The life and untimely death of playwright Nick Darke is explored in this poignant portrait. Atmospheric archive film shot by his father reveals how Darke enjoyed the pastime of "wrecking", combing Cornwall's rugged shoreline for items deposited on the beach. (Si

Story of Tom Simpson A profile of Britain's greatest cyclist explores how a desire for immortality cost the charismatic showman his life.

Matthew
Sweet's titillating history of early
British cinema. The transition from silent films to "talkies", coupled with the rapid rise and fall of matinee idols and insatiable media interest in their off-screen antics, made for a torrid time between the late 1920s and the start of the Second World War. An early
British "talkie", the Alfred Hitchcock -directed Blackmail, follows.

Tense thriller from 1929, which began life as a silent movie but became
Alfred Hitchcock 's first "talkie", starring Anny Ondra and John Longden. A detective assigned to a murder involving his fiancee is blackmailed when he tries to cover her tracks.
Review page 50.

François Truffaut's romantic comedy from 1968, which updates the story of Antoine Doinel that began in The 400 Blows. Doinel becomes a private eye, and finds himself torn between his girlfriend and a client's wife. Starring Jean-Pierre Leaud, Delphine Seyrig, Claude Jade. In French with English subtitles. Review page 50.