The Greatest British film makers - please add your choice...

[Wetherby Pond]

Originally posted by HACKETT@Mar 15 2005, 04:20 PM Well he's very lucky to be still working after "THE KRAYS" 1990.

I saw it when it came out, and was very pleasantly surprised. I'd probably give most of the credit to Philip Ridley's script and the supporting cast (Billie Whitelaw's Violet Kray in particular), but Medak managed to get some very effective performances out of the Kemp brothers - who didn't disgrace themselves at all. (I remember much gleeful speculation as to whether they'd fall flat on their faces, followed by grudging acknowledgement that they hadn't!)

[DB7]

Each to their own but I thought both The Krays and Let Him Have It were good films; altho the former did glamorize the brothers and viewed today has something of a 'tv' feel to the production. Both were graced by some fine performances particularly Eccleston and Press Ganger Reynolds in Let Him Have It.

[Steve Crook]

Originally posted by DB7@Mar 15 2005, 07:38 PM Each to their own but I thought both The Krays and Let Him Have It were good films; altho the former did glamorize the brothers and viewed today has something of a 'tv' feel to the production. Both were graced by some fine performances particularly Eccleston and Press Ganger Reynolds in Let Him Have It.

I agree, The Krays and Let Him Have it were both quite acceptable bordering on very good. As Wetherby mentioned, Billie Whitelaw was an excellent support as their mother in The Krays. But when isn't she excellent?

Paul Reynolds seems to find it very hard to give a bad performance.
Even the otherwise terrible Trevor's World of Sport was worth watching to see Paul at work.

But a lot of his roles do seem to be echoing back to Colin in Press Gang.
So often he plays the shadey, wheeler-dealer type of character.
He's in the BBC World Service soap opera "Westway" - where he plays a shadey, wheeler-dealer type of character

But he does do them very well.

Steve

[smudge]

Originally posted by Allen Dace@Mar 14 2005, 11:10 AM He's now directing TV episodes as his page on the internet movie database shows : Peter Medak

Damn shame -

He made a cracking ghost story with THE CHANGELING.

SMUDGE

[giallihaydw]

SIDNEY HAYERS.1921-2000. Very underrated in my opinion.

CIRCUS OF HORRORS
PAYROLL
NIGHT OF THE EAGLE
THREE HAT'S FOR LISA (fluff,but it was pleasant enough)
THE TRAP
REVENGE (ok trash but id love to see it again)
ASSAULT
ALL COPPERS ARE...
DEADLY STRANGERS (i NEED this on dvd)

Thats without mentioning all his TV work.

[A Pemberton]

Hello everyone , newbie posting.



My vote goes to the like of Mackendrick or Cornelius or the Boulting brothers ,people often underestimate or see Ealing films as purely whimsicle but consider them as very satirical in the 40s and 50s ,almost every social and class British standard was challenged and questioned within the constraints of British society in which humour was the main weapon .As a studio in the history of the British film industry they are in my view without equal.

[Wetherby Pond]

Originally posted by A Pemberton@Apr 15 2005, 09:25 PM Hello everyone , newbie posting. My vote goes to the like of Mackendrick or Cornelius or the Boulting brothers ,people often underestimate or see Ealing films as purely whimsicle but consider them as very satirical in the 40s and 50s ,almost every social and class British standard was challenged and questioned within the constraints of British society in which humour was the main weapon .As a studio in the history of the British film industry they are in my view without equal.

Tiny quibble - the Boultings never worked for Ealing (Associated-British was their main stamping ground).

And of course the major figure at Ealing was producer/studio head Michael Balcon, who I doubt would have set much store by the auteur theory, even if it had been coined at the time most of the great Ealing films were made - and I don't think it's a coincidence that most of the major Ealing directors (Charles Crichton and Robert Hamer spring to mind) never made anything half as good after they left. (John Cleese is ge nerally acknowledged to have directed most of A Fish Called Wanda)

[The_Late_Peter_Cook]

Originally posted by Wetherby Pond@Apr 24 2005, 07:25 AM Tiny quibble - the Boultings never worked for Ealing (Associated-British was their main stamping ground). And of course the major figure at Ealing was producer/studio head Michael Balcon, who I doubt would have set much store by the auteur theory, even if it had been coined at the time most of the great Ealing films were made - and I don't think it's a coincidence that most of the major Ealing directors (Charles Crichton and Robert Hamer spring to mind) never made anything half as good after they left. (John Cleese is generally acknowledged to have directed most of A Fish Called Wanda)

Oh I don't know, Hamer had personal problems so in his case it's understandable. MacKendrick not only made a classic post-Ealing movie (THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS) he made it in America to boot... and wasn't Cornelius's most popular movie the non-Ealing GENEVIVE?

That said, I think their best working evironment was Ealing and (despite all the praise heaped on their comedies) it's still vastly under-rated.

[Wetherby Pond]

Originally posted by The_Late_Peter_Cook@Apr 24 2005, 10:57 AM Oh I don't know, Hamer had personal problems so in his case it's understandable. MacKendrick not only made a classic post-Ealing movie (THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS) he made it in America to boot.... and wasn't Cornelius's most popular movie the non-Ealing GENEVIVE? That said, I think their best working evironment was Ealing and (despite all the praise heaped on their comedies) it's still vastly under-rated.

I deliberately didn't mention Mackendrick for that reason (though his post-Sweet Smell career was generally disappointing, to the extent that he himself packed it in a decade later and switched to teaching) - but Cornelius would never have made Genevieve if he hadn't put in a lengthy stint at Ealing. And, again, his career more or less fizzled out.

Of course, a great many of the old studio contract directors - including Crichton - ended up in television after the likes of Ealing and Gainsborough went to the wall, which was probably the most sensible career move they could have made. But television isn't generally thought of as a direct or's medium, so as far as their public image was concerned they more or less disappeared.

[s_only_me]

i think i would have to say...

if my decision was a matter of life or death

p & p rule ok?

i think !

[Steve Crook]

Originally posted by s_only_me@Jul 15 2005, 09:27 AM i think i would have to say... if my decision was a matter of life or death p & p rule ok? i think !

No argument from me about that



Steve

[penfold]

(Wetherby Pond (Talking of which, Asquith is also frequently underrated. His silent films are a revelation, Cottage on Dartmoor in particular being arguably ahead of anything even Hitchcock was doing at the time, and even his much-maligned collaborations with Terrence Rattigan are more interesting than their reputation might suggest)

I have to say that, even though I'm right with Steve about PnP, I am glad that someone managed to mention Asquith...he never really got the recognition his talent or films deserved... His three classic silents are amongst the finest achievements of British film at the time; Shooting Stars, Underground or A Cottage On Dartmoor, are all top-notch and daringly experimental; and if he stopped there, that would have been quite something; but don't forget his later work; Pygmalion, The Demi-Paradise, films (consecutively) as different as Fanny By Gaslight and The Way To The Stars (Second only to AMOLAD as the definitive British war film IMHO) and explorations of Britishness like The Importance of Being Earnest, The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version,The Final Test, Carrington VC.....it's a tremendous CV, and I fail to understand why his reputation isn't higher....is it because he was a leading union activist, gay, or because Daddy had been the Prime Minister??

[Geoffers]

(Steve Crook @ Jul 15 2005, 12:13 PM) No argument from me about that Steve

A Matter of Life and Death is one of my favourite films of all time, so P & P are high up on any list I might be compiling.

However, just a word or two for the often overlooked Bryan Forbes. He wrote some cracking screenplays: The League Of Gentlemen, Danger Within, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, The Angry Silence etc.; and also directed some classics like Whistle Down the Wind, The Whisperers and The L-Shaped Room.

Bryan will be 80 in July. It would be nice to see this milestone recognised with a season of his films at the NFT or on the BBC.