One of the very finest epics produced, equally impressive in terms of script and spectacle. Heston is aptly heroic as the 11th Century patriot destined to die in the fight to evict the Moors from Spain, Mann's direction is stately and thrilling and Miklos Rosza's superb score perfectly complements the crisp and simple widescreen images. Sobriety and restraint, in fact, are perhaps the keynotes of the film's success, with the result that a potentially risible finale, in which Cid's corpse is born find out more...

English General Charles George Gordon, a devout Christian, is appointed military governor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by Prime Minister Gladstone. Ordered to evacuate Egyptians from the Sudan, General Gordon stays on to protect the people of Khartoum, who are under threat of being conquered by Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi, "the Expected One," the head of the Muslim forces. An out-and-out action spectacle sealed with stunning cinematography. find out more...

A truly epic epic and winner of 7 Academy Awards. Lawrence serves British colonial interests during the First World War by uniting the Arabs against the fast collapsing Ottoman Empire. Stupendous cinemascope drama with a cast of thousands and some of cinema's most famous shots; Sheik Ali's emergence from the desert haze and the storming of Aquaba for example. This is the director's cut, a more coherent version than the original cinema release. find out more...

A stirring and star-studded account of the Bedouin resistance against Mussolini's mechanised army in the deserts of North Africa during the 1920s. Epic in scope and length, The Lion Of The Desert focuses on Bedouin leader Omar Mukhtar, teacher turned guerrilla and willing martyr for the cause of his people. find out more...

Star-studded epic, with the best of British luvvies playing the best of Britain's boys in this slightly self-conscious colonial caper, recounting the biggest ever defeat of British forces by natives at Isandhlwana in 1879. Burt Lancaster heads the hard-as-nails, but unfailingly polite heroes, who find themselves up against a posse of well-oiled warriors. Looking decidedly dated. find out more...