Film choice

Rear Window (1954) FILM4, 4.40PM ★★★★★

 Wonderful in its simplicity and compelling in its execution, this belongs in the first rank of Hitchcock’s canon. The director presents a vignette of life through the lens of photographer LB “Jeff ” Jeffries (James Stewart), immobilised by a broken leg during a blistering heatwave. Events take an interesting turn when he suspects one of his neighbours across the courtyard may have murdered his wife.

Lincoln (2012) FILM4, 9.00PM ★★★★

 Daniel Day-lewis is on marvellous, and Oscar-winning, form as Abraham Lincoln, in Steven Spielberg’s intelligent, focused and robust film about the battle to abolish slavery. The film makes no attempt to cover the entire, unwieldy life of its subject. Instead, it dwells solely on the final months of Lincoln’s presidency, during which the political and personal stakes were never higher. Tommy Lee Jones co-stars.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) CHANNEL 5, 10.00PM ★★★★★

 Anthony Hopkins triumphs in this creepy thriller as the psychotic Dr Hannibal Lecter who is recruited by trainee FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) to track down a serial killer nicknamed Buffalo Bill. No matter how many times you watch this film, Hopkins’s menacing performance – and his lip-smacking relish for human body parts – will always have you on the edge of your seat.