Charlton Heston brings a muscular physical and moral presence to the role of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman in Palestine whose heroic odyssey includes enslavement by the Romans, a bold escape from an embattled slave galley, vengeance against his tormentors during a furious arena chariot race and fateful encounters with Jesus Christ.

Ben Hur (Charlton Heston) is a Jewish prince who falls out with his close Roman friend (Stephen Boyd) when he refuses to promote Roman rule over his people - his mother and sister are imprisoned and he is enslaved. Hur plans and achieves revenge, but finds true peace when he joins the new following of Jesus Christ. This lavish biblical epic won a record-breaking eleven Oscars and is best known for its exciting chariot race sequence.

Herbert Brenon directs this 1940s crime drama starring Sebastian Shaw, Jack Hawkins and Kathleen Harrison. Based on the story by Edgar Wallace, the film follows Inspector Bradley (Shaw), the head of the Flying Squad who is determined to bring a gang of London drug smugglers to justice. When the gang, led by the ruthless Mark McGill (Hawkins), murder Ron Perryman (Manning Whiley), Bradley sees an opportunity to move in and the Flying Squad begin the dangerous process of trying to put McGill and co. behind bars.

Guy Hamilton directs this classic British drama. Former army officer Wolf Merton (Jack Hawkins) has lost touch with the men he commanded during the war. Now working as a stockbroker in London, Wolf returns home one night to find an intruder inside his house. Wolf quickly recognises the man as being Ginger Edwards (Michael Medwin), a man who was once part of his platoon. Can Wolf help Ginger return to a more honourable way of living?

This semi-documentary, which made stars of Jack Hawkins and John Gregson, is a look at life in an RAF fighter station during the Battle of Britain. Set in the Summer of 1940, a squadron of Hurricanes are followed as they take on the massive wave of Luftwaffe fighters and bombers that are intent on breaking down Britain's defences as a prequel to a German invasion. Without the bravery of these pilots Britain may well have been invaded.

Michael Caine stars in this epic story of the battle of Rorke's Drift, on January 22nd 1879, where 1,200 British troops found themselves completely outnumbered by irate Zulu warriors in Natal, South Africa. Having already destroyed a very large British garrison, 4,000 Zulu warriors are now on their way to overcome the handful of men stationed at Rorke's Drift. The two lieutenants in charge of the garrison, Jon Chard (Stanley Baker) and Gonville Bromhead (Caine), are at odds with each other, but manage to rally the men together and put up a courageous fight. Only a few of the men survived, eleven receiving the Victoria Cross.

Triple bill of war dramas set at sea. In 'For Those in Peril' (1943), Pilot Officer Rawlings (Ralph Michael) is turned down by the RAF for air service on medical grounds and instead joins Air Sea Rescue, helping to pull downed Allied airmen out of the sea. Rawlings is initially resentful of his new job, but gradually comes to appreciate its importance. When the crew of a Boston bomber become stranded at sea in a dinghy, Rawlings and his colleagues become involved in a race against time - and the elements - to save their lives. 'San Demetrio, London' (1943), set in 1940 during the battle of the Atlantic, is based on a true story. The crew of the petrol tanker San Demetrio are left with a near impossible task when she is torpedoed by the Germans. The crew are forced to abandon ship in three lifeboats. Two are picked up by other ships in the convoy, but the third drifts for days until its crew spies the burning San Demetrio on the horizon. Do they board the ship, try to put out its fires and get it back to English shores or do they stay in the drifting lifeboat in the hope of being rescued? In 'The Cruel Sea' (1953), based on the novel by Nicholas Monsarrat, World War Two Lt. Commander Ericson (Jack Hawkins) has already lost one ship to an enemy attack when he is given command of the frigate Saltash Castle. A subsequent confrontation in the North Atlantic tests Ericson's leadership to the limit once again, as he risks sacrificing the lives of his crew for the greater good.

One of the lesser-known Powell and Pressburger collaborations. During the Second World War, scientist Sammy Rice (David Farrar) works at a British research unit set up to solve the enemy's methods of attack. Embittered after losing a foot in a bomb blast, Sammy is increasingly seeking solace in drink. However, a budding romance with his secretary, Susan (Kathleen Byron), and the challenge of analysing a new German bomb provide him with a new sense of meaning.

In this seagoing military drama set in World War II, Lt. Comdr. Ericson is made captain of a British corvette, a small escort vessel used to guide and protect convoys traveling through the Atlantic.

Ericson had his confidence severely shaken during his last command, in which he lost his ship and most of its men following an attack by a German U-boat.

As he leads a new and largely inexperienced crew aboard the H.M.S. Compass Rose, Ericson is once again thrown into a life-and-death dilemma that forces him to choose between destroying an enemy ship and sparing the lives of his own men.