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

London, 1818; the young Romantic poet John Keats begins an unlikely three year romance with chic urbanite neighbour Fanny, an affair cut short by his premature illness and death. A superbly made interpretation of love and its rendition through poetry. find out more...

A landmark in the history of the cinema; it was ranked Number 1 in the American Film Institute's 100 greatest films of all time in two polls (1998 and 2007) of more than 1,500 film industry movers and shakers and again by UK directors in a BFI poll. "Citizen Kane" narrates the rise and fall of a newspaper tycoon driven by a childhood obssession and is loosely based round the life of William Randolph Hurst, who tried to have it banned, but incorporates elements from the lives of other fat cats il find out more...

Not your usual costume drama from the Merchant/Ivory team because it's about working class people and is genuinely tragic. Bella sets off sexual sparks in the placid Victorian family who shelter her when she is found wandering, broke and heavily pregnant, but her past comes back to haunt her. Adapted from a novel by HE Bates. find out more...

A version of the legendary "Gunfight at the OK Corral" in Tombstone, Arizona. Two opposing interest groups, Doc Holliday, Wyatt and his Earp family, the ones with the badges, came to a shoot-out with members of the Clanton cattle ranching and nefarious activities clan/gang. Classic stuff.

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This is the fabulous BBC version of the great and tragic last novel by Thomas Hardy. Robert Powell is the stone mason who dreams of a decent education, but seems to be getting no nearer his goal despite escaping his marriage. find out more...

It is 1795 and an impassioned Coleridge is extoling the virtues of liberty, democracy, and free speech at a political rally. Wordsworth, watching from the crowd wastes little time befriending Coleridge and as their friendship grows the idea for their great opus, the 'Lyrical Ballads', is born; but as Wordsworth searches for the elusive spark of invention he becomes increasingly envious of his friend who burns with the uncontrollable fire of his own creativity. Bold, brash, visually stunning, sup find out more...

Tim Burton brings Stephen Sondheim's musical prodigy to the big screen and as you'd expect he does a beautiful and atmospheric job of it. Both Depp and Carter revel in the opportunity given to them and the tale has a gloriously dark, gruesomely humourous tone, which brings me on to my own personal issues… the modern musical; much of the the of dialogue in Sweeney Todd is sung and there is just so much lilting 'mockney' cockney I can take. I can accept this is hugely entertaining film, it's just find out more...

Sumptuous adaptation of Edith Wharton's period drama set in the NY high society of the 1880s. Day Lewis plays the gentleman set to be married to May in the wedding of the year, but increasingly fascinated by the beautiful Countess Olenska. Decor reflects and oppresses characters, posture, gesture, glance and witty ironic narration convey not only individual psychology but the ideals of an entire etiquette-obsessed elite. Tragedy awaits. Awesome; one of the best period adaptations ever made, both find out more...

Luchino Visconti's masterpiece of a society in transition follows the declining fortunes of the family of Prince Salina, a wealthy Sicilian landowner, during the war of unification in the 1860s. Superbly photographed, evocatively scored and wonderfully performed, the new transfer, with restored sound and picture, allows 'The Leopard' to be experienced in all its original, uncut glory. A true classic. find out more...