The collection opens with Len Lye's modernist abstraction ‘Tusalava’, which, heavily influenced by Maori and Aboriginal art, shares an interest in ‘primitive’ cultures that was typical of the Modernist movement of the time. It was almost refused a certificate by the puzzled British Board of Censors who suspected that the dancing abstract shapes might be about sex. Lye's own explanation was that it showed the beginnings of organic life. ‘Crossing the Great Sagrada’, is a lowbrow spoof on travel find out more...

Award wining documentary ‘Song of Ceylon’, is a lyrical beauty, but owes its enduring charm to its anachronistic notions of Empire and Englishness. ‘Bread’ is a slice of realism that looks at hunger in Britain. ‘Beyond This Open Road’ shows the urban populace journeying into the countryside during their weekends away from work; the imagery and utopian aesthetic are reminiscent of the work of Leni Riefenstahl. ‘Coal Face’ is an experiment in realism that focuses on the importance of coal mini find out more...

Welles wryly reflects on art, creativity and the fabrications that sustain them in this documentary about forgery and illusion. He weaves the stories of forgers de Hory, Clifford Irving and Kodar with a self-portrait in this meditation on the meaning of truth. A cinematic equivalent to an Escher painting. find out more...

The original 1953 classic has a suitably sinister Vincent Price going that extra mile to ensure the realism of his wax effigies. Creepy, camp and kitsch – it's wonderful. Check out the youthful Charles Bronson! find out more...

Vincent Minelli directs this biopic that, unusually for Hollywood, doesn't subsume the subject's achievements in a fictionalised life-story, explaining one not in terms of the other, but fully celebrating both. Douglas is superb as the artist living on the edge. Not just for art aficionados.

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A powerful and poetic depiction of the great Dutch painter from 1642, the year of the painting of the Night Watch of the Civic Guard and the death of his wife, to his position of social pariah, financial ruin and death in 1669. Rembrandt is an atmospheric and moving film with a truly awesome performance by Charles Laughton in the lead role. find out more...

A remake of Jean Renoir's 1931 film 'La Chienne', this is Hollywood film noir at it's bleakest and most psychologically tortuous. Edward G Robinson plays a middle-class, middle-aged painter who becomes obsessed with an actress-cum-prostitute played by Joan Bennett. An incisive script, haunting score and claustrophobic visuals. find out more...

Supposedly a biography of Michelangelo, it is much more that of Pope Julius II, who, when not on the battlefield uniting Italy, nags Michelangelo, in an engaging and witty script, to speed up his painful work painting the Sistine Chapel, and wonders when he will finsh. The transformation of the chapel ceiling, which was originally dotted with stars, to an opulent statement of high renaissance is engrossing. find out more...

A very dated but still entertaining slice of 60s kitsch. McQueen is the incredibly debonaire playboy millionaire, led to commit robbery through boredom, countered by Dunaway, the implausibly glamorous fraud investigator. Much period posing and split-screen shenanigans, with fun results. find out more...

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece. find out more...