Top B&W British movies
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surreybrowncap
“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"
The ventriloquist's dummy for me....!!
Reno
The In Kraut
I think the film connects with some people on a personal level, it does for me, I love films about the power of a place. Joan's resolution to marry money crumbles incrementally, the storm, the sea, a Gaelic choir, a cursed laird, all chip away at her, till she discovers her soul in the harsh beauty of a Scottish Isle, which Powell and Pressburger imbue with an almost supernatural power. The key scene is the diamond wedding, time stops for a moment. It may be my favourite Powell and Pressburger film, rivalled only by Black Narcissus and thematically they are aligned.
Lurdan
old wave
True, but it's also about the place and role of the gentry in the traditional order which underpins those older communal values. And it's about the place of women in that traditional order. Wendy Hiller doesn't just represent capitalist values but 'the modern woman'. It's not an accident that the film was made at the end of a war which had seen a significant shift in the possibilities open to women. I like Powell and Pressburger's films very much but they are utterly brilliant expressions of an essentially romantic conservativism.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Yes, there's some truth to that. I really enjoyed A Canterbury Tale but the conclusion made me realise it was an essentially conservative film. And one can't help noticing in IKWIG that for all the 'following her heart' stuff, she only rejects a very rich capitalist for a moderately rich landowner. My partner pointed out after watching it that it would have been a more painfully romantic choice for her if she had fallen for a penniless farm worker or fisherman. At the same time I choose to see and enjoy the better elements in their films, perhaps because there is no other set of films that so successfully takes on capitalist modernisation in such a popular way.
Great thread.
I’ve started recording a lot of these black and white films off the marvellous Talking Pictures TV. After a spell of Ealing Comedies, tonight is “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold”. Burton has great presence.
I’m not able to provide much analysis or observations other than I enjoy the older films a lot more than a lot of modern stuff
I’ve started recording a lot of these black and white films off the marvellous Talking Pictures TV. After a spell of Ealing Comedies, tonight is “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold”. Burton has great presence.
I’m not able to provide much analysis or observations other than I enjoy the older films a lot more than a lot of modern stuff
hash tag
Reaching out
Dont forget if you like talking pictures there is this TPTV Encore | Talking Pictures TV
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
In two strip Technicolor the camera had a prism behind the lens dividing the image into two with one filtered red and the other one green and then putting them back together gave a coloured film effect.
I have enjoyed a few of these lately. All mentioned in this thread so I won’t add more than a few brief notes
Brighton Rock - excellent but you already knew that.
Green for Danger - a superior crime / who dunnit film. Alistair Sim rather good playing it half for laughs.
Brighton Rock - excellent but you already knew that.
Green for Danger - a superior crime / who dunnit film. Alistair Sim rather good playing it half for laughs.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Yes a good summary there. I’d not seen him in anything before so wasn’t sure if his face was always in a half grin or just the role
Tonight I watched “Offbeat” an interesting crime caper, a policeman goes undercover to infiltrate a crime syndicate in pre swinging 60s London. Nice jazzy soundtrack and I spotted the calf-fancying soldier from Zulu, a minor character in Dr No and the bus driver from the Italian job in the supporting cast.
Tonight I watched “Offbeat” an interesting crime caper, a policeman goes undercover to infiltrate a crime syndicate in pre swinging 60s London. Nice jazzy soundtrack and I spotted the calf-fancying soldier from Zulu, a minor character in Dr No and the bus driver from the Italian job in the supporting cast.
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Reaching out
Are you saying you are not sure if you had seen Alistair SIM before?
Interesting character in real life who has been in many superb films. Whiskey Galore and Ladykillers are two Ealing greats which immediately spring to mind.
He wasn't in either of those though he was in Hue and Cry. Also St Trinians, Scrooge and An Inspector Calls among others.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
They're worth checking out, as well as hitman comedy The Green Man, in which he stars as antagonist to protégé George Cole's protagonistThat is why I didn’t recognise him as not seen any of those you mention
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Reaching out
Yep, sorry. St Trinian's films andThat is why I didn’t recognise him as not seen any of those you mention
He was with George Cole in George Coles first film, cottage to let. Cole was mentored by sim.They're worth checking out, as well as hitman comedy The Green Man, in which he stars as antagonist to protégé George Cole's protagonist
a_chap
When the world came apart, where were you?
Also, inventor of the little integrated circuit on a chip used in mobile phones.
surreybrowncap
“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"
Yes - Cole was about 15 at the time.
Sim took him and his adoptive mother into his home.
George Cole remained in that family home until he was 27.
blossie33
trailer trash
I did know about that, it was one of the little nuggets my Dad told me (many times, bless him
) when either of the actors were on TV.
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Reaching out
Not an obvious choice but I caught a bit of Blind date this afternoon and enjoyed what I saw
en.m.wikipedia.org
Blind Date (1959 film) - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
stdP
One Swiss dinosaur in Polly Gosling's anorak hood
Don't know if it's been posted yet or not but watched The Hill over the weekend - a Sidney Lumet film set in an army prison camp in Libya in WWII starring Harry Andrews and Sean Connery.
en.wikipedia.org
Not a huge amount actually happens but - like most works of Lumet - another sidelong and beguilingly deceptive glance at power dynamics under varying forms of machismo and Lumet's usual knack for evoking character. Harry Andrews (always a favourite of mine) is especially brilliant, playing almost his opposite from Ice Cold in Alex.
Next up in the very long queue is another Lumet/Connery number called The Offence (but that's not in B&W)
P.S. Today I learned that the late Roy Kinnear - staple 70s character actor and/or plucky comic relief - is actually the father of Rory Kinnear. The name and the face should have made it obvious but I never twigged.
The Hill (film) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Not a huge amount actually happens but - like most works of Lumet - another sidelong and beguilingly deceptive glance at power dynamics under varying forms of machismo and Lumet's usual knack for evoking character. Harry Andrews (always a favourite of mine) is especially brilliant, playing almost his opposite from Ice Cold in Alex.
Next up in the very long queue is another Lumet/Connery number called The Offence (but that's not in B&W)
P.S. Today I learned that the late Roy Kinnear - staple 70s character actor and/or plucky comic relief - is actually the father of Rory Kinnear. The name and the face should have made it obvious but I never twigged.
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Reaching out
This is on television now, originally a flop but gained cult following Never Let Go (1960) - IMDb
( As this thread is about British films, the title should read films, not movies )
( As this thread is about British films, the title should read films, not movies )
