Steinbeck himself praised it for reaching the parts his book couldn't. Need a better endorsement?

Originating the genre of 'dedicated teacher reaches troubled kids in a ghetto school', this is still affecting although heavy-handed.

Mason's urbane genius and Douglas' dimpled two-fistedness (and stripy sailor shirt) beef up a floppy script.

1954 musical that is woefully miscast in places and extremely dubious in its portrayal of African-Americans but does boast an on-form Dorothy Dandridge.

Hollywood over-indulgence at its best.

Great songs, gentle humour and a dose of syrup which is not to everyone's tastes, but worth buying to keep that Christmas spirit going until next year.

Entertaining satire from a talented cast.

Overdone and not particularly tasteful musical stuff and nonsense.

Flawless, essential viewing that would earn more than its five stars if only Empire would allow it.

Great songs, great set pieces and solid performances in this colourful and infectiously enjoyable musical.

We must salute screenwriter Budd Schulberg (his speech for priest Karl Malden in the loading bay is still stirring). Add the acting/writing heroics a restrained score by Leonard Bernstein and a striking, charcoal look by cinematographer Boris Kaufman, and you have an elegiac portrait of labour relations that feels like a kick in the slats.

Still gripping after all this time.

A magnificent comic performance and a film of genial hilarity.

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

A classic horror that warms the heart and wets the pants.

It’s a mix of impressive on-location cycle spills (the roaring-down-the-empty-road opening is still a grabber) and embarrassingly hokey rumbles on obvious poverty row sound-stages. Lee Marvin is superbly grungy as a supporting troublemaker, and his character doesn’t sell out by reforming for the love of a weedy but decent woman.

Day is on top form as the boastful sharpshooter, but she's ably matched by her supporting cast and the music.

The spectacular last-reel recreation of the bombing makes this, Michael Bay notwithstanding, the Pearl Harbor film to beat, but the unquestioned highlight is the famous on‑the‑beach adultery scene between virile sergeant Lancaster and an unusually unladylike Kerr, with the waves crashing around them to symbolise their unrestrained passions.

Witty, warm and beautifully filmed by Franz Planer and Henri Alekan, it remains an unabashed romantic delight, with Hepburn particularly luminescent. [Review of re-release]

A perfect backstage musical.

Interesting depiction with a pretty decent performance from Holden and supported by a credible cast.

Entertaining in places, if only for the fact that unlike most 50s si-fi films, the aliens are treated with some sympathy.

Tries just a tad too hard to be a classic, with Ladd's Roy Rogers woodenness not quite getting the depths of author Jack Schaefer's fallen hero, but the support - Jean Arthur as the yearning farmer's wife, Ben Johnson as the conscience-struck bully - are excellent, and some scenes lodge forever in your memory.

It'll never be remembered as a Hitchcock classic by any stretch, but that is far from saying it's the mess that some regard it as. It's entertaining, and the visuals speak volumes more than the over-cooked dialogue. Worth a look.

Definitely a Disney classic but misses out much of the darker side of J.M.Barrie's fantasy tale.

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.

Elements of self parody from the master of slapstick leave you yearning for the early work that made his name. But it's worth a watch to see Chaplin and Keaton in one of few on-screen appearances together.

Ideal Sunday afternoon fare.