This 1973 BBC version of writer Eleanor Porter's glad girl, Pollyanna, has the preternaturally cheerful orphan coming to live with her rigid maiden aunt (Elaine Stritch) in the English countryside. Not only does she break down her aunt's resistance but she winds up bringing light to all lives concerned: the hermit next door, a bed-ridden invalid, an out-of-wedlock family and a homeless orphan boy. Cynics may want to steer clear of this old-fashioned story with an old-fashioned sensibility. But children and optimists will catch Pollyanna's glad spirit, which doesn't flag until more than two hours in, when she learns she is paralysed. But not to worry: in a mere 20 minutes she walks again, Aunt Polly is reunited with her former love (Pollyanna's doctor) and the orphan boy finds a home with the loner. This version is long at more than 150 minutes-but rewarding. For five-year-olds and up with long attention spans. -Kimberly Heinrichs, Amazon. com.

The first of the Carry On movies, 1958's Sergeant is rather different from its successors, much more a film of its time (the latter days of National Service) and rather less a bawdy picture postcard. Sergeant Grimshaw (William Hartnell long before Doctor Who) is about to retire and hopes that he can get his last platoon into shape as Champion Platoon of its intake. Unfortunately, the new recruits include the clumsy Golightly (Charles Hawtrey), the barrack-room lawyer Bailey (Kenneth Williams) and the hypochondriac Horace Strong (Kenneth Connor). Love interest is provided by Bob Monkhouse and Shirley Eaton-newlyweds separated by the call-up and reunited by her taking a job in the canteen-and by the pursuit of Horace by Dora Bryan's Nora. The film relies heavily on a mixture of slapstick and paradoxical revelations of character complexity-the obnoxious Bailey nonetheless takes the trouble to coach the incorrigibly dense Herbert (Norman Rossington); the series' later obsession with low comedy only really emerges in the scenes between Horace and the medic Captain Clark (Hattie Jacques). The platoon's eventual coming together as other than total incompetents is predictable, but likable. On the DVD: The DVD has no frills whatever except for a widescreen picture and chapter selections; it has been cleaned up however so that we get a remarkably crisp mono picture and mono sound, which brings out the quality of the military-band score by Bruce Montgomery, who was also the writer Edmund Crispin. -Roz Kaveney.

It was directed with energetic skill by Top Gun Tony Scott, but this breathtaking 1993 thriller (think of it as an adolescent crime fantasy on steroids) has Quentin Tarantino written all over it. True Romance is really part of a loose trilogy that includes Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, with a crackling Tarantino screenplay that rides a fine line between raucous comedy and violent excess. Christian Slater plays Clarence, the comic-book lover who meets a beguiling prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette), confronts her vicious pimp (Gary Oldman), and embarks on a cross-country odyssey with $5 million worth of Mafia cocaine. Mayhem ensues, culminating in a favourite Tarantino climax-the "Mexican standoff"-in which a roomful of guys are pointing guns at each other, waiting to see who shoots first. Brutal, profane, and totally outrageous, True Romance is not for everyone, but with a supporting cast that includes Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, and Val Kilmer (as the ghost of Elvis!), you can be sure this movie will never be boring. -Jeff Shannon It was directed with energetic skill by Top Gun Tony Scott, but t his breathtaking 1993 thriller (think of it as an adolescent crime fantasy on steroids) has Quentin Tarantino written all over it. True Romance is really part of a loose trilogy that includes Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, with a crackling Tarantino screenplay that rides a fine line between raucous comedy and violent excess. Christian Slater plays Clarence, the comic-book lover who meets a beguiling prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette), confronts her vicious pimp (Gary Oldman), and embarks on a cross-country odyssey with $5 million worth of Mafia cocaine. Mayhem ensues, culminating in a favourite Tarantino climax-the "Mexican standoff"-in which a roomful of guys are pointing guns at each other, waiting to see who shoots first. Brutal, profane, and totally outrageous, True Romance is not for everyone, but with a supporting cast that includes Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, and Val Kilmer (as the ghost of Elvis!), you can be sure this movie will never be boring. [+]

Rare vhs starring Michael york, Andie Mcdowell and Ben Kingsley

The Care Bears Movie was essentially a 75-minute commercial to introduce a new toy range, the Care Bear Cousins, disguised as a smarmy story about sharing feelings. The film ushered in a spate of cheap animated films created solely to sell merchandise to children. The plot interweaves the stories of Kim and Jason, two lonely orphans who have given up caring, and of Nicholas, a friendless magician's assistant who is seduced by an evil spirit. The Care Bears resolve everyone's problems, naturally. Years later, the Care Bears' popularity has waned and the film stands as a reminder of one of the less admirable uses of animation. The stars, hearts, rainbows and saccharine songs can't disguise the barefaced commercialism behind the threadbare story. -Charles Solomon.

Before Cold Feet, there was sitcom and there was drama. This 1997 newcomer straddled both worlds effortlessly and single-handedly seemed to create a new genre for its mother channel, ITV. Set in Manchester, the action revolved around three couples at different stages of the relationship development continuum. In the pilot Adam and Rachel (who dominated the plot) were barely a couple at all, Pete and Jenny were desperately trying to conceive their first child and their friends David and Karen were married with a toddler called Josh. This is one of those rare but delightful examples of a sharp-witted and sassy script being wedded in perfect bliss to the actors's performances (as long as Helen Baxendale, who is decorative but lacks timing, didn't grace the screen for too long). Mike Bullen's comedy drama was about the human condition writ large, but although its six characters go through a life's worth of emotions in each series and the action consistently draws on elements of farce, Cold Feet never strays too far from the bounds of credibility. Initially James Nesbitt (Adam) and John Thomson (Pete) provided the comic core but, as the series developed, Fay Ripley (Jenny), Hermione Norris (Karen) and Robert Bathurst (David) all proved they had comic capabilities worth exploiting. Series One begins with Adam and Rachel celebrating an anniversary of sorts. Adam, revealing a propensity for slushy romanticism, decides to make a song and dance about it with fairly disastrous consequences. It's this same romanticism that gets him into trouble as a charming but incorrigible womaniser in later episodes. [+]

No film better utilises Audrey Hepburn's flighty charm and svelte beauty than this romantic adaptation of Truman Capote's novella. Hepburn's urban sophisticate Holly Golightly, an enchanting neurotic living off the gifts of gentlemen, is a bewitching figure in designer dresses and costume jewellery. George Peppard is her upstairs neighbour, a struggling writer and "kept" man financed by a steely older woman (Patricia Neal). His growing friendship with the lonely Holly soon turns to love and threatens the delicate balance of both of their compromised lives. Taking liberties with Capote's bittersweet story, director Blake Edwards and screenwriter George Axelrod turn New York into a city of lovers and create a poignant portrait of Holly, a frustrated romantic with a secret past and a hidden vulnerability. Composer Henry Mancini earned Oscars for the hit song "Moon River" and his tastefully romantic score. The only sour note in the whole film is Mickey Rooney's demeaning performance as the apartment's Japanese manager, an offensively overdone stereotype even in 1961. The rest of the film has weathered the decades well. Edwards's elegant yet light touch, Axelrod's generous screenplay and Hepburn's mix of knowing experience and naivety combine to create one of the great screen romances and a refined slice of high-society bohemian chic. -Sean Axmaker.

The schoolgirl adventures of the eponymous Madeline, a flame-haired orphan, are lovingly adapted from Ludwig Bemelmans's classic children's books. His sly and witty writing is transferred to this first-rate film, one that should not be thought of merely as childhood entertainment. Spunky Madeline is most adept at finding trouble. She is also a quick-witted and likeable child who can solve almost any problem. Her latest scheme is to keep her school, which is also her home, from being sold by its owner, the recently widowed Lord Covington (Nigel Hawthorne). Unlike most youthful movie fare, this adventure boasts high production values that wisely include colourful Parisian locations. Hatty Jones is all spunky self-sufficiency and sweet innocence in the title role, and Frances McDormand is quite humorous as the stern school-mistress, Miss Clavel. -Rochelle O'Gorman.

Follow the progress of Rowan Atkinson's irredeemably wicked Edmund Blackadder throughout history in this complete box set of all four series-from the snivelling War of the Roses-era creep in the Shakespearean parody that was the first series, to his final and unexpectedly noble demise in the trenches of the First World War in Blackadder Goes Forth. In between, of course, we see Edmund at the court of giggly Queen Elizabeth I in Blackadder II, now transformed into the Machiavellian cad audiences came to love so well (thanks to a character overhaul from writing team Ben Elton and Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson's note-perfect performance). Then in Blackadder III he's still scheming, but this time has moved a little down the social ladder as butler to the congenitally stupid Prince Regent on the cusp of the 18th and 19th centuries. In all four generations Blackadder is accompanied (or should that be hampered?) by his faithful yet terminally stupid servant Baldrick (Tony Robinson); and if that wasn't bad enough he also has to put up with the incompetence, pomposity and one-upmanship of a host of other contemporary hangers-on wonderfully played by regular costars Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnery, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson and Rik Mayall. Taken as a whole this sharp, cynical, occasionally satirical, toilet humour-obsessed and achingly funny saga deserves to stand alongside Fawlty Towers as one of the best ever British sitcoms. -Mark Walker.