Action & Adventure

Marvel at the spectacle of an action-packed adventure and discover classic tales of discovery as our heroes embark on inspired journeys to unfamiliar places... and beyond.

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  • The Sound Barrier

    Asked by director David Lean to write a script about the development of new high speed jet aircraft, esteemed playwright Terence Rattigan (The Browning Version) was reluctant. But a visit to Farnborough Air Display and meeting test pilots fired his imagination. The result, about the troubled rela...

  • Ice Cold in Alex

    Captain Anson (John Mills), a fledgeling alcoholic, and Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews) are ordered to escort two nurses across the North African desert. Encountering German troops, treacherous terrain, as well as an enigmatic man, Ice Cold in Alex is a British war film packed with adventure.

  • Went the Day Well?

    In the middle of World War II Cavalcanti provocatively imagined a postwar England in which the failure of the threatened German invasion could be safely seen in flashback, thanks to the resourceful villagers of Bramley End. Once the ostensibly British troops in their village are revealed as Nazis...

  • Colditz Story

    After escaping from other camps, allied prisoners from all nations were taken to the medieval castle of Colditz, where the guards outnumbered the prisoners. However, when the allied troops decide to pool their ideas together, numerous inventive escape plans are hatched. Starring John Mills and Er...

  • Sweeney!

    Hard-bitten Flying Squad officer Jack Regan gets embroiled in a deadly political plot when an old friend asks him to investigate the death of his girlfriend. Framed on a drunk-drive charge and suspended from the force, with his partner and best mate George Carter unable to help, Jack must rely on...

  • The Three Musketeers

    D'Artagnan (Michael York), a young swordsman, arrives in Paris with one dream: becoming a Musketeer. He meets and quarrels with Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay), and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), three Musketeers, who invite him to join them in fighting the evil Cardinal Richelieu (Cha...

  • The Four Musketeers

    A sequel to the 1973 adaptation of The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers covers the second half of Dumas' classic novel. Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston) has another evil plot, this time ordering the kidnap of Constance de Bonancieux (Racquel Welch), dressmaker of the Queen of France. The...

  • Johnny on the Run

    A superb early work by illustrious British director Lewis Gilbert (Alfie, You Only Live Twice) which follows orphaned Polish refugee Janek, who runs into trouble in the shape of two scheming thieves.

  • The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands

    This dramatic reconstruction of two decisive naval battles from the First World War is one of the finest films of the British silent era. Walter Summers’ film was originally released on Armistice Day 1927 to act as a memorial to the thousands who died in the Battle of Coronel, triumph for German ...

  • The Salvage Gang

    When four children try to raise money to replace a broken saw, their schemes take them on an unexpected journey through the capital. Beautifully photographed, The Salvage Gang by acclaimed director John Krish (I Think They Call Him John) is an affectionate tour of bomb-damaged London, featuring a...

  • Wooden Horse

    Knowing it is every prisoner's duty to escape, Allied prisoners hatch an ingenious plan to do just that. Inspired by Greek mythology, the soldiers use their wooden vaulting horse to cover an escape tunnel that hopes to make its way under the camp's wire fence. Inspired by one of the most famous e...

  • Sammy's Super T-shirt

    Sammy dreams of becoming a super athlete, despite his puny build. When his lucky training t-shirt is thrown into a scientist's lab it becomes imbued with 'super strength' power. When Sammy manages to recover the t-shirt he uses his new-found strength to outrun baddies and bullies alike.

  • Night Ferry

    In this rousing kids' crime yarn, Bernard Cribbins is 'Pyramid', a dastardly master-of-disguise who plans to smuggle an ancient Egyptian mummy out of the country. When young Jeff (Graham Fletcher-Cook) discovers the plan, a dangerous chase via South London's Victoria Station and Clapham Station e...

  • Operation Third Form

    In this favourite from the Children's Film Foundation, a fresh-faced John Moulder Brown (Deep End) gives a sparkling performance as the schoolboy out to foil a pair of North London crooks with his crack spy unit – his classmates and kid sister. With its groovy 1960s soundtrack, Operation Third Fo...

  • The Sky-Bike

    All Tom Smith can think about is becoming a pilot. When he accidentally stumbles across a prototype man-powered flying machine, he convinces its eccentric inventor, Mr Lovejoy, to let him help get it off the ground. Working in secret, the two prepare their ‘sky bike’ for a high-stakes race.

  • Haunters of the Deep

    Shot on location around the lonely, windswept coasts of Cornwall, this is an impressively ghostly adventure from the Children's Film Foundation. It remains a cautionary tale for profit-hungry modern miners, and the fine underground camera work effectively conveys all the creepy claustrophobia of ...

  • The Cruel Sea

    Adapted from Nicholas Monsarrat's acclaimed novel, The Cruel Sea follows a Corvette, the Compass Rose, and its crew as they fight German U-Boats in an attempt to protect convoys throughout World War 2. A stark, honest, and emotionally fueled portrayal of wartime, The Cruel Sea is unusual in its f...

  • A Hitch in Time

    Patrick Troughton (riffing wonderfully on his prior incarnation as Doctor Who) plays a time-hopping inventor who’s disturbed by a couple of curious kids. He decides to send them back through the ages for themselves, but when his machinery begins to malfunction his charges wonder if they’ll ever m...

  • Raining in the Mountain

    During the Ming Dynasty, a Buddhist abbot charged with protecting the sacred scroll of Tripitaka prepares to name his successor. An aristocrat and a general arrive at his secluded mountaintop monastery promising to help in his search, but are in fact scheming to secure the scroll for themselves. ...

  • Karate Bullfighter

    A karate tournament is crashed by an enigmatic martial artist calling himself Oyama (Sonny Chiba), who arrives in tattered rags and beats all who dare challenge him. But Oyama's entrance into the world of karate has unforeseen consequences, and soon he is fighting for more than just sporting vict...

  • The Valiant Ones

    During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (Zhao Lei), China's coastal regions have come under attack by wokou Japanese pirates under the leadership of the infamous Hakatatsu (Sammo Hung). To combat this threat, the Emperor tasks a trusted general, Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi), with assembling a group of ...