertain fate. For The Whom the Bell Tolls was showered with O find out more...

The original big screen romantic epic that fired the hearts of generations to come. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and telling the tale of the love between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler, it's the history of a selfish woman who doesn't want to admit her feelings about the man she loves, and finally loses. Won Best Picture at 1939 Academy Awards. find out more...

Shot in five sections "How The West Was Won" is a sprawling multi-star epic following the fortunes of one family from 1839 and New York to 1889 and Arizona. 'The Rivers' (dir Henry Hathaway); the Prescotts head west down the Ohio river. 'The Plains' (dir Henry Hathaway); Lily moves to St Louis and on to Caifornia. 'The Civil War' (dir John Ford); Linus and Zeb enlist on the Union side. 'The Railroad' (dir George Marshall); the settlers multiply and cavalry officer Zeb finds himself in a war with find out more...

An epic retelling of the attack on Pearl Harbor and its immediate aftermath which focuses on the effects the attack has on the lives of individuals caught up in the ensuing chaos and brings the emotional issues of its characters into sharp relief. John Wayne delivers an excellent performance as a Captain nearing the end of his career who, faced with redundancy in action, looks to improving other areas of his life, particularly his relationship with his son. Kirk Douglas sees the event as a chanc find out more...

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Set in the Sino-Japanese war, Yasuzo Masumura's black-and-white anti-war film tells of an army nurse who sexually services an amputee and falls in love with a drug-addicted surgeon. This can't be recommended to the squeamish, but neither can its nuanced eroticism nor its passionate, unpredictable moral focus, be easily shaken off. Comparable with Altman's MASH, it suggests a less comic treatment of the same theme, how to preserve one's humanity in impossible circumstances, but its ethics are con find out more...