Films

When the rising water levels combine with a deadly tidal wave, the Thames Barrier is powerless to defeat of flood of biblical proportions. With the lives of millions in the balance, a group of experts are called upon to deliver London from total devestation. Includes Feature Film and Mini-Series , Stars Robert Carlyle and David Suchet.

Ricky Gervais directs himself in The Invention of Lying, a comedy in which everyone in the world tells the truth except for one misfit in the film industry, who after discovering the act of lying, milks it to become the world's most phenomenal performer. When Gervais’s character realises he doesn't have to always tell the truth, things begin to change with inevitably hilarious results. Matthew Robinson co-directs from his own script that he and Gervais collaborated on. It's no surprise that the British comedian would be able to assemble a superb ensemble of funnymen (and funnywomen) for his directorial debut, but The Office star truly impresses with this list: Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Jonah Hill, and Louis C.K. co-star in the Media Rights Capital production, with John Hodgman, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, and Jeffrey Tambor rounding out the rest of the cast.

Five men awaken in a warehouse with no way out and no recollection of how they got there, only to struggle with their suspicion of each other as they try to piece together their story from available clues. One (Greg Kinnear) has a broken nose, while another (Jeremy Sisto) is handcuffed to a pipe and slowly dying from a gunshot wound. Two (Barry Pepper and Jim Caviezel) are unhurt, while the fifth (Joe Pantoliano) is tied to a chair--which is how the group wish to keep him until they figure out why he got that way. Meanwhile, the police are tracking a sinister man in snakeskin boots (Peter Stormare) with a connection to the group, and a worried wife (Bridget Moynihan) of one of the men searches desperately for her husband. But will the men kill each other out of suspicion before finding a way out of the warehouse?

Another unsettling contribution to the torture genre spawned by films like SAW and HOSTEL, CAPTIVITY treads similar terrain while bringing something new to the table. Elisha Cuthbert (THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) is Jennifer, a celebrated runway model who leads a relatively lonely life. One night, after being stood up at a club, she’s drugged and wakes up much later in an intricately constructed dungeon. The captor is a mysterious presence who has clearly done this before. As time goes on, the taunting and torture reach nearly unbearable proportions. But before she gives up all hope, Jennifer discovers Gary (Daniel Gillies), another victim, who is determined to break them both out of their horrific prison.

Set in an unmercifully rugged, coastal village in Scotland in the 1970s, this extraordinary film by Lars von Trier stars British actress Emily Watson as a barely contained naive named Bess, who holds regular conversations with God and whose pure and intensely personal faith is hardly tolerated by the gruesome Calvinist elders of her church. Bess marries an oil-rig worker (Stellan Skarsgard) and comes to believe that erotic discovery is a part of God's grand plan. But after her spouse is hurt in an accident, she decides that divine instruction is leading her toward the life of a prostitute--with disastrous but somehow beautiful results. Von Trier (The Kingdom) has made a wonderful, entirely unexpected, and rigorous work of discovery in this film, with a formal visual design that recalls classic films by Carl Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson. Watson is a phenomenon, her wide-eyed wonder at the world as God's handiwork a breathtaking portrayal of conviction. --

Set in Saudi Arabia, The Kingdom is a political action thriller with good acting and wonderful visuals. Its so-so script, though, at times meanders aimlessly until a good explosion jolts the viewer's attention back to the screen. Jamie Foxx stars as FBI special agent Ronald Fleury, who leads an elite team into Saudi Arabia to find the terrorists who attacked American employees working in the Middle East. He has been given the unlikely deadline of five days to infiltrate the compound, with just his wit and his crew, which includes forensics expert Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), explosives guru Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper), and intelligence analyst Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman). It's unclear how helpful smarmy U.S. diplomat Damon Schmidt (Jeremy Piven) will be, but Fleury knows enough to surmise that the media-hungry Schmidt might not be completely trustworthy. Foxx and Garner have wonderful screen presence, but it's Bateman and Piven who get the best lines. Director Peter Berg peppers The Kingdom with actors he has worked with in the past. Berg, who guest-starred on Alias opposite Garner, casts Tim McGraw in a small role here. (The country singer also had a co-starring role in Berg's 2004 film Friday Night Lights.) And Kyle Chandler and Minka Kelly--two of Berg's lead actors from the Friday Night Lights television series, , make appearances in The Kingdom. The action sequences he creates are impressive and generate a sense of panic that The Kingdom producer Michael Mann (Miami Vice) undoubtedly applauds. While a tauter script would've rounded out the action nicely, the action in many cases does speak for itself.

Police rookie Anna Travis is assigned to her first homicide case; a string of grisly murders that have gone unsolved for the past eight years. The discovery of a new victim, who doesn't fit the usual profile of prostitute or drug user, causes concern that the killer may be indiscriminately targeting his victims. Eager to prove herself, Travis uncovers a vital piece of evidence linking one man to all the killings. But things get complicated when she finds herself attracted to the prime suspect...

The International is actually two movies in one: A highbrow thriller about a sprawling bank that resorts to murder and arms sales to retain its power, and a sleek visual essay on how architecture and interior design shapes your perceptions. Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen, still not quite a star despite Inside Man and Children of Men) has been on the brink of conclusive evidence against the villainous international bank, but his sources always end up dead. With the aid of a Manhattan district attorney (Naomi Watts in a woefully underwritten part), he stumbles on the trail of the bank's favorite hit man, who might provide the (literally) smoking gun Louis needs. The International starts out smooth and silky, with visual style to burn and Owen's intense fervor. The plot gradually bogs down in incoherent moralising, but along the way there are some taut sequences, including a bloody shootout in the Guggenheim Museum where alliances shift unexpectedly. But what makes The International worth seeing is director Tom Tykwer's astute eye for public space: Chic postmodern buildings, broad Italian plazas, Turkish rooftops like mountain paths--Tykwer orchestrates actors through these architectural shapes, his hypnotic visual sense creating far more tension and excitement than the plot. Also featuring Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises) and Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration) as malevolent Europeans.

On holiday in Marbella, three spunky Leeds Lasses accept the invitation of an evening's cruise on a luxury yacht by group of lustful toffs. It's not long before the bunch are indulging an orgy, spurred-on by lashing of drugs. When one of the couples attempt a bizarre sexual position the 'Donkey Punch' of the title the girl dies, while the remaining seven descend into paranoia and a bitter fight for survival, miles from the shoreline...
Making his feature film debut, writer/director Oliver Blackburn has created an intense and claustrophobic film that stands alongside Roman Polanski's KNIFE IN THE WATER and George Miller's DEAD CALM as a fine example of the sea-bound thriller.

RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER charts the rapid rise of Carlton Leach, from feared football hooligan to him becoming a member of one of the country's most notorious crime syndicates. Following his life over the course of three decades, the film follows Leach's career from soccer thug, through a stint as a doorman and his involvement in the early rave scene, right through to his nadir as an integral part of a gang that ruled London and Essex during the late 80s and early 90s and would culminate in the infamous shotgun deaths of three of the firm's members in Rettendon.

When Scott is offered a limited edition murder game on the internet, he readily accepts and begins to 'stalk' an imaginary victim. But when a real body turns up at a site dictated by the game, Scott and his flatmate Joe must delve into the Killer Net.

Tu£sday is a fast-moving, London-set heist story in which nothing is what is seems. By sheer coincidence, four experienced criminals, two beautiful bank clerks and one desperate, penniless man nearing retirement decide to rob the same bank on the same day. Two detectives (Kevin McNally and Dylan Brown) must use their interrogative expertise to piece together seemingly unrelated people and clues to determine who really stole the Meidan-i-Noor an emerald the size of a fist. Ingeniously plotted and featuring an all star cast of British talent that includes fast-rising star Ashley Waters (Bullet Boy, Speedracer), the film pulls off a major coup in reuniting Life on Mars co-stars John Simm and Philip Glenister. The duo ditch their TV police personas to feature as the head of a ring of audacious career criminals.

Writer-turned-director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill) directs a cast comprising the cream of British acting talent—which includes Bill Nighy (Notes On A Scandal, Love Actually), Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Once Upon A Time In The Midlands), Nick Frost (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, Celebrity), along with one lone American star in the shape of Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Doubt)--in this comedy set in Britain in 1966. With the BBC only allowing two hours of rock and roll to be played on its airwaves per week, a pirate radio station aboard a North Sea-cruising yacht broadcasts music to the pop-starved masses, turning its seafaring disc jockeys into overnight superstars.
Taking the infamous Radio Caroline as inspiration, The Boat That Rocked is an hilarious feel-good romp in the tradition of Curtis' best-loved work, and benefits from a knockout soundtrack featuring some of the most memorable tracks of the time.

Wall of silence is a true story about a boy who is murdered by a gang of teenage thugs. There were many witnesses to the crime. At first the police encounter a wall of silence from the community the teenagers have terrorised. Due to a brave campaign led by the boy's father the wall of silence begins to crack. Though very sad throughout it is an inspiring story about how a community can stand up to and defeat bullies.

One of the finest British comedies of the decade, IN THE LOOP finds writer/director Armando Iannucci expanding his critically acclaimed satire THE THICK OF IT for the big screen and features a cast including Peter Capaldi (TORCHWOOD), James Gandolfini (THE SOPRANOS), Tom Hollander (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN), Peter Capaldi (THE THICK OF IT), Steve Coogan (I'M ALAN PARTRIDGE) and former child star Anna Chlumsky (MY GIRL). The foul-mouthed comedy follows the US President and UK Prime Minister as they conspire to start a war and promote is as a 'good thing'. US General Miller (Gandolfini) disagrees, as does British Secretary of State for International Development, Simon Foster (Hollander). When the mild-mannered minister appears on TV, is quoted out of context and made to look like he endorses the conflict, he suddenly finds his every move under the watchful eye of the PM's amoral chief of communications (Capaldi). The Brits soon find themselves in Washington and at the centre of what will become an insurmountable 'mountain of conflict'

Inhabiting Liverpool's violent and seedy underworld, THE CREW follows a gang of hardened criminals out for that ever-tempting 'one last heist'. Led by brothers Ged and Ratter, the gang's future hangs in the balance as Ged wants out of the criminal lifestyle while Ratter is keen to branch out into the more lucrative drugs trade. Knowing that he needs his brother in order to pull of the impending heist, Ratter goes along with Ged though he secretly plans to ditch him at the first opportunity. Ged, meanwhile, must summon all of his street smarts and killer instinct if he is to come out of this alive. Based on the novel OUTLAWS by Kevin Sampson, THE CREW is a typically gritty British thriller that shoots first and asks questions later.

Director Blake Edwards, fresh from the success of the first two Pink Panther movies, indulged his love of classic slapstick comedy with this long free-for-all, which throws in everything but Laurel and Hardy's kitchen sink. The film reunites Some Like It Hot stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, ably aided by a spunky Natalie Wood. The subject is a New-York-to-Paris auto race in the early years of the 20th century, pitting the Great Leslie (Curtis), a goody-goody dressed all in white--even his teeth sparkle--against the malevolent Professor Fate (Lemmon), whose coal-black heart is reflected in his handlebar mustache. He looks like a bill collector from a silent- movie melodrama. Lemmon does double duty, also playing the pampered, drunken king of a small European country, whose laugh sounds like the wail of a cat in heat. The film may be too long for its own good, and you really have to love Jack Lemmon to put up with his over-the-top performance, but it's side-splitting in spots. It's one of those movies, if seen in childhood, that stays in your mind for years afterward. Some of the bigger routines, such as a pie fight of epic proportions, don't work as well as the simple chemistry between the perpetually exasperated Professor Fate and his much-abused assistant, Max (a terrific Peter Falk). Push the button, Max.

David Niven is perfect as the imperturbable Victorian English gentleman Phileas Fogg who attempts to win a bet by circumnavigating the globe in just eighty days. The Jules Verne story on a truly cinematic and epic scale. Utilising 140 studio sets, 44 cameo appearances by Hollywood players, 8,552 animals, 68,894 extras, 74,685 costumes, a Victor Young score, and S.J. Perelman among the writers guarantee delightful family fare. The beginning of the film features a prologue by Edward R. Murrow, the esteemed television journalist, and features the first film to be based on a Jules Verne novel, Georges Melies's A TRIP TO THE MOON from 1902. A veritable pageant, with similar vim, humour and class acting as IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, but with an esteemed production of period detail and exotic locations.
Winner of five Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Music, Best Adapted Screenplay and beating THE KING & I and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS for the best picture award!

Features Harold Ramis's directorial debut CADDYSHACK,a hysterical farce set at the typically hoity-toity Bushwood County club. A send-up of the typical class struggle, it pits the caddies against the establishment with riotous results. This wacky comedy features insanely funny performances from Bill Murray, as the local groundskeeper obsessed with killing off the gophers who are infesting the golf course, as well as Chevy Chase as a wealthy anti-establishment member of Bushwood and Rodney Dangerfield, who shines as a land-shark real estate mogul who couldn't care less about the rules and regulations at the snobby club. In CADDYSHACK 2, Jack Hartounian (Jackie Mason) has made a fortune as a contractor but must put up a fight so he and his daughter, Kate, can join the exclusive Bushwood Country Club. More than anything, Kate longs to be accepted by the club's rich members, who include her college roommate, Miffy. However, Miffy's parents, Chandler and Cynthia Young, mount a tough campaign to make sure the Hartounians stay out of their beloved club -- and they succeed. To get revenge, Jack buys the majority of Bushwood's stock and transforms the club into an extravagant park open to all. But the club's members still refuse to leave. Eventually, the confrontation can only be solved with a new money versus old money battle on the links.

No-one can deny that the British love their dogs, but Best in Show proves that the Americans are just as canine crazy. Christopher Guest's (This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman) latest mockumentary looks at the lives and dodgy doggie loves of the contestants in the USA's most prestigious dog show, The Mayflower. The comedy is observational and mostly improvised, but there are also some genuinely hilarious set pieces and running gags as well as some perfectly timed one-liners, all of which repay repeated viewing. Owners really do become like their dogs as Guest presents a parade of brilliantly observed caricatures, revealing their human weaknesses and quirks and defying you not to find something immensely likeable about each one. Guest slowly introduces us to the principal players in a series of formal interviews and fly-on-the-wall profiles. Meet life partners Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof with their kimonos and matching Shih Tzus; a trophy wife who shares a love of soup and snow peas with her aged, billionaire husband; the suburban couple, Gerry and Cookie Fleck (brilliantly underplayed by co-writer Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara); incredibly highly strung lawyers the Swans and their dysfunctional Weimaraner; and Guest himself as the drawling Southern fishing shop owner and bloodhound breeder Harlan Pepper. This is Guest at his irreverent best.

A much-planned two-family vacation to Rio begins with disaster as one husband, Victor (Joseph Bologna), deals with divorce papers while Matthew's (Michael Caine) wife decides to vacation alone somewhere else instead, leaving the two men on vacation with only their charming and adventurous teenage daughters. Confronted by so much bare young skin, confused about the state of his marriage, and swept up in the moment, Matthew lets Victor's daughter, Jennifer (Michelle Johnson), seduce him on the beach. But with his best friend in the next room and his own daughter (young but husky-voiced Demi Moore) sharing with Jennifer, how long can Matthew keep the affair a secret from Victor, especially with Jennifer's constant declarations of love and lust, Matthew is twisted into guilty knots. The surprise appearance of Matthew's wife (Valerie Harper, magnificent in a rage) reveals another hidden affair and unravels the romantic web criss-crossing between the families.

While director Norman Jewison's Moonstruck is a romantic cornerstone, this 1994 film is often overlooked. It's a sweet valentine about a young woman, aptly named Faith (Marisa Tomei, never cuter), who chases an unknown man to Europe because the name "Damon Bradley" was once spelled on an Ouija board as her true love. With her sister-in-law (Bonnie Hunt, whose own marriage seems to be falling apart), she travels the streets of Rome looking for Damon Bradley. And lo and behold, she literally runs into a man claiming to be Damon. Is this meant to be? Faith certainly thinks so. Robert Downey Jr. (also never cuter) plays Damon in a role that showcases his charms. He shows his quick wit in handing Faith's advances and his absolute devotion to her when the winds change. Despite the cuteness factor, this is a movie to fall in love with. Jewison and Sven Nykvist (Ingmar Bergman's cameraman) present a sun-kissed Italy so beautiful, you might be tempted to hop a plane immediately after viewing the movie.

In 1974, six Irishmen were arrested following two bomb attacks on pubs in Birmingham in which 21 people died. The men have always denied any connection with the bombings. This investigative thriller is 100% factually accurate and gives a dramatic reconstruction of events following the bombing of two pubs and the subsequent investigation by World in Action researchers Ian MacBride and Chris Mullin to prove that the ‘Birmingham Six’ were wrongly convicted. In this thrilling film, the identities of the five IRA men believed to be responsible for the bombings are revealed.

This HBO Films drama tells the true story of the British Lord Frank Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, and his controversial, colorful, headline-making friendship with one of Britain's most notorious criminals, child murderess Myra Hindley. A devout Catholic, Longford often visited prisoners because of his passionate belief in forgiveness and society's need for prisoner rehabilitation. He meets with Hindley - a young woman serving a life sentence for child murders committed with her lover, Ian Brady - shortly after her imprisonment and the visits incite widespread public outrage. Their unlikely friendship ultimately undermined his career and, possibly, her 36-year attempt to win freedom.

Greed, murder and corruption ...Frank Agnew is a law abiding detective at Blackmoss CID in Edinburgh. However, when his girlfriend Sinada goes missing, his colleague Joe Geddes informs him that his corrupt partner Brendan McCann has murdered her and so Agnew, with Geddes' help, takes revenge.
As the plot thickens, it occurs to Agnew that Geddes may have had his own reasons to want McCann dead. And when another body is discovered horribly mutilated in the boot of McCann's car, Agnew soon finds himself leading an investigation into a spate of murders, one of which he himself committed ...
Agnew then receives a phonecall from his "dead" girlfriend's mobile and he realises that she may not actually be dead and begins to try and track her down ... Will he ever find Sinada?

Dramatisation of the events surrounding the life of Cass Pennant; one of the best-known figures of the infamous West Ham hooligan outfit, the I.C.F. (Inter City Firm). Cass Pennant (Nonson Anozie, ATONEMENT) was placed in a Dr. Barnados orphange as a baby in 1950s London. A black child adopted by an elderly white couple, Cass was forced to endure constant racist bullying growing up. His pent-up rage exploded one day when he attended a West Ham game and becomes involved with Hammers hooligans as they take on a rival firm. Cass becomes hooked on the rush of the violence, as well as the acceptance and camaraderie. He quickly rises through the ranks of the West Ham hooligan element, later becoming head of the notorious Inter City Firm. As a six-foot-five black man in a predominantly white social group, he is picked out by the police during the government's clampdown on football hooliganism. After brushes with the law, Cass attempts to change the direction of his life by running a security firm. But old enemies are never far away.
CASS is a compelling film about the intriguing life of its subject and charts issues of class, race and masculinity across a number of decades, showcasing the seismic changes in British life. Nonson Anozie ably carries the film and is well supported by Nathalie Press (MY SUMMER OF LOVE) as his wife and Nick Love favourite Tammer Hassan (THE FOOTBALL FACTORY), among others.

Deadpan hilarity and quirky charm come alive in Ghost Town, starring Britain's favourite comedian Ricky Gervais (The Office) as social reject Bertram Pincus. Emmy award winner and seven times Bafta winner Gervais proves his Hollywood worth in this transatlantic feel good love story about a man, a woman and a ghost. Pincus is a New York City dentist with horrendous people skills. When a routine surgery goes awry, Pincus is pronounced dead, but is miraculously revived seven minutes later. The ill-mannered Manhattanite suffers only one lasting after-effect; the ability to see and speak to the dead. Word soon gets out in the spirit community and Pincus is irritate to discover he's the go-to guy for every phantom with unfinished business in the city.

SEE NO EVIL is a chilling drama is based on the infamous true-life crimes of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. During the mid-60's the pair abducted and murdered five people; three children and two teenagers, four of which were buried in the Yorkshire Moors. Maxine Peak (SHAMELESS) and Sean Harris (CREEP) star as the notorious killers in this extensively researched account of the horrific events.

Set in Seattle, this star-studded bank heist thriller begins with the unfair suspension of Detective Quentin Conners (Jason Statham) following a shooting. Conners's next post has him assigned to rookie cop Shane Dekker (Ryan Phillippe), with whom he must investigate a tricky hostage situation led by Lorenz (Wesley Snipes).

A cheerful, energetic, and completely entertaining movie, The Bank Job follows some small-time hoods who think they've lucked into a big-time opportunity when they learn a bank's security system will be temporarily suspended--little suspecting that they're being manipulated by government agents for their own ends. The result is that the movie doubles its pleasures: While the robbery itself has the usual suspense of a heist film, when the robbery is over the hoods find themselves being hunted by the police, the government, and brutal criminal kingpins who were storing dangerous information in a safety deposit box. The Bank Job won't win any awards, but it's enormously fun. Director Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Species) propels the action along with vigour, zippy editing (with perfect clarity among multiple story-lines) and various colourful characters. Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter), as the leader of the bank robbers, successfully steps away from his usual bone-crunching roles to a more human presence. The rest of the cast--including Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea), Keeley Hawes (Tipping the Velvet), David Suchet (Poirot), and many faces familiar from British film and television--give their characters the right degree of personality and flavour without getting fussy or detracting from the headlong rush of the story. A little sex, a lot of action, a sly sense of humour, and a twisty plot. If more movies had these basic pleasures, the world would be a happier place.

Lynda La Plante introduces Detective Inspector Francis O'Neil (Fiona Shaw - My Left Foot, Harry Potter Trilogy), one of the country's leading criminal psychologists. A deeply religious woman, she has devised a new way of approaching profiling, using her innate spirituality to confront the twisted minds of the most depraved killers.
But when faced with the gruesome murders of two women found tied up and beaten to death - O'Neil must draw upon every last drop of faith and intuition as she battles a nightmare killer who always seems one step ahead.
With no witnesses, weapon or forensic evidence, and cynical detectives such as DI Glover (Colin Salmon - Die Another Day, Sea of Souls) watching her every move, O'Neil becomes deeply affected by the intense pressure of the investigation. It seems the hunter risks becoming the hunted, unless she can quickly unravel the psychological clues that promise redemption - both for her and the victims.

In this gripping thriller, young undercover policewoman Jude poses as a lonely heart to entice a confession from a man the police believe murdered his wife. Jude finds herself becoming attracted to her quarry and ultimately doubting whether he could have killed his wife. Her own relationship with one of her supervising officers clouds her judgment and the difference between reality and fiction is blurred. With frantic searches and striking new evidence, it is only a matter of time before the truth comes out.

Alfred Hitchcock would not have hesitated to put his name on this one. The edge of the viewer's seat gets every bit as much use as did those of film goers watching "North by Northwest", one of A.H.'s best "narrow margin escape" and "pulse pounding suspense" films. Drumroll credits to director, actors and writer. The film was composed of episodes from a BBC TV mini-series, which allows that Nathaniel Parker was not performing steadily throughout its length, but he is to be notably commended for his thespian talent and tenacity in holding his character through numerous confrontations with villains and inflictions of physical agony. James Fox continues his reputation as one of Britain's finest in his portrayal of Desmond's adversary. I found myself holding my breath more than once and emitting a sigh of relief after the particularly harrowing scenes. "Never Come Back" is more than watchable; it is worthy of bringing you back to be totally enveloped again in all its multi-talented facets.

With its hallucinatory visions of crawling dead babies and a grungy plunge into the filthiest toilet in Scotland, you might not think Trainspotting could have been one of the best movies of 1996, but Danny Boyle's film about unrepentant heroin addicts in Edinburgh is all that and more. That doesn't make it everybody's cup of tea (so unsuspecting viewers beware), but the film's blend of hyperkinetic humor and real-life horror is constantly fascinating, and the entire cast (led by Ewan McGregor and Full Monty star Robert Carlyle) bursts off of the screen in a supernova of outrageous energy. Adapted by John Hodge from the acclaimed novel by Irving Welsh, the film was a phenomenal hit in England, Scotland, and (to a lesser extent) the U.S. For all of its comedic vitality and invigorating filmmaking, the movie is no ode to heroin, nor is it a straight-laced cautionary tale. Trainspotting is just a very honest and well-made film about the nature of addiction, and it doesn't pull any punches when it is time to show the alternating pleasure and pain of substance abuse.

Producer Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) is behind this decadent comedy about a pair of lowlife but oddly intelligent Welsh brothers who generally make a pain of themselves in their small community, but who get serious about exacting revenge for a family tragedy. Director Kevin Allen succeeds at turning the entire film into a jacked-up freak show, with petty terrorism, cops on the take, a young virgin getting it on with a middle-aged creep and a male choir inexplicably singing Mungo Jerry's ancient hit "In the Summertime". Twin Town is loony, nasty stuff all around, but the only good laughs in the movie are top loaded into the first few minutes. After that, it's sheer tedium.

Writer and director Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical account of his early years as an actor has become a comedy cult hit of massive proportions, inspiring countless numbers of young men and women to quote stars Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant and their booze-soaked dialogue, the latter of whom was actually a teetotaller. The story of this melancholic comedy follows these two unemployed actors in 1969 London, as they take a holiday in the country. Trapped inside a dank, empty cabin with each other, an endless downpour of heavy rain battering their roof, the two men form a complicated bond fuelled by booze, disaster, and nihilism. Focusing on characterisation, WITHNAIL AND I is a subtly hilarious 1980s British film.

The date is April 1st, 1982, and Major Mike Norman has arrived on the Islands to take command with a detachment of Royal Marines. Unfortunately, his excellency Sir Rex Hunt, Governor of the Falklands Islands is informed that an Argentine invasion fleet is mere hours away, and chooses to bravely defend the indefensible Government House against the aggressors.Mixing tragedy with comedy, this film is both startling and moving, showing how Major Norman and just 70 Royal Marines fought what was to become the first battle in the war for the Falkland Islands.

Jon Bennet (Andrew Howard) is an ideal employee: neat, efficient and conscientious. Nobody would guess that this self-conscious introvert tortures and kills to earn his living. Jon works for the Tattooed Man (David Calder), an awesome figure with cruel taste, who in return takes care of Jon. By chance, Jon encounters Andy (Andrew Tieran) and Cathy (Geraldine O’Rawe) – old friends from school, now married. As Jon finds himself drawn towards Cathy in a way he has never experienced before, he begins to question everything that he has become. Torn between Cathy and the Tattooed Man, he becomes Mr In-Between. But the Tattooed Man will not tolerate a rival. Jon must act – and fast. Everything is at stake: the safety of his friends and the redemption of his soul.

On the lam in 1980s England, Danny heads to the gangsters' paradise of Spain's Costa del Sol to make a delivery of cash to a noted ex-criminal, Charlie. There, Danny meets Charlie's nefarious inner circle and soon becomes embroiled in their outrageous outlaw lifestyle. Featuring a wall-to-wall '80s soundtrack, this comic gangster film serves up action-packed thrills with a touch of whimsy.

The comedic genius of This Is Spinal Tap is confirmed by the fact that a majority of studio executives were utterly clueless about its brilliance. As a first-time director and cowriter, Rob Reiner must have felt simultaneously frustrated and elated, knowing that the obtuseness of movie executives was a clue to his debut project's potential greatness. Now, of course, the clarity of hindsight and the rarity of superior satire have turned This Is Spinal Tap into one of the funniest documentary spoofs of all time. Reiner and the members of "Tap" (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer) couldn't have picked a better target for their satire, because heavy metal music in the early 1980s was already a borderline case of self-parody. From the bizarre, premature deaths of the band's drummers to the backstage squabbles over sexist cover art and meddling groupies, this movie scores about a hundred comedic bull's-eyes for lampooning every possible aspect of rock pomposity in the age of Kiss. It's a virtual bible of rock & roll irreverence, so accurate in its observations that it's become a tour-bus classic for real bands around the world. On the one-to-ten scale of satirical inspiration, This Is Spinal Tap is like the modified amplifiers that Christopher Guest so hilariously demonstrates: this one goes to 11.

This gently satirical British comedy chronicles the quixotic reunion of a late, arguably not-so-great and unlamented 70s rock band, Strange Fruit, with a winning mix of humour and poignancy. The "Fruits", as the survivors call themselves without irony, had disbanded after the tragic loss of one member, the mysterious disappearance of another and the aftershocks of internal rivalries, but 20 years later they warily reassemble for a Dutch club tour, a warm-up for a proposed festival appearance. Between that seemingly hare-brained proposal and the fateful festival, director Brian Gibson, working from a sharp script by Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais, captures the absurdities of middle-aged rockers trying to recapture that lost cockiness.
Breathing life into the band is a terrific cast, including Stephen Rea, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall and Bill Nighy, each managing to juggle deft archetype with believable character traits: Spall's cheerfully crass, flatulent drummer and Nighy's preening, slow-witted lead singer exemplify the approach, grabbing chuckles yet making you actually care about them. Equally impressive is Billy Connolly as the wily roadie, Hughie, at once pragmatic and devoted to his charges. All are well-served by production details and script points that get the group's lost world of late 60s and early 70s rock exactly right, from costuming and stage moves to the long-forgotten bands they name-check--Blodwyn Pig, anybody?

An all-star cast portrays this most poignant and mysterious event of the First World War - the disappearance in action of the Sandringham Company at Gallopoli in 1915.
Commanded by the Estate Manager, Captain Frank Beck (David Jason), they were just ordinary men - servants, grooms and gardeners - drawn from the staff of the King's private residence. They left an idyllic rural existence for the fatally ill-prepared campaign and their deaths brought the horrors of the First World War to the heart of the establishment - and to the Royal Family itself. After the war a special envoy was sent at the behest of Queen Alexandra (Maggie Smith) to discover what fate had befallen the entire company. But the truth was never fully revealed...

The Nation's Favourite, Sir David Jason Is Set To Captivate Once Again In This Mysterious Naval Drama.
Jack Hardy (David Jason) is the sole survivor of a mysterious submarine disaster in World War II. Now, in 1981, the ill-fated submarine Scorpion has resurfaced, miraculously intact. Naval Intelligence need Hardy's expertise to retrace the course and mission that led to her original disappearance.But what's waiting for them under the grey waters if the Baltic Sea turns out to be much worse than the Russian submarines they're expecting.Wherever Scorpion has been all this time, it's brought some very bad luck back with it...

DC Lenny Milton investigates gangs of drug dealers.

Robbie Coltrane makes a welcome return to the small-screen in The Planman, originally broadcast as a two-part ITV special in 2003. Coltrane plays Jack Lennox, a Scottish defence lawyer who is so frustrated with the stupidity of his clients that he starts to plan theoretical crimes himself, confident that his meticulous methods will guarantee success. Trouble begins, naturally enough, when he is persuaded by an unscrupulous client to give his plans a practical work-out courtesy of the local mob. All goes swimmingly well for a while, as a series of daring high-profile heists are executed with textbook efficiency, but when the copper who is having an affair with Lennox's ambitious wife (Celia Imrie) gets wind of the lawyer's involvement, the stage is set for a confrontation.

Charlie Wood (David Schwimmer, FRIENDS) is an unemployed teacher who is forced to seek work at a call centre in order to provide for his family, which consists of his policewoman wife and a young daughter. After being fired for insulting a customer he thought had been kept on hold, call centre employee Gus Dickinson (Simon Pegg, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) proposes a blackmailing scheme. A priest has turned up on a database of people who have accessed illegal porn sites and Gus suggests that they ask him for a large sum of money to buy their silence. When Gus’ former girlfriend Josie McBroom (Alice Eve, STARTER FOR TEN) gets wind of the scheme, the trio embark on their plan. However, things don’t go exactly the way they envisioned and problems soon start mounting up. Set mostly in the chilly night of Oregon and shot in Wales, the Isle of Man, and British Columbia, BIG NOTHING is a black comedy heist film. Jean-Baptiste Andrea (DEAD END) has crafted a sharp, funny, and smart film that makes full use of its charismatic actors. Despite its inevitable comparisons with FARGO, BIG NOTHING manages to be both inventive and witty.

A gripping story of football violence in middle England, based on John King's best-selling novel. Tommy Johnson is a typical twenty-something drug-taking lager-lout. Provoked into giving someone a good kicking on a Saturday afternoon he gets embroiled in an escalating petty war of violence and revenge.

From locker room to boardroom, All In The Game rips open the underbelly of our national game to reveal the seedy and cut-throat dealings of a fictional Premiership club. Here, money and power are the driving forces behind the game. Local hero and football manager Frankie (Ray Winstone) is torn between loyalty to his son (Danny Dyer) and the club he loves. But when his son's underhand negotiations look set to make him a fortune, the pressure hots up and the game is almost forgotten. Greed and manipulation replace football, and relationships between fan and club, player and manager, and father and son all break down. There are no heroes in this game.

Alan, Graham and Terry have been best mates since primary school. Now pushing forty, the three friends are still inseparable. Naturally, Alan and Graham are going to give Terry a stag night to remember. A big fry-up breakfast, bubbly, down the dogs for a flutter, ten-pin bowling... fantastic.
But when the boys pay a late night revenge visit to their despised former headmaster, things begin to go disastrously wrong. A tragic accident sets off an unforeseen chain of events revealing terrible secrets.
Life will never be the same again.

Dirty War takes a Traffick-like approach to its subject matter: the dirty bomb or RDD (Radiation Dispersal Device). In other words, the goal of this HBO/BBC co-production is realism, not soap opera. Just as Traffick (the miniseries, not the movie) took a global look at the drug war, Dirty War takes a comprehensive look at a terrorist attack. It begins with a London-based drill before moving on to the making of several dirty bombs by Islamic fundamentalists (portrayals counterbalanced by Muslim characters presented in a more positive light). The action continues to alternate between any number of groups, including politicians, the press, and the general public. When the terror cell detonates a bomb in the city center, the movie tracks the aftermath, including the interrogation of a suspect. Dirty War lacks Traffick’s scope, but it does boast some of the excitement of 24 and certainly provides ample food for thought.

Over the years, a child's romantic idea about death transforms into an appetite for necrophilia and embalming. When she gets her dream job in a mortuary, she meets a man who is intrigued by her 'flirtations' with death. Lynn Stopkewich's Canadian production was nominated for several awards on the 1997 festival circuit.

Life is going nowhere for Shaun. He spends his life in his local pub, The Winchester, with his best mate Ed, has issues with his Mum and neglects his girlfriend Liz. When Liz dumps him, Shaun finally decides to get his life in order. He must win back the heart of his girlfriend, repair his relationship, with his mum and face up to the responsibilities of adulthood. Unfortunately, THE DEAD are returning to life and attempting to eat the living. For the newly inspired Shaun, this is just another obstacle. In the face of a full scale ZOMBIE EPIDEMIC, armed with a cricket bat and spade, Shaun sets out with Ed in tow, to rescue his mum and grudgingly his step-dad, his girlfriend and even more grudgingly her friends David and Dianne and take them to the safest most secure place he knows, The Winchester.

Six unemployed men, inspired by a touring group of male strippers, decide they can make a small fortune by putting on a striptease show of their own... but with one small difference. They intend to go the 'full Monty' and strip completely naked! In this hilarious, heartfelt comedy, these six friends discover the inner strength to bare it all in front of the world.
Features the music of Donna Summer, Gary Glitter, Sister Sledge and Tom Jones.

When local wag Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen) discovers that one of his neighbours in the village of Tulaigh Mohr is a lottery winner he sees a chance to share in the wealth. Things get complicated when Jackie and his pal Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly) discover that the winner, Ned Devine, died of shock at the very moment he learned of becoming a millionaire. Undaunted, Jackie and Michael dispose of the lucky stiff and hatch a plot to impersonate him and claim the prize. Soon the whole village is involved and the plot rapidly thickens.

Guy Ritchie, Writer/Director of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, delivers another awe-inspiring directorial masterpiece, Snatch - an edgy and hilarious film about a diamond heist gone wrong, a colourful Irish gypsy turned prize fighter... and a very temperamental dog.
In the heart of gangland, two novice unlicensed boxing promotors, Turkish and Tommy get roped into organising a rigged bare-knuckle fight with local kingpin villain and fellow boxing promoter, Brick Top. But all goes wrong when wildcard Irish gypsy boxer, One Punch Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt), starts playing by his own rules and the duo find themselves heading for a whole lot of trouble...Meanwhile Franky Four Fingers and his stolen 86 carat diamond have gone missing in London. Head honcho Avi hire local legend, Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) to find them, launching everyone into a spiral of double-crossing vendettas and events, most of them illegal.

In this cool, emotional gangster flick, Jack (Ken Stott - Shallow Grave) is a true gentleman and a class act of the short con game. With his young protege, the charmingly streetwise Steve (Nick Moran - Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) alongside the sharp and sexy Jenny (Kate Ashfield - Shaun of the Dead) and the 'bloody hopeless' Goat (Dominic Monaghan - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), he runs a formidable team of quick-witted and successful con artists. Things run smoothly until a simple heist goes wrong and they are lumbered with a truck full of illegal immigrants destined for the sex trade. While most of the illegals scarper, two of them are left in Jack's charge. But then a furious smuggler sets out on a bloody vendetta, determined to wreck revenge for the loss of his precious cargo.

A British gangster film in which a hitman, upon discovering that he has a daughter he's never met, decides to give up the criminal life, but not everyone is happy with his decision, especially his underworld boss.

When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically rewarding. Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who's sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we realize there's reason to believe the banker's crime was justifiable. We also realize that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship, and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film that signaled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker--a film that many movie lovers count among their all-time favorites.

major British hit, a lorryload of laughs and some sparkling action? We’ll have some of that. It’s fair to say that Hot Fuzz proves that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s brilliant Shaun Of The Dead was no one-off, serving up a superbly crafted British homage to the Hollywood action movie. Deliberately set in the midst of a sleepy, quaint English village of Sandford, Pegg’s Nicholas Angel is sent there because, bluntly, he’s too good at his job, and he’s making his city colleagues look bad. The proverbial fish out of water, Angel soon discovers that not everything in Sandford is quite as it seems, and joins forces with Nick Frost’s lumbering Danny Butterman to find out what’s what. Hot Fuzz then proceeds to have a rollicking good time in both tipping its hat to the genre films that are clearly its loving inspiration, and coming up with a few tricks of its own. It does comedy better than action, with plenty of genuine laugh-out-loud moments, but it’s no slouch either when the tempo needs raising. One of the many strong cards it plays is its terrific cast, which includes former 007 Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy, Bill Bailey, Paddy Considine, Edward Woodward and Jim Broadbent.

The railroad's got to run through the town of Rock Ridge. How do you drive out the townfolk in order to steal their land? Send in the toughest gang you've got...and name a new sheriff who'll last about 24 hours. But that's not really the plot of Blazing Saddles, just the pretext. Once Mel Brooks' lunatic film many call his best gets started, logic is lost in a blizzard of gags, jokes, quips, puns, howlers, growlers and outrageous assaults upon good taste or any taste at all. Cleavon Little as the new lawman, Gene Wilder as the wacko Waco Kid, Brooks himself as a dim-witted politico and Madeline Kahn in her Marlene Dietrich send-up that earned an Academy Award nomination all give this sagebrush saga their lunatic best. And when Blazing Saddles can't contain itself at the finale, it just proves the Old West will never be the same!

Released in 1971 (the same year Straw Dogs and A Clockwork Orange hit the screens, which must make 71 the annus mirabilis for violent films set in Britain), Get Carter opens with gangsters leering over pornographic slides and ends on a filthy, slag-stained beach in Newcastle. It's a low-down and dirty movie from beginning to end, and possibly the grittiest and best film of its kind to come out of Britain. The granddaddy of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and all its ilk, director Mike Hodges' Get Carter offers revenge tragedy swinging-60s style, all nicotine-stained cinematography, shabby locations and the kind of killer catchphrases Vinnie Jones would die for ("You're a big man, but you're in bad shape. With me, it's a full-time job. Now behave yourself", says Michael Caine's deadpan anti-hero Carter before inflicting a few choice punches on Brian Mosley, aka Coronation Street's Alf Roberts, to name but one example from Hodges and Ted Lewis' exquisitely laconic script).

The greatest Brit-flick crime caper comedy of all time, 1969's The Italian Job towers mightily above its latter-day mockney imitators. After Alfie but before Get Carter Michael Caine is the hippest ex-con around, bedding the birds (several at a time) and spouting immortal one-liners ("You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"). The inheritor of a devious plan to steal gold bullion in the traffic-choked streets of Turin, Caine recruits a misfit team of genial underworld types--including a lecherous Benny Hill and three plummy public-schoolboy rally drivers--and uses the occasion of an England-Italy football match as cover for the heist.
In his final screen appearance, Noel Coward joyfully sends up his own patriotic persona, and there are small though priceless cameos from the likes of Irene Handl and John Le Mesurier. But The Italian Job's real stars are the three Mini Coopers--patriotically decorated red, white and blue--that run rings round every other vehicle in an immortal car-chase sequence, which preserves forever the British public's love affair with the little car. Quincy Jones provided the irreverent music, naturally, while the cliffhanger ending thumbs its nose at anything so un-hip as a resolution. It's all unashamedly jingoistic--ridiculously, gleefully, absurdly so--but the whole sums up the joie de vivre of the 1960s so perfectly that future historians need only look here to learn why the decade was swinging.

One of the last of the classic-era widescreen epics, Zulu was also one of the last war movies to celebrate the virtues of the famous British stiff upper lip. At Rorke's Drift in 1879 a handful of British soldiers, hopelessly outnumbered by 4,000 Zulu warriors, fought one of the most celebrated defensive actions in military history. Zulu tells the story on an epic scale, bringing to life the heroism, courage, loyalty and sacrifice of those desperate hours. This is truly cast-of-thousands filmmaking, with vast action wonderfully captured in widescreen Technirama. John Barry, who also scored Goldfinger in the same year, provides a telling musical accompaniment.
The superb cast includes Stanley Baker and Jack Hawkins, but Zulu's final claim to fame is that it made an instant international superstar of a young actor whose name is Michael Caine. A belated sequel arrived in 1979 in Zulu Dawn, which despite even more spectacular action and a great cast died at the box-office. It is nevertheless well worth seeing.

Goodbye Charlie Bright, Nick Love's 2001 rites of passage drama about a teenage group of petty criminals in a steaming South London summer, was never going to be a massive box-office hit. But it might prove to be a rather significant piece in the long run. If Paul Nicholls' star continues to rise as anticipated, it may well come to be seen as the film which first revealed his genuine potential as a big screen actor. The former Eastenders heartthrob turns in a fine, sensitive performance as Charlie, gradually realising that he has to find a way to escape the constraints of the life that is shaping up in front of him.

Set during the summer of 1983, THIS IS ENGLAND is the poignant story of Shaun (Thomas Turgoos) an unpopular kid who discovers a sense of belonging among a group of peaceful skinheads. Having lost his father during the Falklands Conflict, Shaun sees something of a father figure in Woody (Joseph Gilgun), the gang's leader. However, the warmth and affection is short-lived, as Combo (Stephen Graham) – a former member of the group, and radical right-wing racist is released from prison and divides the friends with his deeply disturbed outlook. Whereas Woody had strived to bring everyone together through their love of music, Combo seeks to mobilise a force, with his sights set on spreading chaos and hatred. At only 12 years of age, and of volatile frame of mind, Shaun is susceptible to Combo's charismatic, yet gravely dangerous philosophising. As adulthood beckons and with Combo's rage manifesting into stark violence, Shaun will have to decide which side of the line he's going to stand. The sixth feature from writer/Director Shane Meadows (A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS, DEAD MAN’S SHOES), THIS IS ENGLAND is a bitter-sweet rites of passage tale that is destined to be remembered for years to come.

Two thugs work for a gangster. When the boss learns they want to 'Leave', he sets them up to be killed. When their escape doesn't go to plan they have to seek refuge in a nunnery to avoid their boss, the triads and police, all the while dressed up as women!

You may not fall down on the floor laughing at this movie, but you undoubtly will have a smile on your face the whole time. Idle is a stock broker (or something financial like that, the exact job is sort of skipped over...)who was raised by a family of Hindus, and then finds he was adopted by them and he is the rightful heir to the dukedom belonging to his friend and boss Rick Moranis...The beautiful Barbara Hershey (a blonde here) is Idle's real mother, the even more beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones is Moranis fiancee, (and Idle's one night stand..)in one of her early appearances... and John Cleese is the shifty lawyer who decides to help Idle regain his rightful heritage by killing everyone who stands in the way...(but why does the movie,in the opening credits say "introducing John Cleese"?) Fans of the Monty Python comedy troupe will enjoy it of course, but so will those of us who aren't major fans of theirs

This comedy, which has some rather stereotyped but still amusing characters in a fast-paced fairly intelligent Britcom, is set on the Costa Del Sol in Southern Spain. The film is rather short, but it adds up to a decent, light evening's entertainment, with some decent comedic high spots. A number of familiar & skilled character actors pop up during the film and Rik Mayall & Eddie Webber were good to watch in their respective roles as a slimy estate agent and timeshare victim. It will come as no surprise that both Tom Bell & Mike Reid were perfectly cast as aging gangsters.

At thirty five, Ray's learned the tricks and done the time. Now he's a face - a villain to be reckoned with and definitely not to be crossed - ready for the blag, the big score that'll really set him and his team up.

But although the job goes smooth and sweet the take doesn't scratch the three million the gang had it figured for. And when somebody starts thieving from the thieves, and people start getting blown away, Ray's got some serious thinking to do before the traitor - or the law - gets to him next...

From the producer of Snatch, Matthew Vaughn makes his directorial debut in the stylish crime thriller Layer Cake. Based upon J.J. Connolly's London crime novel, 'Layer Cake' is about a successful cocaine dealer (Daniel Craig) who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite and plans an early retirement from the business. However big boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) hands a tough assignment: find the missing daughter of Jimmy's old pal Edward (Michael Gambon). Complicating matters are millions of pounds worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal Serbian gang and a whole series of double crossing. When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, he (Craig) has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin

During the 1960's twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray dominated London's underworld. They emerged from their violent schooldays into leaders of their own criminal mob. Soon their personal lives crumbled, they were tried for two brutal murders and are now serving a 30 year prison sentence. Based on a true story.

In the savage and deadly world of the gangland king, the man at the top is the ruler, but only as long as he controls everything in his territory. For that man, the rewards can be infinite, but so can the dangers.
Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) is enjoying the height of his power, and he is on the verge of something which would make his current 'arrangements' small fry. But stronger forces than even he can control have moved in and taken over. Climaxing in one long bloody day of terror, an Easter Good Friday, he is to see his empire begin to crack and crumble.

It is 2019 and genetically made beings known as replicants exist as slaves and prostitutes in the off-planet colonies. Despite possessing such human traits as intelligence and virtual emotion, they are limited by a four-year life span which forces them to question their mortality. Four escaped replicants, led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer, THE HITCHER), arrive in Los Angeles to confront their designer, Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel). Hot on their trail is world-weary assassin--or 'blade runner'--Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford, INDIANA JONES), who has come out of retirement especially for this case. His objective is to hunt down and liquidate the four renegade androids before they have a chance to exact revenge on their cruel human oppressors. In the course of his search, Deckard becomes romantically entangled with Tyrell's lovely assistant Rachael (Sean Young)--who may not be all that she seems--and a dramatic face-off with Batty is inevitable. Director Ridley Scott's hauntingly prescient vision of the not-too-distant future is a stark revelation: a dark, polluted, overcrowded dystopia dominated by cloud-piercing buildings and looming neon billboards, the air dense with acid rain and flying traffic. Based on the novel DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? by Philip K Dick, BLADE RUNNER boasts astonishingly rich art direction, juxtaposing ingenious technological gadgetry with yellowing photographs and fetishist objets d'art as it touches on questions of time, memory, identity, and mortality. Scott's 1992 director's cut edition contains notable alterations, including the absence of Ford's narration, which significantly heightens the ambiguity of key moments in this stunning cinematic landmark.

After building up the duo's popularity through recordings and several performances on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd--as "legendary" Chicago blues brothers Jake and Elwood Blues--took their act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. As played with deadpan wit by Belushi and Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers are "on a mission from God," and that gives them a kind of reckless glee that keeps the movie from losing its comedic appeal. Otherwise this might have been just a bloated marathon of mayhem that quickly wears out its welcome (which is how some critics described this film and its 1998 sequel). Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film.--

Desperate to win the girl of his dreams, timid short order cook Stanley Moon sells his soul to the devil (aka George Spiggott) for seven wishes. With the magic words 'Julie Andrews' he becomes everything from a rock star to an intellectual to try and impress her. But the 'horned one' has a wicked sense of fun (he tears the last page out of Agatha Christie novels) so things never quite go according to plan.Bedazzled is Peter Cook and Dudley Moore at their very best and a true comedy classic. The dialogue is unforgettable ('The Garden of Eden was a boggy swamp just south of Croydon') and the sight of Dudley Moore as a trampolining nun has got to be one of the funniest in cinema history.

From the producer of ' 'Scarface' ' and the director of ' 'Ricochet' ' - Michael Caine is the spy, Harry Anders. Sean Young is the woman with trouble on her mind. Some people are willing to die for their friends - but Harry Anders is willing to kill for them.

A group of disillusioned citizens who have been the victims of crime decide to organise and take the law into their own hands. After returning to England after fighting in Iraq, Bryant (Sean Bean, THE LORD OF THE RINGS – THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING) relocates to London. He finds that the area he has moved to is in the grip of lawlessness. Fellow members of the community who have been subjected to criminal acts approach him and he decides to organise the men into a vigilante gang in order to restore justice to the streets. The gang, which includes Gene Dekker (Danny Dyer, THE FOOTBALL FACTORY) and three other members besides Bryant, are fed information on suitable targets by policeman Walter Lewis (Bob Hoskins, THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY), who has become frustrated at the state of affairs. Director Nick Love (THE BUSINESS) reunites with regular collaborator Danny Dyer to create this tale of urban frustration. Love’s central themes of manliness, rage and camaraderie are again explored here. Whereas previously Love focussed on football hooligans and members of organised crime, this time he attempts to gain greater empathy for his characters by making them the victims of crime. OUTLAW is a violent and brutal film that contains a message about the nature of vigilantism.

The most acclaimed film in cinema history, Citizen Kane receives extra bolstering each time it tops a "greatest films ever" list. As a piece of filmmaking it ticks all the right boxes: a precociously talented director and lead actor in Orson Welles, Gregg Toland's innovative cinematography, a strong screenplay by Welles and Herman J Mankiewicz, rich scoring from Bernard Herrmann, and so on. For its time, it was technically groundbreaking, and laid out a blueprint for Hollywood filmmaking that's still influential. But, most importantly, as a viewing experience it's still one of the most mesmerising and beautiful films in existence. From its opening scenes--Kane's eerie Gothic mansion, his lone figure muttering the word "Rosebud" as he dies, journalists discussing the newsreel footage of his obituary--Kane lays out an enigma: who exactly was this man? Looping flashbacks build up a portrait of a contradictory figure who, despite living in the public eye, remained a mystery at heart.

Going Off Big Time is a British gangster thriller laced with post-Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels humour, yet free of that film's flash visual gimmickry and populated with convincingly real characters. Opening with a scene of violence and mayhem in a pub, the film unfolds in flashback as Mark Clayton (Neil Fitzmaurice, who also wrote the economical screenplay), recounts to his lawyer how bad luck and worse judgement turned this ordinary young man first into a hardened con, then into a small-time gangster. The prison sequences feature a masterly performance by Bernard Hill as the older con who shows Mark the ropes; the second half charts Clayton's rise to power taking over nightclub doors, running protection scams and, comically, dealing drugs from an ice-cream van. The style is plain vanilla with the rundown Liverpool settings giving a stark northern atmosphere somewhere between Get Carter (1971) and The Fully Monty (1997). It's small scale, unambitious stuff, and though Fitzmaurice packs plenty of plot into 83 minutes, more of Mark's romance with Natasha (Gabbi Barr) and his attempt to go straight would have lent the ending greater impact. The strong performances by a cast of almost entirely unknown actors are the best thing about the film.

With its high-intensity plot about an attempt to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle, the bestselling novel by Frederick Forsyth was a prime candidate for screen adaptation. Director Fred Zinnemann brought his veteran skills to bear on what has become a timeless classic of screen suspense. Not to be confused with the later remake The Jackal starring Bruce Willis (which shamelessly embraced all the bombast that Zinnemann so wisely avoided), this 1973 thriller opts for lethal elegance and low-key tenacity in the form of the Jackal, the suave assassin played with consummate British coolness by Edward Fox. He's a killer of the highest order, a master of disguise and international elusiveness, and this riveting film follows his path to de Gaulle with an intense, straightforward documentary style. Perhaps one of the last great films from a bygone age of pure, down-to-basics suspense (and a kind of debonair European alternative to the American grittiness of The French Connection), The Day of the Jackal is a cat-and-mouse thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until its brilliantly executed final scene (pardon the pun), by which time Fox has achieved cinematic immortality as one of the screen's most memorable killers.

John le Carre's classic spy yarn gets a suitably brisk, unromanticized telling in this quintessential Cold War movie. A British agent (Richard Burton) sets up an elaborate cover story for being lured into defecting to the Communists, but he hardly needs to manufacture his disgust and cynicism over spying. The grim business of point-counterpoint espionage has rarely been depicted with less glamour; Burton's great climactic speech on the subject is the definitive take on sinking to the level of the enemy. Claire Bloom is an offbeat love interest, and a bearded Oskar Werner is an East German investigator on Burton's case (the pecking order in the Communist spy hierarchy is a source of black humor). Director Martin Ritt extends his unvarnished approach to the movie's stripped-down look, which means that Richard Burton is constantly in a harsh, unflattering light. He looks terrible, but it's in the service of a fine performance.

An overeager German journalist (Jon Voight) discovers a long-buried secret plot beginning to resurface in this moderately compelling, surprisingly straightforward adaptation of a novel by conspiracy whiz Fredrick (Day of the Jackal) Forsythe. Although this somewhat pokey suspenser never quite flows the way a classic espionage thriller should, it does offer a number of compelling diversions along the way, including a blessedly nonhammy (and impressively accented) performance by Voight, Derek Jacobi's amusingly Freudian supporting turn, and a tremendously physical hand-to-hand confrontation in a print shop that leaves no pane of glass intact. Maximillian Schell's scenery-chewing, deliciously evil cameo almost makes this worth the watch by itself. Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the garishly florid (yet somehow effective) score.

Charles (Hugh Grant) is a confirmed British bachelor with a colourful romantic background who meets the perfect woman, Carrie (Andie MacDowell), at a friend's wedding. However, Charles's hopes of romance are dashed when Carrie announces she must return to America the next morning. The two continue to cross paths at other people's weddings, never finding each other at a time when both are single. As all of Charles's friends find love, he's left wondering if he will ever be the one going to the altar. With subtle and lighthearted storytelling, director Mike Newell makes viewers feel intimate with characters who are shown in their happiest and saddest moments. The talented, funny cast--including Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow, and Rowan Atkinson--portrays a very convincing group of friends in search of true love.

It's the Mods versus the Rockers in this striking adaptation of The Who's classic rock opera about alienated youth in the 1960s. The film follows Jimmy (Phil Daniels) an angry young man who feels that he can only achieve a sense of identity and meaning in life through his gang and Mod music. This edgy time capsule also features Sting (in his acting debut), Leslie Ash, and Ray Winstone. In addition to The Who songs such as 'Love, Reign O'er Me', 'The Real Me', and 'My Generation', the soundtrack includes R&B classics by James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and others.

An irresistible, comic drama from director Alan Parker (Evita, Mississippi Burning), overflowing and alive with passion, humor and music, The Commitments showcases some old R&B standards in a new light. A headstrong, fast-talking, ambitious young Dubliner (Robert Arkins) fancies himself a promoter of talent, and sets about assembling and packaging a local Irish R&B band. His group of self-absorbed, backbiting, but stunningly talented individuals begin to succeed beyond his wildest dreams, until petty jealousies and recrimination threaten to scuttle the whole deal. A moody, vivid and soulful exploration of the Dublin club scene as well as a showcase for some wonderful unknown actors, the film (and its wonderful soundtrack) also features the actual band covering classic soul tunes from the likes of Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. It's that combination of soul and soul music that makes The Commitments a special little film.

If a musical sci-fi satire about an alien transvestite named Frank-n-Furter, who is building the perfect man while playing sexual games with his virginal visitors, sounds like an intriguing premise for a movie, then you're in for a treat. Not only is The Rocky Horror Picture Show all this and more, but it stars the surprising cast of Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick (as the demure Janet and uptight Brad, who get lost in a storm and find themselves stranded at Frank-n-Furter's mansion), Meat Loaf (as the rebel Eddie), Charles Gray (as our criminologist and narrator) and, of course, the inimitable Tim Curry as our "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania".
Upon its release in 1975, the film was an astounding flop. But a few devotees persuaded a New York cinema to show it at midnight, and thus was born one of the ultimate cult films of all time. The songs are addictive (just try getting "The Time Warp" or "Toucha Toucha Touch Me" out of your head), the raunchiness amusing and the plot line utterly ridiculous--in other words, this film is simply tremendous good fun. The downfall, however, is that much of the amusement is found in the audience participation that is obviously missing from a video version (viewers in cinemas shout lines at the screen and use props--such as holding up newspapers and shooting water guns during the storm and throwing rice during a wedding scene). Watched alone as a straight movie, Rocky Horror loses a tremendous amount of its charm. Yet, for those who wish to perfect their lip-synching techniques for movie cinema performances or for those who want to gather a crowd around the TV at home for some good, old-fashioned, rowdy fun, this film can't be beat.

Get ready for action with this explosively exciting hit! On the streets they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran (Larenz Tate -- MENACE II SOCIETY) is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency! From the Hughes Brothers, acclaimed directors of the smash hit MENACE II SOCIETY -- you'll love every pulse-pounding second as these bold thieves risk it all for the score of a lifetime!

The winner of 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Sting has become one of America's favorite and most critically acclaimed films. Robert Redford and Paul Newman star as two con men in the 1930's out to avenge the death of a friend. They seek revenge on a crime lord (Robert Shaw) with a "sting" that is one of the greatest double-crosses in movie history, complete with an amazing surprise finish. Directed by George Ray Hill and written by David S. Ward.

Forever embroiled in controversy, Midnight Express divides viewers into opposing camps: those who think it's one of the most intense real-life dramas ever made, and those who abhor its manipulative tactics and alteration of facts for the exploitative purpose of achieving a desired effect. That effect is powerfully achieved, regardless of how you may feel about director Alan Parker and Oscar®-winning screenwriter Oliver Stone's interpretation of the story of Billy Hayes. It was the American Hayes--played by the late Brad Davis in an unforgettable performance--who was caught smuggling two kilograms of hashish while attempting to board a flight from Istanbul, Turkey, in 1970. He was sentenced to four years in a hellish Turkish prison on a drug possession charge, but his sentence was later extended (though not by 30 years, as the film suggests), and Hayes endured unthinkable brutality and torture before his escape in 1975.

Typically categorized as a horror film, The Wicker Man is actually a serious and literate thriller about modern paganism, written by Anthony Shaffer (Sleuth) with a deft combination of cool subjectivity and escalating dread. (Despite this promising directorial debut, British filmmaker Robin Hardy didn't make another film until The Fantasist, a little-seen thriller released in 1986.) We're introduced to the friendly but mysterious residents of Summerisle (located off the west coast of Scotland), where the isolated community enacts rituals that seem, at first, to be merely unconventional. When called in to investigate an anonymous tip about a missing child, mainland police sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) is treated as an outsider, and the ominous Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) has the inside advantage. As the repressed policeman is taunted by the island's sensuous atmosphere, his investigation leads to increasingly disturbing implications.

A nice rest in a state mental hospital beats a stretch in the pen, right? Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a free-spirited con with lightning in his veins and glib on his tongue, fakes insanity and moves in with what he calls the "nuts." Immediately, his contagious sense of disorder runs up against numbing routine. No way should guys pickled on sedatives shuffle around in bathrobes when the World Series is on. This means war! On one side is McMurphy. On the other is soft-spoken Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), among the most coldly monstrous villains in film history. At stake is the fate of every patient on the ward. Based on Ken Kesey's acclaimed bestseller, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest swept all five major 1975 Academy Awards: Best Picture (produced by Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas), Actor (Nicholson), Actress (Fletcher), Director (Milos Forman) and Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman). Raucous, searing and with a superb cast that includes Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd in his film debut, this one soars.

There's really been only one rival to James Bond: Derek Flint in the swinging-60s action-comedies Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967). That's because of James Coburn's special brand of American cool. He's so cool, in fact, that he doesn't care to save the world. That is, until he's personally threatened. He's a true libertarian, with more gadgets and girls than Bond, but with none of his stress or responsibility.
Our Man Flint finds our unflappable hero thwarting mad scientists who control the weather--and an island of pleasure drones. Lee J Cobb costars as Flint's flustered superior, and Edward Mulhare plays a British nemesis with snob appeal. For fans of Austin Powers, incidentally, the funny-sounding phone comes from the Flint films. However, Our Man Flint's best gadget remains the watch that enables Flint to feign death. There's a great Jerry Goldsmith score, too. There was bound to be a sequel, and In Like Flint delivers the same kind of zany fun as its predecessor. Flint is recruited once again by Lee J Cobb to be the government's top secret agent, this time to solve a mishap involving the President. It turns out, the Chief Executive has been replaced by an evil duplicate. The new plan for world domination involves feminine aggression, and Flint, with his overpowering charisma, is just the man to turn the hostile forces around. In Like Flint is still over the top, but some of the novelty has worn off, and it doesn't have quite the same edge as the original. Even Jerry Goldsmith's score is a bit more subdued. But the film still has James Coburn and that funny phone.

One of the key films of the 1970s, John Boorman's Deliverance is a nightmarish adaptation of poet-novelist James Dickey's book about various kinds of survival in modern America. The story concerns four Atlanta businessmen of various male stripe: Jon Voight's character is a reflective, civilized fellow; Burt Reynolds plays a strapping hunter-gatherer in urban clothes; Ned Beatty is a sweaty, weak-willed boy-man, and Ronny Cox essays a spirited, neighbourly type. Together they decide to answer the ancient call of men testing themselves against the elements and set out on a treacherous ride on the rapids of an Appalachian river. What they don't understand until it is too late is that they have ventured into Dickey's variation on the American underbelly, a wild, lawless, dangerous (and dangerously inbred) place isolated from the gloss of the late 20th century. In short order, the four men dig deep into their own suppressed primitiveness, defending themselves against armed cretins, facing the shock of real death on their carefully planned, death-defying adventure and then squarely facing the suspicions of authority over their concealed actions. Boorman, a master teller of stories about individuals on peculiarly mythical journeys, does a terrifying and beautiful job of revealing the complexity of private and collective character--the way one can never be the same after glimpsing the sharp-clawed survivor in one's soul.

Wearing his trademark bowler hat and squeaky boots, Cribb tracks his prey amidst such Victorian pastimes as bare-fisted fighting, spiritualism in the drawing rooms of high society, nude midnight swims in the Thames and bizarre marathon "wobbles" or walking contests. Filled with lavish period detail and jaw-dropping plot twists, the adventures of Sergeant Cribb reveal the dark underbelly of Victorian life. Mickey McAvoy (Bean) is a vicious, small-time crook out to make a name for himself in the London underworld. He and his gang have mapped out the ‘perfect crime’, one that will elevate their status among violent criminals everywhere. However, a shocking discovery during the job causes loyalties to shift within the group ... and allows the cops to put unbearable heat on someone who can bring the whole operation crashing down.

Set during the Second World War, this epic romance tells the story of a mysterious Englishman found badly burned in the Sahara. His nurse transports him across war-torn Europe taking him to a deserted Tuscan monastery where he can die in peace. There they become friends and she begins to read to him from a book he wrote about a previous relationship with a married woman with whom he fell in love whilst working in the Middle East.

Photographer Steve Blake witnesses a horrific car crash, in which James Wilson, head of British Nuclear Power, is burned to a crisp. He is stunned the next day when he sees Wilson alive and well, the inquest reveals unanswered oddities, and the detective heading the investigation, John Ferguson, is eager to close the case. When he investigates similar victimless deaths, he learns that Wilson was one of 200 survivors, several years earlier, when coastal village, Sweet Hope, collapsed into the sea, the entire populace saved by 2 policemen (Ferguson and Chief Supt Gates) - and they all seem to have moved up in their various fields suspiciously quickly since. When Gates's wife suggests he could have been replaced by an alien after the tragedy, Blake ventures underwater, where he's horrified to find the skeletons of all of Sweet Hope's inhabitants ! So, who are the survivors...?

A sweeping, epic production of Emily Bronte's classic tale of star-crossed lovers Cathy (Juliette Binoche) and Heathcliff (Ralph Fiennes), whose passionate love and tragic separation plays out against the verdant Yorkshire moors. Whereas most film adaptations of WUTHERING HEIGHTS end with the death of Cathy, this version presents the complete novel and continues the fateful consequences of the doomed love affair as it resonates throughout two generations of the Earnshaw and Linton families.

A suave tennis player (Ray Milland) plots the perfect murder, the dispatching of his wealthy wife (Grace Kelly), who is having an affair with a writer (Robert Cummings). Amazingly, the wife manages to stave off her attacker, a twist of fate that challenges the hubby's talent for improvisation. Alfred Hitchcock wisely stuck to the stage origins of Dial M for Murder, ignoring the temptation to "open up" the material from the home of the unhappy couple. The result may not be one of Hitchcock's deepest films, but it's a thoroughly engaging chamber movie. It also features Grace Kelly at her loveliest, the same year she made Rear Window with Hitchcock. Dial M for Murder was filmed in the briefly trendy 3-D process, and Hitchcock shot some scenes to bring out the depth of the 3-D field; it's especially good for the nail-biting attempted murder of Kelly, and her desperate reach for a pair of scissors that seems to be just outside her grasp. However, the film was rarely shown with the proper 3-D projection, going out "flat" instead (a 1980 reissue restored the process for a limited theatrical release). Dial M was remade in 1998 as A Perfect Murder, a film that changed and expanded the material, with no improvement on the clean, witty original.

Includes three features. A former jockey, Dick Francis turned to writing mysteries after his career at the track was over, setting most of them in the world that he knew so well, that of high stakes racing. In 'Twice Shy', the death of a computer buff, and a schoolteacher who seems to be living beyond his means presents a mystery to David Cleveland, ace investigator for the Jockey Club. Also includes 'Blood Sport' and 'In The Frame'.

This 100th Anniversary box set is a truly great lasting tribute to one of the worlds best loved comedians. Bob Hopes Work has been an inspiration to a generation of aspiring, young comedians. The world was deeply and profoundly saddened at the recent death of Bob and I urge anyone who has not yet seen a Bob Hope film or show to Buy this box set. You dont know what you're missing.

Witness the birth of evil. This eerie, very intense (New York) thriller from writer-director Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider) first introduced the world to the cunning, unforgettable serial killer named Hannibal. Joan Allen and Stephen Lang co-star in this dark locomotive ofa film (Los Angeles Times) that promises to keep viewers riveted (Time)!Former FBI profiler Will Graham (William Petersen, CSI ) reluctantly returns to his old job to track a horrific serial killer known as the 'tooth Fairy. But in order to get into the mind of this maniac, Graham must face another: Hannibal, the imprisoned psychiatrist whose own insanity almost cost Graham his life and whose insights into the Tooth Fairy could prove as dangerous as the killer himself.

Dating from 1969, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has never lost its popularity or its unusual appeal as a star-driven Western that tinkers with the genre's conventions and comes up with something both terrifically entertaining and--typical of its period--a tad paranoid. Paul Newman plays the legendary outlaw Butch Cassidy as an eternal optimist and self-styled visionary, conjuring dreams of banks just ripe for the picking all over the world. Robert Redford is his more level-headed partner, the sharp-shooting Sundance Kid. The film, written by William Goldman (The Princess Bride) and directed by George Roy Hill (The Sting), basically begins as a freewheeling story about robbing trains but soon becomes a chase as a relentless posse--always seen at a great distance like some remote authority--forces Butch and Sundance into the hills and, finally, Bolivia. Weakened a little by feel-good inclinations (a scene involving bicycle tricks and the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" is sort of Hollywood flower power), the film maintains an interesting tautness, and the chemistry between Redford and Newman is rare.

This film is about a young poker player (Steve McQueen), in the 1960s, who has the reputation of being one of the best stud poker players around. But, in order to prove himself, The Cincinnati Kid has to face the ultimate battle in a showdown against the ultimate player.

Millionaire businessman Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) is also a high-stakes thief; his latest caper is an elaborate heist at a Boston bank. Why does he do it? For the same reason he flies gliders, bets on golf strokes, and races dune buggies: he needs the thrill to feel alive. Insurance investigator Vicky Anderson (Faye Dunaway) gets her own thrills by busting crooks, and she's got Crown in her cross hairs. Naturally, these two will get it on, because they have a lot in common: they're not people, they're walking clothes racks. (McQueen looks like he'd rather be in jeans than Crown's natty three-piece suits.) The Thomas Crown Affair is a catalog of '60s conventions, from its clipped editing style to its photographic trickery (the inventive Haskell Wexler behind the camera) to its mod design. You can almost sense director Norman Jewison deciding to "tell his story visually," like those newfangled European films; this would explain the long passages of Michel Legrand's lounge jazz ladled over endless montages of the pretty Dunaway and McQueen at play. (The opening-credits song, "Windmills of Your Mind," won an Oscar.) It's like a "What Kind of Man Reads Playboy?" ad come to life, and much more interesting as a cultural snapshot than a piece of storytelling.

The saga of Tom Horn - a real-life "enforcer" of Old West days - held a particular fascination for another legend. Hollywood icon Steve McQueen starred in and executive-produced what would be his next-to-last movie, a gritty, exciting recreation of Horn's latter-day career in a turn-of-the-century West where gentler ways supplanted the law of the gun - and Horn would be an unwitting victim of that change. Linda Evans, Richard Farnsworth, Billy Green Bush and Slim Pickens head a strong cast in a film capturing the essence of a time when a man's word was only as good as his guns or fists. Shot on serenely beautiful Arizona locations, Tom Horn indelibly brings to life one of the West's truly unsung heroes.

His new assignment seems routine: protecting a star witness for an important trial. But before the night is out, the witness lies dying and cool, no-nonsense Detective Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) won't rest until the shooters and the kingpin pulling their strings are nailed. From opening shot to closing shootout, Bullitt crackles with authenticity: San Francisco locations, crisp dialogue and to-the-letter police, hospital and morgue procedures. An Oscar winner for Best Film Editing (1968), this razor-edged thriller features one of cinema history's most memorable car chases. Buckle up and brace for unbeatable action.

After the rugged rodeo drama JUNIOR BONNER, the impetuous Sam Peckinpah reteamed with Steve McQueen for this down-and-dirty heist picture. McQueen stars with his soon-to-be real-life bride Ali McGraw (with whom he fell in love during the film's production) as the beautiful, but dangerous, married couple Doc and Carol McCoy. After being released from prison--for reasons Doc would rather not acknowledge--Doc shacks up in a hotel with Carol to plot a small-town bank robbery. Of course, the heist doesn't go as smoothly as planned, resulting in an action-packed journey that sends the lovers on a reckless romp through the beautiful Texas landscape. Peckinpah's big screen adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel features the trademark qualities that helped to make him such an alternately reviled and revered figure: namely, his vision of a world in which even the good guys are bad guys. Lucien Ballard's gorgeous cinematography contrasts wonderfully with the gritty subject matter, lifting the potentially standard picture to a more artistic plateau. The chemistry between the incomparably cool McQueen and the magnetic McGraw also confirms THE GETAWAY's status as a defining film of the genre.

Frank Sinatra told the director to give the newcomer a break. John Sturges (The Great Escape) obliged, providing favorable camera angles for Sinatra's young co-star. In his first big-budget film, Steve McQueen was ready to grab the movie world's attention. McQueen plays Bill Ringa, one of the O.S.S. combatants harassing the enemy in World War II Burma. Sinatra is Capt. Tom Reynolds, leading the guerilla fighters and risking court martial while doing so. Also among Never So Few's many are Charles Bronson, Peter Lawford and in her first Hollywood film, Gina Lollobrigida. About McQueen, the New York Herald Tribune's reviewer wrote: "He possesses that combination of smooth-rough charm that suggests star possibilities." A star is born in Never So Few.

From its cleverly choreographed opening sequence to its heart-stopping climax on a rampant carousel, this 1951 Hitchcock classic readily earns its reputation as one of the director's finest examples of timeless cinematic suspense. It's not just a ripping-good thriller but a film student's delight and a perversely enjoyable battle of wits between tennis pro Guy (Farley Granger) and his mysterious, sycophantic admirer, Bruno (Robert Walker), who proposes a "criss-cross" scheme of traded murders. Bruno agrees to kill Guy's unfaithful wife, in return for which Guy will (or so it seems) kill Bruno's spiteful father. With an emphasis on narrative and visual strategy, Hitchcock controls the escalating tension with a master's flair for cinematic design, and the plot (coscripted by Raymond Chandler) is so tightly constructed that you'll be white-knuckled even after multiple viewings. Strangers on a Train remains one of Hitchcock's crowning achievements and a suspenseful classic that never loses its capacity to thrill and delight.

Alfred Hitchcock was fond of telling the story about how his father discouraged his son from even the slightest criminal impulse by having young Alfred locked in a police holding cell for a brief period--a terrifying experience Hitchcock never forgot. Much of the fear from that childhood incident resonates through The Wrong Man, which is unique among Hitchcock's films in that it is based entirely on a factual case that occurred in New York City in January 1953. As Hitchcock states in a shadowy prologue, authenticity was his primary goal--including the use of actual names and locations from the case--and the film gains considerable power from Hitchcock's semi-documentary approach (a film noir style that was still in vogue when Hitchcock shot this film in 1957).

Cary Grant teams with director Alfred Hitchcock for the fourth and final time in this superlative espionage caper judged one of the American Film Institute's Top-100 American Films and spruced up with a new digital transfer and remixed Dolby Digital Stereo. Grant plays a Manhattan advertising executive plunged into a realm of spy (James Mason) and counterspy (Eva Marie Saint) and variously abducted framed for murder chased and in another signature set piece crop-dusted. He also holds on for dear life from the facial features of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore (backlot sets were used). But don't expect the Master of Suspense to leave star or audience hanging.

Essex Boys constructs a fictional story around the infamous Range Rover murders in Rettenden, Essex, in which three local drug dealers were found blasted to death by shotguns. Driving for ex-con Jason Locke (Sean Bean) was just another job for Billy Reynolds (Charlie Creed-Miles). But fresh out of a five-year stretch, Locke is looking to make up for lost time and begins a turf war. He stalks his manor with a menacing leer and a bottle of acid to throw in the face of anyone who gets in his way, and is given to Locke and his drug-dealing gang rely on brute strength to enforce their will, but when they decide to expand their game they underestimate the wiles of Billy's boss, countrified crime gent John Dyke. Southend's sunset strip of neon-fronted clubs and arcades, but fails to lift the plot of his film out of the Brit-gangster ghetto. That said, Winsor laudably plays it straight, avoiding the style over substance affectations of the genre, while coaxing believable performances out of his cast.

The Intelligence Men <Actinic:Variable Name = '1965'/> is the big screen debut from popular British comedy duo, Eric and Ernie. The bungling spies attempt to go undercover in an enemy operation, however, as always with this hapless twosome, nothing ever goes as planned. Ernie is a pen pusher for the Secret Services and his friend Eric runs a cafe. When Eric accidentally encounters a summit meeting of an international criminal gang, M.I.5 decide to send the hapless pair undercover with Eric posing as "Major Cavendish". Riotous antics follow when they are assigned to protect the legendary Russian ballet dancer, Madame Petrovna, from assassins.

The best-loved comedy double act star in their final big screen outing together-and outrageously funny, South American set comedy. The pair are two travelling salesmen who set off to a Latin American banana republic in the middle of revolution. Unfortunately, Eric discovers he is an exact look-alike of rebel leader Torres. When Torres is killed, he's bribed to pose as the revolutionary, in exchange for millions. Unfortunately, as with all Eric and Ern antics, it's not quite that simple...

The duo star as a pair of traffic wardens who decide to go on holiday to the South of France after a mix-up with a member of the Royal Family. They set off in a vintage car but are spotted by a gang of jewel thieves who see an opportunity to Eric and Ernie as the perfect cover for their smuggling operation. As soon as the two settle into their villa, a rival gang begins to stalk them. Eric and Ernie must foil all the crooks who become most anxious when Eric wins in the casino and plans to buy a new car!

Three features. Adaptations from the crime writer Ruth Rendell writing under the name of Barbara Vine.
A Dark Eye Adapted (1994): Based on the true story of Vera Hillyard, one of the last women in Britain to hang for murder. A Dark Eye Adapted is a dark and brooding tale of a seemingly close-knit suburban family whose facade of normalcy hides the murderous sibling rivalry.

Gallowglass (1993): A European aristocrat's wife, already the victim of one kidnapping attempt, endures round-the-clock protection when another plot looms.

A Fatal Inversion (1992): A tragic summer, long forgotten by four friends, returns to haunt the now estranged group when the body of a young woman and a baby are uncovered in the pet cemetery on an ancestral estate.

This spin-off from the 1970's sitcom about a landlord and his oddball assortment of tenants was noticeable for it being made without it's co-star Richard Beckinsdale who sadly died before filming. The plot continues where the TV series left off with Rigsby (Leonard Rossiter) lusting after Miss Jones (Francis De La Tour).

Tolen (Ray Brooks) has it. Colin (Michael Crawford) doesn't. "It" is the knack for getting women into bed. After obtaining lessons from the master, Colin buys a bed big enough for his conquests. This leads Colin and his friend Tom (Donal Donnelly) to Nancy (Rita Tushingham), an attractive innocent country girl. The boys vie for her affections, but when she meets Tolen, she faints, overcome by his charm. Nancy awakens thinking she has been raped and points her finger at the hapless Colin.
As films age they are commonly seen as "tame by today's standards." This is not the case with this outrageously loose 1965 portrait of Swinging London. A revolutionary film, this amoral slapstick combined the rapid-fire-gag approach used by director Richard Lester in his previous work with the Beatles (A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, HELP!) with the awareness of technique popularized by the French New Wave. The style of filmmaking perfectly captures the time period and was also highly influential to the film school generation of the late 1960s and early 1970s. John Barry's playful score fusing jazz and pop sets the frenetic pace. Though purely cinematic, the film is based on a popular play by Ann Jellicoe.

Cars swerve to avoid an agitated man wandering on a freeway until the man is hit by a truck and killed. Eyewitnesses said the man, Pat Fisher, was clearly disturbed, and some on the police force think that no other explanation or investigation is necessary-- except for Detective Tom Monroe (Robert Carlyle, The Full Monty). Finding newspaper clippings, class photos and tape recordings about Fisher's classmates dating back to 1976 in the dead man's apartment, Monroe discovers three other mysterious deaths among the class. Soon the deaths and their strange circumstances, which date back to the kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Amy Irvine, begin to haunt the detective as much as they did Fisher. In this tense, gripping psychological thriller, Monroe must unravel the mystery of the Class of '76 before, as Fisher warns from beyond the grave, "It won't be suicide, won't be an accident. Every one of us, murdered."

Detective Sergeant Mack Stone's (John Hannah - Rebus, Sliding Doors) wife, Lucia, disappeared without trace tree months ago. Now on compassionate leave Stone uses every waking hour to try and find her. In a story brimming with twists and turns, Stone investigates an unsolved murder and finds his personal life inextricably linked to that of the murderer. Jemma Redgrave (Bramwell, The Swap) also stars in this tense drama which delves into the darkest parts of a man's mind and leaves Stone fighting to discover and prove his own innocence, wondering if he murdered his own his own wife and if he himself is now suffering from Amnesia....

John Hurt stars as the controversial and irreverent Conservative Minister Alan Clark in this witty and moving adaptation of his best-selling diaries. Blessed with lavish cynicism and cursed with an intrusive libido, Alan Clark schemes his way through the corridors of power at the height of Thatcher's Britain, offering his own inimitable insights into the Tory grandees of the time - including Tom King ("Too ghastly"), Michael Heseltine ("Odious"), Ken Clarke ("A podgy life insurance risk") and Mrs Thatcher herself ("So beautiful. She has wonderful, small feet"). As his political career falls apart through a succession of gaffes, scandals and personal self-doubts, Clark struggles to find true meaning in his life before it is too late.
With a sharp, literate script and truly outstanding performances from a distinguished cast that includes Jenny Agutter as Clark's wife Jane, Victoria Smurfit as his secret mistress X, and Julia Davis as Jenny Easterbrook, The Alan Clark Diaries has been universally acclaimed as a triumph for television drama.

The death of a corporate mogul caused by an overdose of a sexual performance-enhancing drug leads to a case with a sensual witness (Julia Roberts) accusing Detective Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) of tampering with evidence so she can save her own skin. The police department's credibility is further put to the test when Detective Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) is set up by an ex-partner to take the rap for corruption.Two cops must now take the stand to face the justice they defend.

Nick Edwards owes 50,000 pounds to a brutal crime lord. When he comes across a much sought after painting, initial relief turns to despair as he discovers the work is only worth 15,000 pounds. Together with two friends, Edwards hatches a cunning plan...

FUTTOCKS END - This Ronnie Barker classic film finally becomes available for the first time on DVD.
A weekend gathering at the decaying country home of the eccentric General Futtock (Ronnie Barker) produces a series of saucy mishaps between staff and guests. This ‘silent’ film uses music, sound effects and incoherent mutterings in the place of dialogue, as the bumbling and lewd General competes with his equally lecherous butler (Michael Hordern) in vain attempts to win the attentions of a beautiful short-skirted young houseguest. Comedic chaos ensues between the assembled group of motley characters.

This collection presents two classic Eric Sykes programmes. Sykes, of course, graduated with honors from the Benny Hill School of British Comedy. The films also feature other comedy luminaries such as Bernard Cribbins, Charles Hawtrey, and many more.

The Belles of St. Trinians
The Headmistress of St. Trinian's, the renowned establishment for the education of young ladies, faces a few problems with her students. The Unruly schoolgirls are more interested in men and mischief than homework and hockey. But greater trouble than ever beckons when the arrival at the school of Princess Fatima of Makyad coincides with the return of recently expelled Arabella Fritton, who has kidnap on her mind.

Blue Murder and St. Trinian's
With their Headmistress under lock and key in her Majesties prison, the St. Trinian's girl's find themselves under the protection of the Army. However, when the sixth form take a fancy to winning a trip to Italy through fair means or foul, the Army discovers this is one battle they can't win. Let loose in Europe, it's not long before St. Trinian's have succeeded in endangering European relations.

The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's
The fourth form monsters latest trick is their best ever - they've burned down St. Trinian's! As the school stands trial, the police breathe a sigh of relief but miraculously the judges infatuation with Rosalie, the beautiful blonde of the sixth form, means the school is freed. And with them go the most glamorous sixth formers ever seen in gym slips. For authority it means a new reign of terror, as with gleeful anticipation the girls of St. Trinians regroup. Their motto is mayhem.

The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's
Leaving a notorious trail of arson behind them, the St. Trinian's schoolgirls are always on the move. Their headmistress is more than 'just friends' with the Minister of School. Armed with a government grant, she re-houses her girls in yet another home - Halimgwell Grange. What she doesn't know is that the Great Train Robbers have got there before her. And left £2.5 million hidden under the ballroom stage...

In 1960, Norman Wisdom was left all at sea in The Bulldog Breed. He had already made a farce of the army in The Square Peg (1958), so what better than to join the navy? Back in the real world, the Russians had kick-started the space race putting Sputnik into orbit, so Norman rapidly finds himself selected to be the first Brit in space. Playing to type, the result is excellent physical comedy and copious tomfoolery at the expense of the upper ranks. With support from John Le Mesurier and Edward Chapman (the legendary "Mr Grimsdale") and uncredited appearances from Oliver Reed and Michael Caine, this is a notable British comedy, with an unusually direct reference to the risqué Carry On movies.
For his second starring role Norman Wisdom played the oldest orphan of Greenwood Children's Home in 1954's One Good Turn. Not only does he have to find the money to buy one of the orphans a model car, but after a visit to Brighton he discovers Greenwood is due to be closed down by the home's own unscrupulous chairman, a property developer with plans to build a factory on the site. Also starring Thora Hird, One Good Turn was surely a film with a personal resonance for Wisdom who was himself brought-up in an orphanage after his mother died and his father was unable to raise him. As would become a tradition, he contributes a song, "Please Opportunity", and the movie, though produced by Rank, now sits easily in that classic Ealing era where the ordinary man took on the big guys and won. The innocent knockabout humour remains appealing.

In this Hammer Productions take on the Dracula legend, travellers visit Carlstad, ignoring many warnings, and end up spending the night at a local castle. They soon find out that the gracious host, Klove (Philip Latham), has a hidden agenda. Apparently the castle's owner, Count Dracula (Christopher Lee), passed on 10 years before, but has been waiting for an opportunity such as this to return to the world. Bloodcurdling mayhem ensues....

The Prince of Darkness casts his undead shadow once more over the cursed village of Kleinenberg when his ashes are splashed with bat's blood. And two innocent victims search for a missing loved one, loved to death by the mistress of Dracula. But after they discover his bloodstained corpse in Castle Dracula, the Vampire Lord's lustful vengeance begins.

A young girl is discovered at the scene of a grisly murder and taken in by a kindly freudian psychiatrist. As he uncovers her past, he learns that she is the child of the infamous Jack the Ripper whose murderous urges are triggered by memories of her evil father!

Featuring a stellar cast, including Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Michael Redgrave, Robert Shaw and Susannah York, Battle Of Britain is a spectacular retelling of a true story that shows courage at its inspiring best. Few defining moments can change the outcome of war. But when the outnumbered Royal Air Force defied insurmountable odds in engaging the German Luftwaffe, they may well have altered the course of history!

This film is based on a true story, that one of the two writers (Richard Everett) read in a book, "The Amateur Commandos" by Raymond Foxall, in Godalming Library. It is about two army dentists who had repeatedly applied for active service in WWII and had repeatedly had their requests turned down. Finally, the older man, Sergeant King decides he and Private Cuthbertson will send an explanatory letter to Churchill together with their army pay books, then they will take a train to Plymouth and cross the channel to occupied France where they will blow up some German ships. They don't find any ships to blow up but they do find wires to cut, railway lines to blow up and a radar station to attack. When they run out of hand grenades, they make their way back home, well satisfied with a job well done.

Widely considered, top to bottom, one of the finest musicals in Broadway history, Gypsy got lucky in its film version. Granted, Rosalind Russell doesn't have the bell-ringing voice one craves for in "Everything's Coming Up Roses," but as a domineering stage mom, she's truly fearsome. Trouping through vaudeville with her is her daughter, the future celebrity stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, played by Natalie Wood in all her youthful lusciousness. The production is studio-bound, but this actually fits the unreal show-biz world depicted. The Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim score has no weak spots, and some of the burlesque numbers ("Let Me Entertain You" and the riotous "You Gotta Get a Gimmick") are so authentic, you'd swear they were at least 100 years old. Gypsy is one of those big, somewhat stately musicals that does satisfying credit to its stage origins; no cinematic ground-breaking here, but a swell way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Otto Kellar and his wife Alma work as caretaker and housekeeper at a Catholic church in Quebec. Whilst robbing a house where he sometimes works as a gardener, Otto is caught and kills the owner. Racked with guilt he heads back to the church where Father Michael Logan is working late. Otto confesses his crime, but when the police begin to suspect Father Logan he cannot reveal what he has been told in the confession.

In suspense films characters frequently deceive one another. But can the camera tell a lie? This is one of the questions that Hitchcock takes up in Stage Fright (1950), and his answer has puzzled, infuriated, and delighted audiences ever since its initial release. Stage Fright is one of only two films Hitchcock made in Great Britain after he moved to America in 1940 (the other is Frenzy, his late masterpiece). It is also his only picture to star Marlene Dietrich, whose character's allegiances are even more ambiguous than usual.
Years after making Stage Fright, Hitchcock claimed that because the villains were just as frightened as the heroes, the film did not carry the requisite quota of menace. But it has received a good deal of attention in recent years and is worth a fresh look. The director did admit that he was proud of the movie's most astounding plot twist, though no commercial filmmaker since has been bold enough to let the camera lie so eloquently.

John Thaw (Inspector Morse, The Sweeney) gives one of the finest performances of his career as a grief-stricken father trying to find out why his son was murdered in Northern Ireland. When Lieutenant David Hollins (Christopher Fulford) is found bound and brutally murdered on a remote Irish farm, his family are told only that he had been on a secret mission and had died a hero. But when Geoff Hollins (John Thaw) attends his murderer's trial in Belfast, he soon discovers that the truth may be very different...Hollins learns that Siobhan (Paula Hamilton), his son's girlfriend, is the sister of the IRA killer standing trial for his son's murder, while British Intelligence do their best to prevent him from viewing the trial itself. And when all charges against the alleged killer are suddenly and mysteriously dropped on the first day of the trial, Hollins realises that his only chance of discovering the truth is to uncover it himself...But Northern Ireland is a foreign and treacherous place to the grieving Englishman, a place where truth seems entirely relative and where nothing - and no-one - are what they seem...A Tense, moving and powerful drama, We'll Support You Evermore weaves a spellbinding tale of deceit, double-cross and deep-rooted hatred in which truth is the first casualty...

Director Stanley Kramer's socially conscious 1961 film tackles the subject of the war crime trials arising out of World War II in an earnest and straightforward fashion, exploring the consciousness of two nations as they struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Spencer Tracy plays the American judge selected to head the tribunal that will try the suspected war criminals. As he sets about his task, he must confront the raw emotion felt by the German people, and his own notions of good and evil, right and wrong. Regarded as a classic, this stark rendering of one of the most pivotal events in the 20th century features a stellar cast including Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, a young William Shatner, and Maximillian Schell, who won an Oscar for his role as counsel for the defense for those charged with crimes against humanity. Judgment at Nuremberg is important viewing not only for the history of film, but for the history of modern times.

A Swedish researcher strikes up an unlikely friendship with a cranky Norwegian farmer in this "quirky, thoughtful and bittersweet" (Boxoffice) comedy that captured audiences hearts around theworld. Both "warm" (Newsday) and witty, Kitchen Stories is "a deadpan, thoroughly delightful comedy that cooks up tasty laughs" (New York Post)! It's the 1950s, and a Swedish efficiency expert under strict orders not to interact with his subject is sent to improve a Norwegian farmer's culinary efforts. But the sly old farmer much prefers to amuse himself by impeding the timid researcher's work! Soon, in the struggle between neutral observation and the need for human interaction, the kitchen becomes a battleground!

There is no denying this fact: Ingmar Bergman's films are true commitments. Though averaging only an hour and a half in length, the psychological depth, the magnitude of human exploration, and the emotional rollercoaster you embark on while watching his films can stick with you for a lifetime. According to Bergman, "No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls." By the mid-sixties, Bergman was about to show the world how far the medium film could go. He began to move away from his Seventh Seal style into the dreamlike, deconstructive, nonlinear realm that would continue throughout his career. This DVD set wonderfully captures all his landmark films of the late 1960s marking this significant transition. Each film stars Liv Ullmann, Bergman's beautiful muse, and involves another longtime collaborator, cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Each film has been remastered, and is presented in its unedited theatrical version loaded with pertinent extras, including a featurette on each film, interviews with cast members (every disc has an on-camera interview with Liv Ullmann), a feature-length commentary by Bergman biographer Marc Gervais on four of the films, and a wonderfully surprising commentary by David Carradine on The Serpent's Egg. Couple these films with an extra disc of supplemental material and you have yourself an incredible Ingmar Bergman film festival.

Once upon a time--1967, to be precise--Danish director Jørgen Leth released The Perfect Human. In The Five Obstructions, fellow countryman Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves) challenges his "hero" to remake the short five times and provides a different set of "obstructions" for each. Because Leth likes cigars, von Trier suggests the first be made in Cuba. For the second, however, he sends Leth to "the worst place on earth"--Bombay's red light district. The obstructions keep coming, interspersed with conversation and clips from the original film, in which actors engage in a variety of activities, like eating and dancing, while the narrator posits oblique questions like "Why is joy so whimsical?" (Von Trier claims to have watched it "at least 20 times.") In the end, the two Danes have whipped up an unclassifiable concoction that plays less like documentary and more like a duel between friendly adversaries.

Though this film is a relatively minor one in the massive canon of Peter Sellers, it has moments of absolute hilarity. Written and directed by Blake Edwards, one of Sellers's most fertile collaborators, the film stars Sellers as a would-be actor from India (let them try to get away with that today) who is a walking disaster area. After ruining a day's shooting as an extra on a film, he finds himself unintentionally invited to a big Hollywood party. That's pretty much it as far as plot goes, but Edwards and Sellers know how to milk a simple idea for an unending string of slapstick gags. The result is a film that is episodic and sketchy, but also frequently loony in an inspired way.

Cue the Henry Mancini music and watch out for Cato--the gist of the Pink Panther series has been gathered in a six-disc boxed set. At the center of it is Peter Sellers's incarnation of inspector Jacques Clouseau, a hopelessly bumbling detective with a genius for resting his hands in the wrong place (on the surface of a spinning globe, for instance) and mangling the English language.
Writer-director Blake Edwards cast Peter Ustinov as Clouseau in The Pink Panther, but Ustinov dropped out just before shooting began. Edwards (who recounts this story in a spotty commentary track included here) and Sellers bonded over their affection for Laurel and Hardy, and immediately transformed the character of Clouseau into a walking sight gag. The first film has a delicious swinging sixties vibe, while jewel thief David Niven, Claudia Cardinale, and Capucine occupy as much screen time as Sellers. Sellers really hits his stride in A Shot in the Dark, an elegantly funny tale of Clouseau sleuthing out a murder investigation. This one introduced Herbert Lom, as the increasingly frazzled Inspector Dreyfus, and Burt Kwouk, as Clouseau's houseboy-nemesis Cato. Sellers and Edwards, whose relationship was stormy, put Clouseau aside for over 10 years, until a trilogy of mid-1970s comedies restored the character to commercial (and dare we say cultural) primacy.

Unfortunately, the very funny comeback picture, Return of the Pink Panther, is absent from this set due to rights issues with the studios involved. The Pink Panther Strikes Again has Dreyfus going bananas and targeting Clouseau; Revenge of the Pink Panther puts Clouseau in a hilarious series of disguises, climaxing in a wonderfully mounted sequence in Hong Kong. (Throughout the series, the calm, classical staging of gags by Blake Edwards reminds you of what a lost art this has become.) Trail of the Pink Panther looks better now than it did when originally released in 1982, shortly after Sellers's death; it's a batch of unused Sellers routines from previous pictures, strung together with a loose plot. In other words, it's a "deleted scenes" extra, and quite funny at times.

Subsequent efforts Curse of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther are neither included nor mentioned. A half-hour documentary gives pleasant memories from Edwards, but feels incomplete. The cartoon Panther gets his own 11-minute mini-doc, plus six cartoon shorts including the Oscar-winning "The Pink Phink."

Peter Sellers's third go-around as the prideful but bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau is funny enough, but this 1975 Blake Edwards revival of the Sellers-Clouseau connection is a little weak in comparison to predecessors The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark (both made in 1964). Costar Christopher Plummer actually gets some of the most interesting screen time as a retired cat burglar whom Clouseau accuses of getting back into the business. (If it sounds like there might be a To Catch a Thief vibe mixed in here, you're right.) Herbert Lom is hilarious as Clouseau's psychologically eroding boss, and Clouseau's ritualistic collisions with valet Cato (Burt Kwouk) are great examples of Edwards's delicious comic timing.