A growing private collection brings together classic cinema, political drama, British television, documentaries, cult films and landmark productions from across the decades
Cicero’s has built up an extensive private film and television archive containing hundreds of productions spanning cinema history, British broadcasting, political drama, documentary, crime, comedy, science fiction, horror and some of the most celebrated films ever made.
The collection has grown gradually over many years and now ranges from early and mid-twentieth-century cinema to contemporary television and streaming productions. Rather than being organised as a random collection of files, much of the archive has been divided into themed sections, allowing particular periods, genres and subjects to be explored together.
Readers interested in a particular film, television programme, documentary or historical production are welcome to contact Cicero’s to ask whether it is represented in the archive. The collection is primarily maintained for editorial research, cultural discussion, historical reference and the preparation of reviews and features.
FROM CITIZEN KANE TO 2001
Among the classic and cult films represented are Citizen Kane, 12 Angry Men, 2001: A Space Odyssey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shawshank Redemption, Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, The Elephant Man, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Doctor Zhivago and It’s a Wonderful Life.
British cinema is strongly represented too, including films such as Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob, A Matter of Life and Death, The Ladykillers and Educating Rita.
The archive also contains several versions of major works, allowing different treatments of the same story to be compared. These include adaptations of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Imitation of Life, Lord of the Flies, Peter Pan and The Jungle Book.
POLITICS ON SCREEN
One of the largest sections of the archive deals with politics, government, intelligence, journalism and social conflict.
Titles include All the President’s Men, Official Secrets, The Report, Good Night, and Good Luck, The Imitation Game, Bridge of Spies, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Ipcress File, Citizenfour, Brexit: The Uncivil War, The Big Short, Too Big to Fail, Inside Job, Capitalism: A Love Story, The Iron Lady, Vice, Selma, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and The Fifth Estate.
There are also productions examining nuclear war and Cold War anxieties, including Threads, The War Game and other documentary dramas concerned with the consequences of nuclear attack.
For a publication such as Cicero’s, where politics, history and public affairs form a central part of the editorial identity, these productions provide useful cultural context for understanding how political events have been interpreted through cinema and television.
CRIME, JUSTICE AND THE DARKER SIDE OF SOCIETY
The crime collection ranges from fictional gangster films to dramas based on real criminal cases.
Among the titles are The Godfather films, Scarface, The Long Good Friday, Pulp Fiction, Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs, 10 Rillington Place, Appropriate Adult, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, Harry Brown, Scum, Midnight Express and Responsible Child.
The archive also contains television productions and documentaries concerning major criminal investigations and serial offenders, together with series such as White House Farm, Des, Mindhunter and Criminal: UK.
These programmes are particularly useful when examining how crime, policing, punishment and justice have been portrayed across different periods.
BRITISH TELEVISION AND COMEDY
Television forms another substantial part of the collection, with programmes grouped under broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, alongside streaming productions.
British comedy is particularly well represented, reflecting Cicero’s long-standing interest in programmes and performers who helped shape post-war television.
The wider archive includes material connected with programmes such as Dad’s Army, Yes Minister, Getting On, Crown Court, Spooks and numerous other dramas, documentaries and comedy productions.
ANIMATION, FAMILY FILMS AND ADVENTURE
The collection is not entirely serious-minded.
There are extensive family and adventure sections containing Wallace & Gromit, Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Paddington 2, Inside Out, Despicable Me, Minions, Jason and the Argonauts, Indiana Jones, Jurassic World and numerous Disney productions.
A small 3D archive also survives, including films such as Jaws 3-D, Friday the 13th Part III and Amityville 3-D, preserved in anaglyph format.
A LIVING CULTURAL ARCHIVE
The purpose of the collection is not simply to accumulate films.
Cinema and television preserve the political arguments, social anxieties, fashions, humour, hopes and prejudices of the societies that created them. Watching Network, 1984, Threads, Cabaret or The Killing of Sister George today can reveal almost as much about the period in which the work was made as the story being told on screen.
For Cicero’s, the archive therefore acts as a cultural library.
It provides source material for reviews, historical articles, retrospectives and comparisons between older and newer productions. It also allows forgotten television programmes and lesser-known films to sit beside internationally recognised classics.
READERS CAN ASK WHAT IS IN THE COLLECTION
Readers researching a particular film, actor, director, television programme or historical subject are welcome to contact Cicero’s and ask whether relevant material exists in the archive.
Where material can lawfully be viewed, shared or referenced, Cicero’s can advise accordingly. Copyright remains with the respective rights holders, and the archive is maintained primarily for private reference, research and editorial use.
With hundreds of films, television programmes and documentaries already stored, the collection continues to grow.
In an age when streaming services regularly remove programmes without warning, a carefully maintained archive also serves another purpose: preserving a record of what generations watched, discussed and remembered.
And somewhere between Citizen Kane, Wallace & Gromit, Threads and The Godfather, that record has become rather formidable. 🎞️
