Legendary swashbuckler Errol Flynn leads the Light Brigade on their heroic charge into the Valley of Death. Flynn has everything going for him here: romance with Olivia de Havilland, battle scenes and stunts galore. Director Michael Curtiz keeps the action bowling along at a breakneck pace, with never a care for the suffering of either human or animal (Flynn secretly tipped off the RSPCA, resulting in stricter legislation being passed to protect animals in films). Historically incorrect, but magnificent nonetheless.

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Jude Law and Nicole Kidman head the all-star cast in Anthony Minghella's stunning drama set during the American Civil War. A wounded confederate soldier named Inman (Law) attempts to return home to the eponymous North Carolina town and be reunited with Ada (Kidman), the woman he left behind. Along the way, he meets a host of colourful characters who help or hinder his passage home, while Kidman struggles to run her father's dilapidated farm and holds onto the hope that Law is still alive. The two leads give powerful performances in a poignant film about how there is no glory in war, only death, but it's the Oscar-winning Renée Zellweger who steals the show.

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With a cast chock full of war movie veterans, and based on the real-life memoirs of Pat Reid, The Colditz Story is a an entertaining, and moving, account of life in the most notorious prison camp in the Third Reich. More a rousing adventure story than a portrayal of harsh realities of war, the film follows numerous foiled escape attempts until one of the heroes hits on a brilliant plan...

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A harrowing but worthy portrait of a young Russian boy's experiences during The Second World War as he turns from green teenager to hardened resistance fighter. The Second World War always brought out the best in Soviet filmmakers and director Elem Klimov found his ideal subject in this harrowing story of a teenage boy's view of the conflict. The lad Florya is taken off by a group of partisans, fighting in the woods of Byelorussia in 1943. They disappear and he is left to wander, gun in hand, until he rejoins them at the end as an active and hardened participant, his young face prematurely aged.

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Boasting lavish sets, costumes and a British cast to die for, this biopic of the Protestant leader who caused the downfall of Charles I and ruled the country briefly between monarchs takes some liberties with historical accuracy, but is so well made that it gets away with it. Unusually, Richard Harris' Cromwell comes across as la fanatical God-botherer, ultimately leaving audience sympathy to rest with Alec Guinness as the doomed king whose head is destined for the block. As long as you don't rely on the film for your history essay you'll be in for a treat.

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