Timothy Bateson

Young orphan Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is forcibly brought to a workhouse by the beadle Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) in an unidentified town in England on his ninth birthday. At 9, Oliver was considered too old for the orphanage he was living in. The workhouse was a place for the poor and destitute to live and work in exchange for basic necessities. Oliver is put into a room with hundreds of boys who are asked to sift through old roles and pick out the threads that are not yet rotten. These threads are used to create new ropes which are deployed on English battle ships. Oliver and the other resident children are treated poorly and given very little food. Facing starvation, the boys select Oliver (through a short thread lottery) to ask for more food at the next meal, which he tentatively does. This results in Oliver being chastised, and the workhouse officials, who are wealthy, well-fed, hypocritical men, decide to get rid of him. The board of the workhouse put out an advertisement giving 5 pounds as an incentive to take Oliver away as an apprentice. A chimney sweeper responds to the Advertisement, and the board approves of transferring legal guardianship of Oliver to the chimney sweeper. When the matter goes to court, Oliver is in tears and the judge takes pity on him and refuses the transfer request. The judge instructs the workhouse to treat Oliver kindly. After nearly being sold as an apprentice to a cruel chimney sweep, Oliver is sent to Mr. Sowerberry (Michael Heath), a coffin-maker, whose wife (Gillian Hanna) and senior apprentice take an instant dislike to the newcomer. Oliver is meted out even more poor treatment, where Oliver is given cold food that was meant for the dog and given a place to sleep under Mr Sowerberry's desk. The older apprentice Noah is not happy to see Oliver who represents competition. Mr Sowerberry is kind to Oliver and starts to use him as pall bearer at children's funerals. Driven to despair by the atrocities, Oliver snaps and attacks Noah (Chris Overton), the snotty older apprentice, for having insulted his mother. Knowing his life with the Sowerberry's will only get worse, Oliver escapes on foot. With little food, Oliver determines to walk 70 miles to London. After he collapses from exhaustion, a kindly old woman gives him food and lodgings for the night. After a week of travel, he arrives at the city, barefoot and penniless. He meets Jack Dawkins (Harry Eden), or "The Artful Dodger," a boy-thief who takes Oliver to his home and hideout at Saffron Hill that he shares with many other young pickpockets and their eccentric elderly leader, Fagin (Ben Kingsley). Soon, Oliver is being groomed to join their gang. On his first outing with the pickpockets, two of the boys steal a man's handkerchief and Oliver is framed. However, he is proven innocent by an eyewitness, and the owner of the handkerchief (the wealthy Mr. Brownlow (Edward Hardwicke)) takes pity on Oliver, who had collapsed from a fever in the courtroom. Brownlow informally adopts Oliver, giving him new clothes and the promise of a good education. However, while out running an errand for Brownlow, Oliver is forcibly returned to the pickpocket gang by Fagin's associate, the evil Bill Sikes (Jamie Foreman), and the young prostitute Nancy (Leanne Rowe) who is in a complex and abusive relationship with Sikes. Fagin and Sikes are worried that Oliver would "peach," and tell the authorities about their criminal activity. Oliver is put under supervision until Bill Sikes discovers the boy's connection to the rich Mr. Brownlow. Sikes and his accomplice, Toby Crackit (Mark Strong), force Oliver to aid them in robbing Brownlow's house. They are discovered and Oliver is wounded in a brief shootout between Brownlow and Sikes. As the three escape, Bill decides to murder Oliver to ensure his silence, but falls into a nearby river before he can take action. Sikes survives his near drowning but is confined to bed with a heavy fever. Fagin, despite treating Oliver kindly, remains crime-focused and plots with Sikes to kill Oliver when Sikes has recovered. Nancy has a maternal love for Oliver and does not want to see him hurt, but she is controlled by the abusive Sikes. She drugs Bill and goes to Brownlow's house where she arranges to have him meet her on London Bridge at midnight so she can provide information about Oliver. At the meeting, Nancy cautiously reveals that Oliver is staying with Fagin, and that the authorities will easily find them. Brownlow leaves to call the police. The Artful Dodger, who had been sent by a suspicious Fagin to spy on Nancy, had heard everything and is bullied by Bill Sikes to give up the information. Sikes is furious at Nancy's betrayal and brutally beats her to death in their apartment. The next day, information about Oliver and Fagin appears in the newspaper, along with Nancy's murder and Sikes is a suspect. Sikes's ever-present dog, Bullseye, is a dead giveaway to his identity. After unsuccessfully trying to kill the dog, Sikes takes up residence with Toby Crackit. Fagin, Oliver, and the boys are hiding there too, after escaping their previous location before the police could find it. Bullseye escapes his master's cruelty and leads a group of police and locals to the group's hideout. Eventually, Dodger, outraged at Sikes for killing the good-heart person Nancy, reveals their location to authorities. Bill Sikes takes Oliver onto the roof, knowing they won't shoot if the boy is with him. When trying to scale the building using a rope, Sikes, distracted by his dog, loses his footing and accidentally hangs himself. Sometime later, Oliver is living comfortably with Mr. Brownlow again. Fagin was arrested (though the fate of the pickpockets is unknown), and Oliver wishes to visit him in jail. Brownlow takes him to the prison, where they find Fagin ranting and wailing in his cell. Oliver is distraught at Fagin's fate, as he had been something of a father figure to Oliver. As Mr. Brownlow escorts a tearful Oliver to a carriage, gallows are being set up in the courtyard. Townspeople begin to gather to watch Fagin's execution.

In 1420, Henry V, King Of England and Charles VI, King of France, sign the treaty of Troyes, which states France will belong to England upon the King's death. But both Kings die within months of each other. Henry VI is a few months old and the new King of England and France. Charles VII, the Dauphin of France, will not abandon his Kingdom to a child. English Invade France. The English forces are held at the river in Loire. Charles VII (John Malkovich) is at Chinon and needs to get to Reims for his coronation, but Reims is in English hands. As a child, Joan has a violent and supernatural vision (she even receives a sword, which appeared next to her while she had the vision). She returns home to find her village burning. Her sister Catherine tries to protect her by hiding her from the attacking English forces, part of a longstanding rivalry with France. Joan (Milla Jovovich), while hiding, witnesses the brutal murder and sexual assault of her sister. Afterward, Joan is taken in by distant relatives. Joan is anguished by her sister's death and her own survival. The priest explains to her that God has a special calling for her. So long as she answers that call, her sister would not have died in vain. Several years later at Chinon, the Dauphin and soon to be King of France, Charles VII, receives a message from the now-adult Joan (Milla Jovovich), asking him to provide an army to lead into battle against the occupying English. After meeting him and his mother-in-law Yolande of Aragon (Faye Dunaway) she describes her visions. Desperate, he believes her prophecy (That a virgin from Lorine will be the Savior of France and that Joan herself will lead Charles to his coronation). Yolande believes that French already believe in Joan and will follow her into battle. Joan wins Charles's faith when she correctly says that Jean d'Aulon (Desmond Harrington) (installed by Charles on his throne as a test for Joan) is not the Dauphin of France. Gilles De Rais (Vincent Cassel) is the Marshall of France. John II, Duke of Alençon (Pascal Greggory) is Charles's cousin and the richest man in France. La Hire (Richard Ridings) is the captain of the King's bodyguards. Joan is also given a test of virginity upon the insistence of the church, to be sure of her motives. The church leaders also interrogate Joan as to the specifics of her vision. They want a sign as proof that she is indeed a messenger of God. Joan says she will not perform any tricks and also adds that her surviving a journey of 500 leagues in enemy territory is sign enough that God wanted it to be so. She demands an army for an attack on English forces around Orleans. Clad in armor, Joan leads the French army to the besieged city of Orléans (The city is ruled by Jean De Dunois (Tchéky Karyo), Charles's half brother). She travels to the other side of the river and gives the English a chance to surrender, which they refuse. The armies' commanders, skeptical of Joan's leadership (Joan wanted to recross the river and attack the English head on, which Dunois said was pure insanity, as that would leave Orleans exposed to an attack from other sides. Joan remarked that God would prevent that), initiate the next morning's battle to take over the stockade at St. Loup without her. By the time she arrives on the battlefield, the French soldiers are retreating. Joan ends the retreat and leads another charge, successfully capturing the fort. They proceed to the enemy stronghold called the "Tourelles." Joan gives the English another chance to surrender, but they refuse. Joan leads the French soldiers to attack the Tourelles, though the English defenders inflict heavy casualties, also severely wounding Joan (She is shot in the chest by an archer). Nevertheless, Joan leads a second attack the following day (she removes the arrow with her bare hands and uses a mobile attack tower to destroy the draw bridge of Tourelles and enter the fort). As the English army regroups, the French army moves to face them across an open field. Joan is aghast at the bloodshed and feels this is not God's will. Joan rides alone toward the English and offers them a final chance to surrender and return to England. The English accept her offer and retreat. Joan returns to Rheims to witness the coronation of Charles VII of France. Her military campaigns then continue to the walls of Paris, though she does not receive her requested reinforcements, and the siege is a failure. Gilles and Hire are still loyal to Joan, but tell her that Charles has his throne and is not interested in this war anymore. Joan tells King Charles VII to give her another army, but he refuses, saying he now prefers diplomacy over warfare. Joan is also deserted by her followers as she reveals that she has had no more visions since Charles's coronation. Believing she threatens his position and will require the expenditure of treasure, Charles conspires to get rid of Joan by allowing her to be captured by enemy forces. She is taken prisoner by the pro-English Burgundians at Compiègne, who sell her to the English. Led in chains, her trial begins at the town of Rouen. Joan feels betrayed when she is told Charles never even offered to pay her ransom. Charged with the crime of heresy, based on her claim of visions and signs from God, she is tried in an ecclesiastical court proceeding, which is forced by the English occupation government. The English wish to quickly condemn and execute Joan since English soldiers are afraid to fight while she remains alive, based on their belief that she could supernaturally affect battles even while in prison. Bishop Cauchon (Timothy West) expresses his fear of wrongfully executing someone who might have received visions from God. About to be burned for heresy, Joan is distraught that she will be executed without making a final confession. The Bishop (who is under pressure from the English, but wants to save Joan) tells her she must recant her visions before he can hear her confession. Joan signs the recantation. The relieved Bishop shows the paper to the English, saying that Joan can no longer be burned as a heretic. Whilst in her cell, Joan is confronted by an unnamed cloaked man (Dustin Hoffman), who is implied to be Joan's conscience. The man makes Joan question whether she was actually receiving messages from God. The cloaked man says there are an infinite number of ways a sword (which Joan claims was God's sign to her), could have been in the field, but Joan saw what she wanted to see.. The frustrated English devise another way to have Joan executed by the church. English soldiers go into Joan's cell room, rip her clothes, and give her men's clothing to wear. They then state she conjured a spell to make the new clothing appear, suggesting that she is a witch who must be burned. Although suspecting the English are lying, the Bishop abandons Joan to her fate, and she is burned alive in the marketplace of Rouen, though a postscript adds that she was canonized as a saint 500 yrs later (she was burnt in May 1431, when she was 19 yrs old)

Jean Valjean breaks out of prison to start life anew but Javert, a policeman, catches up to him. What follows is an epic tale of love, honor and obsession in 19th century France.

The Mouse that Roared The world's smallest nation, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, which lies on the Swiss-French border, is quietly and prosperously ruled by the Grand Duchess Gloriana XII (Peter Sellers), with the assistance of the Hereditary Prime Minister, Count Rupert of Mountjoy (Peter Sellers), the Hereditary Field Marshall and Grand Constable, Tully Bascombe (Peter Sellers) and the Leader of the Loyal Opposition, David Bentner (Leo McKern). Disaster strikes, however, when the Duchy's only export, its wine, Pinot Grand Fenwick, is undercut in the United States by a Californian copy, Pinot Grand Enwick. Faced with bankruptcy, and having had no reply to its protests, the Duchy decides to declare war on the United States, Mountjoy having reasoned that it will certainly lose and will then be magnificently rehabilitated by the generous, victorious Americans. A Declaration of War is duly sent, but is considered a press-room joke by its recipient in Washington. Tully Bascombe, his lieutenant Will Buckley (William Hartnell), and twenty soldiers, in chain mail and armed with longbows, including Roger (Timothy Bateson) and Cobbley (Monte Landis) and (Alan Gifford), are sent to invade the United States, making the first part of their journey by bus and then by tramp steamer, captained by Pedro (Harold Kasket), encountering, en route, the QEII (captain Stuart Saunders, second officer Ken Stanley), which they mistakenly attack. In New York, an air-raid exercise has closed the entire city, with the exception of the laboratory of Professor Alfred Kokintz (David Kossoff) at the New York Institute of Physics, where he and his daughter Helen (Jean Seberg) are working on the new Q-bomb: an air-raid warden (Wally Brown) tries to get them to take shelter, but the Professor shows him the Q-bomb - an active working model on a hair-trigger - which he must deactivate first. The Grand Fenwick party land, but can find no-one to surrender to: in Central Park, they encounter a decontamination squad, Mulligan (Richard Gatehouse) and O'Hara (George Margo), who believe the Fenwickians in their shiny mail are "men from Mars" invading the city: this rumour rapidly spreads through the crowds in the shelters. The Grand Fenwick party takes the decontamination squad's van, trying to reach the Arsenal, but instead end up at the Institute of Physics, where they take Prof. Kokintz, Helen and the Q-bomb captive. General Snippet (Macdonald Parke), in charge of the New York exercise, alerted by an army captain (Bill Edwards) of the spread of rumours of "men from Mars", arrives with four New York policemen (Bill Nagy): they are also taken captive. Leaving the Grand Fenwick flag flying from the New York customs shed, the Grand Fenwick party re-embarks and returns home. Prof. Kokintz persuades Helen to try and seduce Tully, to persuade him to allow her father to deactivate the Q-bomb, but Tully, seasick, is unreceptive. In France, the Americans cannot get anyone (ticket collector, Jacques Cey) to listen to them. Back in Grand Fenwick the whole country is excitedly preparing to welcome the American victors, and planning what to spend the money on: they are dumbfounded when Tully arrives with his prisoners and declares that Grand Fenwick won. The Q-bomb is taken to the dungeons, Prof. Kokintz and his daughter to the castle, and the General and policemen to the "Museum of Ancient Torture" before the policemen are also taken to comfortable quarters in the castle: the General, insisting on his exact rights under the Geneva Convention, is shown to a small, dim cell with a tin plate of food. The U.S. Secretary of Defense (Austin Wills) finally puts together the pieces and realizes that the United States has been defeated: he has to tell the President, persuade the Pentagon generals (Lionel Murton) that this is the only course, and then go to Grand Fenwick to surrender. Meanwhile Grand Fenwick by its possession of the Q-bomb has now become the most powerful nation on the planet, as explained by the BBC Announcer (Colin Gordon). In Grand Fenwick's parliament, messages of support arrive from numerous other countries - all offering also to take the Q-bomb. The British (Charles Clay), French (Henry de Bray) and Soviet (Guy Deghy) Ambassadors convene at the frontier, and Will Buckley makes the U.S. Secretary of Defense, arriving to discuss the U.S.'s surrender, wait also. In frustration, Mountjoy and Bentner, and their parties, all resign, leaving Tully as the new Prime Minister. Mountjoy and Bentner now decide the only course is to help the Americans to escape and take the Q-bomb with them: they release the General and policemen, and give them the Q-bomb, and they also persuade Helen to leave, but not before Tully has declared his love for her: Prof. Kokintz, being entertained by the Duchess on the harpsichord, cannot be found. Taking the Duchess' elderly car, the Americans drive away, but are pursued by Tully. The car stalls and has to be pushed over a hill-crest: it then runs away with the General and the Q-bomb on board, running into a haystack, which sets the Q-bomb into high alert mode: tossed from hand to hand, it is captured by Tully and returned to the Duchy. Tully and the U.S. Secretary of Defense now discuss the peace treaty terms; the Californian wine will be discontinued, Prof. Kokintz and Helen, who will now marry Tully, will remain in Grand Fenwick, and so will the Q-bomb: as the Duchess points out, any atomic war would destroy Grand Fenwick anyway, and the big nations have not succeeded in nuclear disarmament, so now it is time for a League of Little Nations to try. Prof. Kokintz, finally allowed to disarm the Q-bomb, drops it! It was a dud all along: or was it? The little white mouse that emerges from it may know.