This is the Shakespearean opus containing many a familiar line, "Once more into the breach dear friends..." amongst them, and spoken by an absolutely outstanding cast. A must to watch, even if it's not on your school syllabus! find out more...

Love him or loathe him, there's no denying Olivier's huge stage presence, and never more so than in his stunning portrayal of Othello. Whether his grandiose performance in John Dexter's National Theatre production translates well to the screen is quite another matter. A film of a theatrical production. find out more...

A triumph of artistic imagination and resourcefulness over limited budget since this was shot, in Morocco and Italy, on a shoestring; when an actor didn't turn up he used a stand-in and changed the camera angle, when the costumes didn't show up, he filmed in a Turkish bath! This is the Bard filmed with love and enthusiasm, but never with reverence. The visual imagery is matched to the words, they hit sensory overload together. Also this is a credit to celluloid restoration, the film was mislaid find out more...

Richard's military skills have helped to put his older brother Edward on the throne of England, but jealousy and resentment cause Richard to seek the crown for himself, and he conceives a lengthy and carefully calculated plan using deception, manipulation, and outright murder to achieve his goal. His plotting soon has tumultuous consequences, both for himself and for England. 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...

At the turn of the 20th century, the film industry sought to elevate its lowbrow status by imitating the theatre. While cinemas decked themselves out like theatres, filmmakers signed up stage stars and turned to the classics. Shakespeare provided the greatest challenge, especially since many of the films made before the First World War were only one or two reels long. Plays included on this compilation are The Tempest (1908), King Lear (1910), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909), Twelfth Night (191 find out more...

A tense re-working of Hamlet, adapted from a novel by Ed McBain, is a biting exposé of the corruption and politics of greed at the heart of Japanese business. Beautifully photographed in ravishing black and white Tohoscope, this is the original Japanese version never before released in Europe. find out more...

Baptista has two daughters: Kate and Bianca. Everyone wants to wed the fair Bianca, but nobody's much interested in problem child, Kate. Baptista declares that he won't give Bianca away in a marriage until he's found a husband for Kate, so all the suitors begin busily hunting out a madman who's willing to do it, and they find Petruchio who marries Kate with a plan to tame her, while everybody else begins scheming to win Bianca's hand. Their courting is a war of wit and determination in this send find out more...

Camp-it-up Hammer horror with Vincent Price on top form as a deranged actor who exacts stylishly horrible revenge on his critics. When he fails to win the Actor of the Year Award he takes a few leaves out of Shakespeare's books to bump off the judges one by one. Imaginatively over the top.

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One of the world's greatest filmmakers, Kurosawa, adapts Shakespeare's Macbeth to 16th Century Japan - the loss in language being more than compensated for by the misty and forbidding locations and the clever incursions of Japanese culture. find out more...