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Treasures

Revived and restored from the world's archives.

This year’s selection of revivals and rediscoveries reflects the wide range and global scale of film restoration work now made possible by the application of modern, flexible digital technology – especially rewarding in the case of the World Cinema Foundation’s wonderful Indian dance spectacular, Kalpana (1948), and Lino Brocka’s once-unattainable Philippine masterpiece, Manila in the Claws of Light (1975). From the US come the cult classics, Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Nicholas Ray’s The Lusty Men (1952), Jacques Demy’s Model Shop (1969), and Shirley Clarke’s revitalised Portrait of Jason (1967); and from the UK, Dirk Bogarde’s career-altering turn in the law-influencing Victim (1961). Two gilt-edged vintage favourites, Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête (1946) and Thorold Dickinson’s Gaslight (1940), offer a tantalising taste of the BFI’s forthcoming epic exploration of Gothic cinema.

Clyde Jeavons

Archive Gala

The Epic of Everest

The official film record of the legendary 1924 attempt to conquer the highest mountain in the world, with a performance by Simon Fisher Turner of his new score.

La Belle et la Bête

Jean Cocteau’s much-loved Gothic fantasy La Belle et la Bête has been digitally restored to 4K to mark the 50th anniversary of the director’s death.

The Chase

Arthur Ripley’s original and intriguing film noir breaks the rules of the genre as its returning soldier hero defies his gangster boss.

Cowboy

Delmer Daves’ restored Western, an epic cattle-drive with tough Glenn Ford teaching tenderfoot Jack Lemmon the ropes on the trail to self-knowledge.

The Doorway to Hell + Picture Snatcher

Brash, charismatic tough-guy James Cagney made his name in these gritty, fast-paced, realistic Warner Bros. Depression-era gangster melodramas.

Gaslight

A powerful Gothic melodrama of domestic sadism and psychological suspense, now digitally remastered by the BFI National Archive.

Glückskinder

Nazi-era screwball musical comedy with popular stars Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch, based on Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night.

Harbour Drift

A beggar pays dearly for his theft of a pearl necklace in this Weimar-era silent melodrama of poverty, greed and prostitution.

Kalpana

Dance maestro Uday Shankar’s beautiful, experimental, hallucinatory paean to classical Indian dance, in which the choreography itself is the star turn.

The Lady from Shanghai

Orson Welles’ celebrated noir-thriller dazzlingly restored, with femme fatale Rita Hayworth famously reflected in a surreal hall of mirrors.

The Lusty Men

One of Robert Mitchum’s greatest performances in Nicholas Ray’s subtle, evocative portrayal of the lives and modest dreams of proud rodeo performers.

Manila in the Claws of Light

The late, great Lino Brocka’s portrayal of a young labourer’s desperate search for his abducted girlfriend in the lower depths of Manila.

Model Shop

A glorious restoration of Jacques Demy’s only American film, a stylish late-1960s exploration of superficiality and voyeurism with Anouk Aimée.

Nine Lives

A World War II Norwegian resistance hero traverses a hostile, icy landscape, pursued by German soldiers, in Arne Skouen’s Oscar-nominated film.

Portrait of Jason

Shirley Clarke’s cinéma-vérité masterpiece about a gay African-American cabaret performer and prostitute revealingly restored.

Sandra

Luchino Visconti directs Claudia Cardinale in this rococo vision of corruption, despair, betrayal and incest superbly restored and ripe for re-appraisal.

Tell Me Lies

Peter Brook’s provocative anti-Vietnam War 1960s protest piece, combining the talents of the Royal Shakespeare Company with his own cinematic flair.

Victim

Basil Dearden’s brave, sober exposé of England’s repressive homosexual laws launched Dirk Bogarde’s career change as a serious international actor.

The Witches

Joan Fontaine suspects her sleepy English village may be home to the supernatural in this often overlooked Hammer production.

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