Dr. John Markway invites three distinct individuals to the eerie and isolated Hill House to be subjects for a sleep disorder study. The unfortunate guests discover that Markway is far more interested in the sinister mansion itself — and they soon see the true nature of its horror.
In this high-camp farce, Goons legend Spike Milligan stars as William Topaz McGonagall, an unemployed Scottish weaver and aspiring poet laureate who falls in love with Queen Victoria - a brilliant cameo by Peter Sellers - and thereafter devotes his banal poetry to her. Though McGonagall's solicitations are rejected by the Queen, it doesn't stop the turgid prose, and pathos, from overflowing as McGonagall hilariously attempts to become the greatest poet in the land. The image of the bad poet, trapped by his romanticism and inspired by a muse with a tin ear, appealed mightily to Spike Milligan, and this cult British spoof features the Goons show maestro at his ridiculous, genre-defying best.
Work of popular nude photographer
In this dark comedy, a Yankee goes to visit a family of British eccentrics to ask for the hand of one of their daughters in marriage. He soon finds himself in the midst of a really odd family. One of them talks like Bela Lugosi, another believes herself to be a vampire, while a third is locked away in a padded cell. Another family member is thrilled when he finally invents a horseless carriage (50 years after Ford), and the family grandfather is found reading Playboy just before he dies. Trouble begins when members of the family begin to be mysteriously murdered. The American suitor must then discover which member of the strange family is in line to inherit the family fortune.
A czarist captain stops at nothing to learn the secrets of a countess rumored to have sold her soul to the devil in order to always win at cards.
A socialite poses as a Nazi spy to mask her activities as a British agent.
Plucky Englishwoman Joan Webster travels to the remote islands of the Scottish Hebrides in order to marry a wealthy industrialist. Trapped by inclement weather on the Isle of Mull and unable to continue to her destination, Joan finds herself charmed by the straightforward, no-nonsense islanders around her, and becomes increasingly attracted to naval officer Torquil MacNeil, who holds a secret that may change her life forever.
Melodrama set in Victorian Brighton. Scheming pub landlady uses the timorous son of a domineering pharmacist to assist in the poisoning of her drunkard husband. (The title is from the way pharmacists used to wrap parcels containing poison).
A short documentary to demonstrate what can be done with Technicolor film and to show various other colourful products.
'Strange Stories' consists of two stories, 'The Strange Mr Bartleby' and 'The Strange Journey'. The stories were sometimes shown individually on television.
25min short documentary about Soho strippers which was banned on its first release by the British Board of Censors as head scissor man at the time John Trevelyan believed it was far too positive in its portrayal of the exotic dancers and feared it would serve as a recruitment film for the stripping scene
A woman conspires to steal her stepdaughter's inheritance following the mysterious death of her millionaire husband.
A serial killer terrorizes London. Each victim is found with a telegram signed "The Marquis." There seems to be no other common thread between the victims, and Scotland Yard is baffled. Novelist and amateur sleuth, Paul Temple, is warned to stay away from the case, but he and his glamorous wife Steve can never refuse a good mystery.
Charles Peace leads a double life, by day he's a respected local businessman, but by night he's a professional thief who stops at nothing, not even murder, to get what he wants.
An Earth Man and his alien friend escape an exploding Earth, and set forth on an odd adventure across the universe with a known fugitive.
George and Betty, a middle-class English couple, have just moved into a big Edwardian house in London and are throwing a party to celebrate. Unfortunately, after ten days none of their furniture has arrived, having been sent to Carlisle by mistake, three of the four toilets don't work and cracks are starting to appear in the ceiling. However, nothing can dent their determination to have a good time.
In a home for delinquent girls, the worst offender exchanges reminiscences with the warden.
In 1904 London, neighbors begin to suspect that a very strange man calling himself Dr. Fell may indeed be the famous Jack the Ripper.
An heiress suddenly vanishes! A detective comes to the forlorn mansion of the missing heiress's wheel-chair-ridden uncle to discover the secret behind the disappearance.
When ghosts inhabit an Englishwoman's home, Dyall, a ghost hunter of sorts, takes on the poltergeists. Developments reveal a trio of spirits that includes a sailor, the seaman's late wife, and her lover, whom the sailor had shot.
The world is delighted when a spacecraft containing a crew made up of the world's astronauts lands on the moon, but are shocked when the astronauts discover an old British flag and a document declaring that the moon is taken for Queen Victoria proving that the astronauts were not the first men on the moon.
Showcasing a trip around London in 1964, including the London Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, and various markets, monuments, and features.
A fascinating compilation of scenes showing diversity and disparity in 1940s China. The ancient Forbidden City and Great Wall are followed by Shanghai’s metropolitan skyline; primitive farming methods are juxtaposed with mechanised factories; children in rags are contrasted with models wearing the latest fashions; Nationalist commanders and Communist leaders vie for support.
A short film looking at the production of small coins by the UK's Royal Mint.
In this drama, a frustrated upper-class writer decides that he will find real inspiration by examining his subjects first-hand. This leads him to begin wandering about the seamiest side of town where he witnesses a murder. When an innocent man is arrested, the writer refuses to assist him as the knowledge that he has been "slumming" could destroy his career. The young man is sentenced to 15 years in prison.
A secretarial pool dream of the ideal civil servant to be their boss.
An ex-convict, who was framed, struggles to clear his name.
Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.
A portrait of the English city of York on the occasion of its 1900th anniversary.
A detective proves that a Robin Hood-type crook did not steal a metal formula.
This documentary seems to be aimed at the same audience who paid to see Mondo Cane. Scenes include the birth of 12 piglets, the removal of a dog's cornea to be transplanted into a human, and a human tooth extraction. Visits to a wax museum, a ride on a roller coaster, a beauty contest, and a discotheque are also shown.
The Toff solves the mystery of a missing employer. One of the BFi's most wanted films.
An exchange factory worker from New Jersey joins a plot to save a village from the Town and Country Planning Act.
A cabaret artist sees on her television set after viewing hours, a plot being discussed to murder Michael Rennie. Although her friends are sceptical she warns Rennie, but things are not what they seem.
The magnificent castles of the Dordogne province of France and the fairytale countryside surrounding them, narrated by Valentine Dyall.
Two reporters, a youth and a girl, find romance during interviews with relatives and friends of passengers in an ill-fated airliner.
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.
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
An early cinema influenced tale of rags to riches by Bob Godfrey. Bruce Lacey stars as the hapless ‘little man’ who longs to stand in the shoes of his hero: conductor Lance Corporal.
Spike stars with Bob Todd, Bill Kerr, Graham Stark, Valentine Dyall, and Sheree Winton & a final TV outing for moustachioed 'token Italian' comedy actor Mario Fabrizi, who died 18 months later, aged just 38.
The TARDIS attaches itself to a space liner after Turlough, still under the Black Guardian's influence, damages its controls. The Doctor and Nyssa meet two space pirates, Kari and Olvir, who have come on board the liner in search of plunder, while Tegan and Turlough get lost in the infrastructure. The liner docks with what appears to be a hulk floating in space. This is Terminus, which claims to offer a cure for Lazar's disease. It is crewed by armoured slave workers, the Vanir. The cure is administered by a huge, dog-like creature known as the Garm. Nyssa, who has contracted the disease from sufferers transported aboard the liner, discovers that the cure - involving exposure to radiation - does actually work.
Prince Edward wants to marry for love, but the King and court of the Kingdom of Euphrania are anxious for the Prince to wed no matter what. When the Prince meets Cinderella at a ball, he's sure she's the one, and when she loses her slipper upon exiting the dance, the Prince is determined to find and marry her.
70 favourite traditional songs and rhymes presented as a pop-up book which comes to life through animation, puppetry & live performances. The beautiful visual world draws on the work of such classic children's illustrators as Arthur Rackham (Peter Pan) & John Tenniel (Alice in Wonderland). A delightful musical score by Tony & Grammy winning composer John Du Prez, features everything form Northumbrian pipes to Baroque orchestra, folk guitar, early instruments, military band, fairground organ & even a singing sheep (courtesy of Percy Edwards).
In this crime drama, a man learns that he has six months left to live, and before he dies he decides to get revenge against the man responsible for his incarceration. First he hires a man to kill him and frame the traitor. Later the fellow learns that he is not sick after all. Fortunately his hit man died. Later the man he wants to avenge has a final showdown with him. A struggle ensues and the fellow kills his enemy in self-defense.
British intelligence officers head off a Nazi plot to kidnap an atomic scientist.
A simple handyman, who also is an amateur artist, gets into trouble when the head and shoulders portraits of some prominent local females are sold without his knowledge to an advertising agency and are published with nude bodies added to them.
A hunt for a spy, in a hotel in the South of France just before World War Two.
War hero turned villain George Martin escapes from the police, but he is handcuffed to a naive young crook Willie Stannard. After using a clever plan to obtain railway tickets, and with the police and the press in hot pursuit, George has to find a way of breaking loose from Willie, and to make his escape.
A man falls in love with a beautiful young woman and begins to suspect that he may have also loved her in a previous life.
A popular radio personality writes and broadcasts ghost stories over the air. He receives a strange call warning him not to finish his latest story, which is about a child who dies assisting in a magician's show.
Legendary England cricketer Sam Palmer (Jack Warner) is due to bat in his final test match against Australia. He is desperate for his son Reggie (Ray Jackson) to see his final innings. But Reggie prefers poetry to cricket and when he is offered the opportunity to read his poetry to England's greatest playwright Alexander Whitehead (Robert Morley) on the last day of the test, the relationship between father and son is tested to the limit. As Sam prepares for his final knock, the conflict with his son weighs heavily on his mind, but he is also upset over England's young batsman and ladies-man, Syd Thompson (George Relph), dating the woman whom he hopes to marry.
A hapless loser sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for seven wishes, but has trouble winning over the girl of his dreams.
A banished hero of Rome allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city.
British documentary on the use of Penicillin.
A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
When a mail bag full of post that was taken in a robbery is discovered fifteen years later, a Post Office employee and local reporter decide to deliver the letters to their original intended addressees. This solitary incident has profound ramifications on several of the recipients and this film tells the story of how just five of those letters changed peoples lives forever.
Helena loves Bertram, but he's of noble birth, while she's just a doctor's daughter. But Bertram is at the court of the King of France, who is ill, and Helena has a remedy that might cure him and win her the right to marry Bertram. But does Bertram want to marry her?
The aging Julius Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen Cleopatra.
A warp ellipse draws the TARDIS off course. The Fifth Doctor's companions are separated from him not in space, but in time, and he has to deal with a treacherous schoolboy named Turlough. But why does the Doctor's old friend, the Brigadier, not remember him at all?
Rex Walton, millionaire man-about-town, mysteriously disappears on the eve of his wedding after an attempt at blackmail by infamous criminal The Panda. His plucky sister Joan aids the police in their investigations, but Rex’s disappearance sets in motion a chain of violent and incomprehensible events when blackmail turns to murder...
A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.
A spooky seance is held to discover the whereabouts, and the killer, of a sculptor's wife.
General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.
A scholarly king and his three companions swear off the society of women for three years, only to have a diplomatic visit from a French princess and her three ladies-in-waiting thwart their intentions.
In Whitewood, Massachusetts, a presumed witch places a curse on the town before she is burned at the stake. 300 years later, a college student arrives and checks into the mysterious Raven's Inn to research the town's history with witchcraft.
Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.
An English lord who dislikes women meets a French movie star who dislikes men.
An Army deserter, still a fugitive in Post-War Britain, wanders into a pawn-shop robbery and finds himself wanted for murder. He meets a war widow who helps him elude the police while he looks for the real criminals.
A short history of the island is followed by views of the countryside and people in town and village.
Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.
A short promotional film sponsored by Security Express.
An Edwardian yacht in deep space races around the planets. There is a double agent in the TARDIS crew. The White Guardian warns the Fifth Doctor of great danger. Turlough must finally choose sides and at the end of the race lies the prize of Enlightenment.
An aristocratic widow discovers that her former lover, a medical officer in the British army, is secretly a German spy.
The final segment of the Key to Time is at the heart of a devastating war between neighbouring planets Atrios and Zeos. The Fourth Doctor discovers that a sinister entity is manipulating events and the cost of obtaining the final segment may be more personal than he imagined.
After an encounter with the Master, an airline stewardess named Tegan Jovanka becomes an unwitting stowaway aboard the TARDIS as it travels to the planet Logopolis. There, the Doctor discovers that the Master's interference with the Logopolitans' advanced mathematics has unleashed a wave of entropy which threatens to consume the entire universe.
The Silver Fleet was inspired by a true story from World War II. Holland now under German occupation, a Shipyard owner and Chief engineer Jaap van Leyden is summoned to build ships for the German war effort. The commission would allow Leyden to build sophisticated submarines whilst safeguarding jobs for the local Dutch workforce. A newly built U-boat, named U107 goes out on her first sea trial and is hijacked by a Dutch crew and they re-route the vessel to England. As such it provided an opportunity to refuel patriotism in the face of a seemingly interminable war and almost unbearable civilian hardship.
Sir Walter Scott's classic story of the chivalrous Ivanhoe who joins with Robin of Locksley in the fight against Prince John and for the return of King Richard the Lionheart.
Wealthy big game hunter Tom Newcliffe has tracked and killed practically every type of animal in the world. But one creature still evades him, the biggest game of all - a werewolf.
An offbeat anthology film, mix of sex, horror and humor filmed in varied styles.
Martin Luther inspires a breakaway from the Roman Catholic church and is the founder of Protestantism.
A fun look at skiing on the famous slopes in the Haute Savoie District of France.
It is the end of the 18th century and smuggling is considered to be a legitimate spare-time occupation for most fishermen around the British shores. But when a gang of cut-throats, led by the infamous Black John (Bernard Lee) begins to lure ships onto the rocks of Smugglers Bay, and murdering their crews for the sake of loot, the fishermen begin to fear for their livelihoods. In desperation, they appeal to the local magistrate Squire Trevenyan (Peter Cushing).
Two cadets are set an outrageous and wacky initiation test to prove their suitability for officer training.