When a friendly, successful suburban teacher and father (James Mason, in one of his most striking roles) is prescribed cortisone for a painful, possibly fatal, affliction he grows dangerously addicted to the experimental drug. His transition from loving father to homicidal despot is depicted on a scale more akin to operatic tragedy than melodrama and, on top of the inestimable pleasures of Mason's performance, a narrative that explores society's use of drugs provides an unexpectedly prophetic di find out more...

Adapted from the classic, absurdist, anti-war novel by Joseph Heller. "Catch-22" is the story of Yossarian, a pilot who trys to opt out of flying bombing missions by being declared insane, the catch being that anyone trying to avoid bombing missions by being insane must be sane. This dark classic catches much of the flavour of the book, the insanity, the corruption and the absurdity of war. Think MASH, but non-linear - flawed but awesome. find out more...

Based on Eric Fenby's 1936 memoir 'Delius As I Knew Him', we follow the last five years of the composer, by now blind, paralysed, embittered and at war with the world, as Fenby helps him formulate into music the compositions he still has whirling around his mind. 'Delius - Song of Summer' is a powerful and moving story. find out more...

A flight surgeon and a navy pilot overcome personal differences to work on solving the problem of dive bombers blacking out and dying. Another adrenalin fuelled collaboration between Flynn and Curtiz, based on a true story, but more interested in the suicidal/heroic white knuckle world in which so many early experimental pilots seemed to live. find out more...

The first of the 7 "Doctor" films, full of med student jokes, innuendo but generally more sophisticated than the Carry On films with which they have much in common. In this, the best of them all, Sparrow begins his 5 years at medical school and is picked up by 3 students doing retakes. Very English. find out more...

The moody 28-year-old Mifune is the violent gangster whom boozy doctor Shimura diagnoses as suffering from TB ('a hole in the heart,' says the sour 'angel', ruefully). The movie breathes the polluted air of post-war pessimism, dissipation and poetic fatalism, symbolised in the shots of the oily, malaria-ridden swamp of a Tokyo dockside, but it is dramatically qualified by Mifune's suggested redeemability and Shimura's stoical humanism. Fascinating, highly enjoyable and filled with great scenes - find out more...

Stunningly filmed in black and white, this classic slice of surrealist cinema is both touching and terrifying. A doctor, tortured beyond sanity after disfiguring his only daughter, sets out to give her back what he has taken away, at the expense of a succession of suitable young donors. A darkly disturbing marvellous movie. find out more...

August 1944. German flying bombs are raining down on London and directly under their flight path is a small cottage hospital. Inside the tension is almost unbearable for the dedicated team of surgeons and nurses, and not just because of the 'doodlebugs' and near misses, the close-knit community is torn apart by jealousy, emotional turmoil, the horrors of war and terrible secrets. When the local postman is brought in, delirious but trying to impart an urgent message, the murders begin. The eccent find out more...

A new priest arrives in the French country village of Ambricourt to attend to his first parish, but the apathetic and hostile rural congregation reject him immediately. Through his diary entries, the physically sick young man relays a crisis of faith that threatens not only to drive him away from the village, but also from God. With this, his fourth film, Bresson began to implement a stylistic philosophy in his film making, stripping away all inessential elements from his compositions, the dialo find out more...

This excellent adaptation of Erich Segal's novel has passed into the realms of film classic. Ryan O'Neil and Ali McGraw shot to stardom after playing the lovestruck couple who cross social barriers to be together, but meet tragedy. Emotional and romantic. find out more...