Since the BFI started their pocket-sized Film Classics series in the early 90s, the single-film bookette has become a publishing phenomenon in itself. The latest addition to the shelves is the Tauris British Film Guide, which provides a valuable resource of critical work on the UK's neglected film history.

Previous entries in the Tauris list include Whisky Galore and The 39 Steps; this time, four classics from four different eras are offered. Alexander Korda's The Private Life of Henry VIII is the earliest, from 1933; then there's the Terence Fisher Dracula (1958), Tony Richardson's The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), and the imperishable Get Carter (1971).

To take the last one first, you get 135 pages of ultra-detailed Carter minutiae: from the "Carter in Context" chapter, which provides lots of info about the 60s underworld; to the shooting schedule reprinted as an appendix. Of course there's also frame-by-frame analysis of the movie (author Steve Chibnall is an academic at De Montfort University, so the tone is suitably professorial).

The other volumes aren't quite so hefty, but all include lots of historical background, a detailed account of production, and reasoned insights into the film itself.

· Tauris, £12.95 each