The Robe (1953)

Watched on TV while on holiday, this is a sword-and-sandals biblical epic. Richard Burton is super-magnetic as the Roman Marcellus, who crucifies Jesus, only to have his mind and soul converted to Christianity. It’s fascinating to see how the topic is handled. You see Jesus’s feet, but not his face. The swelling orchestral music and choirs of angels make for a stirring soundtrack. The sets are elaborate and lavish. Jean Simmons is appealing as Diana, who is in love with Marcellus and, later, with Jesus. Victor Mature is Demetrius, the rogue slave who manages to convert his master. You can see how it’s going to end and it’s quite satisfying to watch that conclusion play out.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)

Based on the classic novel by Erich Maria Remarque, this is a powerful WWI drama that sets out to show war as a pointless, futile, cruel waste of life. Richard Thomas (“John Boy” in The Waltons) is excellent as the innocent young man who enlists in the German army and quickly has any illusions about the glory of battle dashed by the brutal reality of the experience. This message is underscored again and again as his friends meet horrible deaths and then when he returns home on leave – only to find that not one person sees through the myths of heroism and nationalism that are killing hundreds of boys each day for mere inches of land.

There’s an especially affecting scene in which our hero has to spend the night lying in a trench with the Frenchman he has just stabbed. Realising how much they have in common he tries to help the man, but it’s too late. The scene is brilliantly drawn out in a way that I don’t think would happen if this was made now. 

The film evokes the constant noise of battle, but – despite a lot of maimed bodies – doesn’t quite go far enough to depict the soul-destroying filth, disease and degradation that these men would surely have suffered in their daily lives. That said, it’s one of the most profound anti-war films I’ve seen.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Brilliant adaptation of the Harper Lee novel. A seductively appealing small-town atmosphere turns nasty when a lawyer (Gregory Peck) defends a black man framed for a crime he didn’t commit. The film cleverly tells several stories: the court drama, the wider race-relations issues of the American South, and also the mystery of “Boo” Radley, the unseen neighbour who ends up playing a significant role in their lives.

Gregory Peck is fantastic as Atticus Finch, the kind, calm and intelligent lawyer and father of Scout (the narrator) and Jim. Their friend “Dill” is also excellent. These three kids (Mary Badham, Phillip Alford and John Megna respectively) deliver some of the best child acting I've ever seen. You watch their youthful innocence being lost as they learn about the dangers and prejudices of the world around them. Sadder than this is that the story seems more relevant than ever in Donald Trump’s America.

9 to 5 (1980)

Office-based comedy about sexism in the workplace. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton are fairly entertaining in the main roles, playing against their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” boss (Dabney Coleman).

It’s badly let down by a terrible series of fantasy sequences in which each of the women plots their oppressor’s demise. These scenarios aren’t funny and are actually a little creepy. They spoil the momentum and take you out of the story. The film recovers when the real plot begins, but only just: it still fails to ring true. If these were three ordinary, decent people (as the plot tries to suggest), they would never kidnap someone and keep them chained up as a prisoner for weeks.

9 to 5 makes some good points about gender inequality, but Working Girl (1988), which owes something of a debt to this film, did it so much better.

I was fairly disappointed, having expected a classic. Dolly Parton’s theme song is, by some distance, the best thing about the film.