Classic Drama
Classic Drama is where you will find most of those great films you either grew up with or have heard of but never got round to seeing. Generally dramatic productions made between 1928 and 1965 fill this section. "Silents" and contempory "Drama" (post 1965) can be found under their respective headings..
Right: Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd gaze into one another's eyes in "Ben Hur"
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
8/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Alec Guinness, Geraldine Chaplin, Julie Christie, Omar Sharif, Ralph Richardson,...
David Lean demonstrates again why he's a peerless filmmaker of substance and scale, directing Boris Pasternak's tumultuous tale of Russia divided by w... Read more
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
8.1/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews, Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Do...
One of Hollywood's best. Three men return home after WWII and must re-adjust to civilian life, to their families, to their own changed lives. Expertly... Read more
War and Peace (1956)
6.8/10
Director: King Vidor
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Vittorio Gassman, Herbert Lom, Oscar Ho...
Leo Tolstoy's literary masterpiece comes to life in this epic film classic, featuring the talents of some of the greatest names from Hollywood's Golde... Read more
Our Man In Havana (1960)
7.2/10
Director: Carol Reed
Starring: Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O'Hara, Ernie Kovacs, Noel Coward, Ralph Richa...
Adapted from Graham Greene's novel, Alec Guinness stars in this classic spy spoof as Jim Wormold, an English expatriate who sells vacuum cleaners in H... Read more
Great Expectations (1946)
7.9/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Bernard Miles, Alec Guinness, Martita Hunt, Jean Sim...
One of the great translations of literature into film, David Lean's "Great Expectations" brings Charles Dickens's masterpiece to robust on-screen life... Read more
Ben-Hur (1959)
8.1/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd
Winner of eleven Oscars including Charlton Heston as Best Actor, an epic spectacle concerning a prince of Judea who incurs the wrath of the Roman Empi... Read more
The Children's Hour (1961)
7.8/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins, Fay Bainter, Kar...
Daring adaptation of Lillian Hellman's celebrated play of suspected lesbianism in a girls' school. William Wyler (who also made the 1936 version, "The... Read more
On the Waterfront (1954)
8.2/10
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Rod Steiger, Marlon Brando, Lee J Cobb, Karl Malden
Marlon Brando stars in the archetypal role of ex-fighter Terry Malloy, working for boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) on the gang-ridden waterfront. T... Read more
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
7.6/10
Director: Robert Aldrich
Starring: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Kruger, Ernest Borgnine
When a cargo plane crashes in the desert, the only hope for the survivors is to try to rebuild the craft before they all perish from heat, deprivation... Read more
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp / A Matter of Life and Death ( aka Stairway to Heaven ) (1943)
Director: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Starring: Anton Walbrook, Deborah Kerr, Roger Livesey, David Niven, Kim Hunter, Raymond Ma...
"The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp" (1943, 157 minutes). Roger Livesey brilliantly portrays British officer Clive Candy, through the trials and trib... Read more