Tartan *****

IF YOU'VE just thought "who?", then this superb box set - comprising Strike, Battleship Potempkin and October - probably isn't for you.

For anyone interested in the history of cinema, though, or just wanting to watch damned good movies, then this is a must.

Yes, they're silent, black-and-white, and (particularly October) unashamedly propagandist. But in any History of Cinema class, this is Lesson One.

Potempkin, the best known, is the greatest classic of the silent age: superbly directed, moving, and much imitated. Strike is probably the better film, raising Communist propaganda to mythological levels. October, while okay, just makes up the numbers.