Bryan Forbes

The film director, Carol Reed, is the subject of this documentary short. The illegitimate son of the famous stage actor, 'Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree' , Reed was brilliant with actors, especially child actors, making him the perfect person to bring Oliver! to the screen. Reed is best known for three films he made in the late 1940s, and the documentary offers generous clips from Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, and the most famous of all, The Third Man. The film director, John Boorman, the assistant director, Guy Hamilton, the actors, Ron Moody and Bryan Forbes and the cinematographer, Oswald Morris, are among the interviewees.

7.5/10

The history of film and video censorship in Great Britain.

8.1/10

An elderly Charlie Chaplin discusses his autobiography with his editor, recounting his amazing journey from his poverty-stricken childhood to world-wide success after the ingenious invention of the Little Tramp.

7.6/10
6%

A British agent comes back from retirement after several of his former colleagues, including his former lover, are murdered. He must examine events from his own past to determine who killed them and why.

6/10

Two lads in Edinburgh embark on a non-violent spree of robberies. They dress up in clown masks and act as modern highwaymen, robbing coach loads of tourists in the highlands. In the process they become folk heroes to the locals. Their adventures make for a whimsical and gentle comedy, in the Bill Forsyth vein.

7.1/10

Chicago psychiatrist Judd Stevens (Roger Moore) is suspected of murdering one of his patients when the man turns up stabbed to death in the middle of the city. After repeated attempts to convince cops Rod Steiger and Elliott Gould of his innocence, Dr.Stevens is forced to go after the real villains himself, and he finds himself up against one of the city's most notorious Mafia kingpins.

5.5/10

Newly widowed Etta visits her beloved Aunt M and discovers her bedridden and listless. Etta's struggle to restore her aunt's dignity and cheer brings renewed meaning to the lives of both women, but also reveals family secrets and forces confrontations with her aunt's indifferent son and hostile daughter-in-law.

7.9/10

Two men show up claiming to be the grandfather of a child heiress.

5.8/10

A sex comedy anthology containing four stories, each from a different country (England, France, USA and Italy). "An Englishman's Home" "The French Method" "Armando's Notebook" "Skippy"

5.7/10

When CIA operative Miles Kendig deliberately lets KGB agent Yaskov get away, his boss threatens to retire him. Kendig beats him to it, however, destroying his own records and traveling to Austria where he begins work on a memoir that will expose all his former agency's covert practices. The CIA catches wind of the book and sends other agents after him, initiating a frenetic game of cat and mouse that spans the globe.

7.1/10
7.3%

A charming sequel to the hit National Velvet follows our young heroine and her trusty steed overseas.

5.9/10

In the tiny kingdom of Euphrania, the King and his court are most anxious to get Prince Edward wed. But Edward wants to marry for love. Meanwhile, young Cinderella finds life drastically altered with her father's death as she's forced to be a servant in her own house. But a cheery fairy godmother helps her with her impossible tasks, and even gets her to take an evening out at the King's bride-fin

7/10

Joanna Eberhart has come to the quaint little town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all too perfect behavior of the female residents.

6.9/10
6.7%

A documentary detailing the production of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" LP featuring footage from the recording session in France, interviews, and concert footage.

7.9/10

Bruce Pritchard is paralysed in a soccer game and is confined to a wheelchair in a convalescence home. But this doesn't slow his lust for life. Then he meets Jill and has to think about the effects of disability.

6.9/10

Executive Harold Pelham suffers a serious accident after which he faces the shadow of death. When, against all odds, he miraculously recovers, he discovers that his life does not belong to him anymore.

6.4/10

An eccentric Parisian woman's optimistic perception of life begins to sound more rational than the rather traditional beliefs of others.

6.1/10
2%

Cat burglar Henry Clarke and his accomplices the Moreaus attempt to steal diamonds from the chateau of millionaire Salinas.

5.8/10

The Whisperers tells the story of an impoverished old woman living alone in a seedy apartment who enjoys a rich fantasy life as an heiress. When she discovers stolen money hidden by her son, she believes her fantasy has come true.

7.1/10
6.7%

In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other—or can be made to have seemed to do so.

6.8/10
8.8%

When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. There were no walls or barbed-wire fences for the simple reason that there was no place for the prisoners to escape to. Included among the prisoners is the American Cpl. King, a wheeler dealer who has managed to established a pretty good life for himself in the camp. While most of the prisoners are near starvation and have uniforms that are in tatters, King eats well and and has crisp clean clothes to wear every day. King soon forms a friendship with Lt. Peter Marlowe, an upper class British officer who is fascinated with King's Ă©lan approach to life.

7.5/10

Medical student Philip fall in love with Mildred, a waitress. Although she is a flirt, they have a love affair. But when Philip is told about her constant infideliy, they break up. Mildred quits her job and becomes a prostitute. But Philip is still in love with her.

6.7/10

Bill Savage is struggling to maintain his marriage to his increasingly unbalanced wife, Myra, who believes she is a medium. She plans a scheme that will make her famous, involving kidnapping then "psychically" locating a little girl.

7.6/10
7.6%

This story of love and espionage focuses on political turmoil as a small nation struggles to free itself from colonial rule, and one man tries to serve both justice and his own heart.

5.9/10

A Shot in the Dark is the second and more successful film from the Pink Panther film series where both animated and real life sequences are mixed. A cult classic from Blake Edwards based on the play L’Idiot by Marcel Achard and Harry Kurnitz.

7.5/10
9.4%

A beautiful blonde joins a small group of men running an oil station in the Sahara Desert and starts the emotions soaring.

6.4/10

Jane is young, French, pregnant and unmarried. Bucking convention, she is uninterested in settling with her baby's father or getting an abortion. After renting a room in a dingy London boarding house, Jane befriends the odd group of inhabitants and starts an affair with one boarder, Toby. As Jane's pregnancy threatens her new relationship, and the reality of single motherhood approaches, she is forced to decide what to do about both her baby and her budding romance.

7.3/10
6.3%

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

7.5/10
9.2%

When an injured wife murderer takes refuge on a remote Lancashire farm, the owner’s three children mistakenly believe him to be the Second Coming of Christ.

7.7/10
10%

William is an unsuccessful guinea pig for a medical group interested in researching the common cold. He is soon fired and offered a job by the nearby National Atomic Research Center where they figure anyone who could fail at being a guinea pig is just what they need. They con William into thinking he will continue his guinea pig career by testing out some equipment for them before they send a group of astronauts to the moon.

6.1/10

Involuntarily-retired Colonel Hyde recruits seven other dissatisfied ex-servicemen for a special project. Each of the men has a skeleton in the cupboard, is short of money, and is a service-trained expert in his field. The job is a bank robbery, and military discipline and planning are imposed by Hyde and second-in-command Race on the team, although civilian irritations do start getting in the way.

7.3/10
8.6%

A young factory worker stands alone against a proposed strike.

7.3/10
8%

Set during the Burma Campaign of World War 2, this is the story of courage and endurance of the soldiers struggling at close quarters against the enemy. The film examines the moral dilemmas ordinary men face during war, when the definitions of acceptable military action and insupportable brutality become blurred and distorted

7.1/10

Drama set in an Italian prisoner of war camp during World War 2, where a group of British soldiers find their plans for escape thwarted by a mysterious traitor in their midst.

6.9/10

A captain is promoted by his company from tramp steamers to their flagship passenger liner. Although he is a thoroughly competent sailor ready to take charge of such a ship, he is less prepared for the social duties his new position involves, not least the way he in which becomes the target for all the unattached women on board.

6/10

The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the German's about his intentions before the North Africa campaign.

6.9/10

In wartime England, circa 1941, poorly-armed tugs are sent into "U-Boat Alley" to rescue damaged Allied ships. An American named David Ross arrives to captain one of these tugs. He's given a key by a fellow tugboat-man -- a key to an apartment and its pretty female resident. Should something happen to the friend, Ross can use the key.

6.6/10

In England, a group of space scientists, who have developed plans for the first Moon colony, learn that a secret, ostensibly government-run, complex of identical design has been built in a remote part of England and is the focus of periodic falls of small, hollow "meteorites" originating in outer space.

6.9/10
7.8%

Police in Paris recruit an English ship's officer (Michael Craig) to help trap counterfeiters by joining them.

6/10

Director William Fairchild's 1956 British comedy takes a peek into the private lives of various performers employed as extras in a new film that's currently shooting.

5.7/10

A rich young society girl falls in love with a car mechanic. Her family is appalled and stops her seeing him. The girl attempts to commit suicide and then decides to elope.

6.6/10

The Black Tent is a 1956 British war film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Donald Sinden, Anthony Steel, Anna Maria Sandri, André Morell and Donald Pleasence. It is set in North Africa, during the Second World War and was filmed on location in Libya.During the British retreat through Libya, a British officer takes shelter with a group of Arab Bedouin. He marries the chief's daughter. Sometime later his younger brother, who had believed him to be dead, is informed that he may be alive in Libya - prompting him to set out and search for him.

5.3/10

IT’S GREAT TO A YOUNG stars John Mills as Dingle an easygoing high school teacher. When autocratic new headmaster Frome (Cecil Parker) begins imposing all sorts of repressive rules, Dingle does his best to stand up for his students, only to be dismissed for his troubles. The kids conspire to not only reinstate their favourite teacher, but to circumvent Frome's refusal to purchase new instruments for an upcoming music festival.

6.4/10

After a quayside mix-up with the Italian family of his fiancée, Able Seaman Knocker White finds himself literally left holding the baby. Unable to return it before his ship sails he enlists the help of best mate Puncher Roberts to smuggle the child aboard. But babies are surprisingly demanding and gradually the whole crew is drawn into helping keep it fed and washed - and undiscovered. Even so, the officers above deck start to puzzle over the increasingly strange happenings on board.

5.4/10

A bomb dooms the first space satellite, manned by a selfless crew, a stowaway reporter (Lois Maxwell) and a mad scientist (Donald Wolfit).

5.4/10

Allied prisoners of various nationalities pool their resources to plan numerous escapes from an "escape-proof" German P.O.W. camp housed in a Medieval castle.

7/10

During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them.

6.6/10

Set in 1931, the film takes place aboard a merchant ship, briefly harboured in South America. A young woman (Diane Cilento) boards the ship as a passenger, resulting in disharmony among the superstitious crew members. Virtuous seaman Anthony Steel protects the girl from the lecherous advances of captain Peter Finch.

5.9/10

An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, people treat him like a king and let him have whatever he likes for free. Ultimately, the money proves to be more troublesome than it is worth when it almost costs him his dignity and the woman he loves.

6.9/10

Based on a famous stage play and set in the year 1912, an upper crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Inspector and what can he want of them?

7.5/10

John (Alan Ladd), a blacksmith and swordsmith, is tutored at Camelot. As a commoner, he can't hope to win the hand of Lady Linet (Patricia Medina), daughter of the Earl of Yeoniland (Harry Andrews), so he creates a secret alternate identity as the Black Knight. In this new role, he is now able to help King Arthur when Saracens and Cornish men—disguised as Vikings -- plot to take over the country.

5.2/10

A maritime farce set in the South Seas. A strong supporting cast includes Brian Rix, Anthony Newley & Harry Fowler.

6/10

Two brothers work in their invalid father's repair garage. Johnny is the quiet, reliable one while Ted is younger and wilder. The brothers feud over Lucky, a beautiful band singer. Then their life is complicated: first by a police search for the unknown killer of a man in a dance hall fight, and then by a bookie pressuring Ted to pay his gambling debts.

6/10

Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from England. Having flown eighty-seven missions he will shortly be retiring from flying, but the strain is showing. He tries to make sure his men concentrate only on their job and so keeps women away from the base, but then he himself meets naval officer Eve Canyon.

6.5/10

Gilliatt, a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful woman to the French coast in the year 1800. She tells him she hopes to rescue her brother from the guillotine. Gilliatt finds himself falling in love and so feels betrayed when he later learns this woman is a countess helping Napoleon plan an invasion of England. In reality, however, the "countess" is an English agent working to thwart this invasion. When Gilliatt finds this out, he returns to France to rescue the woman who's true purpose has been discovered by the French.

5.7/10

A boisterous sea captain in the Pacific Coast, circa 1850, has a plan to buy Alaska from the Russians… if they don’t kill him first.

6.9/10
10%

Smuggling is the theme of this British comedy film.

6/10

True story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany

7/10

Newspaper reporter Nat Hearn returns home after serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II. When one of the paper's owners dies, the man's partner and son offers Nat a position as editor in return for his financial backing. But Nat's reluctance to shy away from controversial issues raises more than a few eyebrows.

6.5/10

A modern-day retelling of Arnold Bennett's novel, in which a Treasury official with a reputation for fiscal prudence is left a great deal of money and has no idea how to cope with sudden personal wealth.

6/10

A mini-documentary about the making of The Stepford Wives

6.5/10

A woman starts work as a nanny to a mute boy in a Victorian household. The boy's growing attachment to her however causes greater problems than his original detachment to his family. Part of the 1980 season of BBC Play for Today.

7/10