@Kirk: I agree that the Adventures are the best place to start, much better than Study in Scarlet. Although I think that "Silver Blaze" is still the finest of all the short stories.

Leslie Klinger's new annotated edition of the stories is great, but as far as I'm concerned, William S. Baring-Gould's original Annotated Sherlock Holmes is the best book in the world—my desert island volume, without a doubt.

If we're going to talk about lesser works by P&P, the real movie to watch is Contraband. I always feel vaguely silly about raving about a quickie thriller made in 1940 that barely registers 370 votes on imdb, but I can't help myself: this is one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen, a weird, terrifically…

"He painted a unicorn in space! I ask you—what's it breathing? Ain't no air in space!"

A boffin-themed movie night sounds like it would be a lot of fun. The Small Back Room, The Sound Barrier, The Dambusters—any others?

Totally agree about A Matter of Life and Death. It could have been completely ridiculous, but instead, it feels like one of the most essential movies ever made. Effortlessly moving, romantic, and amusing. ("As Sir Walter Scott is ALWAYS saying…")

It might be worth tracking down if you're an Archers completist, but only if you've already seen everything from Contraband through Small Back Room, plus Tales of Hoffmann and Age of Consent. It's true that it would lose a lot on video, but then again, I saw The Red Shoes for the first time on VHS, and fell in love at…

I'd definitely be interested in seeing Powell's quota quickies, if somebody wants to put them out on video. The only one I've seen is The Phantom Light, and it's pretty fun.

I saw Oh…Rosalinda!! at Lincoln Center in 2005, at their big Michael Powell retrospective. I don't remember much about it, except that it was a lot of silly fun, with some welcome faces (Walbrook, Quayle, Tcherina) in the cast. It was clearly made very quickly, and parts of it are a little embarrassing, but I'd…

@knuckles: Seconded on Age of Consent (which I assume is what you meant). If there's anything hotter than Jennifer Jones, it's naked 24-year-old Helen Mirren.

Also, I've always thought that Black Narcissus was one of the weakest movies in P&P's great period—mostly because it struck me as arch, over-the-top, indulgent, etc.—but your analysis of it makes me want to check it out again. ("Weakest," of course, is a relative term here: it's undeniably a major film. And the…

@Val: I do like The Spy in Black (although Contraband is much better) and Ill Met by Moonlight. But I have to admit that I found The Pursuit of the Graf Spee (aka The Battle of the River Plate) almost unbearably boring, even on the big screen. Ironically, it was Powell and Pressburger's biggest hit. It's been a few…

Cronenberg is actually in talks to direct The Matarese Circle, an adaptation of a Robert Ludlum thriller, so there you go.

I keep thinking of this movie as "Oz the Gweat and Tewwible," which is probably not what the producers had in mind.

I should also point out that, bad accent aside, Jennifer Jones in Gone to Earth is incredibly hot.

@hercules: Agreed. The first three minutes, especially, are full of nice little touches that I'd forgotten, even though I've seen this movie more than once: the push into the clock's inner workings, the sudden close-up of Kathleen Byron's picture, the reflection in the window discussed above. The sudden plunge into…

I guess "late" is a relative term, since I tuned out of the show somewhere in the middle of season 6. But I do think that Gilligan was the first writer to submit an X-Files episode on spec, rather than as an established member of the writing staff, so I've always thought of him as something of a latecomer.

@Tarkovskys Current AD: I'm not sure that tag-team direction is a great idea for most movies—two sets of clashing directorial egos can be a problem, unless they're brothers, like the Coens, or unnaturally in tune, like the Archers. But I do agree that a creative partnership between equals can enrich almost any movie.

@Lone: Agreed on Lynch. I was actually going to mention Blue Velvet above as one of those rare combinations of complete economy and limitless inventiveness.

I really wanted to love Tales of Hoffmann, especially after hearing that it was George Romero's favorite movie. (Apparently he and Scorsese traded off borrowing the only 16 mm print available in New York in the '70's.) And there's plenty to love: the first twenty minutes are terrific, it's full of nice little gags and…