Charles Barton • Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marjorie … Just Great Movies. What we get is movies made with all the craftsmanship we're used to with Hollywood war films from the era but that don't follow the Hollywood rules about plot and character we've seen in a hundred other (often great) WWII movies. Here are the best. Visually mesmerising, the film paints a bleak picture of post-World War II Europe as the story’s setting becomes a character in itself. 2. The Web (1947) – source: Universal Pictures. Navy Secretary Braithwaite apologized that it took more than 75 years since World War II ended to honor the fallen chaplain. 1940s (22) Doctor (22) Marriage (22) Father Daughter Relationship (21) Police (21) Dancing (19) Femme Fatale (19) Friendship (19) Kiss (19) Death (18) Father Son Relationship (18) Psychotronic Film (18) Telephone Call (18) Bar (17) Chase (17) Hotel (17) Love Triangle (17) Maid (17) Photograph (17) Song (17) Escape (16) Face Slap (16) Flashback (16) Jealousy (16) Marriage Proposal (16) British WW2 films by Edna Sweetlove. Probably trumped by the Powell and Pressburger comic fantasies during World War II, Humphrey Jennings’ film is a more sombre look at British life in the face of conflict. Written, directed and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Red Shoes is based on Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale and follows the story of a ballerina who must choose between her life on the stage and true love. This movie revealed the previously classified story behind Britain's "bouncing bombs," which the RAF's 617 Squadron used to destroy German dams in 1943. The final bombing sequence is shot in a way that should look familiar to fans of the Death Star destruction sequence in the original 1977 "Star Wars" movie. Michael Redgrave plays the visionary engineer who conceives and designs the devices, and Richard Todd is the RAF pilot who leads the raid. While that does describe the plot, it doesn't suggest the violence and brutality the movie depicts. Alec Guinness is superb. The British film industry was very active in the 1940s, and not only with comedies such as those featured in my recent Ealing Comedies game. Film Movement is a small distributor that's doing amazing work in making available a wide variety of lesser-known films from around the world. "Went the Day Well?" It tells the story of Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), a housewife who meets a gentleman one day whose company she enjoys. The 1940s saw the rise of Technicolor but also of film noir … If we're being honest with ourselves, Great Britain knew more about the war in Europe and North Africa than Americans ever would. Originally part of a shortlist for the best films of the 1940s, I struggled to cut the group to just ten. The ultimate in non-lethal riot control devices was a total lie. We’re lucky to be able to revisit this British version of the stage play at all. Carol Reed • Starring: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles. Cinema proved crucial to national survival in the 1940s. One of the most popular movies of the 1940s Cinema, a timeless classic, and Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite of all of his films. Even if that version kept in the action sequences so effective here, it's the dread created in quieter scenes that make the film so effective. Cast John Mills, Valerie … Is the US Losing the Fight for Arctic Dominance? David Lean masterfully adapts Charles Dickens’ novel for the screen. Put a group of French, British and Polish men determined to escape in one place, and they're going to come up with a series of ingenious plans. it was much better than the Peter O’Toole version in ’69. British Council film archive Take a trip down memory lane with this rights-free collection of over 100 short documentaries about wartime Britain, made by us during the 1940s. British Horror films - in year order Thanks to Darrell Buxton (an expert), I now present you with an official, accurate, and exhaustive guide to every British horror film made. What are your favourite British films from the 1940s? Biden will arrive at the White House with the smallest military presence in Afghanistan in nearly two decades. It is given further resonance thanks to a thoughtful script that intelligently looks at morality and social existence. Hollywood didn't quite corner the market on great World War II movies. The action scenes are riveting, and much of the movie was shot on location in Libya. A British medical field unit (John Mills, Sylvia Syms and Harry Andrews) tries to cross the desert to Alexandria, Egypt, in a breaking-down jeep. He's so beloved that the flight crews use his name as one of their code words for the mission. 1940: 21 Days: Basil Dean: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Banks: Drama: Filmed in 1937 All at Sea: Herbert Smith: Sandy Powell, Kay Walsh: Comedy: At the Villa Rose: Walter Summers: Judy Kelly, Keneth Kent, Clifford Evans: Mystery: Band Waggon: Marcel Varnel: Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch: Comedy: Blind Folly: Reginald Denham: Clifford Mollison, Lilli Palmer: Comedy Recently, the film found its way into our Top 10 films to watch before going to film school. There have been many great British crime movies, from Get Carter to Sexy Beast and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. 1939. He would do the same for Oliver Twist two years later. Nominate Them For A $1,000 Prize From AARP, Here's What It Was Like to Be a Marine Turned Journalist Capturing the US Capitol Assault, You Can Find These Surprising Artifacts at the Coast Guard's Museum. Does it come any where close to achieving the greatness of ‘The Third Man’? This was a movie made for an audience who knew just how close they had come to fighting the enemy on their home turf. "Ice Cold in Alex" is also available to stream or buy online. The box set is still worth the investment because most of the movies come with outstanding documentary extras. One of the most popular films Gainsborough Studios ever released, this costume melodrama, for which British cinema became renowned for during the middle part of the century, follows the lives of two women (Phyllis Calvert, Margaret Lockwood) who pursue fateful relationships with two unscrupulous men (James Mason, Stewart Granger). One of my personal faves is “Goodbye Mr Chips”! The Marine Corps hit a milestone when three women completed drill instructor school at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Does it matter that fear of German invasion in Britain had almost totally receded by 1942? One left-field choice: John Eldridge’s Waverley Steps, which is a 30-minute ‘city symphony’ through the streets of Edinburgh. Required fields are marked *. He is the third of four U.S. service members — two SEALs and two Marines — to face a court martial for the death of Melgar. David Lean’s film was ahead of its time. Gaze in wonder at just how bloody many of them there have been. Bradford. This is a deliciously dark comic tale that has lost none of its sly sophistication. They're accompanied by a South African officer (Anthony Quayle), who may not be what he seems. All rights reserved. This includes movies made in the 1940s as well as movies that were made in the 1950s. The film is based on Noel Coward’s one-act play from 1936. A list of 354 films compiled on Letterboxd, including 21 Days (1940), Band Waggon (1940), Busman's Honeymoon (1940), The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940) and Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940). I haven’t seen all of these, but glad to see Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes included. Using real firemen playing fictional roles, Fires Were Started follows the men of a fire station during intense German bombing raids. Powell and Pressburger’s film, based on the novel by Rumer Godden, features a wonderful performance from Deborah Kerr and an even better one from Kathleen Byron as the directors cook up an emotional tale of ambition, faith and eroticism. is also available to stream or buy online. Great Expectations (1946) Film Action and adventure. Charlotte Rampling scored her first Oscar nod as Kate Mercer, one half of a long-married couple nearing a key milestone. Not really. The Great Dictator - (1940, Charles Chaplin) (Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie) 21. There are real consequences for both villagers and troops, and the deaths aren't underplayed. Your email address will not be published. tells a fictional story about German paratroopers who land in England, impersonate British troops and take over a remote village. © Copyright 2021 Military.com. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Discover More on Top10Films.co.uk: On this occasion, Veidt plays a hero, something he did not do very often, and there is also an early (uncredited) performance by Leo Genn. Laurence Olivier, whilst serving with the British Fleet Air Arm during the second world war, starred in and directed this wholly patriotic film from the play from William Shakespeare. Best Foreign Films. That these charming British character types are required to react with such sudden ferocity gives the movie a sense of real consequence missing from most homefront films. Launder and Gilliat jointly made the propagandist Millions Like Us before alternating directing chores on a series of wittily scripted, beautifully crafted entertainments including Two Thousand Women (1944), The Rake's Progress (1945), I See A Dark Stranger (1946), Captain Boycott (1947) and London Belongs To Me … Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work. Here are some of the serious movies made in British studios during the 1940s. The dog is black, and Gibson has given him a truly unfortunate name, one that inspired a pre-title card at the movie's beginning warning audiences that the film reflects cultural attitudes of the era that may no longer be acceptable. It's a movie that deserves a wider audience and, if that requires dubbing in an innocuous name for the dog, let's hope someone gets around to that soon. If you like old movies, I hope you'll enjoy this quiz. In my opinion God, I’m ashamed to say I’ve barely seen any of these (The Third Man and Black Narcissus aside)…. Colditz was supposed to be escape-proof and was used to house prisoners who made repeated escape attempts from other camps. The Magnificent Ambersons - (1942, Orson Welles) (Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello) 23. It really does deserve to be better known. Most of them are also available for purchase or rent via digital stores like iTunes, Amazon, VUDU or FandangoNOW. 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A list of 354 films compiled on Letterboxd, including 21 Days Together (1940), Band Waggon (1940), Busman's Honeymoon (1940), The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940) and Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940). The paces seem standard and unadorned. Great Expectations, for me, is the finest piece of cinema these shores ever produced, with Fires Were Started coming a very close second. The Third Man 1949, 93 min. @Max: I don’t think many films reach the level of The Third Man but I would say if you are a fan of that film Odd Man Out is definitely worth seeing, as are all of these films. Argued by many as the greatest film ever made, Carol Reed’s The Third Man follows an American searching for the killer of his best friend in war-torn Vienna. The brilliant Alec Guinness plays multiple roles in this early Ealing comedy about the cunning Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) who decides to kill all members of the D’Ascoyne family who stand in his way of his dukedom and the family fortune. Arranging to meet again, the pair soon find their relationship developing into love. The first of the films made available here are of the “film noir” genre (or style, if you prefer). Christopher Nolan's classic 2017 "Dunkirk" plunges viewers into three different perspectives (land, sea, air) and three different timelines (week, day, hour) to give a sense of the chaos of war from the battlefield perspective. I’ve seen and own 1,2, and 4. 1940s (3) 20th Century Literature On Screen (3) Bar (3) Bare Chested Male (3) British Humoristic Literature On Screen (3) British Literature On Screen (3) Car Crash (3) Cemetery (3) Class Differences (3) Deception (3) England (3) European Literature On Screen (3) Explosion (3) Gun (3) Hotel (3) Humoristic Literature On Screen (3) Literature On Screen (3) Pistol (3) Police (3) It is BAD that I haven’t seen any of these isn’t it? The sheer quality of the films featured below highlights the strength of the British film industry during the 1940s, a decade that perhaps has never been matched before or since. "The Colditz Story" is also available to stream or buy online. Brits really do see Dunkirk as the defeat that won the war, and this movie, made less than a generation after the 1940 evacuation, is a document of that operation made by people with direct connections to the war. Richard Collins III was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army shortly before his death. These movies were made for a British audience, starring actors who were huge movie stars in their home country but never necessarily made it in Hollywood. These are my favorites and I’ll categorize them in three ways: 1. THEME | ACTOR | DIRECTOR | TIME PERIOD | GENRE | COUNTRY | SPECIAL INTEREST | FUNNY However Goodbye Mr Chips, How Green was my Valley and Mrs Miniver are American films. 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