Bava’s adaptation of the famous comic book series is a zany, brightly coloured and playfully titillating time capsule of the 1960s in all its crazed glory. John Phillip Law plays the mysterious arch criminal, Diabolik, who is something close to a cross between Batman and The Phantom from THE PINK PANTHER. There is plenty of action, lots of beautiful women, and Diabolik fakes his own death on numerous occasions. Would love to see a cleaned-up Bluray version of this, as the photography, art direction and hip-swinging soundtrack are all fantastic.

As powerful and prescient as ever, Lumet’s astonishing debut is a gripping drama of twelve white men deliberating over the future of one young Puerto Rican boy, accused of murdering his father. Over the hours that follow the true colours of these dozen men are laid bare and the state of 1950s America exposed. There are perhaps a couple instances where characters leap to their feet and walk around purely for the sake of keeping the action “movie”, but that is the smallest of quibbles for a film that has lost none of its power more than 50 years after its release.

It is something of an achievement that De Palma managed to make such a dull film out of such sensationalist material, but that is the sad truth about the film. It looks gorgeous and rightly deserved its Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. Even the performances aren’t bad, with Hartnett, Eckhart and Johansson all looking right at home in the 40s film noir environment. However, a combination of the slow pacing, subdued tone and lack of much real action or drama make for an incredibly dull viewing experience.