Which British film classics wouldn't have been made today?

[Harleybloke]

Oh What a Lovely War? Ryan's Daughter? Kes? All classics but if you went to a producer today with the idea...........................

[Miss Guided]

I suggest they may not remake the big screen version of Love They Neighbour??

[Moor Larkin]

Originally Posted by Miss Guided I suggest they may not remake the big screen version of Love They Neighbour??

Umm... Not that title, but the hurling of racial/ethnic epithets seems a staple of many Multiplex Teen/Comedy movies nowadays.

Maybe Love Thy Neighbour was ahead of it time.......

Now there's a media studies essay for someone...

[TimR]

Attempted to delete this repeat post, but was unable to. Help from mods would be appreciated.

[TimR]

Originally Posted by Beaty1961 ....... In the same way you could compare Americans of the time - how much of their 'gung ho' was inspired by Hollywood? (I remember my father telling me about the first American GIs he encountered in North Africa during WWII. This was their first experience of the war, and he said they all acted like they were Jimmy Cagney and told the Brits that now they were in the war it would be over soon. Soon after they got their first real pasting by the experienced Germans and this got rid of a bit of their cockiness. But he - my Dad - never forgot that the Yanks seemed to think that they were in some sort of John Wayne movie.) ..... ;)

Really? That seems highly unlikely and reflects a false understanding of American life in 1941: the "cocky yanks" imitating Cagney and Wayne until they were humbled? From my own family accounts, most of them were a good deal more idealistic than the military would be today. Some were brash, yes - depending very much on where in the US they hailed from - but imitations of Cagney in "Angels With Dirty Faces" seems questionable.

Many of them were simply scared and hoped to come home safely, as all soldiers do. Hundreds of thousands never did come back, as was true of the Brits and every nation in that terrible war. Certainly open expression of fear would have been far less acceptable at the time. Do not confuse louder voices with lack of awareness of reality.

By the way, John Wayne was not a major American film star until AFTER the war, reaching the top in 1947-48. So that makes your specific reference even more unlikely.

[TimR]

Originally Posted by Beaty1961 That's a very interesting idea, ML. How do you think it would be different? -- I'll take a guess and say that the social taboos that was at the heart of the 'tragic' romance would not have been an issue these days. Is this what you meant? (Glad you brought this film up - it's my mother favourite. :) )

I doubt that the term "social taboos" would hve been used. The world has changed so much that we cannot even grasp what that era was like, unless we are old enough to remember it.

Our "social taboos" would have been their moral and ethical code of behavior and responsibility. They had not yet removed the reference to an objective moral code in the mid 40s.

Whether everyone lived up to it is another question. But the acknowledgment of a moral code, which seems absurd today, was still part of life at the time. That is part of the fascination of "Brief Encounter" today. It is certainly sentimental, but it is effective in its own way because the characters are dealing with an allegiance to a code that is mocked today but still existed then.

[Piccadilly]

Brief Encounter. It would have to change its name to Raunchy Affair or something if remade today.

[Hugh N. Cry]

Mmmm. 'Bottoms Up' with Jimmy Edwards. I've just converted my old VHS copy to DVD and think it should go head-to-head with bloody Harry Potter! The film was set in a seedy prep School in the 1950's and was not very P.C. (deputy Head Arthur Howard being 'stripped' and soaked in the showers by the Upper 4th!). A lot of fun from an early TV series by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.

[suzepulcheria]

It aint 'arf 'ot Mum. Far too cringe-makingly un-PC.

[Edward G]

Tv comedy "Mind Your Language" ("golly, golly, gumdrop"s level of humour and painful - even for the time - stereotypes).
Most of Alf Garnett's stuff, though at least there was more of a connection to the way people actauuly thought about racial issues with Alf Garnett ....

[scholes]

Originally Posted by Edward G Tv comedy "Mind Your Language" ("golly, golly, gumdrop"s level of humour and painful - even for the time - stereotypes). Most of Alf Garnett's stuff, though at least there was more of a connection to the way people actauuly thought about racial issues with Alf Garnett ....

Good call Edward G. Till Death us do Part was written specifically in mind to satirise racist attitudes from the distorted perspective of Alf Garnett. Mike his son-in-law played by Anthony Booth was always shown questioning the reasoning behind Alf's subjective outbursts.

[Edward G]

Yeah, as long as we laughed at Alf, rather than with him we were on the right track, I suppose. I wouldn't mind seeing some of his routines again, to be honest.
I love the scene in the feature length movie where Alf and family are in a cinema. The movie ends and the national anthem comes on. As people are tearing out of the auditorium Alf stands rigidly facing the screen saluting the monarachy, to the disbelief and embarrassment of his brood! The other great scene I recall is where he is lambasting anyone who doesn't fit in with the white anglo saxon prototype. His wife, trying to offer up a postive "non-white"role model says "Al Jolson was all right!" Priceless.

Originally Posted by scholes Good call Edward G. Till Death us do Part was written specifically in mind to satirise racist attitudes from the distorted perspective of Alf Garnett. Mike his son-in-law played by Anthony Booth was always shown questioning the reasoning behind Alf's subjective outbursts.

[ggm]

the evidence is clear. you can't make a film like St Trinians today.

[donna]

Originally Posted by Beaty1961 I was thinking this afternoon about my favorite 1960s British films, and then thought that it was lucky they were made in the 60s as in today's climate they would have little chance of being made. For example, 'If...' or 'Poor Cow' or even 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'... Which legendary British films do you think simply would not be made today?

UP the Junction, hated that film made me feel uneasy and it was so poor the scenery and housing, is there still housing like that in that area with smokey chimneys.

[donna]

Originally Posted by ggm the evidence is clear. you can't make a film like St Trinians today.

no not without the wonderful Joyce and Alistair Syms