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...

The life of comedienne Fannie Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of the Lower East Side, when only her mother believed Fanny could make it in show business, to her hilarious debut as a rollerskating chorus-girl and on to the height of her career as a star with the Ziegfeld Follies. Unfortunately she fell in love, and married, the wrong man; handsome, urbane but inept gambler Nick. Streisand won the best actress Oscar in this classic musical. find out more...

Now divorced from wealthy Nick Arnstein, Fanny teams up with songwriter Billy Rose, a brash showman bursting with enthusiasm and theatrical ambitions. They make an unusual couple, the polished performer and the upstart producer, but their friendship gradually blossoms into love. Funny Lady lacks the freshness and energy of the original Funny Girl but there are still some dazzling production numbers and Caan and Streisand make a believably feisty couple. find out more...

From the moment Henry Tudor casts aside his faithful wife Katherine of Aragon for the bewitching and determined Anne Boleyn (Helena Bonham Carter) he sets himself on course for a series of disastrous marriages. Violent conflict, both within the population and the church, left England reeling while its complex and charismatic King turned from handsome playboy to a bitter invalid desperate for a son and heir to the throne. find out more...

Superb drama with a stunning performance from Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. Consumed with grief, after the death of Prince Albert, the arrival of John Brown, Albert's fiery former servant, shakes the Queen from her melancholy and gives her a new lease of life, but feathers are ruffled within the palace as a touching friendship develops tentatively between the two. As public feeling turns against the monarch, the pressure falls squarely on Brown's shoulders, turning the proud, strong Scotsman int find out more...

Centred on the intrigues leading up to and following the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, this historical drama begins with the arranged, loveless wedding of the Roman Catholic Marguerite de Valois, sister to the eccentric King Charles IX and daughter of the scheming Catherine de Medici, and the Huguenot Henri de Navarre. Despite Catherine's hope that the marriage may unite France, the mutual hatred felt by Catholics and Protestants soon degenerates into carnage and Margot, who has learned find out more...

Jane of Suffolk, a studious young girl, is married off to the feckless Duke of Guilford for political reasons. The throne must remain Protestant and the ruling faction must retain its power, so she found herself forced unwillingly on to the throne for nine days. An English costume drama of the finest pedigree. find out more...

This lavishly photographed and costumed action-drama-epic sticks to what we know of Genghis's early years, although that's not much, telling the story of how a young tribal boy overcame many obstacles, including slavery, to become a legendary conqueror. The widescreen suits this 'big sky' country and there is something remarkably authentic about the yurts and the costumes. Chosen for marriage, at the age of nine, by a female child, Borte, while he thinks he's doing the chosing, she becomes one o find out more...

The first half of an exhaustive and lush dramatisation of Napoleon Bonaparte, from ambitious Corsican soldier at the end of the 18th Century, to his imprisonment on the Island of St Helena by the British, less than twenty years later. If anything "Napoleon" is almost overly dramatic, but it's still an enthralling look at the great man, both publicly and privately, his military achievements, and the turning of a divided France into the most powerful nation in the Western world. find out more...

The second half of an exhaustive and lush dramatisation of Napoleon Bonaparte, from ambitious Corsican soldier at the end of the 18th Century, to his imprisonment on the Island of St Helena by the British, less than twenty years later. If anything "Napoleon" is almost overly dramatic, but it's still an enthralling look at the great man, both publicly and privately, his military achievements, and the turning of a divided France into the most powerful nation in the Western world. find out more...