One of the most spectacular epics of all time, even by the standards of Hollywood, the famous twenty minute chariot race alone took three months to shoot, and, along the way, Ben is given a helping hand and converted by Jesus. An unmissable slice of movie history. Won Best Picture at 1959 Academy Awards. find out more...

Hiding and enslaved in a future Earth, Caesar, the son of Cornelius and Zira, prepares an uprising against his human captors. As with its predecessors Conquest of the Planet of the Apes explores issues such as xenophobia and cruelty. Certainly the darkest of the series, 'Conquest' is also the the most under-rated. The picture features a slave revolt that was specifically based on footage of the 1965 Watts Riots. The 2011 movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes has the same theme but is not offic find out more...

The sequel to The Robe continues the story of Demetrius, the Greek slave turned gladiator fighting for his faith against fellow swordsmen, wild beasts, an evil temptress, the infamous Caligula, Messalina and Claudius. Demetrius and the Gladiators has everything one could wish for in a biblical epic and at 96 minutes it won't take up too much of your weekend. find out more...

The last in Pasolini's trilogy, after 'The Decameron' and 'The Canterbury Tales', is a series of interlinked tales from the ancient Middle Eastern classic. 'Arabian Nights' is a truly lush and lusty version of the original folk stories revolving around slaves, kings, demons, love, betrayal, loss and appeasement. find out more...

Manipulative English mercenary Sir William Walker is posted to a Portuguese colony in the Caribbean and, once there, he uses his skills to engineer a slave revolt as part of his calculated plans for the English to seize control. 'Queimada' is a fine example of Pontecorvo's unique filmmaking talent and Brando's portrayal of a man who is both a gentleman and a scoundrel, a revolutionary and a colonialist, ranks amongst his best performances. Ennio Morricone's haunting music underscores a very powe find out more...

A young boy living in Port Said, Egypt, narrowly escapes a bomb blast that destroys the apartment block where he lives. After discovering that both his parents were killed in the explosion, he decides to travel (on foot) to Durban, South Africa, to be with his only living relative, an aunt. During his 4500 mile journey across africa he has many adventures including a first hand experience with the slave trade and living for a time with a band of poachers and criminal find out more...

In first century Rome, two student friends, Encolpio and Ascilto, argue about ownership of the boy Gitone, divide their belongings and split up. The boy, allowed to choose who he goes with, chooses Ascilto. Only a sudden earthquake saves Encolpio from suicide. We follow Encolpio through a series of adventures, where he is eventually reunited with Ascilto, and which culminates in them helping a man kidnap a hermaphrodite demi-god from a temple. The god dies, and as punishment Encolpio becomes imp find out more...

It's the off-season at the lonely Beauregard Hotel in Bournemoth, and only the long-term tenants are still in residence. Life is stirred up, however, when the beautiful Ann Shankland arrives to see her alcoholic ex-husband, John Malcolm, who is secretly engaged to Pat Cooper, the woman who runs the hotel. Meanwhile, snobbish Mrs Railton-Bell discovers that the kindly if rather doddering Major Pollock, played by David Niven, who won an Oscar for his performance, a retired officer who likes to find out more...

Huge epic, set during the heyday of Republican Rome, in all its ostentatious glory. The story details the purchase and selection of slaves, the harsh discipline and routine of the gladiators' school, the new comradeship balked by the realisation that a gladiator must kill or be killed. Then the film really comes into its own with the superbly staged revolt and escape, led by the slave who, with his unlikely army, holds the Roman army at bay for four years. Magnificent, masterful....a classic! find out more...

Made almost contemporaneously with the 1930s setting, this authentically portrays the poverty and repression of the migrant 'Okies', evicted from their dustbowl farms and treated like slaves in California. Adapted from Steinbeck's book, often called 'THE Great American Novel' and with outstanding performances coming from Henry Fonda (Tom Joad) and John Carradine (John Casey) a preacher with a fondess for vice, but a true heart... fantastic. find out more...