FILM buffs have every reason to clear their diaries for next year's season of classic movies at Ludlow Assembly Rooms.

Every month Jill Howorth, of the Silk Top Hat Gallery, in Quality Square sponsors a great classic and the programme for the start of 2005 shows every sign of building on past successes.

Curiously, the January film Belleville Rendezvous sounds too young for classic status as it was made in 2003. However it already features in Leslie Halliwell's definitive film guide as an animated movie, with almost no dialogue but plenty of sound, with a narrative style close to that of the immortal Jacques Tati.

In simpler terms, it involves a club-footed grandmother, an overweight dog and an aged trio of singers who help rescue a cyclist who is kidnapped during the Tour de France to take part in races sponsored by the Mafia.

The St Valentine's spirit rules in February with Philadelphia Story, which dates from 1940 and 16 years later inspired the musical High Society. The heroine in this version is Katherine Hepburn.

In March it is the turn of what is still the most amazing vampire film of them all. The silent classic Nosferatu was made in 1921 and some of its effects remain as frightening as ever. Paul Shallcross, who recently accompanied Buster Keaton's The General, will be there with creepy piano accompaniment.

April's classic is Shirley Valentine, in which the wonderful Pauline Collins finds her life change after her best friend wins a holiday for two in Greece.

There is cabaret seating for all Silk Top Hat Classics, which means you can sit at a table with a drink while enjoying the show. Contact the LAR box office for tickets.