Way ahead of its time, this is a Western with a difference! There's gun-totting women (including the brilliant Joan Crawford) fighting over the men that they love and leading the men into action. Then there's the anaemic looking Sterling Hayden as the male lead in this classic that tramples stereotypes with a memorable result! The 'Lie to me...' speech is guaranteed to give you chills. find out more...

This masterpiece is understandably on many people's all time favourite list. The lives of six Parisians are intertwined against the backdrop of the early-19th Century popular theatre and underworld, with the film a multi-layered meditation on the nature of performance. Flawlessly executed and cast. find out more...

After Renoir's reluctant addition of a couple of titles to satisfy the producers desire to expand to feature length, this masterpiece was finally released in 1946. On an idyllic country picnic, a young girl briefly leaves her family and fiance and succumbs to an all-too-brief romance. The careful reconstruction of period (around 1860) is enhanced by a typically touching generosity towards the characters and an aching, poignant sense of love lost, but never forgotten. And, as always in Renoir, find out more...

A classic European fairytale comes to vivid Technicolor life in this story of a prince a spoilt princess, a singing ringing tree, an evil dwarf and a bear; oh, and true love. A gloriously gaudy tale... and the bear... did I mention the bear? find out more...

Set in Shanghai during the Chinese Revolution, the storyline explores the relationship between a missionary, Megan, and a Chinese warlord, General Yen. It's refreshing to see Capra tackling something more alien to him than the struggles of idealistic American men and he seems to have taken a healthy interest in a culture that at the time was still shrouded in mystery and secrecy. The style of the film is infused with the Orient, from its zen-like mise en scene to the director's inclusion of c find out more...