Nicholas Monsarrat's novel is an unflinching, realistic and emotionally involving account of naval life during the Second World War in which the "heroes" are the men, the "heroines" the ships and the "villain" is not so much the German U-Boats lurking below as "the cruel sea" itself. This 1953 film has become a classic of British cinema largely because it is a straightforward, no-frills adaptation of the book and retain's much of the original's compelling yet almost understated dramatic focus. On convoy duty in the North Atlantic, the crew of HMS Compass Rose face as a matter of routine the threat of destruction from U-Boats as well as a constant struggle against the elements. The convoys themselves are Britain's only lifeline and their loss would lead to certain defeat, but in the early years of the war the ships sent to protect them can do almost nothing to prevent the U-Boat attacks. Jack Hawkins gives one of his finest performances as Captain Ericson, the commander who has to balance destroying the enemy against saving the lives of the men under his care. In one unforgettable scene--a crucial turning point for all the characters--he must decide whether to depth charge a suspected submarine despite the presence of British sailors in the water. As with the book, the individual officers and their lives are carefully delineated, helped by the strength of a cast of (then) young actors (notably Donald Sinden and Denholm Elliot). Ultimately what makes The Cruel Sea such an undeniable classic is that it has neither the flag-waving jingoism nor the war-is-hell melodrama so common to most war movies: instead it relates in an almost matter-of-fact way the bitterness of the conflict at sea fought by ordinary men placed in the most extraordinary of circumstances. --Mark Walker

An IRA film with a difference, Neil Jordan's The Crying Game takes the Anglo-Irish conflict as the starting point for a thoughtful, often poignant and sometimes humorous examination of gender and identity. Stephen Rea is the IRA volunteer who befriends a kidnapped British soldier (the gauche but likeable Forest Whitaker), then takes the questions of loyalty and instinct (the "frog and scorpion" fable) with him to London, where he falls for the dead man's girlfriend (the appealing Jaye Davidson). Love and terrorism are fused in a violent and suspenseful denouement, where truth manifests itself in an unexpected yet meaningful way.

Miranda Richardson and Adrian Dunbar are persuasive as the IRA agents, and there are excellent cameos from Jim Broadbent as an East End barman and Tony Slattery as a property shark, all making the most of Jordan's stylish, Academy Award-winning script. Anne (Art of Noise) Dudley contributes a moodily atmospheric score, with three versions of "When a Man Loves a Woman" to point up the gender issue.

On the DVD: The Crying Game comes to disc with a widescreen picture that reproduces adequately for an early 90s film. The soundtrack, though, has real presence. There are subtitles in English and Russian(!), though the theatrical trailer is hardly a major bonus. An interview or a commentary with Jordan, discussing the motivation behind the project, would really have benefited a film which cuts across genres so successfully as this. --Richard Whitehouse

An insurance investigator and an efficency expert who hate each other are both hypnotized by a crooked hypnotist with a jade scorpion into stealing jewels

The Cutting Edge is a 1991 romantic sports comedy-drama set in the allegedly exciting world of Olympic-level figure-skating. Ice maiden Moira Kelly has been reared from birth by her driving father (Stepfather star Terry O'Quinn adding a creepy touch) to be a champion, but is constantly let down because she's so unpleasant that no one wants to be her partner. On the other side of the tracks, macho jock DB Sweeney is invalided out of ice hockey and recruited by Kelly's Russian coach (Roy Dotrice) to team up with her. They hate each other on sight but develop into a potential winning team, and, in between being nasty to each other, fall in nauseating lurve. The tension builds up as to who is going to win that Olympic gold medal in the finale (guess!) and whether the leads will be able to hold off strangling each other in time for the big last-minute clinch.

The whole thing is a stew of mismatched couple and underdog-triumphs-in-sport clichés, directed by ex-Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser, but it really falls down because Sweeney and Kelly obviously can't skate for toffee. The on-ice sequences, choreographed by medal-winning Robin Cousins in an only-job-he's-fit-for turn, employ doubles and tricky editing, which means the climactic struggle has to be quite literally skated over.

On the DVD: The Cutting Edge comes to DVD in an anamorphic widescreen print that’s in good shape but with that slightly feathery colour common in pre-digital transfers. There are English, German, French and Italian tracks; plus a single measly trailer.--Kim Newman

Despite having Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman attached, this should be a corker of a film - the source material is a cracking thriller of novel, spinning around the Holy Grail, the Knights Templar and the bloodline of Christ... in modern day Paris and Europe...