# Top B&W British movies



## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

The Third Man wins... what else there?
I remember Carry on Cabby being good 

I guess A Matter of LIfe and Death is one a lot of people rate






39 steps was on tv yesterday and that was fun

WHAT ELSE??


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

What year did it all go colour??


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## Orang Utan (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> What year did it all go colour??


A Matter Of Life And Death is partially in colour! 
It didn't go colour in just one year - there were colour films in the 20s


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## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2016)

Went The Day Well?

It Happened Here


theres loads of powell and pressburger ones that evryone rates too but I only saw whisky galore and that was yeeeeeears ago but everyone else seems to big that team up

e2a and on looking that one ealing anyway but they get bare love as well.


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## kittyP (Sep 25, 2016)

Hitchcock's Rebecca <3


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> It didn't go colour in just one year - there were colour films in the 20s


LIES


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## Fez909 (Sep 25, 2016)

This is supposed to be good: A Field in England (2013) - IMDb


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

Fez909 said:


> This is supposed to be good: A Field in England (2013) - IMDb


ive seen it, dont remember it being bnw though. so get your facts straight 
...errr, just looked at clips and theyre all black and white. very strange 
anyhow i mean like totally old films, not arty black and white stuff
not sure what smiley goes next
this one 

and yeah its an interesting film - flawed but good stab


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## Fez909 (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> ive seen it, dont remember it being bnw though. so get your facts straight
> ...errr, just looked at clips and theyre all black and white. very strange
> anyhow i mean like totally old films, not arty black and white stuff
> not sure what smiley goes next
> ...


Quatermass?


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

Fez909 said:


> Quatermass?


mmyeah, never saw that...thats meant to be good 

ETA:


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## Siouxsie (Sep 25, 2016)

I love b&w films, Brief encounter is my favourite.


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## Fez909 (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> mmyeah, never saw that...thats meant to be good
> 
> ETA:


You need the first one - Quatermass Xperiment


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## Fez909 (Sep 25, 2016)

Siouxsie said:


> I love b&w films, Brief encounter is my favourite.


Watched the trailer for this recently. Looks v nice.


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## Siouxsie (Sep 25, 2016)

Fez909 said:


> Watched the trailer for this recently. Looks v nice.


It very much portrays the era, Lovely film.


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## Orang Utan (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> ive seen it, dont remember it being bnw though. so get your facts straight
> ...errr, just looked at clips and theyre all black and white. very strange
> anyhow i mean like totally old films, not arty black and white stuff
> not sure what smiley goes next
> ...


I think the appropriate smiley here is  if you can't remember if films are black and white or not


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## Fez909 (Sep 25, 2016)

There's A Taste of Honey - inaugural film @ Favelado's Fishco Film club...






Very good film


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> I think the appropriate smiley here is  if you can't remember if films are black and white or not


show me a colour film from the 20s and then ill work out what smiley is appropriate.
make it quick because im staying up for your post alone


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## Fez909 (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> show me a colour film from the 20s and then ill work out what smiley is appropriate.
> make it quick because im staying up for your post alone


On with the Show! (1929) - IMDb 

The oldest colour film is from 1902


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

are these some kind of coloured in frame by frame things?


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## Fez909 (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> are these some kind of coloured in frame by frame things?


On with the show is technicolor, which is 'proper' film I believe. Not sure about the 1902 stuff.


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

well ill be. im going to bed to think about what this all means


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## Siouxsie (Sep 25, 2016)

Saturday night and sunday morning is another one I love. There is a melancholy about b&w films that colour can't quite portray.


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## Reno (Sep 25, 2016)

kittyP said:


> Hitchcock's Rebecca <3


...is a Hollywood film.


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## Lurdan (Sep 25, 2016)

They were still making black and white feature films well into the 1960s.

What's a "top film" ?

Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Innocents, Repulsion, The Cruel Sea, A Hard Day's Night, This Sporting Life, The Criminal, The Servant, I Know Where I'm Going, Gaslight, Dead of Night, The Dam Busters, Culloden, Night of the Demon, A Diary for Timothy, It Always Rains on Sunday, Oh Mr Porter, Green For Danger, The Fallen Idol, A Canterbury Tale, The Maggie, Night of the Eagle, The Small Back Room, The Nanny, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold


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## Kaka Tim (Sep 25, 2016)

Brighton Rock.

Darling Dickie attenboroough utterly brilliant as  brando-esque (before brando) violent gangster punk.


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## Spymaster (Sep 25, 2016)

All of the Earth scenes are in colour in A Matter of Life and Death.

The Third Man is a good shout. I always think of The Lady Vanishes, and Passport to Pimlico for b&w films.


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## danny la rouge (Sep 25, 2016)

The early David Lean films, the Brothers (by David MacDonald), Kind Hearts and Coronets, Up the Junction, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Night and the City, Odd Man Out, It Always Rains on Sunday, anything by Carol Reed, half of If.


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## danny la rouge (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> What year did it all go colour??


Half way through If.

Oh, wait...


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## danny la rouge (Sep 25, 2016)

There's so many I can't list them. Just thought of a load more, but list threads dare boring.


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## Red Cat (Sep 25, 2016)

btw Mubi are currently showing some David Lean and Powell and Pressburger


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## killer b (Sep 25, 2016)

Canterbury tale, the lady vanishes, the lady killers and brief encounter are all in my shortlist. (I took the Mrs on a surprise trip to carnforth railway station, and can recommend it as a pleasant (if slightly kitsch) afternoon for David lean fans...


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## hash tag (Sep 25, 2016)

As danny la rouge says there are many many great old films. To avoid lists and avoiding Hitchcock films 
Went the day well ( the old wartime propoganda film about a village being invaded by Germans), 
Wrong Arm of the Law ( Peter Sellers, nuff said, but liked for shots of Battersea Funfair. The film is excruiciatingly bad. Pearly Gates, Nosey Parker, Nervous O'toole!). 
Then there is the likes of Passport to Pimlico and the Lavender Hill Mob. Just so many great old films.

London Live has a habit of showing a B&W film most afternoons


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## Spymaster (Sep 25, 2016)

Kind Hearts and Coronets is a great film for a Sunday. I'll watch that today.


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## rubbershoes (Sep 25, 2016)

Anyone mentioned The Man in the White Suit?


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## Sirena (Sep 25, 2016)

Fez909 said:


> There's A Taste of Honey - inaugural film @ Favelado's Fishco Film club...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I agree.  This is one of the best angry-young-man/kitchen-sink films of the late 50s/early 60s.

Dora Bryan is brilliant as the terrible boozy mum....


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## seventh bullet (Sep 25, 2016)

The Man Between.


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> There's so many I can't list them. Just thought of a load more, but list threads dare boring.


i like a list - i might actually take up your recommendation. Think of the power


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## Sirena (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> i like a list - i might actually take up your recommendation. Think of the power


It would have to be a top 100 list! 

(thinks: that will keep him busy for weeks.....)


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## danny la rouge (Sep 25, 2016)

ska invita said:


> i like a list - i might actually take up your recommendation. Think of the power


I listed some I like. But it was off the top of my head and not intended as exhaustive. I could have posted double  the number of my initial post in the post you quote, and nearly did. But I thought I'd stick.

I like David Lean's early films. They're overlooked because of the recognisable dramatic sweep of his mature work, but they're very accomplished and quite diverse. Most people know Brief Encounter is his, but so also is Hobson's Choice, and the Noel Coward adaptation, Blythe Spirit. 

The Brothers (the 1947 film by David MacDonald, not any other of the same name) has long been a favourite of mine as a chilling meditation on the consequences of actions. It features a fantastic performance by a younger John Laurie (of Dad's Army fame), and an unforgettable conclusion.


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## oneflewover (Sep 25, 2016)

Fez909 said:


> There's A Taste of Honey - inaugural film @ Favelado's Fishco Film club...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Funninly enough just watched this last week. Very good. Love Rita Tushingham.


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## Pickman's model (Sep 25, 2016)

No orchids for miss blandish


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## Sea Star (Sep 25, 2016)

Used to watch old black and white films with my mum on Sunday afternoons. One of the few rituals from my childhood I miss. 

Seems odd to me to categorise films by whether they were colour or black and white though.


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## Ho Chi Ming (Sep 25, 2016)

Obsession (with the delectable Sally Gray) is a cracker.
School for Scoundrels is a great Sunday film.
Two excellent John Mills films spring to mind too: The Long Memory and The Vicious Circle.


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## slowth (Sep 25, 2016)

Billy Liar


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## sunnysidedown (Sep 25, 2016)

Children of the Damned has great cinematography. The scenes shot around London are wonderful.

It's all a bit Momentum Kids too, one of them even says 'we're stronger together'.

Seance on a Wet Afternoon is another good one.


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## SikhWarrioR (Sep 25, 2016)

A Night To Remember infinately better than Titanic or Day of the Triffids or The Day The Earth Caught Fire Or the brilliant 1950 "Seven Days Till Noon" where a british nuclear scientist steals a nuclear warhead and threatens to destroy the center of London unless the UK's government stops work on nuclear weapons, Might also add "the Blue Lamp" the Dixon of Dock Green forrunner


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## klang (Sep 25, 2016)

Hancock's 'The Punch and Judy Man' is up there for me.


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

AuntiStella said:


> Seems odd to me to categorise films by whether they were colour or black and white though.


Im thinking particularly 40s and earlier....


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## a_chap (Sep 25, 2016)

Bugger.

Must read thread title properly in future.



ETA: it was The day the earth stood still which is still a great film. And the lead actor is British.

And here's a picture to prove it


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## a_chap (Sep 25, 2016)

Village of the Damned_*.*_

_*



*_

_*Spooky. British. Er... why has the font changed?*_


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## ska invita (Sep 25, 2016)

a_chap said:


> _* Er... why has the font changed?*_


\That is spooky


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## Redeyes (Sep 25, 2016)

Dead of Night...






Night of the Demon...


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## Indeliblelink (Sep 25, 2016)

Trio of documentary films from the silent era filmed on infamous expeditions. All great.
South [Endurance] (1919)
The Epic Of Everest (1924)
The Great White Silence (1924)


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## blossie33 (Sep 25, 2016)

The Ipcress File : 1965 with Michael Caine
Seen it quite a few times and still love it.


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## a_chap (Sep 25, 2016)

Hell Drivers. How the hell did I forget that one???






Incredible list of actors:

Stanley Baker
Herbert Lom
Peggy Cummins
Patrick McGoohan
William Hartnell
Wilfrid Lawson
Sidney James
Jill Ireland
Alfie Bass
Gordon Jackson
David McCallum
Sean Connery


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## Sprocket. (Sep 26, 2016)

So many great films mentioned throughout this thread.
I always remember this classic.


Screenplay by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov.
Directed by Carol Reed.


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## Indeliblelink (Sep 26, 2016)

The closing credits of Dads Army was based on the final scene of The Way Ahead and of course John Laurie was in both.


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## ska invita (Sep 26, 2016)

Sprocket. said:


> So many great films mentioned throughout this thread.
> I always remember this classic.
> View attachment 93043
> 
> ...


Sounds great....i have seen the Irish dissident carol reed film...i think that's a Graeme green story like third man... Can't look it up on phone... Anyhow, that's really good too. Wish I could remember more about it... Like the name even 

Eta..
Odd man out its called


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## Indeliblelink (Sep 26, 2016)

That was based on a book by Frederick Green. Carol Reed did direct a version Graham Greene's "Our Man In Havana" starring Alec Guinness & Noel Coward which is great but maybe not as great as it should of been considering those involved.


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## Sirena (Sep 26, 2016)

SikhWarrioR said:


> A Night To Remember infinately better than Titanic



Of all the Titanic films, the James Cameron blockbuster cartoon is by far the worst. 

'A Night To Remember' is a great film and (though it is American) the 1953 'Titanic', with Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb, is also superb.


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## rubbershoes (Sep 26, 2016)

In which we serve


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## ska invita (Oct 4, 2016)

Just came across this...looks really great! Paul Robeson hanging out with welsh miners and having a sing song + politics...from 1940...









Is weird though because I once saw a film called Pool of London (1951) Pool of London (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and that film is known as the first time there was a black actor in a leading role in a UK film (even says it in the wiki)...its a great London film IIRC

Double checked if Proud Valley is a UK film and its filmed in Ealing studios and has a British producer, so seems so...









*Earl Cameron*, CBE (born 8 August 1917) is a Bermudian actor. Along with Cy Grant, he is known as one of the first black actors to break the "colour bar" in the United Kingdom. According to _Screenonline_, "Earl Cameron brought a breath of fresh air to the British film industry's stuffy depictions of race relations. Often cast as a sensitive outsider, Cameron gave his characters a grace and moral authority that often surpassed the films' compromised liberal agendas."[1] He also had repeated appearances on many British science fiction programmes of the 1960s, including _Doctor Who_, _The Prisoner_, and _The Andromeda Breakthrough_.


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 4, 2016)

a_chap said:


> Hell Drivers. How the hell did I forget that one???
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great little thriller 

I nominate _Green For Danger_, which despite the title is entirely monochrome  Sort of a wartime British _Columbo_.


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## Lurdan (Oct 4, 2016)

ska invita said:


> Just came across this...looks really great! Paul Robeson hanging out with welsh miners and having a sing song + politics...from 1940...
> 
> Is weird though because I once saw a film called Pool of London (1951) Pool of London (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and that film is known as the first time there was a black actor in a leading role in a UK film (even says it in the wiki)...its a great London film IIRC
> 
> Double checked if Proud Valley is a UK film and its filmed in Ealing studios and has a British producer, so seems so...



Robson actually made a few other films in the UK in the 30s starting with the imperialist adventure Sanders of the River. (He was already a star in the UK following his West End performance in Show Boat). He was unhappy with how Sanders turned out and on Song of Freedom (made for the original Hammer films) and Big Fella (based rather distantly on a novel by Claude McKay) he insisted on more control. In both films Elisabeth Welch played the female lead - equally unusual casting for the period.


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## Indeliblelink (Oct 5, 2016)

Robeson was also in Borderline from 1930, an interesting silent British film about an interracial relationship.
The Proud Valley is a great watch.

No mention of any Anthony Asquith films on this thread, Michael Redgrave in The Browning Version is utterly fantastic. Pygmalion and Escape From Dartmoor also great and of course The Importance Of Being Earnest (although that's not B&W)


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## redsquirrel (Oct 5, 2016)

DaveCinzano said:


> Great little thriller
> 
> I nominate _Green For Danger_, which despite the title is entirely monochrome  Sort of a wartime British _Columbo_.


_Green for Danger_ is great, last series of Father Brown pinched it's plot completely for one episode. 

The OP is far too wide to make sense really but I'll mention _Frieda_ and _The Clouded Yellow_


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## Indeliblelink (Oct 5, 2016)

Seance On A Wet Afternoon (1964)




You haven't seen this then you really should, brilliant performances from Kim Stanley & Richard Attenborough


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 5, 2016)

ska invita said:


>



Now that's a lovely looking poster


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## SikhWarrioR (Oct 5, 2016)

Day of the Triffids and HG Wells The Shape Of Things To Come were pretty good I thought


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## not-bono-ever (Oct 5, 2016)

b Liar
Room at the top
Kind of loving
Saturday night/ Sunday morning
Ice cold in alex
This sporting life

theres tons


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## not-bono-ever (Oct 5, 2016)

and anything with gordon jackson in. But he always dies soon after showing everyone a picture of his lassie back home


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## a_chap (Oct 5, 2016)

not-bono-ever said:


> ...
> Ice cold in alex
> ...



Ice cold in Alex.

How the fuck did I overlook that gem?


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## not-bono-ever (Oct 5, 2016)

the hill


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 5, 2016)

How about _The Hill_?


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## Nanker Phelge (Oct 6, 2016)

League of Gentlemen


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## Nanker Phelge (Oct 6, 2016)

Bunny Lake is Missing

Whistle Down the Wind


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## Ho Chi Ming (Oct 6, 2016)

DaveCinzano said:


> How about _The Hill_?



An absolute cracker.


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## hash tag (Oct 21, 2016)

Think great British Black and white films, think Ealing, think Michael Balcon, so many great films, some of which recently shown on London Live.
A great exhibition, which I wont be able to make Sir Michael Balcon honoured in Birmingham film exhibition - BBC News
Parkside Gallery : What's on

39 steps. went the day well. dead of night. champagne charlie. whiskey galore. kind hearts......the list goes on.


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## hammerntongues (Oct 21, 2016)

have to watch this every time its on the box , my wife`s Great Uncle Bill has a talking part as a one legged bookie at White City  dog track   " he went that way ".


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## blossie33 (Oct 21, 2016)

hash tag said:


> Think great British Black and white films, think Ealing, think Michael Balcon, so many great films, some of which recently shown on London Live.
> A great exhibition, which I wont be able to make Sir Michael Balcon honoured in Birmingham film exhibition - BBC News
> Parkside Gallery : What's on
> 
> 39 steps. went the day well. dead of night. champagne charlie. whiskey galore. kind hearts......the list goes on.



That looks a really interesting exhibition - shame it finishes today and I won't be in Brum for a few weeks.


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## tim (Oct 21, 2016)

blossie33 said:


> The Ipcress File : 1965 with Michael Caine
> Seen it quite a few times and still love it.



An excellent film but not monochrome.


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## blossie33 (Oct 21, 2016)

tim said:


> An excellent film but not monochrome.



.....oops, isn't it?


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## Lurdan (Oct 21, 2016)

blossie33 said:


> .....oops, isn't it?


Depends - when it was first broadcast on the BBC in 1972 the vast majority of TV sets were still black and white....


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## Sprocket. (Oct 21, 2016)

Flicking through the channels earlier and dropped on Sea of Sand, classic war film about the Long Range Desert Group, with Richard Attenborough, John Gregson and a young Ray McNally!
Made in 1958.


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## D'wards (Oct 21, 2016)

Always had a soft spot for Norman Wisdom films


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## boohoo (Oct 21, 2016)

ska invita  have you popped to the Croydon museum to see some of the early silent films they have there? Worth a visit just for those.


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## boohoo (Oct 21, 2016)

Some of the St Trinians films


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## Sirena (Oct 21, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Always had a soft spot for Norman Wisdom films



Not since I was a child, sorry....

On the positive side, though, I would watch Norman Wisdom films long before I would watch George Formby films.....

And Norman Wisdom, in his later years, played a very good TV drama about a couple of men dying from cancer ("BBC2 Playhouse" Going Gently (TV Episode 1981) - IMDb)


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## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2016)

boohoo said:


> Some of the St Trinians films



it's Arthur Daley!


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## Sirena (Oct 21, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> it's Arthur Daley!


George Cole's first ever film was 'Cottage To Let', a 1941 propaganda film about a young lad who exposes German fifth-columnists.

It's a brilliant performance from a young actor, though the film itself is not totally excellent.  It does have Alastair Sim, though.


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## Sue (Oct 21, 2016)

Sirena said:


> George Cole's first ever film was 'Cottage To Let', a 1941 propaganda film about a young lad who exposes German fifth-columnists.
> 
> It's a brilliant performance from a young actor, though the film itself is not totally excellent.  It does have Alastair Sim, though.



Seem to recall Sim was practically a surrogate father to Cole.


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## ska invita (Oct 21, 2016)

boohoo said:


> ska invita  have you popped to the Croydon museum to see some of the early silent films they have there? Worth a visit just for those.


no, didnt know there was a croydon museum. what are the flims about?


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## littlebabyjesus (Oct 21, 2016)

DaveCinzano said:


> How about _The Hill_?


My problem is I can't remember what's b/w. I'd have sworn that was colour. 

Lots already mentioned. Have we had The Servant yet? Great film.


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## littlebabyjesus (Oct 21, 2016)

Is there a British b/w film that uses and stretches the medium in the way of something like Night of the Hunter or M?

The Third Man is the only one I can really think of with haunting visual scenes, using shadows and light/dark. For that reason, I think I'd go along with that as the stand-out.


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## ska invita (Oct 21, 2016)

littlebabyjesus said:


> The Third Man is the only one I can really think of with haunting visual scenes, using shadows and light/dark. For that reason, I think I'd go along with that as the stand-out.


agreed 100%... see line one in the OP! Its often in the top 3 films evah though, so i guess its not that contentious.

Ive seen the making of of The Third Man... IIRC the shadows are slightly an accident - they were sent off to shoot on location in Vienna and for some reason all they could bring in the way of lights were three really full on spotlight type lights...inevitably this meant shadows rather than filling in the gaps. Of course it wasnt just fluke, it was amazing cinematography.
Anoither thing they did for the outdoor night shots was wet the concrete with a hose so that it reflected more...


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## Red Cat (Oct 21, 2016)

Nanker Phelge said:


> Bunny Lake is Missing
> 
> Whistle Down the Wind



Oh, I love Whistle Down the Wind.


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## boohoo (Oct 22, 2016)

ska invita said:


> no, didnt know there was a croydon museum. what are the flims about?



just some early 'special effects' pieces and a car chase scene.


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## hash tag (Oct 22, 2016)

Sue said:


> Seem to recall Sim was practically a surrogate father to Cole.



Quite true. Sim was an interesting character to say the least and always encouraged and supported young talent. To this end, he took the young George under his wing for a few years I believe, though the circumstances escape me. It was probably as George was starting out. Another great from that era would be Margaret Rutherford. A lovely person who would only work with her Stringer!


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## Indeliblelink (Oct 22, 2016)

That reminds me to mention The Happiest Days Of Your Life (1950) - a precursor to the St. Trinians films starring Sim & Rutherford. Very funny.


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## jakethesnake (Oct 22, 2016)

Passport to Pimlico, one of the Ealing comedies, is worth a watch.


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## Reno (Oct 22, 2016)

I think the most beautiful British b&w film ever is the ghost story The Innocents from 1961 based on The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It's in b&w and in Cinemascope and it does extraordinary things with depth of field. Freddy Francis was the cinematographer, one of the greatest ever and he went on to shoot several films for David Lynch.


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## Reno (Oct 22, 2016)

ska invita said:


> ive seen it, dont remember it being bnw though. so get your facts straight
> ...errr, just looked at clips and theyre all black and white. very strange
> anyhow i mean like totally old films, not arty black and white stuff
> not sure what smiley goes next
> ...


The thing with A Matter of Life and Death is that not only are two thirds of it shot in eyepopping Technicolor, its use of colour is a plot device which even gets referenced in the line "One is starved of Technicolor up here". The world of the living is in color, the afterlife is b&w, which is a reversal of The Wizard of Oz, where the real world was b&w and the unreal world was in color

My favourite b&w movie by Powell & Pressburger is I Know Where I'm Going in which a woman on her way to marry a rich industrialist, gets held up by a storm and instead falls in love with a Scottish island and a man who embodies the spirit of that island in an almost supernatural way. They made several wonderful films about the near magical power of landscapes and how that power can take hold of people (see also The Edge of the World, A Canterbury Tale and Black Narcissus)


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## Idris2002 (Oct 22, 2016)

The Long and the Short and the Tall.

From 1961, I think. A platoon in Burma during the war come to a bad end.

Based on a play, and maybe not fully cinematic. But the tension builds effectively.


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## Sirena (Oct 22, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> The Long and the Short and the Tall.
> 
> From 1961, I think. A platoon in Burma during the war come to a bad end.
> 
> Based on a play, and maybe not fully cinematic. But the tension builds effectively.


That looks good (even though it has Lawrence Harvey in.....) and I like a good stage play-turned-film.


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## stdP (Oct 22, 2016)

SikhWarrioR said:


> A Night To Remember infinately better than Titanic



Cannae believe it took until page 2 for someone to mention A Night to Remember! It's what inspired Cameron to make his Schmaltz-infested version... if you've watched ANTR as many times as me (and were dragged to see Titanic as many times as I was) then you'd spot several scenes that were incorporated into Titanic; especially the one with a young couple trying to scramble on top of a floating trunk.

Would also like to mention:
Ice Cold in Alex (still my fave war film, my grandfather was in the war in north africa and always gave running commentaries when we watched this together)
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (has a grasp of physics as hokey as The Core, but has a good enough script that I can ignore that)


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## Reno (Oct 23, 2016)

stdP said:


> Cannae believe it took until page 2 for someone to mention A Night to Remember! It's what inspired Cameron to make his Schmaltz-infested version... if you've watched ANTR as many times as me (and were dragged to see Titanic as many times as I was) then you'd spot several scenes that were incorporated into Titanic; especially the one with a young couple trying to scramble on top of a floating trunk.



I love A Night to Remember but it wasn't what inspired Cameron to make his film. Cameron made his Titanic because of his fascination with Robert Ballard's discovery of the wreck of the Titanic in the 80s, which caused him to get into deep sea exploration and he constructed his film around his own expedition to the real Titanic. The reason why both films share incidents is because they were based on events which were reported about the sinking of the Titanic, but both films were researched independently (the earlier film was based on a factual book which includes its own inaccuracies, some of which Cameron addressed)

Cameron's Titanic is indeed cheesy and full of anachronistic dialogue but its an old-school Gone With the Wind style epic rather than the docudrama the earlier films was. A Night to Remember is a better written film but it often feels like the TV drama of which it was an expansion, while for all its melodramatic excess, Cameron's Titanic is a more impressive piece of film-making. From the immaculate reconstruction of the Titanic to the more accurate and far more visceral depiction of its sinking, Cameron's film has the resources and filmmaking talent to do things the earlier film couldn't do and for all the cheese, I think it works on its own terms.


----------



## Mumbles274 (Oct 23, 2016)

ANTR had scenes filmed at Ruislip lido if my film knowledge served me right


----------



## SikhWarrioR (Oct 24, 2016)

Mumbles274 said:


> ANTR had scenes filmed at Ruislip lido if my film knowledge served me right



Your knowledge is correct scenes from ANTR were filmed on Ruslip Lido


----------



## ska invita (Oct 24, 2016)

ska invita said:


> Is weird though because I once saw a film called Pool of London (1951) Pool of London (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and that film is known as the first time there was a black actor in a leading role in a UK film (even says it in the wiki)...its a great London film IIRC
> 
> Double checked if Proud Valley is a UK film and its filmed in Ealing studios and has a British producer, so seems so...
> 
> ...



How Britain’s black miners are reclaiming their place in history


----------



## hash tag (Dec 2, 2016)

Another classic film from Ealing was Hue & Cry with Alistair Sim. It is of course where Andrew Sachs began his film career as an uncredited schoolboy. RIP Andrew.


----------



## A380 (Dec 3, 2016)

Four pages and no mention of the best British film ever made, not just best B&W.











"There's something in my eye."


----------



## Sue (Dec 3, 2016)

Oh, I love Brief Encounter.


----------



## danny la rouge (Dec 3, 2016)

A380 said:


> Four pages and no mention of the best British film ever made, not just best B&W.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Several mentions on the first and second pages.


----------



## A380 (Dec 3, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> Several mentions on the first and second pages.


Oh yeah.


----------



## bubblesmcgrath (Dec 3, 2016)

Reno said:


> The thing with A Matter of Life and Death is that not only are two thirds of it shot in eyepopping Technicolor, its use of colour is a plot device which even gets referenced in the line "One is starved of Technicolor up here". The world of the living is in color, the afterlife is b&w, which is a reversal of The Wizard of Oz, where the real world was b&w and the unreal world was in color
> 
> My favourite b&w movie by Powell & Pressburger is I Know Where I'm Going in which a woman on her way to marry a rich industrialist, gets held up by a storm and instead falls in love with a Scottish island and a man who embodies the spirit of that island in an almost supernatural way. They made several wonderful films about the near magical power of landscapes and how that power can take hold of people (see also The Edge of the World, A Canterbury Tale and Black Narcissus)
> 
> View attachment 94233



I like that a lot too...only saw it about three years ago and was surprised to see Wendy Hiller. I'd only seen her as an elderly actor playing lady Bracknell ... brilliant actor.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 3, 2016)

Charlie Chaplin is my ultimate. I love his movies so much. Many of them were made in the US but are essentially British. I would consider Charlie Chaplins movies very 'British.' That is what makes them great.


----------



## Sirena (Dec 3, 2016)

A380 said:


> Four pages and no mention of the best British film ever made, not just best B&W.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You should also watch 'This Happy Breed' because it's Noel Coward and it's got Celia Johnson (and a wonderful Robert Newton) but it doesn't qualify here because it's colour.

Did anyone mention 'The Boys' (The Boys (1962) - IMDb) yet?  It starts a  bit naffly but it gets gradually darker.  Worth a watch.


----------



## A380 (Dec 3, 2016)

Sirena said:


> You should also watch 'This Happy Breed' because it's Noel Coward and it's got Celia Johnson (and a wonderful Robert Newton) but it doesn't qualify here because it's colour.
> 
> Did anyone mention 'The Boys' (The Boys (1962) - IMDb) yet?  It starts a  bit naffly but it gets gradually darker.  Worth a watch.



This Happy Breed Is fantastic too. Basically anything with Celia Johnson...


----------



## danny la rouge (Dec 4, 2016)

Cheesypoof said:


> Charlie Chaplin is my ultimate. I love his movies so much. Many of them were made in the US but are essentially British. I would consider Charlie Chaplins movies very 'British.' That is what makes them great.


Interesting notion. I was going for "made in the UK".

What would you say are the attributes that make a film British? What is this essence that Chaplin carried to Hollywood?


----------



## blossie33 (Dec 4, 2016)

Possibly Cheesy means his little bowler-hatted tramp type character was more 'British' than American?
I think of him like that.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 4, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> What is this essence that Chaplin carried to Hollywood?


Unpunished noncery?


----------



## danny la rouge (Dec 4, 2016)

blossie33 said:


> Possibly Cheesy means his little bowler-hatted tramp type character was more 'British' than American?
> I think of him like that.


It's certainly a music hall-derived act.

But I was wondering more generally if there was a "Britishness" that film makers might take with them when they go to the states. Were Hitchcock's Hollywood films still "British" in character or just Hitchcockian? And so on.


----------



## danny la rouge (Dec 4, 2016)

DaveCinzano said:


> Unpunished noncery?


And that's quintessentially British? Bit harsh.


----------



## hash tag (Dec 4, 2016)

No mention yet of the great sons of the desert aka Laurel & Hardy with the likes of Way out West and appropriate for this time of year, Laughing Gravy.


----------



## danny la rouge (Dec 4, 2016)

hash tag said:


> No mention yet of the great sons of the desert aka Laurel & Hardy with the likes of Way out West and appropriate for this time of year, Laughing Gravy.


Although Stan was British, I think of them and their films as very American. Especially Way Out West. (Which I might watch today now, so thanks!)


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 4, 2016)

hash tag said:


> No mention yet of the great sons of the desert aka Laurel & Hardy with the likes of Way out West and appropriate for this time of year, Laughing Gravy.


----------



## danny la rouge (Dec 4, 2016)

Selected and ready to go!

*pours coffee*


----------



## andysays (Dec 4, 2016)

Radio On


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 4, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> It Happened Here


----------



## Gerry1time (Dec 4, 2016)

Angels one five


----------



## bubblesmcgrath (Dec 4, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Always had a soft spot for Norman Wisdom films





Love Norman Wisdom...brilliant comedy actor....actually he was just a brilliant actor period. His eyes could register every single changing emotion and yet he'd smile and laugh in a self depracatory "I'm alright" sort of way... Brilliant. 

Note to self...add to my list of Christmas films to watch.


----------



## bubblesmcgrath (Dec 4, 2016)

Murder She Said - Margaret Rutherford  Part 1 - Video Dailymotion
Murder She Said - Margaret Rutherford  Part 2 - Video Dailymotion

Margaret Rutherford in Murder She Said....
I really enjoy her as Miss Marple and Joan Hickson, another brilliant Ms Marple, appears in this as a young woman.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 4, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> Interesting notion. I was going for "made in the UK".
> 
> What would you say are the attributes that make a film British? What is this essence that Chaplin carried to Hollywood?



Yep, actually after reading this thread I rewatched The Kid last night. It is the sensitivity of his storytelling and exposure of poverty in the slums VS the glamour of society which kind of reflects his own Victorian upbringing that he never forgot. This is definitely personified by the tramp, who is poor but the consummate, polite, charming English gentleman tipping his hat in greeting or apology. He never forgets his manners - and so many of his US characters who play alongside him are villainous cretins. There is always a busybody policeman teetering about too, who never gets the better of him.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Dec 4, 2016)

maybe check out underground classic "the Leather Boys" - maybe not as expertly shot and scripetd as some, but interesting storyline set in the post war years and people coming to terms with what their lives are about.


----------



## Brainaddict (Dec 4, 2016)

Reno said:


> My favourite b&w movie by Powell & Pressburger is I Know Where I'm Going in which a woman on her way to marry a rich industrialist, gets held up by a storm and instead falls in love with a Scottish island and a man who embodies the spirit of that island in an almost supernatural way.


Thanks for this tip - I watched it on Friday. A really impressive film, pitch-perfect in many ways, including its slightly discomfiting ending (it isn't happy for everybody). Highly recommended.


----------



## CrabbedOne (Dec 4, 2016)

Possibly the best lager advert in the world.


----------



## spliff (Dec 4, 2016)

andysays said:


> Radio On



Just trawled through 127 posts to see if it had already been mentioned before posting, and here it is, just a few hours ago.


----------



## spliff (Dec 4, 2016)

.


----------



## SikhWarrioR (Dec 5, 2016)

The "Titfield Thunderbolt" with Liverpool and Manchester 0-4-2 "lion" in steam and running under its own power


----------



## Sirena (Dec 5, 2016)

andysays said:


> Radio On



I had a look on Imdb and there's a credit for Paul Hollywood as 'the kid'.  Hollywood was born in 1966 so it might fit.

I wonder if it is Mr Pastry King as a teenager? 

I shall have to watch the film now......


----------



## Reno (Dec 5, 2016)

Sirena said:


> I had a look on Imdb and there's a credit for Paul Hollywood as 'the kid'.  Hollywood was born in 1966 so it might fit.
> 
> I wonder if it is Mr Pastry King as a teenager?
> 
> I shall have to watch the film now......


It's a different Paul Hollywood.


----------



## Shirl (Dec 5, 2016)

I know Where I'm Going.
Powell and Pressburger and staring Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey. It's got Petula Clark in too 
It also has deerhounds in it so I'm bound to love it but it's a great film anyway.

Bugger, Just noticed that Reno rates it too and got here before me.


----------



## Shirl (Dec 5, 2016)

Reno I've just bought The Innocents DVD to add to my christmas viewing collection based on your review


----------



## Reno (Dec 5, 2016)

Shirl said:


> Reno I've just bought The Innocents DVD to add to my christmas viewing collection based on your review


Ghost stories are always excellent Christmas viewing !


----------



## Shirl (Jan 1, 2017)

Shirl said:


> Reno I've just bought The Innocents DVD to add to my christmas viewing collection based on your review


Just watched it Reno  I loved it.
Any further recommendations welcome


----------



## Reno (Jan 1, 2017)

Shirl said:


> Just watched it Reno  I loved it.
> Any further recommendations welcome


Have you seen The Haunting from 1963 ? It's the other really famous haunted house movie from the 60s. Just don't watch the dreadful 90s remake instead.


----------



## Shirl (Jan 1, 2017)

Reno said:


> Have you seen The Haunting from 1963 ? It's the other really famous haunted house movie from the 60s. Just don't watch the dreadful 90s remake instead.


Just bought it with a click  thanks


----------



## Casually Red (Jan 1, 2017)

blossie33 said:


> The Ipcress File : 1965 with Michael Caine
> Seen it quite a few times and still love it.



That's in colour . Your telly must have been on the blink.


----------



## Casually Red (Jan 1, 2017)

this one cracks me up


----------



## Casually Red (Jan 1, 2017)

And whiskey galore


----------



## october_lost (Jan 1, 2017)

I looked, but didn't see either, Loneliness of the long distance or An inspector calls. 

I would also go with Whistle down the wind. The young lad in the film has a really strong Burnley/East Lancashire accent, it cracks me up to hear him in contrast to Hayley Mills whose supposed to play his sister


----------



## Casually Red (Jan 1, 2017)

Remember watching this when I was a teenager . Genuinely gave me the creeps. Really well made and well shot.


----------



## hash tag (Jan 2, 2017)

bubblesmcgrath said:


> Murder She Said - Margaret Rutherford  Part 1 - Video Dailymotion
> Murder She Said - Margaret Rutherford  Part 2 - Video Dailymotion
> 
> Margaret Rutherford in Murder She Said....
> I really enjoy her as Miss Marple and Joan Hickson, another brilliant Ms Marple, appears in this as a young woman.



Margaret Rutherford was a great an interesting character and her biography is well worth a read. Murder She Said, like many similar films had some great names in it, including the late Richard Briers. This is of course one of the many films where MR insisted her beloved Stringer had a part, however minor.

B&W lends a certain atmosphere to a film which is lost in colour.


----------



## blossie33 (Jan 2, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> That's in colour . Your telly must have been on the blink.



Yes, another poster told me earlier


----------



## Shirl (Jan 2, 2017)

Not a british film but I'm about to watch my all time favourite black and white film.
Sorry Wrong Number with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster.


----------



## Dieselpunk2000 (Jan 7, 2017)

From 1965- The War Game. Almost as terrifying as Threads.


----------



## ice-is-forming (Jan 7, 2017)

A tale of two cities


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jan 15, 2017)

Dieselpunk2000 said:


> From 1965- The War Game. Almost as terrifying as Threads.
> View attachment 98404




Just been watching this again, Fucking hell.


----------



## Sirena (Jan 21, 2017)

Shirl said:


> I know Where I'm Going.
> Powell and Pressburger and staring Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey. It's got Petula Clark in too
> It also has deerhounds in it so I'm bound to love it but it's a great film anyway.
> 
> Bugger, Just noticed that Reno rates it too and got here before me.


Just watching it now for the second time.

It's a morality tale about the forces of Nature and human vanity/aspiration (like 'Black Narcissus').  But it's told in such a tiny, small-island way.....

I loved it.


----------



## Reno (Jan 21, 2017)

I think the diamond wedding anniversary scene in I Know Where I'm Going is one of the most magical scenes ever. The term "heart warming" is often double talk for sentimental mush in films, but this scene genuinely is.


----------



## hash tag (Feb 1, 2017)

What a tremendous film this was - had forgotton it was B&W.


----------



## Sirena (Feb 1, 2017)

I thought I had mentioned this but it seems I didn't.

Leslie Howard and the beautiful Merle Oberon in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - IMDb


----------



## DaveCinzano (Feb 1, 2017)

Sirena said:


> I thought I had mentioned this but it seems I didn't.
> 
> Leslie Howard and the beautiful Merle Oberon in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'
> 
> The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - IMDb



Difficult to properly enjoy if you've already seen _Carry On Don't Lose Your Head_ though


----------



## Reno (Feb 1, 2017)

hash tag said:


> What a tremendous film this was - had forgotton it was B&W.


Shot by Freddie Francis who also shot my choice for most beautiful British b&w film, The Innocents. I love b&w with a wide aspect ratio.


----------



## hash tag (Oct 20, 2017)

This was on the box the other day. It may not be the greatest B&W film of all time, but it's British, with an interesting line up, ie Alistar Sim, George Cole,  Stanley Holloway, Diana Dors, Kay Kendall and a certain Ruth Ellis!

Lady Godiva Rides Again. Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb


----------



## a_chap (Oct 20, 2017)

Speaking of Diana Dors, I've recently bought the DVD of the TV series she was in in the '70s called "Queenies' Castle". Anyone remember that?


----------



## blossie33 (Oct 20, 2017)

a_chap said:


> Speaking of Diana Dors, I've recently bought the DVD of the TV series she was in in the '70s called "Queenies' Castle". Anyone remember that?



Yes, I do although I don't remember actually watching any of them.
I did like Di though, I think she was probably a better actress than she was given credit for - probably because of the image and most of the films she was in, she played a good straight part in the film about Ruth Ellis.


----------



## hash tag (Oct 20, 2017)

That's weird. Di doors was alongside Ruth Ellis in Godiva and later in a film about her...you live n learn.


----------



## Indeliblelink (Oct 20, 2017)

Yield To The Night wasnt actually about Ruth Ellis, it was based on a book written before she was arrested although obviously they would of been very aware of the case when making the film and knew comparrisons would be drawn. Agree that it's a great film with a fine performance from Dors.


----------



## ska invita (Aug 20, 2018)

Redeyes said:


> Night of the Demon...



Just watched this tonight for the first time.......top class. Going to have to keep the lights on tonight 
The demon itself may not look the scariest but the effects in general were excellent i thought - especially the smoke the demon rides in on. Supposedly there was a plan not to show the demon at all but Im okay with it tbh...not sure they couldve pulled it off without it.


----------



## killer b (Aug 20, 2018)

Anyone know Hell is a City? A 1960s noir based in Manchester, with loads of location shots in the city and levenshulme... been meaning to watch it for ages, it's supposed to be brilliant.

Hell Is a City: the making of a cult classic - in pictures


----------



## Lurdan (Aug 21, 2018)

killer b said:


> Anyone know Hell is a City? A 1960s noir based in Manchester, with loads of location shots in the city and levenshulme... been meaning to watch it for ages, it's supposed to be brilliant.
> 
> Hell Is a City: the making of a cult classic - in pictures


Very enjoyable tough thriller. A Hammer film - part of the early 60s attempt to broaden their range, although in a direction they didn't subsequently pursue. IMO not quite as good as Losey's The Criminal also with Stanley Baker but well worth watching.

(It was actually shown last Saturday on the Talking Pictures TV channel. Doesn't appear on the schedule for the next couple of weeks though).

ETA: actually I'm wrong it's on this coming Friday - bad news is that its at 9.20 in the morning.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 21, 2018)

Piccadilly from 1929. Beautiful and dark.


----------



## killer b (Aug 21, 2018)

Lurdan said:


> Very enjoyable tough thriller. A Hammer film - part of the early 60s attempt to broaden their range, although in a direction they didn't subsequently pursue. IMO not quite as good as Losey's The Criminal also with Stanley Baker but well worth watching.
> 
> (It was actually shown last Saturday on the Talking Pictures TV channel. Doesn't appear on the schedule for the next couple of weeks though).
> 
> ETA: actually I'm wrong it's on this coming Friday - bad news is that its at 9.20 in the morning.


I've never come across Talking Pictures - I've never heard of anything on their schedule but some of it looks good - worthwhile keeping an eye on?


----------



## danny la rouge (Aug 21, 2018)

killer b said:


> I've never come across Talking Pictures - I've never heard of anything on their schedule but some of it looks good - worthwhile keeping an eye on?


Mrs la rouge loves it. She's always finding gems on there. I forget it's there, but I think it's channel 81.


----------



## ska invita (Aug 21, 2018)

Me neither heard of it..cant find it streaming anywhere annoyingly - not on tvplayer which i thought showed all freeview channels

ETA: article about the channel...sounds like its quite a new thing
Talking Pictures TV: The return of black and white television

Eta 2: got it working  ... Thanks for the tip lurdan, it's a wonderful thing


----------



## ska invita (Aug 21, 2018)

Just saw this post about George Formby...I presume it's all true


----------



## danny la rouge (Aug 21, 2018)

ska invita said:


> Just saw this post about George Formby...I presume it's all true



I don't know about Formby's anti racist credentials, but while there was segregation and minority white rule at the time, formal legislative Apartheid was introduced in 1948. So in 1946 Formby did not technically visit "Apartheid South Africa".


----------



## killer b (Aug 21, 2018)

A version of this tale appears in his biography, so it's probably true.


----------



## ska invita (Aug 21, 2018)

Some suggestion in the comments his wife Beryl was instrumental. Don't think I've ever watched a Formby  film from start to finish...nor a Norman wisdom. Mainly know through clips....I think im ready


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 21, 2018)

SikhWarrioR said:


> The "Titfield Thunderbolt" with Liverpool and Manchester 0-4-2 "lion" in steam and running under its own power


In glorious Technicolor


----------



## hash tag (Aug 21, 2018)

Ah, technicolour it may be, but what a great film.


----------



## Reno (Aug 21, 2018)

_It Always Rains on Sunday_ is one of my favourite British movies. It was way ahead of it's time, like an early kitchen sink drama mixed with film noir and it stars the wonderful Googie Withers. Great poster too.


----------



## danny la rouge (Aug 21, 2018)

Reno said:


> _It Always Rains on Sunday_ is one of my favourite British movies. It was way ahead of it's time, like an early kitchen sink drama mixed with film noir and it stars the wonderful Googie Withers. Great poster too.
> 
> View attachment 144644


It's a great film.


----------



## a_chap (Aug 21, 2018)

Reno said:


> _..._ and it stars the wonderful Googie Withers



Sadly she was a very under-rated actress. Made it look too easy I guess.

Still a great name though. Have yet to come across another Googie.


----------



## Grump (Aug 21, 2018)

Excellent film, similar to The 39 Steps. I originally found out about it from my dad in law who watched the docks scenes being filmed in the 50s.


*The Clouded Yellow (1950)*
U |  1h 35min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | 25 December 1950 (UK)



A former British agent is employed at the Fenton country estate where he aids Fenton's niece elude the police when she's unjustly accused of murdering a local gamekeeper.
*Director:*
Ralph Thomas
*Writers:*
Janet Green (original story by), Janet Green (screenplay by) 
*Stars:*
Jean Simmons, Trevor Howard, Sonia Dresdel  |See full cast & crew »


----------



## Grump (Aug 21, 2018)

One of my favourites, brilliant study of mental disintegration in a military environment.



After WW2, a Highland Regiment's acting Commanding Officer, who rose from the ranks, is replaced by a peace-time Oxford-educated Commanding Officer, leading to a dramatic conflict between the two.
*Director:*
Ronald Neame
*Writers:*
James Kennaway (screenplay), James Kennaway (based on his novel) 
*Stars:*
Alec Guinness, John Mills, Susannah York  |See full cast & crew »
Reviews
59 user  | 28 critic


----------



## Lurdan (Aug 21, 2018)

killer b said:


> I've never come across Talking Pictures - I've never heard of anything on their schedule but some of it looks good - worthwhile keeping an eye on?


When my film nerd mania was at it's height I'd have been arranging my life around it's schedule - it shows some very rare stuff. The other week there was Nicol Williamson in 'The Reckoning' followed by Richard Burton in 'Villain'. Great evenings viewing. (It's also very useful at 4.00am when all the 'sensible' channels have switched to infomercials).

Looking at the rest of this weeks schedule I can see quite a few things I'd sit and watch and a couple that I'll try to make a point of seeing. Of the latter Rowland V. Lee's 1937 'Love from a Stranger' is an early example of the 'I think my husband is a murderer/is trying to kill me/is trying to drive me mad' films which became a fully fledged sub-genre a couple of years later. 'Chase a Crooked Shadow' is a stylishly shot psychological thriller directed by Michael Anderson. 'The Night Caller' is a mid-60s B&W British Sci-Fi film about aliens after our women which is great fun IMO.

A lot of the stuff that Talking Pictures shows is the very opposite of 'top' films - the company which runs it owns the Renown Films catalogue of British B films. And it's not all British films - the best film it's showing this week (IMO) is Robert Siodmak's wonderful 'The Spiral Staircase'. Worth looking through the schedule.

There's an interesting pair of wartime films over the weekend which both have as leading characters 'tormented artists' who had fought in Spain and have retreated into both literal and figurative isolationism. John Boulting's 'Thunder Rock' with Michael Redgrave is a more explicit anti-fascist allegorical drama (think Powell & Pressburger's 'A Matter of Life and Death' or some of the J B Priestley adaptations), 'The Night Has Eyes' is a more straightforward old dark house thriller with James Mason. (The former IMO is more 'interesting' whereas the latter is more fun).

At the other end of the quality scale 'What’s Good For The Goose' is an unusual vehicle scripted by and starring Norman Wisdom. Sometimes described as a British sex comedy it certainly fulfils the criteria of containing neither sex nor comedy. It does have the sort of older man much younger woman plot which is rightly out of favour today. (I can't tell if they are showing the 'continental' version in which Sally Geeson takes more of her clothes off thus enabling one to fully appreciate exactly how disgraceful this all is). However alongside all this unpleasantness the score is by the Pretty Things who also appear in it, so Top Group at least :


----------



## Brainaddict (Aug 27, 2018)

Reno said:


> I think the diamond wedding anniversary scene in I Know Where I'm Going is one of the most magical scenes ever. The term "heart warming" is often double talk for sentimental mush in films, but this scene genuinely is.




It's the type of film I watch and think nothing like it could be made any more - culture, and the personalities it produces, have changed too much. And I'm referring to the writers and directors as much as the people depicted in the films.


----------



## a_chap (Aug 27, 2018)

Grump said:


> One of my favourites, brilliant study of mental disintegration in a military environment.
> 
> 
> 
> After WW2, a Highland Regiment's acting Commanding Officer, who rose from the ranks, is replaced by a peace-time Oxford-educated Commanding Officer, leading to a dramatic conflict between the two.



Have just bought this DVD on the strength of your post.

I better be impressed else you owe me £2.99 ....


----------



## Indeliblelink (Aug 27, 2018)

a_chap said:


> Have just bought this DVD on the strength of your post.
> 
> I better be impressed else you owe me £2.99 ....



It's a fantastic film with great performances from Guinness & Mills, you won't be disappointed.
 However it's not in Black & White so shouldn't really be on this thread.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 27, 2018)

Have had a quick read through this thread & can't believe there is no mention of Will Hay. Used to love watching these when well stoned in the 80's.

Probably my favourite is The Ghost Train.


Followed by Where's that fire.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 27, 2018)

MrSki said:


> Have had a quick read through this thread & can't believe there is no mention of Will Hay. Used to love watching these when well stoned in the 80's.
> 
> Probably my favourite is The Ghost Train.




I was about to indignantly say that I had, but then I realised I'd posted it to the train movie thread  

_Oh, Mr Porter!_ is the Will Hay one, though; _The Ghost Train_ was Arthur Askey.

Films with trains


----------



## MrSki (Aug 27, 2018)

DaveCinzano said:


> I was about to indignantly say that I had, but then I realised I'd posted it to the train movie thread
> 
> _Oh, Mr Porter!_ is the Will Hay one, though; _The Ghost Train_ was Arthur Askey.
> 
> Films with trains


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 27, 2018)

No harm no foul


----------



## spitfire (Aug 27, 2018)

a_chap said:


> Hell Drivers. How the hell did I forget that one???
> 
> 
> 
> ...





a_chap said:


> Ice cold in Alex.
> 
> How the fuck did I overlook that gem?





not-bono-ever said:


> the hill





DaveCinzano said:


> How about _The Hill_?
> 
> View attachment 93471 View attachment 93472 View attachment 93473 View attachment 93474 View attachment 93475 View attachment 93476





Sprocket. said:


> Flicking through the channels earlier and dropped on Sea of Sand, classic war film about the Long Range Desert Group, with Richard Attenborough, John Gregson and a young Ray McNally!
> Made in 1958.





Idris2002 said:


> The Long and the Short and the Tall.
> 
> From 1961, I think. A platoon in Burma during the war come to a bad end.
> 
> Based on a play, and maybe not fully cinematic. But the tension builds effectively.





Gerry1time said:


> Angels one five






Casually Red said:


> And whiskey galore





Dieselpunk2000 said:


> From 1965- The War Game. Almost as terrifying as Threads.
> View attachment 98404





hash tag said:


> What a tremendous film this was - had forgotton it was B&W.



Some great films here and a couple I haven't seen yet.

Also Overlord, not very well known. I did skim read the thread but didn't see it mentioned.

Overlord (1975 film) - Wikipedia


----------



## MrSki (Aug 27, 2018)

What was the film set in a soon to be ex-empire African country where the British army are still present & there is a female British MP visiting the camp whilst a coup is taking place?


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 27, 2018)

MrSki said:


> What was the film set in a soon to be ex-empire African country where the British army are still present & there is a female British MP visiting the camp whilst a coup is taking place?


_Guns At Batasi_?


----------



## MrSki (Aug 28, 2018)

DaveCinzano said:


> _Guns At Batasi_?


That's the one. A bloody good film for its time.


----------



## Reno (Aug 28, 2018)

hash tag said:


> What a tremendous film this was - had forgotton it was B&W.


Beautifully shot by Freddy Francis who I mentioned in my recommendation of The Innocents. The Elephant Man, while taking place in London, is an American film though, directed by David Lynch and produced by Mel Brooks.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 28, 2018)

spitfire said:


> Also Overlord, not very well known. I did skim read the thread but didn't see it mentioned.
> 
> Overlord (1975 film) - Wikipedia





Spoiler



a young man's journey from call up to coffin



Well, that sounds uplifting


----------



## spitfire (Aug 28, 2018)

DaveCinzano said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...



If anyone wants to watch the film, don't click on the spoiler tag.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 28, 2018)

spitfire said:


> If anyone wants to watch the film, don't click on the spoiler tag.


That is the point of spoiler tags! And it is _from the link you provided_!


----------



## spitfire (Aug 28, 2018)

DaveCinzano said:


> That is the point of spoiler tags! And it is _from the link you provided_!



I know but, but, but, but.....

.....don't click on my link either! 

just watch the film.


----------



## Grump (Aug 28, 2018)

a_chap said:


> Have just bought this DVD on the strength of your post.
> 
> I better be impressed else you owe me £2.99 ....


Worth it just to see the actor who played Shewie McFee in Crossroads selling doughnuts.


----------



## Indeliblelink (Aug 28, 2018)

Another film with a great performance from Alec Guinness, that I seldom see mentioned, is *The Prisoner (1955)*, from a play by Bridget Boland and based on the post WWII arrests and show trials of cardinals Aloysius Stepinac in Croatia and József Mindszenty in Hungary.
A brilliant psychological thriller with a battle of the wits between Alec Guinness as the cardinal & Jack Hawkins as the interogator. The play was partially the inspiration for Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner TV series and especially the No. 6 vs No. 2 interactions, [McGoohan played the interrogator in a 1963 TV version of the play].


----------



## Sprocket. (Aug 28, 2018)

MrSki said:


> That's the one. A bloody good film for its time.



Attenborough won the Bafta for his portrayal of Sgt Major Lauderdale.
Brilliant film.


----------



## ska invita (Sep 7, 2018)

ska invita said:


> Some suggestion in the comments his wife Beryl was instrumental. Don't think I've ever watched a Formby  film from start to finish...nor a Norman wisdom. Mainly know through clips....I think im ready


Wisdom accidently gets caught up in WW2 fighting flick The Square Peg was on Talking Pictures a few days ago...some gags very dated, but some genuinely laugh out loud moments. This bit where he doesnt want to take a medical was a highlight! 




The disdain for the officer class and the military more generally was nice to see. The idea that joining the war effort against Hitler was something to be avoided at all cost and the army held up pretty much in contempt wasnt what I expected....suggests that matched the way people thought about it in the country on the whole. I was reading a George Orwell essay the Lion and the Unicorn recently and came across this bit  which kind of fleshes that out. written in 1941:


> ....the English hatred of war and militarism. It is rooted deep in history, and it is strong in the lower-middle class as well as the working class. Successive wars have shaken it but not destroyed it. Well within living memory it was common for “the redcoats” to be booed at in the streets and for the landlords of respectable public-houses to refuse to allow soldiers on the premises.
> 
> In peace-time, even when there are two million unemployed, it is difficult to fill the ranks of the tiny standing army, which is officered by the country gentry and a specialized stratum of the middle class, and manned by farm labourers and slum proletarians. The mass of the people are without military knowledge or tradition, and their attitude towards war is invariably defensive. No politician could rise to power by promising them conquests or military “glory”, no Hymn of Hate has ever made any appeal to them. In the last war the songs which the soldiers made up and sang of their own accord were not vengeful but humorous and mock-defeatist.[1]* The only enemy they ever named was the sergeant-major.*
> 
> ...


i wonder how much thats changed and how much sympathy that line of comedy would get nowadays.


Also Iplayer has got the 6 part tv version of Quatermass and the Pit on it at the moment...heard a lot about it (best tv lists), holds up....quite well 
Definitely has its moments...anti-war spirit and also a very subtle anti race-riots message (alluded to in the first minute and the last minute of a 3 hour run time)
BBC iPlayer - Quatermass and the Pit
The British army (officer class) are pretty much the enemy in that too.

The writer Nigel Kneale looks to have written some interesting socially conscious bits, such as The Year of the Sex Olympics - Wikipedia which seems to have predicted modern tv output down to a tee.


----------



## Lurdan (Sep 7, 2018)

ska invita said:


> Wisdom accidently gets caught up in WW2 fighting flick The Square Peg was on Talking Pictures a few days ago...some gags very dated, but some genuinely laugh out loud moments.


Saw that at the cinema when I was quite young. One of his better ones. There were a few b&w films with satirical takes on the army some of which were set during the war.  Privates Progress for example. I remember a piss take of The Guns of Navarone with Spike Milligan called Invasion Quartet which I also saw as child and have meant to track down. (The Goons were very much products of their wartime experiences and of service humour).



ska invita said:


> The writer Nigel Kneale looks to have written some interesting socially conscious bits, such as The Year of the Sex Olympics - Wikipedia which seems to have predicted modern tv output down to a tee.



Kneale is a very interesting writer but his 'social consciousness' comes from a pretty reactionary perspective. He was on the fringes of the Angry Young Men current in the 50s. He did the screen adaptations of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger and The Entertainer both of them interesting b&w films. I dislike the former intensely but it's a key text in understanding that kind of mid-50s lower middle class cuntish masculinism. Kneales own attitudes to society were in much the same discontented tory vein as people like Kingsley Amis.

The Quatermass serials, and the 1953 BBC adaptation of 1984 he scripted, had enormous impact as cultural events (even though the number of people with TV sets when they were broadcast was a fraction of those who saw the Dalek Invasion of Earth, influenced by his work, ten years later). But he truly resented being regarded, unlike the people he saw as his contemporaries, as a writer of genre fiction. 

I watched Year of the Sex Olympics when it was broadcast (well judged title for attracting an audience of teenage boys). Like a lot of science fiction it was actually his commentary on contemporary society. A world as he saw it of sheeple dressed similarly and kept in line through passively consuming the same TV channel. A somewhat 'Fordist' conception of totalitarianism. Well it wasn't that great as prediction. Society is arguably even more totalitarian than he (or for that matter Orwell) foresaw but the conformity at its heart is expressed through people 'exercising their choice' from multiple channels and lifestyles, and consuming them actively not passively. And if it wasn't great prediction it also wasn't much of a picture of the late 60s. Sex Olympics was tied in with the fact that 1968 was an Olympic Year. But the lasting image from the Mexico Olympics that summer was this


----------



## hash tag (Sep 7, 2018)

a_chap said:


> Sadly she was a very under-rated actress. Made it look too easy I guess.
> 
> Still a great name though. Have yet to come across another Googie.



Was she under rated? I recall people of earlier generations speaking highly of her. Was she always in dark films? I think I've seen two and both quite grim.


----------



## JuanTwoThree (Sep 8, 2018)

I'm going to submit 'The Winslow Boy' as a good settle-down-and-watch-something-on-a-weekend-afternoon film.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Sep 8, 2018)

_Passport To Pimlico_ is currently available on Amazon Prime


----------



## ska invita (Sep 14, 2018)

Theres something called Mr Perrin & Mr Traill on talking Pictures tonight...in googling it I found it as available to watch for free on BFI player - turns out they have a big free section. Collections
This bit seems to pull together the B&W films Forgotten Features


----------



## ska invita (Mar 23, 2019)

Just watched this - on AyePlayer till Thursday
BBC iPlayer - Whisky Galore!
a couple of interesting scottish accents, but a great fun anti-authoritarian Ealing comedy
really enjoyable
Whisky Galore!, review






I wonder if there are more british films about beachcombing/local piracy...its a good topic


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 24, 2019)

Just watching I was Monty's Double

Cracking stuff


----------



## ska invita (Mar 24, 2019)

rubbershoes said:


> Just watching I was Monty's Double
> 
> Cracking stuff


Looked it up just now, true story supposedly.
On iPlayer till Tuesday, might give it a try tomorrow


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 24, 2019)

ska invita said:


> Looked it up just now, true story supposedly.
> On iPlayer till Tuesday, might give it a try tomorrow



Based on truth anyway. 

And it stars the actor who did impersonate him.  As well as the obligatory Kenneth More


----------



## hash tag (Apr 27, 2019)

passport to pimlico, kind hearts and coronets and whiskey galore all released simultaneously 70 years ago and all crackershttps://i.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/passport-pimlico-70-razor-sharp-satire-post-war-britain/

Currently settling down to league of gentlemen 
On talking pictures TV which show many great films.


----------



## hash tag (Jun 30, 2019)

Kind hearts is 70 this week; one of the greatest ever films?
Why Kind Hearts and Coronets is the greatest British comedy ever


----------



## Spymaster (Jun 30, 2019)

Roman Holiday
Ill Met By Moonlight
La Dolce Vita


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 30, 2019)

Spymaster said:


> Roman Holiday
> La Dolce Vita


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 30, 2019)

ska invita said:


> Just watched this - on AyePlayer till Thursday
> BBC iPlayer - Whisky Galore!
> a couple of interesting scottish accents, but a great fun anti-authoritarian Ealing comedy
> really enjoyable
> ...



iplayer has on the man in the white suit and in which we serve atm- both classic but very different .obvs local hero is about beachcombing i suppose but isnt black and white


----------



## hash tag (Oct 30, 2019)

Hobsons Choice. Great film, great tale, some of the best actors...Charles Leighton, Pru Scales, Richard Wattis, John Mills and Private Fraser aka John Laurie 
AND by David Lean.
top film


----------



## Kaka Tim (Oct 30, 2019)

its still brighton rock.


----------



## Indeliblelink (Oct 30, 2019)

*Life For Ruth (1962)* - This is well worth a watch, it's about a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse to allow a blood transfusion for their daughter after she's badly injured. Patrick McGoohan as the doctor involved with the case. Directed by Basil Dearden


----------



## hash tag (Jan 14, 2020)

A little suspense and drama, a cheeky crook, Peter Cushing, a low budget Hammer film, a charming little number; Cash On Demand








						Cash on Demand (1961) - IMDb
					

Cash on Demand: Directed by Quentin Lawrence. With Peter Cushing, André Morell, Richard Vernon, Norman Bird. A charming but ruthless criminal holds the family of a bank manager hostage as part of a cold-blooded plan to steal 97,000 pounds.




					m.imdb.com


----------



## ska invita (Mar 29, 2020)

watched this last night - The Cruel Sea 1953
"Classic documentary-style account of the trials of a British warship during World War II.  "
16 days left on iplayer








						BBC Two - The Cruel Sea
					

A captain (Jack Hawkins) is haunted by the loss of his past vessel and seeks revenge.




					www.bbc.co.uk
				




On balance its really very good: yes there's a lot of standard stiff upper lip stock characters, too much screen time for the officer class compared to those below, but its presentation of war is continuously bleak, and manages to touch on lots of the issues that war brings up. And at times it even gets a bit Italian neo-realist in its depictions, particularly on the core working boat action.  Strong film, if you like a boat film I think its a must.







has some cool posters












Features on this list








						10 great battleship and war-at-sea films
					

Battleships, submarines and sea warfare are the co-ordinates of this list, in celebration of the re-release of one of the great, forgotten British war films.



					www.bfi.org.uk


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Mar 29, 2020)

Repulsion is on AmazonPrime at the moment
Watched it a couple of weeks back









						Repulsion (film) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




Polanski, though


----------



## ska invita (Mar 29, 2020)

Throbbing Angel said:


> Repulsion is on AmazonPrime at the moment
> Watched it a couple of weeks back
> 
> 
> ...


i've heard of this by name but didnt know the themes. The fact is by Polanski doesnt bother me (he's far from a unique case), but couple that with what this film is about....dodge. " It stars Catherine Deneuve as a young, withdrawn woman who finds sexual advances repulsive and after she is left alone in her apartment, becomes even more isolated and detached from reality. "


----------



## Reno (Mar 29, 2020)

ska invita said:


> i've heard of this by name but didnt know the themes. The fact is by Polanski doesnt bother me (he's far from a unique case), but couple that with what this film is about....dodge. " It stars Catherine Deneuve as a young, withdrawn woman who finds sexual advances repulsive and after she is left alone in her apartment, becomes even more isolated and detached from reality. "


Maybe watch it before deciding it is dodge ?


----------



## Spymaster (Mar 29, 2020)

rubbershoes said:


> Just watching I was Monty's Double
> 
> Cracking stuff


If you liked that try to find The Man Who Never Was. 

A film in the same vein, WW2 deception espionage, about Operation Mincemeat.

Excellent.


----------



## ska invita (Mar 29, 2020)

Reno said:


> Maybe watch it before deciding it is dodge ?


watching a film by someone who coaxes underage girls into having sex with him making a film about how the lead  character is frigid and not forthcoming to sexual advances? I'll survive without watching it, whatever its merits.
(ive read the wiki, i get the deeper issues)


----------



## Reno (Mar 29, 2020)

ska invita said:


> watching a film by someone who coaxes underage girls into having sex with him making a film about how virgins are too frigid and not forthcoming to sexual advances? I'll survive without watching it, whatever its merits.


Then don’t watch it but also don’t judge it and let’s us all know what a superior human being you are as a result of not watching it. That’s the Mary Whitehouse approach to film appreciation.

Its a movie about a mentally ill woman going through a severe emotional breakdown, hinted at to be the result of childhood sexual abuse. It’s not a film about a virgin who refuses to give it up. It may be of its time and its not the most nuanced film about mental illness, but it’s among the first movies which dealt with mental illness and it’s sympathetic towards its troubled lead character. The entire film is from her POV, making us understand how she experiences the world. To conflate what Repulsion is about with that Polanski would do in his personal life many years later because of a brief synopsis doesn’t cut it.


----------



## hash tag (Mar 29, 2020)

Throbbing Angel said:


> Repulsion is on AmazonPrime at the moment
> Watched it a couple of weeks back
> 
> 
> ...



"Polanksi, though" but Amazon Primes ok?


----------



## ska invita (Mar 29, 2020)

Reno said:


> Then don’t watch it but also don’t judge it and let’s us all know what a superior human being you are as a result of not watching it. That’s the Mary Whitehouse approach to film appreciation.


calm down reno. Im not saying ban it. i read what its about, and im not acting superior:I dont watch a lot of films anymore, maybe watched three films last year? ive watched enough for a life time already. So when i do occasionally sit down to watch something im going to choose something that appeals to me. This has put me off already.

(eta: will be watching some films this year though by the looks of things)


----------



## Reno (Mar 29, 2020)

ska invita said:


> calm down reno. Im not saying ban it. i read what its about, and im not acting superior:I dont watch a lot of films anymore, maybe watched three films last year? ive watched enough for a life time already. So when i do occasionally sit down to watch something im going to choose something that appeals to me. This has put me off already.
> 
> (eta: will be watching some films this year though by the looks of things)


I AM PERFECTLY CALM !!!


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Mar 29, 2020)

Reno said:


> I AM PERFECTLY CALM !!!



#lockdownrage


----------



## sunnysidedown (Mar 29, 2020)

The Servant (1963)

Just watched this on MUBI last night (they are doing 3 months for £1). A surprisingly tense psychological film with James Fox & Dirk Bogarde.









						The Servant (1963) - IMDb
					

The Servant: Directed by Joseph Losey. With Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig, James Fox. Upper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda.




					www.imdb.com


----------



## ska invita (Mar 29, 2020)

sunnysidedown said:


> The Servant (1963)
> 
> Just watched this on MUBI last night (they are doing 3 months for £1). A surprisingly tense psychological film with James Fox & Dirk Bogarde.
> 
> ...




sounds promising


----------



## Espresso (Mar 29, 2020)

Serious Charge is pretty good. Cliff Richard as a young tearaway hooligan blackmailing a vicar. 
Victim, with Dirk Bogarde is well worth a watch.


----------



## sunnysidedown (Mar 29, 2020)

Darling (1965)

Sticking with Dirk Bogarde (and starring the wonderful Julie Christie) A great 'swinging' London film with lots of perfectly framed location shots.









						Darling (1965) - IMDb
					

Darling: Directed by John Schlesinger. With Laurence Harvey, Dirk Bogarde, Julie Christie, José Luis de Vilallonga. Beautiful but amoral model Diana Scott sleeps her way to the top of the London fashion scene at the height of the Swinging Sixties.




					www.imdb.com


----------



## ska invita (Mar 29, 2020)

Espresso said:


> Cliff Richard as a young tearaway hooligan blackmailing a vicar.



im sure its great but still


----------



## Reno (Mar 29, 2020)

_Underground_ from 1928 is a fascinating watch for any Londoner, much of it having been shot on the Northern Line. I believe it’s available on the BFI payer.


----------



## Chilli.s (Mar 29, 2020)

Room at the Top still on prime for free. did enjoy lots of b+w northern class.


----------



## Lurdan (Mar 29, 2020)

ska invita said:


> im sure its great but still


Cliff''s a pretty terrible actor but he's great in Val Guest's 'Expresso Bongo', an unflattering black and white satire of the late 50s pop business. He plays an aspiring pop star called Bongo Herbert - today that would be like naming a character Bongo Pratt. Very entertaining film IMO. (The BFI put it out on their Flipside label and it's available to rent on the BFI player. Or for free in the naughty corners of the internet of course).

(And it's not black and white but I have fond memories of friends and I watching 'Two a Penny', the film Cliff made for the Billy Graham Organisation. He plays a drug dealing ratbag who finds god. Or more exactly he cops off with a christian. "A provocative glimpse of life and love along London's famous mod beat".


Spoiler: Trailer







We had a great time, although it's fair to say we weren't exactly engaging with it in the way its makers intended).


----------



## Espresso (Mar 29, 2020)

ska invita said:


> im sure its great but still


I know! 

But way back when, before he had his teeth fixed and when the world was in black and white, he was considered very edgy. Quite the young rebel.


----------



## a_chap (Mar 29, 2020)

sunnysidedown said:


> The Servant (1963)
> 
> Just watched this on MUBI last night (they are doing 3 months for £1). A surprisingly tense psychological film with James Fox & Dirk Bogarde.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the pointer. I looked and MUBI has Oldboy (the original Park Chan-Wook version ) and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (Park Chan-Wook again!!) so they clearly do have some cracking films on there.

Signed up for the 3 month offer


----------



## hash tag (Mar 29, 2020)

I agree, a brilliant film, a sad film and worth another mention


Reno said:


> Beautifully shot by Freddy Francis who I mentioned in my recommendation of The Innocents. The Elephant Man, while taking place in London, is an American film though, directed by David Lynch and produced by Mel Brooks.


----------



## HalloweenJack (Mar 29, 2020)

This Sporting Life(1963)
On theTalking Pictures rotation.
A dark, complex and brilliantly written , acted and scored movie. Harris is outstanding, as is Roberts.Not an easy watch
And Glenda Jackson and Edward Fox are background artists....


----------



## not-bono-ever (Mar 30, 2020)

no highway in the sky is a good watch









						No Highway in the Sky - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




based on the neville shute buke


----------



## hash tag (Apr 26, 2020)

Reno said:


> Beautifully shot by Freddy Francis who I mentioned in my recommendation of The Innocents. The Elephant Man, while taking place in London, is an American film though, directed by David Lynch and produced by Mel Brooks.



On tonight, 22.30 BBC1 BBC One - The Elephant Man


----------



## hash tag (Dec 26, 2020)

hash tag said:


> Hobsons Choice. Great film, great tale, some of the best actors...Charles Leighton, Pru Scales, Richard Wattis, John Mills and Private Fraser aka John Laurie
> AND by David Lean.
> top film


This was on earlier and I missed it


----------



## hash tag (Apr 8, 2021)

hash tag said:


> On tonight, 22.30 BBC1 BBC One - The Elephant Man


On again tonight on bbc4 😢


----------



## hash tag (Jul 29, 2021)

Not the greatest but worthy of mention....a moralistic short classic about the good triumphing over evil. Some great old glimpses of Battersea and the debut of Michael Crawford; Soapbox Derby


----------



## davesgcr (Jul 29, 2021)

"Brighton Rock" - the other day on Talking Pictures. 

Splendid homily on how it depicted a changed Brighton - not so ,as even the Police came under review a few years later.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jul 30, 2021)

Have mentioned this before, but it's worth a look at this one, easily found on YT

_The Card _- Alec Guinness excels (as always) in this forgotten classic from 1952. Capitalism, class, cads and football. Glynis Johns and Petula Clark provide excellent support.


----------



## tim (Jul 30, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> Have mentioned this before, but it's worth a look at this one, easily found on YT
> 
> _The Card _- Alec Guinness excels (as always) in this forgotten classic from 1952. Capitalism, class, cads and football. Glynis Johns and Petula Clark provide excellent support.


2/3 of the above are not dead, which is good going for a 1952 film.


----------



## JuanTwoThree (Jul 30, 2021)

BBC iplayer has got Whisky Galore, School for Scoundrels, and The Man in the White Suit, As well as some Hollywood b/w films.


----------



## Reno (Jul 30, 2021)

I watched City of the Dead (1960) not long ago. A lesser known British horror film starring Christopher Lee , this is set in the US with the British cast struggling with the American accents. It feels like a hybrid of the more famous Psycho (the blonde leading lady exits the film prematurely after checking into a hotel)  and Mario Bava's Black Sunday (the curse of an immortal witch and lots and lots of dry ice) which both came out in the same year. It was almost entirely shot in a studio, which gives it a dreamlike atmosphere and it's beautifully shot. Should be better known.


----------



## hash tag (Oct 23, 2021)

danny la rouge said:


> I listed some I like. But it was off the top of my head and not intended as exhaustive. I could have posted double  the number of my initial post in the post you quote, and nearly did. But I thought I'd stick.
> 
> I like David Lean's early films. They're overlooked because of the recognisable dramatic sweep of his mature work, but they're very accomplished and quite diverse. Most people know Brief Encounter is his, but so also is Hobson's Choice, and the Noel Coward adaptation, Blythe Spirit.
> 
> The Brothers (the 1947 film by David MacDonald, not any other of the same name) has long been a favourite of mine as a chilling meditation on the consequences of actions. It features a fantastic performance by a younger John Laurie (of Dad's Army fame), and an unforgettable conclusion.


Hobson's Choice has just started showing on talking pictures. Terrific film.


----------



## ska invita (Oct 23, 2021)

I wish it was possible to stream talking pictures


----------



## hash tag (Oct 23, 2021)

I'm watching it for the umpteenth time and it just feels warm and right. It has so many good things in it. 
Have just looked up Joseph "rollicking" Tomelty, a skilled fiddler, a very familiar face who has been in many great films like this.


----------



## Spymaster (Oct 23, 2021)

ska invita said:


> I wish it was possible to stream talking pictures








						Amazon Fire TV & Amazon Fire Stick | Currys
					

Looking to transform your audiovisual experience? Amazon Fire TV is a tiny box that connects your HDTV to a world of online entertainment.




					www.currys.co.uk
				



+Cinema HD


----------



## ska invita (Oct 23, 2021)

Spymaster said:


> Amazon Fire TV & Amazon Fire Stick | Currys
> 
> 
> Looking to transform your audiovisual experience? Amazon Fire TV is a tiny box that connects your HDTV to a world of online entertainment.
> ...


pretty sure its not available via that - theres no app or stream option.
there own webstie says "Can I stream Talking Pictures TV? You can watch Talking Pictures TV on Virgin 445, Freesat 306, Freeview or Youview 81 or on the Sky digital satellite platform, channel 328. "

I dont have a tv or freeview, only a laptop

a post on this forum 





						Talking pictures need our help! -  		 		Forums
					

talking pictures facebook page are asking people to spread the word about them. It seems they are worried about closing if more people aren't involved..  So, anyone you know not watching? Send them a link ;)  https://talkingpicturestv.co.uk



					www.britmovie.co.uk
				



says "I’d love to be able to watch Talking Pictures TV but we have an Amazon Fire Stick and it’s not available to see on this. I think they are missing out and perhaps ought to stream things such as what Network is starting to do more of. Streaming and downloading is the future, whatever people’s views are. Without this they will be left behind which will be very sad.!


----------



## Spymaster (Oct 23, 2021)

ska invita said:


> pretty sure its not available via that - theres no app or stream option.
> there own webstie says "Can I stream Talking Pictures TV? You can watch Talking Pictures TV on Virgin 445, Freesat 306, Freeview or Youview 81 or on the Sky digital satellite platform, channel 328. "
> 
> I dont have a tv or freeview, only a laptop
> ...


If you get a Firestick and side-load Kodi, and Cinema HD, you'll be able to stream pretty much anything you want. 

CHD has everything that TP has, and much more.


----------



## Spymaster (Oct 23, 2021)

Go here: Home

The site tries to sell you a VPN at every turn, but ignore that and download this;  Install Cinema HD APK on Firestick/Android in 30 Seconds (October 2021)


----------



## hash tag (Oct 23, 2021)

danny la rouge said:


> I listed some I like. But it was off the top of my head and not intended as exhaustive. I could have posted double  the number of my initial post in the post you quote, and nearly did. But I thought I'd stick.
> 
> I like David Lean's early films. They're overlooked because of the recognisable dramatic sweep of his mature work, but they're very accomplished and quite diverse. Most people know Brief Encounter is his, but so also is Hobson's Choice, and the Noel Coward adaptation, Blythe Spirit.
> 
> The Brothers (the 1947 film by David MacDonald, not any other of the same name) has long been a favourite of mine as a chilling meditation on the consequences of actions. It features a fantastic performance by a younger John Laurie (of Dad's Army fame), and an unforgettable conclusion.


For the record, up pops John Laurie as Hobson's doctor 👍


----------



## fucthest8 (Oct 23, 2021)

hash tag said:


> I'm watching it for the umpteenth time and it just feels warm and right. It has so many good things in it.



Was about to post on here about it, but you beat me to it. Bloody ace film


----------



## rcourt130864 (Nov 11, 2021)

'Victim'  - Dirk Bogarde in the lead.
Must have been incredibly controversial at the time.









						Victim at 60: the heartbreaking gay drama that pushed boundaries
					

Dirk Bogarde’s magnificent performance as a man hiding his sexuality is the strongest note in a difficult, and groundbreaking, film that challenged censors




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 17, 2021)

ska invita said:


> I wish it was possible to stream talking pictures



Well hold onto your gosh-darned hat, pilgrim!


----------



## Badgers (Nov 17, 2021)




----------



## ska invita (Nov 17, 2021)

DaveCinzano said:


> Well hold onto your gosh-darned hat, pilgrim!



WOW
🤩


_*(uncensored *1930s films!!_ the mind boggles)


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 26, 2021)

Registration now open


----------



## ska invita (Nov 27, 2021)

DaveCinzano said:


> Registration now open



that link goes to a dead domain??





						TPTV Encore | Talking Pictures TV
					

Fancy teatime with Christopher Lee? How about an Alastair Sim or Boris Karloff film? Or Runaround with Mike Reid? It's all on TPTV ENCORE. It's FREE and can be viewed on any internet enabled device.



					tptvencore.com
				




ah its this - they posted the wrong address! Classic





						TPTV Encore | Talking Pictures TV
					

Fancy teatime with Christopher Lee? How about an Alastair Sim or Boris Karloff film? Or Runaround with Mike Reid? It's all on TPTV ENCORE. It's FREE and can be viewed on any internet enabled device.



					www.tptvencore.co.uk


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 1, 2021)

Up and running tonight! 

Includes stuff like...

_Tread Softly Stranger_
_Cat & Mouse_
_Escape By Night_
_The Narrowing Circle_
_Power Play_
_The Man In The Mirror_
_A Hole Lot Of Trouble_
_Desert Mice_
_All Coppers Are???_


----------



## ska invita (Dec 19, 2021)

Lots more up on Encore Talking Pictures
I really recommend the Footage Detectives


			Footage Detectives | Talking Pictures TV
		

...for some background on the channel, and how they find lost reels, restore them, and get to show stuff thats considered gone for good. I didnt realise it was such a labour of love behind the scenes.

Nice selection of Beatnik themed films here


			Films With a Beat | Talking Pictures TV
		


From which enjoyed this broad comedy, band of thieves - run time 60 minutes, just right


			Band of Thieves | Films With a Beat | Talking Pictures TV
		

a bit like Hard Days Night but set in a prison with a trad jazz band, with real clarinettist Acker Bilk (and his band) fronting



Supposeldy this track Stranger On The Shore was the biggest selling song of 1962! So this film wouldve been a Spiceworld of its time


"It spent more than 50 weeks on the UK charts, peaking at number two, and was the second No. 1 single in the United States by a British artist."


----------



## hash tag (Dec 19, 2021)

Available on the Iplayer, a David Lean film; some great names in it Great Expectations (1946)
some beautiful photography and atmosphere


----------



## blossie33 (Dec 19, 2021)

Re the Films-with-a-Beat
The Small Faces make an appearance in the 1966 Dateline Diamonds film - I haven't actually seen all of it but I've seen a clip of them playing


----------



## ska invita (Dec 19, 2021)

This could be "good" ✊









1939. Comedy. Starry Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane. Old Mother Riley has an argument with a powerful landlord and is persuaded by oppressed tenants to stand on her soapbox!


			Video


----------



## A380 (Dec 19, 2021)

Tunes of Glory.

Never heard of this till a clip popped up on You Tube and they had the full film. Its not B &W though it feels like it should be, Alex Guinness  and John Mills  (plus a very young Gordon Jackson) both failing to come to terms with fighting in the second world war or being a POW. Great period piece.


----------



## surreybrowncap (Dec 19, 2021)




----------



## a_chap (Dec 19, 2021)

A380 said:


> Tunes of Glory.
> 
> ...both failing to come to terms with fighting in the second world war or being a POW. Great period piece.




That's not really the plot though.

Guinness' character has everything his own way due, we assume, to a weak C/O. New C/O arrives. Power struggle ensues. 

It's not a bad film but even with great actors they fail to carry off the rather far-fetched ending.

I have the DVD if anyone wants it.


----------



## A380 (Dec 19, 2021)

a_chap said:


> That's not really the plot though.
> 
> Guinness' character has everything his own way due, we assume, to a weak C/O. New C/O arrives. Power struggle ensues.
> 
> ...


I took it that Guinness was acing Battalion C/O through the war (he was an acting lieutenant colonel at the start of the film) and starting from the ranks with an alcohol problem had difficulty coming to terms with losing that when Mill's public school educated ex POW turned up.  Mills on the other hand thought he was returning 'home' to his family's regiment after spending the war as a POW (presumably as a prisoner of the Japanese, the horrors  of which just ever so lightly sketched in) but found rejection there as well.

Still deserves to be more widely known.


----------



## a_chap (Dec 19, 2021)

My version's much simpler than yours.


----------



## blossie33 (Dec 19, 2021)

ska invita said:


> This could be "good" ✊
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Think I saw that on the TV years ago


----------



## spitfire (Dec 19, 2021)

ska invita said:


> This could be "good" ✊
> 
> 
> 
> ...



My great uncle and aunt. 

From my dad. 

“Old Mother Riley was Arthur Lucan who was married to Kitty McShane my mother’s sister. She played his daughter. (She was the boss …)”

Mrs Brown and her boys can get fucked. OG Irish drag FTW.


----------



## ska invita (Dec 19, 2021)

spitfire said:


> My great uncle and aunt.
> 
> From my dad.
> 
> ...





spitfire said:


> My great uncle and aunt.
> 
> From my dad.
> 
> ...


I'm watching it now. I don't think I'm going to make it to the end 😵‍💫


----------



## spitfire (Dec 19, 2021)

ska invita said:


> I'm watching it now. I don't think I'm going to make it to the end 😵‍💫



It was of it’s time. lol.


----------



## ska invita (Dec 19, 2021)

i made it to the end.
it had its moments for sure - its a fuck the bosses, fuck the landlords, parliament for the people bit of music hall - disappointing that it ends with blaming the lack of government money on foreign aid though < that was shit.
but overall Old Mother Riley herself is a pretty painful watch. Not one for a hangover, put it that way.
 Wiki reckons theyre the first star drag act on the big screen (in the UK i presume, but who knows).

From an IMDB review: "One wonders what the seven minutes cut on reissue during the war contained, since it already contains plenty of home truths about life in thirties Britain"

There's a bit where her assembly meeting gets bricked by a stooge mob. I think it was Pickman's model who recently shared a link about how violent British elections used to be. Id like to see that link again, cant find it now.


----------



## Pickman's model (Dec 19, 2021)

ska invita said:


> i made it to the end.
> it had its moments for sure - its a fuck the bosses, fuck the landlords, parliament for the people bit of music hall - disappointing that it ends with blaming the lack of government money on foreign aid though < that was shit.
> but overall Old Mother Riley herself is a pretty painful watch. Not one for a hangover, put it that way.
> Wiki reckons theyre the first star drag act on the big screen (in the UK i presume, but who knows).
> ...


Not sure it was me but I'll have a check tomorrow


----------



## hash tag (Mar 4, 2022)

The brilliant Lavender Hill Mob is currently showing on BBC 2. 😁👍


----------



## Chilli.s (Mar 4, 2022)

Highly rated by loads of people but never watched by myself:

Brief Encounter

Thoroughly entertaining.
Also:

This Happy Breed

Also quite good.


----------



## hash tag (Mar 30, 2022)

a_chap said:


> Hell Drivers. How the hell did I forget that one???
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have just caught the rear end of this. To twist your list, it stars;
James Bond 
Dr Who 
The Prisoner 
Danger Man 
The Man From Uncle 
& Hudson 
👍


----------



## petee (Mar 31, 2022)

"I Know Where I'm Going" is mentioned a few times above, here's a selection of clips, the first being a scene that stuck in my mind after the first time I watched it, when she begins to suspect that she may have made a mistake 









						Turner Classic Movies - TCM.com
					

Turner Classic Movies presents the greatest classic films of all time from one of the largest film libraries in the world. Find extensive video, photos, articles, forums, and archival content from some of the best movies ever made only at TCM.com.




					www.tcm.com


----------



## ska invita (Mar 31, 2022)

petee said:


> "I Know Where I'm Going" is mentioned a few times above, here's a selection of clips, the first being a scene that stuck in my mind after the first time I watched it, when she begins to suspect that she may have made a mistake
> 
> 
> 
> ...


TCM links BANNED in the UK!


----------



## blossie33 (Mar 31, 2022)

Yes, I got that when I tried to open the link   thought maybe it was just my phone!


----------



## surreybrowncap (Mar 31, 2022)

I love Powell & Pressburger films..


----------



## killer b (Mar 31, 2022)

I enjoyed I Know Where I'm Going, it's a decent film - but it's spoken of in hushed tones as a masterpiece and I really didn't get that from it - can anyone explain what I'm missing?


----------



## petee (Mar 31, 2022)

ska invita said:


> TCM links BANNED in the UK!



well, you'll just have to move to the states!


----------



## Brainaddict (Mar 31, 2022)

killer b said:


> I enjoyed I Know Where I'm Going, it's a decent film - but it's spoken of in hushed tones as a masterpiece and I really didn't get that from it - can anyone explain what I'm missing?


You can read it as just a well executed romcom with an exciting turning point, but it's also about a choice between capitalistic values and older communal values. That's uncommon enough in film, but a lot of films against capitalist 'efficiency' etc are as subtle as a sledgehammer, whereas this is a lot more subtle by mostly presenting the alternative to it - the warmth and eccentricity of community, with only a few naked jabs at 'consolidated chemical industries'.


----------



## petee (Mar 31, 2022)

oh, and _Dead of Night_, esp. the christmas party.
"Gooooddd byyyyee."


----------



## surreybrowncap (Mar 31, 2022)

petee said:


> oh, and _Dead of Night_, esp. the christmas party.
> "Gooooddd byyyyee."


The ventriloquist's dummy for me....!!


----------



## Reno (Mar 31, 2022)

killer b said:


> I enjoyed I Know Where I'm Going, it's a decent film - but it's spoken of in hushed tones as a masterpiece and I really didn't get that from it - can anyone explain what I'm missing?



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.


----------



## killer b (Mar 31, 2022)

Reno said:


> 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.





Brainaddict said:


> You can read it as just a well executed romcom with an exciting turning point, but it's also about a choice between capitalistic values and older communal values. That's uncommon enough in film, but a lot of films against capitalist 'efficiency' etc are as subtle as a sledgehammer, whereas this is a lot more subtle by mostly presenting the alternative to it - the warmth and eccentricity of community, with only a few naked jabs at 'consolidated chemical industries'.


cheers guys - I'll maybe watch it again with these points in mind...


----------



## mod (Mar 31, 2022)

Shifty


----------



## Lurdan (Mar 31, 2022)

Brainaddict said:


> (...) but it's also about a choice between capitalistic values and older communal values.


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 (Apr 1, 2022)

Lurdan said:


> 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.


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.


----------



## Elpenor (Apr 6, 2022)

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


----------



## hash tag (Apr 11, 2022)

Dont forget if you like talking pictures there is this TPTV Encore | Talking Pictures TV


----------



## Elpenor (Apr 11, 2022)

I watched Sink The Bismarck! last night. Kenneth More as the naval planner taking huge risks to defeat the German fleet on the open seas.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 13, 2022)

Elpenor said:


> I watched Sink The Bismarck! last night. Kenneth More as the naval planner taking huge risks to defeat the German fleet on the open seas.



Did you go out for dinner breakfast after seeing it?


----------



## Magnus McGinty (Apr 13, 2022)

ska invita said:


> are these some kind of coloured in frame by frame things?



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.


----------



## Elpenor (May 1, 2022)

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.


----------



## DaveCinzano (May 1, 2022)

Elpenor said:


> ...mentioned in this thread so I won’t add more than a few brief notes...
> 
> Green for Danger - a superior crime / who dunnit film. Alistair Sim rather good playing it half for laughs.


Ooh so it is:



> Sort of a wartime British _Columbo_.



😎


----------



## Elpenor (May 2, 2022)

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.


----------



## hash tag (May 2, 2022)

Elpenor said:


> 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.


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.


----------



## Sue (May 2, 2022)

hash tag said:


> 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.


----------



## Elpenor (May 2, 2022)

Sue said:


> He wasn't in either of those though he was in Hue and Cry. Also St Trinians, Scrooge and An Inspector Calls among others.


That is why I didn’t recognise him as not seen any of those you mention


----------



## DaveCinzano (May 2, 2022)

Elpenor said:


> That is why I didn’t recognise him as not seen any of those you mention


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 😎


----------



## petee (May 2, 2022)

no relation to pool hustler Alastair Slim, long time rival of Minnesota Fats.


----------



## hash tag (May 2, 2022)

Elpenor said:


> That is why I didn’t recognise him as not seen any of those you mention


Yep, sorry. St Trinian's films and 


DaveCinzano said:


> 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 😎


He was with George Cole in George Coles first film, cottage to let. Cole was mentored by sim.


----------



## a_chap (May 2, 2022)

hash tag said:


> 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.



Also, inventor of the little integrated circuit on a chip used in mobile phones.


----------



## surreybrowncap (May 2, 2022)

hash tag said:


> Yep, sorry. St Trinian's films and
> 
> He was with George Cole in George Coles first film, cottage to let. Cole was mentored by sim.


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 (May 2, 2022)

surreybrowncap said:


> 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.


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.


----------



## hash tag (Jun 14, 2022)

Not an obvious choice but I caught a bit of Blind date this afternoon and enjoyed what I saw 








						Blind Date (1959 film) - Wikipedia
					






					en.m.wikipedia.org


----------



## Elpenor (Aug 22, 2022)

Watched “The Traitor” tonight recorded off TPTV a few months ago. A fairly sub par whodunnit about a gang of resistance fighters gathering for a postwar reunion.  Christopher Lee in the supporting cast.


----------



## Koknbul (Aug 22, 2022)




----------



## stdP (Aug 22, 2022)

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.








						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.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 23, 2022)




----------



## hash tag (Oct 22, 2022)

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 )


----------



## blossie33 (Oct 22, 2022)

hash tag said:


> 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 )


Can't say I've heard of it - looks interesting, there's a clip on YouTube.


----------



## hash tag (Oct 22, 2022)

Like this?


----------



## blossie33 (Oct 22, 2022)

hash tag said:


> Like this?



No, it was just a clip I found, is that the whole film - I'll give it a watch sometime, thanks!


----------



## SysOut (Oct 24, 2022)

Haven't checked in the thread whether this one's been posted, but it's one I've never forgotten whenever I think of Alec Guiness:

Last Holiday (1950) directed by Henry Cass


> Told by his doctor he has no more than a few months to live, drab British workingman George Bird (Alec Guinness) decides to spend his savings on lodging at a seaside resort. Once there, however, he finds his identity caught between upstairs and downstairs, the guests and the “help.” A droll social commentary as well as an unpredictable dark comedy about life, death, and luck, Last Holiday is one of Guinness’s finest moments.



MP4 file


----------



## hash tag (Nov 13, 2022)

Virginia McKenna, Margaret Rutherford (&Stringer), Peter Sellers, Leslie Phillips 😓 amongst others, a charming little film, bad v. Evil, David v Goliath; the smallest show on earth. It's even about the cinema! 








						The Smallest Show on Earth - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## ska invita (Nov 21, 2022)

The Blue Lamp (1950)  is up on Talking Pics


			Video
		

gave it a watch - a really interesting film

Made in conjunction with the Met Police - the first film to do so - its not exactly post-war neorealism, in fact its out and out softcore police propaganda, but it does have a lot of realist elements in it, the best of which being the many shots of london, postwar poevrty, and urhcins running around in the streets. if you like old footage of london its a must. and the whole thing is shot beautifully and the story moves along at a good pace. a few classic sequences in there, especially towards the end. Won BAFTA best film award in 1950

Its seems quite ground breaking in being a police 'procedural' , though the police dont really do much realistic detective work, most of the clues land in their laps. A key cop character in it went on to spawn Dixon of Dock Green which ran for twenty years and 400 odd episodes.

Oh and the first spoken use of the word "bastard" on film!


----------



## A380 (Nov 21, 2022)

ska invita said:


> The Blue Lamp (1950)  is up on Talking Pics
> 
> 
> Video
> ...



And George Dixon is shot and killed…  rather defeating the whole ‘rosy glow of nostalgia’ that hangs round the character…


----------



## Elpenor (Nov 21, 2022)

I enjoyed that for the shots of London and its bombsites. 

A nice companion piece to It Always Rains On Sunday perhaps


----------



## ska invita (Nov 21, 2022)

A380 said:


> And XXXXXXXXXXXX  rather defeating the whole ‘rosy glow of nostalgia’




SPOILERS!!!

Its an attempt to pull at the heart strings around our brave bobbies though


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 21, 2022)

ska invita said:


> Oh and the first spoken use of the word "bastard" on film!


surely the eponymous 1940 film








						Bastard (1940 film) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## A380 (Nov 21, 2022)

ska invita said:


> SPOILERS!!!
> 
> Its an attempt to pull at the heart strings around our brave bobbies though



Spoiler for a film that came out 72 years ago? 

You need to watch more telly…


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 21, 2022)

A380 said:


> Spoiler for a film that came out 72 years ago?
> 
> You need to watch more telly…


poor ska needs to get out more


----------



## killer b (Nov 21, 2022)

hash tag said:


> A little suspense and drama, a cheeky crook, Peter Cushing, a low budget Hammer film, a charming little number; Cash On Demand
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I watched this the other day - very enjoyable indeed. the whole film is on youtube:


----------



## Indeliblelink (Nov 21, 2022)

Indeliblelink said:


> Robeson was also in Borderline from 1930, an interesting silent British film about an interracial relationship.


Just noticed this is on Youtube with Courtney Pine's soundtrack from the 2007 DVD release.


----------



## ska invita (Nov 27, 2022)

This is good fun on Talking Pictures right now
Legend Of The Witches​*Video Description:*

1970. Docu-drama. Directed by Malcolm Leigh & Narrated by Guy Standeven.
Originally X-rated, the famous cult film about witches and witchcraft in Britain.


			Video
		


Exploitation flick shot in 1969, nudity being the titillation. IMDB review:
The later part of the 1960s was a watershed in terms of censorship.The power of the Lord Chamberlain to censor the stage was abolished.Shortly after that the all nude revue Oh Calcutta was staged.At about the same time there was a furore about the showing of a females pubic hair.The film was shown uncut at the NFT.The censor,John Trevelyan wanted to keep in step with public tastes,so full frontal nudity was allowed.So all of a sudden producers were allowed to show everything,though there were and still are things they couldn't show.So give the audience a large dose of education and you could put in a reasonable amount of nudity.So that is clearly what happened here.It is actually quite entertaining


---If you turn the lights down on a dark winters night theres some moody entertainment to be eeked out here
---modern certificate 15


----------



## Lurdan (Nov 27, 2022)

ska invita said:


> This is good fun on Talking Pictures right now
> Legend Of The Witches​*Video Description:*



Interesting film. It features Alex and Maxine Sanders, who 'conjured up' the 'Alexandrian' school of Wicca that's named after him. They also appeared in other films, wrote popular paperbacks and turned up fairly regularly in the newspapers, and occasionally on TV. Their 'rituals' often involved being 'skyclad' (undressed), particularly when there were any cameras present. The film's relationship to exploitation is thus a complex one.

IMO they were probably more influential in attracting people to forms of Christianity in opposition to what they stood for, than to Wicca. However, the many different 'new age' and fringe Christian networks, which developed from the 1950s onwards, did so in a symbiotic relationship with one another.


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## ska invita (Nov 27, 2022)

Lurdan said:


> Interesting film. It features Alex and Maxine Sanders, who 'conjured up' the 'Alexandrian' school of Wicca that's named after him. They also appeared in other films, wrote popular paperbacks and turned up fairly regularly in the newspapers, and occasionally on TV. Their 'rituals' often involved being 'skyclad' (undressed), particularly when there were any cameras present. The film's relationship to exploitation is thus a complex one.
> 
> IMO they were probably more influential in attracting people to forms of Christianity in opposition to what they stood for, than to Wicca. However, the many different 'new age' and fringe Christian networks, which developed from the 1950s onwards, did so in a symbiotic relationship with one another.


really interesting
Satanic Bible was published the same time as this film - 1969 - my reading of that book was basically self-therapy deprogramming from Christianity - at a time when the church still had a lot more social power
context is a lot


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## hash tag (Nov 27, 2022)

SysOut said:


> Haven't checked in the thread whether this one's been posted, but it's one I've never forgotten whenever I think of Alec Guiness:
> 
> Last Holiday (1950) directed by Henry Cass
> 
> ...


Great, lovely, touchy feely film complete with Alex Guinness, just finishing on talk TV. 








						Last Holiday (1950 film) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## hash tag (Nov 29, 2022)

Digressing slightly and apologies.
The Titfield Thunderbolt, 1953 was the first Ealing film in technicolour.  The Titfield Thunderbolt - Wikipedia
In a similar vein, I have just watched some of the runaway railway. A very silly film, low budget film starring Ronnie Barker made 1in 1966 in black and white.  Runaway Railway (1966) - IMDb


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## ska invita (Nov 29, 2022)

bejesus, ive seen the Titfield Thunderbolt...just did a search on urban and so have loads of urbanites - the state of us


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## hash tag (Nov 29, 2022)

ska invita said:


> bejesus, ive seen the Titfield Thunderbolt...just did a search on urban and so have loads of urbanites - the state of us


I've seen some of the filming locations, while riding in a steam train to Bath 🤣


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## ska invita (Nov 29, 2022)

hash tag said:


> I've seen some of the filming locations, while riding in a steam train to Bath 🤣


i dont care about trains but youtube suggested this to me yesterday


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## hash tag (Nov 29, 2022)

ska invita said:


> i dont care about trains but youtube suggested this to me yesterday



Perfect is the word, lovely. Should be on a train thread 👍


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## hash tag (Thursday at 8:40 PM)

I've just watched Private Information, it has cracking subject matter; corrupt council, poor standard housing, poor materials used by crap contractors, jobs for the boys etc. 



			Private Information | New to Encore | Talking Pictures TV


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