Theatre of Blood

Edward Lionheart was passed over for the Critics' Circle award, threw himself in the Thames, and did not die. Now he is working through the critics who wronged him, killing each in the manner of a Shakespearean death.

Price considered it his favourite of his own films, and it is easy to see why: he gets to perform the soliloquies straight, in disguises, playing an actor who genuinely believes in his own greatness, and the film lets his hamminess be the point rather than a limitation.

Diana Rigg plays his daughter and accomplice. The critics are a gallery of great British character actors being dispatched with real wit, one drowned in a barrel of wine as Clarence, one fed his own poodles baked in a pie.

It is a comedy and a genuine love letter to and satire of the theatre. Robert Morley's segment is the one people quote.