A STYLISH remake of The Manchurian Candidate, a brilliant piece of 1960s paranoia, comes to Ludlow Assembly Rooms in January.

The original appeared at the height of the Cold War, when Uncle Sam believed the Commies were going to take over.

Its taut screenplay and a cast that included Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury made it an instant classic.

Four decades later, corporate America is Public Enemy no 1.

The big star of Jonathan Demme's new version is Meryl Streep at her most brilliant as the manipulative mother of a brainwashed war hero.

Meryl Streep is never less than excellent and the same is true of Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

In Ladies in Lavender Dame Judi and Dame Maggie play two spinster sisters in a Cornish village who compete for the attention of a handsome young Polish violinist who is washed ashore.

Later in January, there is another treat for Maggie Smith's legion of admirers.

She has an Emmy-winning role in My House in Umbria, about the efforts of survivors of a terrorist attack on a train to recuperate in beautifully-filmed countryside.

The Assembly Rooms film list for the first two months is full of must-see new releases.

Jude Law takes on one of Michael Caine's most famous roles in a remake of Alfie.

Nicole Kidman has a traumatic time with worries about reincarnation in Birth.

Kevin Spacey relives the life and songs of Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea and Imelda Staunton goes back to the 1950s in Mike Leigh's Vera Drake.

Unusually, January's Top Hat Classic will be little older than some of the new releases.

Made in 2003, Belleville Rendezvous is an animated film with almost no dialogue but plenty of sound.

February's Classic is George Cukor's Philadelphia Story, a romantic comedy showing on the 13th and 14th.

Take note, the second showing is on St Valentine's Day!