In his first big screen outing, Indiana Jones (bespectacled archaeology professor by day, rugged tomb raider by… different day), must track down the legendary Ark of the Covenant before those pesky Nazi’s can get their hands on it.

It goes without saying that this movie is a Classic with a capital C: Classic Action! Classic Adventure! Classic Spielberg! In the introductory scene in the South American jungle we feel the same familiar frisson of excitement as we would later find in the first shots of Isla Nublar in Jurassic Park. The premise may seem a little outlandish – and can’t quite be forgiven for inspiring Dan Brown’s literary crimes – but part of its charm remains its tongue-in-cheek humour. In one of the best known scenes, Indy faces the terrifying threat of a knife-wielding attacker, only to shoot him dead with a casual blow.

The practical effects, with a touch of early ILM wizardry can still provide thrills and entertainment, and in an age of CGI-laden blockbusters, it is refreshing to remember the days of flimsy styrofoam sets and B-movie gore*. A worldwide fanbase may be clamouring for Indy V (Cashers of the Last Paycheck?) but please spare us a gritty reboot; for one thing we do not want to hear a melancholic, slowed down version of the theme tune.

A young movie-goer seeing this for the first time may well have a number of questions – How does John Rhys-Davies get away with playing an Egyptian? Why do bad guys always have a sexy change of outfit for the women they capture? How did that girl manage to write so neatly on her eyelids? – but nothing is quite so problematic that it can’t simply be labelled “of its time”.

This is a fun and entertaining film, with an engaging lead and some seriously cool moments that still hold up nearly forty years on. We reckon Temple of Doom may well be cropping up later in the lockdown-list.

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*Emily would like to point out that she first watched this film at the tender age of six and was therefore justifiably scarred for many years by the terrifying spiders from the beginning of the film. And (SPOILER ALERT) Alfred Molina’s impaled corpse. Just saying.