One of the most spectacular epics of all time, even by the standards of Hollywood, the famous twenty minute chariot race alone took three months to shoot, and, along the way, Ben is given a helping hand and converted by Jesus. An unmissable slice of movie history. Won Best Picture at 1959 Academy Awards. find out more...

Perhaps the most influential period in cinema history was the Italian neo-realism period of the late 40s and director Vittorio De Sica was one of the prime reasons for this important period of film-making. "The Bicycle Thieves" is a film about a poor man whose only means for a job is his bicycle, which gets stolen. The film follows him and his young boy throughout war-ravaged Rome in search of the stolen bike. The trip involves some of the most brilliant vignettes in film history; the church, th find out more...

The amusing story of a cockney flower girl taken in by an elocution teacher and taught to mix with the aristocracy. An entertaining and escapist little story, with several classic catchy songs, which won Best Picture at 1964 Academy Awards. Shaw detested this lighthearted version of his play "Pygmalion". find out more...

The story of an ambitious young clerk who abandons his real love so he can marry into a rich family. The first of the British "realist" pictures - films that dealt with working class people and the realities of the English class structure - as a change from cosey middle class drama. 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...

Lemmon is an ambitious young corporate executive who finds promotion comes his way most easily by lending out his flat for his superiors to pursue their extra-marital affaires. It all gets too much when a jilted Maclaine attempts suicide in his flat and he has to take the blame. A comedy classic. Won Best Picture at 1960 Academy Awards.

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One of the great sixties films, the one that brought Dustin Hoffman to public notice, as he plays an alienated Los Angelian rich kid searching for a meaning in life and discovering sex. Great movie to be watched, or rewatched, and with a superb soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkel. find out more...

A talented young pool whizz-kid being groomed for the big time comes to grief when he falls in love. A downbeat drama with some brilliantly handled and atmospheric pool hall scenes and a low-life romance. Outstanding performances all round. find out more...

Tom Jones is the 18th Century rustic Casanova whose lusty adventures almost led him to the gallows, but did bring the movie 4 Oscars. Loosely adapted from the novel by Henry Fielding this popular, atmospheric and bawdy movie combines the licentious feel of the early 60s with the classic tale. find out more...