STALAG 17 (1953, b/w)
Cinema 1, 8pm
The director and star of Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder and William Holden, reunited for this black comedy set in a German PoW camp. Holden stars as Sergeant Sefton, a cynical racketeer suspected of being an informer by his fellow inmates because of his sour sense of humour. Holden tried to quit when Wilder refused to make Sefton more sympathetic, but he was forced to comply by the studio. His reward was an Oscar, while Wilder enjoyed one of the biggest hits of his career. (120min)
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MISS JULIE (1999)
BBC Two, 11.50pm; N. Ireland, 12.20am
His source material may be a century old, but Mike Figgis finds contemporary echoes of class and gender war in his stripped-down version of August Strindberg’s one-act social drama. Set below stairs during a midsummer party in a Swedish country mansion, Miss Julie hinges on the simmering sexual tension between the aristocratic title character (Saffron Burrows) and her footman, Jean (Peter Mullan). Using just a single set, Figgis directs Strindberg’s chamber piece with austerity and economy, but keeps the emotional fireworks crackling. (103min)