Sky UK TV Guide

05:10 The Great McGinty
Film Don't be put off just because this is a comedy about American politics with no star names. Writer Preston Sturges persuaded Paramount to let him make his directing debut for a ten-dollar fee, and the result is this delicious study in comic irony. It's the story of a penniless Irishman who rises through a corrupt party machine to become governor of a state, then is ruined in a crazy minute of honesty. Proving as brilliant a director as he was a writer, Sturges won the Oscar for best original screenplay and opened the doors for other writers like Billy Wilder to direct their work. Brian Donlevy attacks his starring role with gusto, while supporting players shine in every scene.

06:50 The Phantom of the Opera
Film Hammer's film of Gaston Leroux's perennially popular story was treated with polite disdain in 1962, when it was released as one half of a double bill. It still appears a minor contribution to the Phantom cycle, and a pale shadow of the 1925 Lon Chaney version. The main problem is the casting, with perfectly competent actors such as Herbert Lom, Heather Sears and Edward De Souza playing at too low a key for the operatic passions. Hammer relocated the action from Paris to London and went to town on the art direction, particularly for the Phantom's subterranean lair - still the film's most impressive aspect.

08:20 Julius Caesar
Film While Hollywood's Roman epics - Ben-Hur, for instance, or Spartacus - cast British actors as the villains and Americans as suffering slaves or Jews, the Shakespearean sagas have no such scheme and are much the weaker without it. This example is particularly turgid, undermined by Stuart Burge's pedestrian direction and a surprisingly weak Brutus from Jason Robards. John Gielgud, who was Cassius in the 1953 version, now plays Caesar, while Charlton Heston takes his second (though not his last) stab at playing Mark Antony on film.

10:20 The Nutty Professor
Film In spite of almost universal criticism, this immensely accomplished comedy remains actor/co-writer/director Jerry Lewis's best and funniest screen work. It's really "Doctor Jerry and Mister Love" (the film's French title translated), as Lewis plays nerdish chemistry professor Julius Kelp who is hooked on lovely student Stella Stevens. Lewis makes and takes a potion that turns him into Buddy Love, singing lounge lizard par excellence. The witty design and the use of fabulously rich Paramount Technicolor are major bonuses, and this clever movie remains extremely funny.

12:20 Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Film This second movie featuring the nation's favourite junkmen is very much a rags-and-bones affair, with the material stretched to fraying point to justify the running time. Apart from the unnecessary crudeness of its humour, the main problem here is the dilution of the intense, disappointed fondness that made the pair's TV relationship so engaging, in order to squeeze in a handful of sketchily drawn characters whose sole purpose is to lend the action a big-picture feel. Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett spark occasionally, but Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's weak script finally gets the better of them.

14:05 The Phantom of the Opera
Film Hammer's film of Gaston Leroux's perennially popular story was treated with polite disdain in 1962, when it was released as one half of a double bill. It still appears a minor contribution to the Phantom cycle, and a pale shadow of the 1925 Lon Chaney version. The main problem is the casting, with perfectly competent actors such as Herbert Lom, Heather Sears and Edward De Souza playing at too low a key for the operatic passions. Hammer relocated the action from Paris to London and went to town on the art direction, particularly for the Phantom's subterranean lair - still the film's most impressive aspect.

15:35 Billion Dollar Brain
Film This third Harry Palmer picture has a story that smacks of substandard James Bond, as Michael Caine travels to Finland to infiltrate power-crazed Ed Begley's secret organisation and prevent him from taking over the world. Ken Russell was perhaps an unlikely choice as director, but his exuberance prevents the plot from lapsing into predictability. Catherine Deneuve's sister Françoise Dorleac impresses in her last performance before she was killed in a car crash.

17:30 It Came from Outer Space
Film Based on Ray Bradbury's story The Meteor, this early 3-D classic was the first of many brilliant sci-fi films from director Jack Arnold, who went on to make Tarantula and The Incredible Shrinking Man. An alien spaceship lands in the Arizona desert, and its giant-eyed occupants adopt human identities while they repair their vessel. Amateur astronomer Richard Carlson sees it happen, but no-one believes him. While top heavy on eerie atmosphere, Arnold's film contains a neat plea for interracial tolerance and some stylish flourishes - including a fish-eye lens to simulate the aliens' point-of-view. The result is an entertaining B-movie that's as good as 1950s science fiction gets.

19:00 Julius Caesar
Film While Hollywood's Roman epics - Ben-Hur, for instance, or Spartacus - cast British actors as the villains and Americans as suffering slaves or Jews, the Shakespearean sagas have no such scheme and are much the weaker without it. This example is particularly turgid, undermined by Stuart Burge's pedestrian direction and a surprisingly weak Brutus from Jason Robards. John Gielgud, who was Cassius in the 1953 version, now plays Caesar, while Charlton Heston takes his second (though not his last) stab at playing Mark Antony on film.

21:00 The Nutty Professor
Film In spite of almost universal criticism, this immensely accomplished comedy remains actor/co-writer/director Jerry Lewis's best and funniest screen work. It's really "Doctor Jerry and Mister Love" (the film's French title translated), as Lewis plays nerdish chemistry professor Julius Kelp who is hooked on lovely student Stella Stevens. Lewis makes and takes a potion that turns him into Buddy Love, singing lounge lizard par excellence. The witty design and the use of fabulously rich Paramount Technicolor are major bonuses, and this clever movie remains extremely funny.

22:50 Too Late the Hero
Film At over two hours, this Second World War tale about male bonding is typical mid-career fare from director Robert Aldrich - exciting and violent, but rather too long - as soldiers Michael Caine and Cliff Robertson are dispatched on a suicide mission in the Pacific arena. Early on, the talented Aldrich delivered the stark, lean Attack!, but middle-career spread began with the immensely successful (and long) The Dirty Dozen, and he never looked back. This is entertaining, but with a bit of judicious pruning it could have been even more so.