Frank Capra's festive classic is one of those rare standards which not only lives up to its rep but reveals new treasures on every viewing. James Stewart is forlorn George Bailey, who thinks life just isn't worth living, 'til it's revealed to him how meaningful his meaningless existence really is. Containing more snow than a TV presenter's nostril, it'll melt even the frostiest among you.
Retired actor Alexander (Erland Josephson) is celebrating his birthday with friends and family when an imminent nuclear catastrophe is announced on TV. So Alexander offers to make a deal with God to avert the disaster. Andrei Tarkovsky's final film is as powerful as you'd expect.
More personal than Knowing Me, Knowing You and sharper than the series just broadcast, this masterfully observed, grotesquely populated comedy is to the '90s what Fawlty Towers was to the '70s—but you know all that. Buy this, then, for the meaty extras and as a handy reminder that UK comedy can still be the best in the world.
