You wouldn't know it, though, from the first-rate films by English and Irish directors that have flooded out of the country lately.

In the visitors center a truly first-rate film chronicles the 1863 Civil War battle and the men who fought it.

But that is the embracing, deeply human vision this ambitious and first-rate film insists on.

That feeling of relief at not being manipulated goes a very long way when it comes to distinguishing first-rate commercial film making from junk.

The large studios are taking fewer changes producing risky, and potentially first-rate, films as opposed to potential blockbusters or retreads of previous successes.

He has made first-rate films, like Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" and "Cape Fear."

Though it was Stewart who made many more first-rate films, there may be more room for the rebellious Mitchum legacy in today's trigger-happy atmosphere.

"The Accidental Tourist" has the earmarks of a first-rate film - the personnel, the prize, the blue-chip material - and nothing more.

In a first-rate film this happens plenty of times.

Several first-rate films have been made on the subject of women surviving World War II, with their emotional survival far more crucial than their physical endurance.