Claude Chabrol delves in to the slapstick in HIGH HEELS, a black comedy starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Laura Antonelli, and Mia Farrow. Fast-talking and ultra-confident Doctor Paul claims that he loves the moral beauty of ugly women and challenges his colleagues to join him in the pursuit of homely women. When he meets plain, buck-toothed, leg-braced Christine (Mia Farrow) on vacation in Tunisia, his falls head over heels. However, his staunch beliefs in moral beauty crumble upon meeting Christine's beautiful sister, who is trapped in an unhappy marriage to a numbskull.

For an entire generation who hid behind the sofa during the scary bits, jokes about Doctor Who are almost inescapably funny. "The Curse of Fatal Death," an extended sketch for Comic Relief, stars more unlikely actors and comedians as the Doctor than anyone could have imagined plausible-Rowan Atkinson, to begin with, and both Hugh and Richard E. Grant. The last-named performance indeed gives one uncomfortable thoughts about roads not taken, as does Jonathan Pryce's remarkable tribute to Roger Delgado as the Master. The tape is filled out with an informative behind-the-scenes documentary and three Doctor Who-related sketches by Victoria Wood and Jim Broadbent, by Lenny Henry, and by French and Saunders. This last sketch, never before shown, with French and Saunders as extras playing reptilian aliens, is particularly hilarious. -Roz Kaveney.

Rene Clement (Forbidden Games) faithfully re-creates Emile Zola's (Germinal) tragic tale of a heroic young mother who struggles to raise her children amidst the squalor and cruelty of the slums. Filled with powerful and moving images, Gervaise is an honest portrayal of the harshness of life for 19th-century working-class Parisians. Maria Schell and Francois Perier received major honors for their touching performances as the struggling Gervaise and her alcoholic husband.

Granada Television's adaptation of The Forsyte Saga achieved the seemingly impossible in spring 2002, matching the BBC's 35-year-old black-and-white classic version with a richly cast and superbly directed take on John Galsworthy's first two novels. The success of these six 90-minute episodes proved that despite the current emphasis on miniseries and dramas developed around the hot actor of the moment, our appetite-and attention span-still craves ensemble pieces that are given space and time to develop. It also demonstrates that nothing generates television gold like a compelling family drama crammed with lust, rape, class conflict, and the insuperable power of money. The Forsyte Saga is nothing if not superior soap opera. It could all have gone horribly wrong, haunted by the specter of its BBC predecessor-a television legend for anyone over 40. Instead, it succeeds entirely on its own merits with scarcely a weak link-from Stephen Mallatratt's taut and fluid script to David Moore's carefully measured, seamless direction. Risks were taken to banish the old ghosts, particularly in the casting. Damian Lewis's repressed Soames and Gina McKee as his ill-matched bride, the enigmatic Irene, are inspired choices delivering complex portraits of unhappy, damaged human beings who deserve our sympathy. In a sea of marvelous cameos and splendid acting, the top honors go to Corin Redgrave and Rupert Graves for their hauntingly sensitive interpretations of old and young Jolyon, as well as to Amanda Root for her increasingly exasperated Winifred and Gillian Kearney for her sharply intelligent and worldly June. -Piers Ford.

When American audiences first saw Mario Bava's 1963 horror trilogy, it wasn't the same film he had made in Italy. Finding it too terrifying for kids (imagine that!), AIP pictures trimmed it of violence and intensity, rescored it, and renamed it in order to cash in on the success of Black Sunday. New tongue-in-cheek introductions with costar Boris Karloff were added, the segments were rearranged, and one segment was completely rewritten in the dubbing. It was a good film even in its butchered form, but the original Italian version is excellent. The correctly ordered stories begin with "The Telephone," a gripping, ornate thriller that anticipates Bava's later "giallo" horror classics such as Blood and Black Lace. (In the American version, lesbian overtones were removed and the escaped criminal killer was turned into a vengeful ghost. ) Karloff stars as a demonic, wild-haired patriarch in the eerie "The Wurdulak," a gorgeous vampire tale shot on misty, menacing sets. The masterpiece of the collection is "The Drop of Water," a chilling ghost story with shiver inducing imagery: the piercing dead eyes of the restless corpse will haunt you long after the film is over. Bava's original framing sequence ends with a playful tribute to the magic of moviemaking and storytelling, a sweet coda to remind us that it's only a movie. The print suffers slightly from wear and tear and water damage but the colors are sharp and vivid. [+]

Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiographical novel transfers wonderfully to the screen in this BBC adaptation (with a screenplay by Winterson). Jess is the adopted daughter of evangelical Christians living in the northwest of England during the 1960s. Her mother wants Jess to be a missionary, but when she falls in love with Melanie, Jess begins to realize that there is more to life than church. When Jess's mother begins to suspect the girls of "unnatural passions" she tries to destroy their relationship with the help of Pastor Finch (Kenneth Cranham) and his congregation. But their efforts-including a terrifying attempt at exorcism-only push Jess further away. Jess eventually understands that the only way to survive is to escape, and she sets her sights on a place at Oxford. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is both a broad comedy and a moving coming-of-age story. Charlotte Coleman is perfect as the teenage Jess, attempting to reconcile her religious devotion and her adolescent passion, but the film belongs to Geraldine McEwan as Jess's mother. McEwan obviously relishes Winterson's script, and she creates a character who is monstrous, ridiculous, and surprisingly sympathetic. It's a difficult role to carry off, but McEwan succeeds. [+]

In Dream of Light, the celebrated director of The Spirit of the Beehive, Victor Erice, achieves the miraculous: a direct look into how an artist creates.

Bette Davis pulls out all the stops as Janet Frobisher, a devious, selfish vixen who will stop at nothing to get what she wants in "Another Man's Poison," a drama deliciously full of unexpected twists and turns. Frobisher is a rich mystery writer who falls in love with her secretary's fiance and lures him away. But her happiness is far from ensured. She first must deal with a long forgotten ex- convict husband who tries to blackmail her, and then she must scheme her way out of the clutches of her husband's ruthless partner, George Bates (Gary Merrill, Davis' husband in real life). Davis proves why she remains such an acting legend as she dominates the screen in the kind of part that only she could bring to life so vividly.