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Susan Hayward won the Oscar for committed scene-trashing in this 1958 movie, which—based on the real-life execution of Barbara Graham, a "goodtime girl" (possibly) framed for murder and sent to the gas chamber in 1955—was very much the Monster of its day. Robert Wise directs as if it were a jazz documentary, taking cues from the great score by Johnny Mandel, itself cooled to within an inch of its life by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

The 1932 and 1941 adaptations of Stevenson's landmark work of horror fiction on one disc. The earlier movie finds director Rouben Mamoulian going heavy on the claustrophobic atmosphere and sexual undercurrents with Frederic Marsh on Oscar-winning form as the doctor and his bestial alter ego. The later version teams Spencer Tracy (transformed via a bad wig and bushy eyebrows) with Ingrid Bergman (putting on an appalling cockney accent). Enough said.

Inherit The Wind

Bafflingly shite title belies one of the great courtroom flicks of all time. A 1960 Stanley Kramer classic based on the true story of a Hillsboro professor arrested for teaching "God-bashing" Darwinism, it features effortless turns from Spencer Tracy and Fredric March as the duelling lawyers, some able support from a de-cheesed Gene Kelly, and a script bristling with one-liners.

Trilogy (La Trilogie) (1, 2 & 3)

Director/star Lucas Belvaux's ambitious triptych, set in Grenoble, consists of three films in different genres, with overlapping characters featuring to varying degrees. On The Run is a jailbreak thriller, An Amazing Couple is a serious rom-com, and After Life is a neo-tragic melodrama. You can watch them in the 'wrong' order and shake the kaleidoscope yourself, but it's innately dark.

A Bridge Too Far

And at least an hour too long. Representing the tail-end of the epic war movie wave, Richard Attenborough's 1977 superproduction reconstructs the disastrous Allied attempt to seize half-a-dozen Dutch bridges behind enemy lines. Ponderous, but with a cast featuring everyone from Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery and Michael Caine to Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, James Caan and Elliott Gould, it's satisfyingly star-studded.

Black Rainbow

Mike Hodges' career has ranged from the classic (Get Carter) to the crap (Morons From Outer Space). This 1989 thriller about a psychic (Rosanna Arquette) who foretells violent deaths would be dark and vaguely gripping if it wasn't marred by clunky plot shifts and a hopeless performance from Tom Hulce. When he and Arquette smooch, it's like they're both kissing Hitler.

Out Of Time

Director Carl Franklin reunites with Devil In A Blue Dress star Denzel Washington for this stylish-looking contemporary film noir. Denzel's Florida police chief, who's having an affair with nasty Dean Cain's wife, finds himself the subject of a murder investigation headed by his estranged wife. Though there's plenty of twists, the outcome isn't entirely unpredictable. Fun, though, while it lasts.

People I Know

Pacino is electric in this shamefully overlooked, brilliantly scripted parable of an ageing New York PR man reaching the end of his tether. Footage of the Twin Towers meant its release was screwed up by cuts, but a charged, engrossing film remains, with druggie starlet Téa Leoni and 'good' woman Kim Basinger adding to the heat Al's getting from his health, clients and politicians. No one does stressed like Al: a neglected gem.

Bright Young Things

Stephen Fry adapts Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies as a rom-com. Great cast of luvvies (notably Peter O'Toole), but the central romance between Emily Mortimer and Stephen Campbell Moore evokes no more sympathy than the endless parade of aristocratic jazz babies subsisting on champagne and "naughty salt". A lively mess.

A Little Night Music

David Lynch's subversive classic stands the test of time
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