British Films
In the film industry English actors, directors, composers and technicians have played a leading role and continue to do so.
This is a personal choice of what I think are some of the great British films over the years featuring English actors and directors and their tremendous contribution to our culture.
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing"
Sir Ralph Richardson
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Brief Encounter: Director: David Lean. Starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson. 1945.
Screenplay: Noel Coward. Music:Sergei Rachmaninov.
A very British romance, restrained but poignant. It is shot in black and white which evokes the
era with the most romantic of music, Rachmaninov's second piano concerto, keep the tissues
close by!
The Third Man: Director: Carol Reed. Starring Trevor Howard and Orson Welles. 1949.
Screenplay: Graham Greene, Carol Reed, Orson Welles.
Shot in black and white against the austere background of post war Vienna this story of intrigue
and the black market has a great cast and is directed effortlessly by Carol Reed.
The Dambusters: Director: Michael Anderson. Starring Richard Todd and Sir Michael Redgrave.
Script: R.C.Sherriff. Music: Eric Coates. 1955
One of the best made British war films with Richard Todd as Commander Guy Gibson and
a wonderful portrayal of Barnes Wallis, inventor of the bouncing bomb by Sir Michael Redgrave.
This true life story of the raid on the German Dams is a classic, enhanced by Eric Coates'
Dambuster music that is still heard at sporting events to this day.
Bridge on the River Kwai. Director: David Lean. Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden and Jack Hawkins. Music: Malcolm Arnold .1957
Perhaps one of Alec Guinness's finest performances as Colonel Nicholson ,commanding officer
of a battalion of British prisoners of war by the Japanese, who takes on the task of building a
railway bridge better than anything the japanese could do and with all the friction and tension that this creates.
.With the stirring music of Malcolm Arnold and directed by the great David Lean with
good performances by all the cast, it's a great British war film .
Dunkirk. Director: Lesley Norman. Starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough and Bernard Lee
Music: Malcolm Arnold. 1958
One of the best and most underrated of British war films is Dunkirk, starring John Mills as a Corporal who finds himself reluctantly in charge of his platoon when his Sergeant is killed. He then has the task of leading his men to the beaches of Dunkirk in the hope of being evacuated back to England. Shot in black and white with stirring music by Malcolm Arnold. There are excellent performances by Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough. It's a must see film.
Lawrence of Arabia: Director David Lean. Starring Peter O' Toole and Omar Sharif. 1962
Script: Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. Music: Maurice Jarre
A film directed by David Lean that most people rate as his best. It tells the story of Captain T.E Lawrence, the legendary Lawrence of Arabia. With a mesmerizing performance by
Peter O' Toole as Lawrence, the unforgettable scene of Omar Sharif's arrival in the distance on a camel and the lush music of Maurice Jarre, it could not fail.
Zulu: Director: Cy Enfield. Starring Stanley Baker, Michael Caine, Nigel Green,J ack Hawkins.
Music: John Barry. 1964
Zulu tells of the real battle in Queen Victoria's reign between the British Army and the Zulus at
Rorke's Drift in which the British Army won several VCs. It has some wonderful cinematography
and excellent performances from Stanley Baker, Michael Caine and Jack Hawkins, but none more so than Nigel Green with his portrayal of Colour Sergeant Bourne.
Dr Zhivago. Director: David Lean. Starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin 1965
Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtney. Music Maurice Jarre.
Another classic from director David Lean, an adaptation from the Boris Pasternak novel.
It tells of the romance at the time of the Russian revolution between Dr Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and Lara (Julie Christie) with an excellent cast including (Geraldine Chaplin) as Tonya,
Zhivago's wife. Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, (Tom Courtney) as Pasha, Lara's husband and a
revolutionary, Ralph Richardson and Geoffrey Keen. It is an epic film with the haunting music of
Maurice Jarre, Lara's theme. It couldn't fail and picked up several well deserved Oscars.
The Family Way. Director: Roy Boulting. Starring John Mills, Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett. Wilfred Pickles and Avril Angers. Music: Paul McCartney. 1966
A delightful, poignant but funny story of a honeymoon couple from Bolton in the 1960s. They plan to spend their honeymoon abroad, but it goes wrong and the pressure from family and work collegues gets too much for them. Music is from Paul McCartney in his first film score without the Beatles.
The Italian Job. Director: Peter Collinson. Starring Michael Caine and Noel Coward. 1969.
Music: Quincey Jones.
A film which starred the iconic car the Mini as well as Michael Caine and Noel Coward.
Caine plays Charlie Croker a criminal planning a big robbery in Italy and appeals to Bridger the
Mr Big of the British criminal fraternity (Noel Coward) to fund the job, although Bridger is still in
jail at the time.
If successful it will net four million dollars and Croker appeals to Bridger's
patriotism that it will help Britain's balance of trade position.
The Minis really steal the show with the car chase through the Italian streets by the Police.
An enjoyable romp of a British comedy with music by Quincy Jones and songwriter Don Black.
The Day of the Jackel. Director: Fred Zinnemann. Starring Edward Fox and Michel Lonsdale. Script: Kenneth Ross from the book by Frederick Forsyth. 1973.
Set in the time of the brutal Algerian war of independence against the French, this thriller tells the story of a plot to assasinate President Charles De Gaulle by a hired assassin, played superbly by Edward Fox.
It's a race against time to try and prevent the assasin from succeeding by his pursuer played by Michel Lonsdale. This fast moving thriller keeps you guessing until the end and documents a little understood time of French history.
The Odessa File. Director: Ronald Neame. Starring John Voight, Maximillian Schell,
Maria Schell, Mary Tamm and Derek Jacobi.
Written by Kenneth Ross and George Markstein from an adaptation of the book by
Frederick Forsyth.
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber.Christmas Dream: recorded by Perry Como.
One of my all time favourite films, the Odessa file starts on the day President Kennedy is
assainated with John Voight playing a young German reporter in Berlin.
He pulls over to hear the news bulletin and then speeds off after a vehicle which has its siren blazing in search of a story.
The reporter gets to the scene just as the emergency sevices are bringing an old dead Jew out of an appartment block.
The plot thickens as he uncovers a plot by ex Nazis and he infiltrates their ranks to find out more.
An excellent film with some great acting and a surprising twist at the end.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Directors:Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones.
Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.
Based on an Arthurian legend in the search for the Holy Grail, this off the wall comedy is
pure Monty Python and is as popular today with Python fans as when it first burst on to the
silver screen. 1975.
The Eagle has Landed. Director: John Sturges.Starring Michael Caine and
Donald Sutherland.
Adapted from a Jack Higgins novel, its a tale of intrigue and suspence with a plot to assainate
Churchill.The plot appears to succeed but that is the high point for the plotters as it all starts to
unravel.A good second world war drama. 1976.
A Bridge too Far. Director: Richard Attenborough. Starring Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine,
Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Elliott Gould, Edward Fox, Gene Hackman, Athony Hopkins,
Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Liv Ullman, Maximilian Schell, Hardy Kruger.
Music: John Addison.
This true world war two drama is about Field Marshall Montgomery's plan to drop parachutists
behind German lines in a bold move to end the war more quickly.
The action takes place in Holland.
Instead of the hoped for breakthrough the situation deteriorates with fierce battles taking place.
An excellent film directed superbly by Richard Attenborough 1977.
The Thirty Nine Steps. Director: DonSharpe.Starring Robert Powell, Karen Dotrice and
John Mills. Music: Ed Welch.
This classic story from the John Buchan novel has had several attempts from the world of the silver screen, all good in their own way with Robert Donat as Richard Hannay in the original and also another good version starring Kenneth Moore, but this offering starring Robert Powell certainly matches the previous two.
Set around the period of the first world war with spies and intrigue it can't fail to entertain.
1978.
Tess. Director: Roman Polanski. Starring Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth and Leigh Lawson.
Music: Philippe Sarde.
This classic tale by Thomas Hardy is brought to life in what some consider to be the definitive
version of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. A triumph for director Roman Polanski and intoducing
Nastassja Kinski. 1979.
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