Sarah Churchwell celebrates various leading men of the silver screen, from the 1930s and 1940s.

Joel McCrea starred in westerns and crime capers and refused some movies if the characters did not possess moral fibre. So he turned down The Postman Always Rings Twice with Lana Turner. He said he wanted to be the regular guy who 'rode off into the sunset'.

But was this his real appeal?

Producer: Duncan Minshull