Box set featuring six Shakespeare adaptations starring legendary actor Laurence Olivier. In 'King Lear' (1983), the ageing King Lear (Olivier) decides to split his kingdom between three daughters - Regan, Cordelia and Goneril - with each receiving a share appropriate to the amount of love they feel for him. However, when the faithful Cordelia refuses to protest her devotion, an enraged Lear foolishly cedes complete control to the devious remaining siblings - with terrible results. In 'Henry V' (1944), the young king (Olivier) puts his rakish past behind him and rallies his men to invade France, winning against the enemy's superior numbers. The film was shot in Ireland to avoid the constant bombardment of the Blitz and Olivier was discharged from the Navy to make the film. In 'Hamlet' (1948), Hamlet (Olivier), Prince of Denmark, is still mourning over the death of his father and his mother Gertrude's (Eileen Herlie) subsequent remarriage to Hamlet's despised uncle, Claudius (Basil Sydney), who is now King. When his father's ghost appears to Hamlet and reveals that it was Claudius who murdered him, the young prince vows revenge. However, a fatal flaw in his character - hesitation - mars his efforts, resulting in murder, madness and treachery. In 'The Merchant of Venice' (1974), Jewish moneylender Shylock (Olivier) provides young Antonio (Anthony Nichols) with a loan, stating that if it is not repaid he will claim a pound of flesh. When Antonio's bond defaults, Shylock attempts to claim his grisly compensation in a court of law, but Portia (Joan Plowright) pleads Antonio's case. In 'Richard III' (1955), Olivier stars as the cold and calculating king, a treacherous and untrustworthy fellow who makes plans to kill anyone who threatens his position. Henry Stafford (Ralph Richardson), the Duke of Clarence (John Gielgud) and Lady Anne Neville (Claire Bloom) are just some of those moving in his orbit. 'As You Like It' (1936) was filmed in England in 1936 when Olivier was still considered a promising young actor rather than one of the finest thespians ever, as he would later become, this is his first filmed Shakespeare performance and thus a milestone in film history.

Star-studded, epic adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel based in Rome during the time of Nero. Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor), a commander in the army, returns to the city and falls in love with a Christian girl called Lygia (Deborah Kerr). However, as he is a pagan, she rejects his suit and refuses to have anything to do with him. Meanwhile, Nero (Peter Ustinov) burns down the city, blames it on the Christians, and prepares to feed them to the lions.

Wartime drama starring Alec Guiness as Peter Ross, an RAF reconnaisance photographer assigned to trace and destroy an Italian convoy threatening to invade Malta. As the Luftwaffe threatens, Ross's romance with a local girl hangs in the balance.

Collection of ten classic films from the award-winning British director. In 'The Sound Barrier' (1952), Ralph Richardson stars as an aircraft manufacturer whose all-consuming passion with making the ultimate supersonic jet kills both his son and son-in-law and almost destroys him and the rest of his family. In 'Hobson's Choice' (1953), Lancashire bootmaker Henry Horatio Hobson (Charles Laughton) keeps a tight rein on his three daughters until his eldest, Maggie (Brenda De Banzie), marries his assistant, Willie Mossop (John Mills), and sets him up in his own bootmaking firm. To Hobson's consternation, Willie has soon become his father-in-law's main business rival. In 'Blithe Spirit' (1945), cynical writer, Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison), asks a medium (Margaret Rutherford) to hold a seance in his house so he can collect material for his latest book. No one is more surprised than the medium when she inadvertently conjures up the ghost of Condomine's first wife (Kay Hammond). The ghost refuses to go away, preferring to taunt her less sophisticated replacement (Constance Cummings). In 'Brief Encounter' (1945), a respectable, happily married doctor (Trevor Howard) comes to the aid of an equally upstanding housewife (Celia Johnson) when a passing train blows cinder into her eye. Thus begins a tentative romance, conducted in the tearooms and railway cafe of a small English town. In 'Great Expectations' (1946), orphan, Pip (Anthony Wager), befriends an escaped convict before being elevated to higher circles as the companion of Miss Havisham and her niece, Estella (Jean Simmons), with whom the boy quickly falls in love. When the adult Pip (Mills) discovers a mysterious benefactor has paved the way for him to become a gentleman, he assumes Miss Havisham is responsible. In 'Oliver Twist' (1948), Oliver (John Howard Davis) is a young orphan boy who is expelled from the workhouse run by Mr Bumbel (Francis L. Sullivan). After becoming an apprentice to an undertaker, Oliver decides to run away to London, only to meet the Artful Dodger (Anthony Newley) and fall amongst his gang of thieves, led by the scheming Fagin (Alec Guinness). In 'Madeleine' (1949), Madeleine (Ann Todd) is the eldest daughter in a respectable Victorian Glasgow family. She begins an affair with Frenchman, Emile L'Anglier (Ivan Desny), without her father's knowledge. Meanwhile, Madeleine's father insists on her seeing various suitors. When Madeleine becomes engaged to William Minnoch (Norman Wooland), Emile threatens to reveal their relationship. 'The Passionate Friends' (1944) is an episodic tale of an average working class family in the interwar years. The story traces the melodrama caused by illicit affairs, family bereavement, the first ripples of women's liberation and political instability in the country during the General Strike. It highlights the fact that these internal wranglings are all happening in one house in an average street, and that each average house has its own dramatic stories to tell. Finally, 'In Which We Serve' (1942) is a World War II drama about a destroyer, told through flashbacks and the reminiscences of the surviving crew after their beloved ship is torpedoed.

Young Jim Hawkins (Bobby Driscoll) finds himself set for adventure on the high seas when he is entrusted with a treasure map by ailing pirate Billy Bones.The map shows the location of treasure buried by Bones' former captain, Flint. Other members of Flint's crew are also after the booty, so Jim is accompanied by Squire Trelawney and Doctor Livesy as they make their way by sea to the island where the treasure is hidden. However, some of Flint's crew, led by the one-legged John Silver (Robert Newton), have managed to inveigle their way aboard Jim's ship as crew members, and will stop at nothing to get their hands on the treasure.

Three classic films adapted from novels by Charles Dickens. In 'A Tale of Two Cities' (1958), Sydney Carton (Dirk Bogarde) is a frivolous London barrister, hopelessly in love with Lucie (Dorothy Tutin), even after she marries Charles Darnay (Paul Guers), who is descended from an unpleasant French aristocrat. Darnay is lured back to France as the Revolution gets into swing where he is arrested and awaits execution. Sydney, seeing Lucie's despair, goes to France, frees Charles and takes his place in the queue for the guillotine. In 'Oliver Twist' (1948), Oliver (John Howard Davis) is a young orphan boy who is expelled from the workhouse run by Mr Bumble (Francis L. Sullivan). After becoming an apprentice to an undertaker Oliver decides to run away to London, only to meet the Artful Dodger (Anthony Newley) and fall amongst his gang of thieves, led by the scheming Fagin (Alec Guinness). Finally, in 'Great Expectations' (1946), orphan Pip (Anthony Wager) befriends an escaped convict before being elevated to higher circles as the companion of mad Miss Havisham (Martita Hunt) and her niece, Estella (Jean Simmons), with whom the boy quickly falls in love. When the adult Pip (John Mills) discovers a mysterious benefactor has paved the way for him to become a gentleman, he assumes Miss Havisham is responsible.