A respectable, sincere film of Robert Bolt's literate play, with Scofield as Sir Thomas More, endorsing the divine right of the Pope over and above his King, Henry VIII, who wishes to divorce Katherine Of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. Watch out for Orson Welles in a marvellous cameo as Cardinal Wolsey. The film won 6 Oscars. find out more...

Inside this conventionally structured biopic resides an extraordinary story of an extraordinary man. William Wilberforce was the parliamentary spokesman for a group of radicalised young Evangelists (and Quakers), who despised the money politics and corruption of late 18th Century UK politics and who fought for many reformist policies, the most notable of which was the one this film annotates, the abolition of slavery, a process that took years of political skulduggery and the slow passage of find out more...

A group of abducted Africans break free from their shackles aboard a Spanish slave ship, the Amistad, so setting the scene for a lengthy courtroom drama played out against a backdrop of 19th Century slavery. Matthew McConaughy is the noble young lawyer fighting for the slaves' freedom, while Anthony Hopkins is mesmerising as decrepit former President John Quincy Adams. Superb sets and an authentic atmosphere, and it's pretty gruesome at times too. Typically Spielberg-esque epic. find out more...

In a move designed to subordinate the Catholic Church to the state, Henry II gave the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury to his close friend and ally Thomas Becket. With Becket now installed as his 'man on the inside' Henry could be forgiven for thinking that the church would more easily acquiesce to his bidding. Henry, however, had neither bargained on Becket's ecclesiastical fervour nor realized his zealous nature. Thus the stage was set for one of the greatest battles of supremacy between find out more...

The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, a group of 1830s Dorset farm labourers who had the effrontery to form a Trade Union to fight against their wages being lowered and who got transported to Australia for their pains. find out more...

Set in the 1930s and based around real events, we follow a diverse group of characters and events in depression hit New York. The young Orson Welles, with a group of equally idealistic and determined actors, sets about trying to stage a performance of the infamous left leaning musical 'Cradle Will Rock'. This has an awesome cast and is strikingly visualised, but Robbins has perhaps bitten off more history than it is possible to chew on in one two hour movie. Nevertheless a powerful and absorbi find out more...

It's 1794 and Depardieu plays Danton the revolutionary, who returns to Paris from self-imposed exile confident in the peoples' support and that he can help bring peace to the revolutionary turmoil and stop The Terror. But first he must confront his former ally Robespierre, who is intent on victory and soon rounds up Danton and his followers, tries them before a revolutionary tribunal and dipatches them to the guillotine. Bye bye Danton. find out more...

The object of this massive tribute died as he had always lived, without wealth, without property, without official title or office. Mahatma Gandhi was not the commander of armies, nor the ruler of vast lands, he could not boast any scientific achievement or artistic gift, yet men, governments, dignitaries from all over the world, have joined hands today to pay homage to the little brown man in the loin cloth who led his country to freedom. This quote is from his funeral, one of the greatest s find out more...

From the moment Henry Tudor casts aside his faithful wife Katherine of Aragon for the bewitching and determined Anne Boleyn (Helena Bonham Carter) he sets himself on course for a series of disastrous marriages. Violent conflict, both within the population and the church, left England reeling while its complex and charismatic King turned from handsome playboy to a bitter invalid desperate for a son and heir to the throne. find out more...

It's 1547 and an ailing Henry VIII looks back over his life and loves, the once handsome, athletic and promising young prince has defied Rome in his pursuit of women. A thoughtful and lavish dramatisation of a king's tempestuous adulthood. Spun off from the original stunning 9 hour BBC TV seies. find out more...