This dialogue-heavy but utterly compelling history lesson restages David Frost's exclusive 1977 interviews with former US President Richard Nixon, three years after he left office in disgrace over the Watergate scandal. Opening up the theatrical battle of wits with measured restraint to show the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, director Ron Howard (Hollywood's definitive "safe pair of hands") invests everything in the strength of his practised leads, Michael Sheen and Frank Langella. And, having honed their roles in Peter Morgan's original play, the pair are quietly electrifying. A transcription of the interviews themselves would be fascinating enough, but Morgan's script gets right under the skin of the financially strapped, vanity-driven inquisitor and the morally beleaguered but in no way feckless politician. Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell and Matthew Macfadyen (playing producer John Birt) make the most of supporting roles, and it's impossible not to get caught up in the the momentum of events, which evoke a more principled time before news-media saturation.

For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans. Likewise, Frost's team harboured doubts about their boss's ability to hold his own. But as the cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted.