David Parkinson

The scenario may be overly familiar, but the low-key approach and engaging performances make this an unexpected delight.

Has a vigour, a commitment and an intelligence that is absent from too much modern cinema.

Orson Welles second tribute to Shakespeare is an often-ignored masterpiece. Check it out.

A desperately sad look at two men whose determination to rebel against their heritage and succeed in their artform has rendered them unable to communicate. Compelling stuff, though.

An explosion of garish colour, wacky detail and surreal complications, Almodovar’s very funny, urban comedy overflows with the unexpected. See it!

Douglas' teeth-clenched, dimple-thrusting megalomaniac is among his best work, while the gossipy screenplay (another Oscar winner) is served wonderfully by Minnelli's lush melodramatics.

A rose-tinted look at American history, certainly, but still a very entertaining one.

Evocative and endearing - a worthy string to the Lean bow.

A completely merited cult favourite of the avant-garde genre. This is surprisingly compelling in places.

The red-jacketed, Method-pouting James Dean steals every scene, but the ensemble playing is nothing short of exemplary.

Bette Davis is captivating in this epic study of Southern chivalry.

Having taken such pains to establish Tom’s Finnish background and its attendant dangers, Karukoski hurtles through the sketchy American section without exploring any of its crucial issues in sufficient depth.

The life and crimes of Virgil Starkwell, a petty hoodlum who finds love with a laundress, Louise, in between botched blags and stints on a chain gang.

Clara Bow is mesmerising in this ahead-of-its-tie air force drama.

This is intelligent, admirably unsentimental and utterly involving for its full three-hour running time.

Both funny and touching, this showcases Chaplin at his best.

While it may prompt some to think again next time they're in Starbucks, this astute insight into the coffee business is better at lauding the good guys than taking the multinationals to task for the iniquities of the global economy.

Ideal Sunday afternoon fare.

Sokurov's use of space, religious symbolism and raw emotion compensate for any sense of exclusion.

Dated even at the time of release this nevertheless has a comic performance from Walter Matthau worth catching.

A typical older male mentore story...told with sensitivity and perceptiveness.

One of the Nouvelle Vague's boldest achievements.

Making exceptional use of stillness and silence, this is a rather sad study of the passing of traditional concepts of American masculinity along with the landscape that forged them.

Costa-Gravas at his hypocrisy and oppression-fighting best.

Enjoyable Hitchcock spoof with much chemistry between the leads and some cracking one-liners.

Despite Hitchcock's own reservations this is definitely worth a look. Interesting to his aficionados and darkly funny and depressing in turns.

If it weren’'t for Lost Horizon, this would have gone down in history as the Worst Musical of 1973.

A magnificent comic performance and a film of genial hilarity.