British film timeline

[DB7]

As I mentioned on an earlier thread I've been concocting a British film timeline (for inclusion in the history bit) from 1930 to present day. Obviously during certain years there were maybe 3 classic films produced but for my purposes I've restricted myself to one.



The initial draft is listed below so if you'd like to add your two-pennyworth feel free as any views would be appreciated.



1930: Murder

1931: The Ghost Train

1932: Rome Express

1933: Friday the Thirteenth

1934: The Scarlet Pimpernel

1935: The 39 Steps

1936: Night Mail

1937: Oh, Mr. Porter!

1938: The Lady Vanishes

1939: Goodbye Mr. Chips

1940: London Can Take It

1941: 49th Parallel

1942: In Which We Serve

1943: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

1944: Henry V

1945: Brief Encounter

1946: A Matter of Life and Death

1947: Brighton Rock

1948: The Red Shoes

1949: The Third Man

1950: The Blue Lamp

1951: The Lavender Hill Mob

1952: The Sound Barrier

1953: The Cruel Sea

1954: Hobson’s Choice

1955: The Dam Busters

1956: Reach for the Sky

1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai

1958: Room at the Top

1959: I’m All Right Jack

1960: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

1961: A Taste of Honey

1962: Lawrence of Arabia

1963: Billy Liar

1964: Zulu

1965: Darling

1966: Alfie

1967: Accident

1968: If…

1969: The Italian Job

1970: Performance

1971: A Clockwork Orange

1972: Savage Messiah

1973: The Wicker Man

1974: Murder on the Orient Express

1975: Barry Lyndon

1976: The Man Who Fell to Earth

1977: A Bridge Too Far

1978: Death on the Nile

1979: Monty Python’s Life of Brian

1980: The Long Good Friday

1981: Chariots of Fire

1982: Gandhi

1983: Educating Rita

1984: The Killing Fields

1985: Brazil

1986: Mona Lisa

1987: Wish You Were Here

1988: A Fish Called Wanda

1989: Shirley Valentine

1990: Life Is Sweet

1991: The Commitments

1992: The Crying Game

1993: Naked

1994: Four Weddings and a Funeral

1995: Secrets & Lies

1996: Trainspotting

1997: The Full Monty

1998: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

1999: Ratcatcher

2000: Billy Elliot

2001: Bridget Jones's Diary

2002: Bend It Like Beckham

[dylan]

Not much to argue with there. Its difficult to choose one film per year but I'd also nominate:



1944 A Canterbury Tale

1950 Seven Days to Noon

1955 The Ladykillers

1963 Dr Strangelove

1964 A Hard Day's Night

1965 The Ipcress File

1969 2001

1969 Women in Love

1970 Get Carter

1984 Dance With A Stranger

1989 Scandal

1990 The Krays

1991 Let Him Have It

[welshpaul]

As per earlier post, it's difficult to argue with most of the choices, but I list my suggestions below for what they are worth :



1936 Things to come

1937 Edge of the world

1939 The stars look down

1940 Thief of Baghdad

1942 Went the day well

1943 Millions like us

1944 This happy breed

1945 Dead of night

1949 Passport to Pimlico

1952 Importance of being Earnest

1953 Genevieve

1955 The Ladykillers

1956 The Green Man (well I like it !)

1957 Woman in a dressing gown

1960 School for soundrels

1961 Victim

1963 The Haunting

1965 The Ipcress File

1969 2001

1972 Frenzy

1988 High Hopes

[Polynikes]

dylan:



1989 Scandal

1990 The Krays



Sorry but I have to take issue with these two...



They were dire moments in British cinema history.



Scandal was a story worth telling but the film that finally emerged from the cutting room had more to do with sea-side postcards than saying anything about the nature of early 60's society and politics.



Of course it was told from Keeler's side but it failed to explain the magnitude of what happened and instead of a significant exploration of the times, it settled for cheap titillation...I lump it with the dreadful "Lifeforce" as a serious work.



The Krays was a distasteful subject made even more distasteful by casting two period "glamour boys" - the Kemp brothers from 80's group Spandau Ballet in the title roles.

The Krays were vicious mobsters not sexy rougues...

Another bad day for the British fim industry was the day this was realeased.



Bio-pics can be well made and by the British film industry too..."A Man for All Seasons" is a great film.



Ken Russell's early works also seem to get underated like Mahler, The Music Lovers and The Devils.



What about "Jesus Christ Superstar"?

[DB7]

</div><div class='quotemain'>Polynikes:

...I lump it with the dreadful "Lifeforce" as a serious work.[/b]

Aaahh Lifeforce! A film so bad it's actually watchable in a kitsch b-movie stylee. (well, there's Mathilda May eek! ) There's something wonderfully tacky about Lifeforce and it's forever on satellite or late-night CH4.

[Polynikes]

With all due respect there are oply two reasons to watch Lifeforce and they're shown very early on in full exposure.



I think I should start a thread on the worst British movies of all time...this would be one.



Trouble is the Lottery's funding of what's left of the British film industry has resulted in some of the worst creations ever put to celluloid so we could be here all day.



Generally there were many real stinkers until the 70's. In fact most British films were very well made until the rise of television.



Crap movies started with the rise of Hammer and continued with the British Sex "Comedies". Robin Askwith has a LOT to answer for!!!

[Polynikes]

</div><div class='quotemain'>Polynikes:

With all due respect there are oply two reasons to watch Lifeforce and they're shown very early on in full exposure.



I think I should start a thread on the worst British movies of all time...this would be one.



Trouble is the Lottery's funding of what's left of the British film industry has resulted in some of the worst creations ever put to celluloid so we could be here all day.



Generally there weren't many real stinkers until the 70's. In fact most British films were very well made until the rise of television.



Crap movies started with the rise of Hammer and continued with the British Sex "Comedies". Robin Askwith has a LOT to answer for!!! [/b]

[DB7]

</div><div class='quotemain'>Polynikes:

I think I should start a thread on the worst British movies of all time...this would be one.[/b]

Rancid Aluminium knocks many supposed 'bad' films into a cocked hat as by the finish you're left wondering just what has been going on for the previous 90 minutes.



The Lottery has financed countless stinkers and many of them never even obtained a distributor and eventually see the light of day years after production.

[dylan]

Pollynikes:



I'm not sure I can defend Scandal and The Krays as well as classic films from earlier decades.



Scandal, in my opinion, a far more important film that the light romantic comedy Shirley Valentine. What made it important was that there was a similar smug, hypocritical political climate in the late 80s as the early 60s and the subsequent decline of the Tories through similar sleaze scandals bears this out. The Establishment hit out at the film for raking over past events but it was championed by serious critics such as the usually puritanical Alexander Walker who considered it "a morality play for today."



If the Kemp twins came over as "sexy rogues" in The Krays we must have seen different films. The film deliberately avoided glamourising the Krays and concentrated on the tragedy of their madness and pulled no punches in depicting their viciousness.



...besides, I like gangster films.

[Polynikes]

dylan:



Scandal, in my opinion, a far more important film that the light romantic comedy Shirley Valentine. What made it important was that there was a similar smug, hypocritical political climate in the late 80s as the early 60s and the subsequent decline of the Tories through similar sleaze scandals bears this out.



I grant you that the subject matter of "Scandal" was more significant than "Shirley Valentine" but I think defending its production as a comment on the Tories decline is stretching it somewhat - indeed the Tories were not even at their peak when it was released.

Perhaps the movie is smptomatic of the 80's but I don't think so...I think it was an excuse to parade Joanne Whalley's buttocks, and Bridget Fonda's and Britt Eckland's breasts rather than a protest against the Thatcher decade.

The same movie could easily be made today or in the 70's - there was no need to show a sexy naked vampire in "Lifeforce", it was done to get the boys to buy tickets, likewise for "Scandal".



By contrast, the film "In the Name of the Father" (1994) was a protest film and although as an ex-soldier I think the film is distasteful in its sympathies, it is a far better attempt to dramatise an historical event.



If the Kemp twins came over as "sexy rogues" in The Krays we must have seen different films. The film deliberately avoided glamourising the Krays and concentrated on the tragedy of their madness and pulled no punches in depicting their viciousness.



I suppose this is just a personal interpretation....the Kemp brothers were a poor choice to play the Krays because they were sex symbols at the time, the can't act and they're too good looking.

The scene where they knock out the overbearing corporal during their national service is a particularly good example of almost justifying their violence. Although not quite in the same league, I would draw a parallel with Brian de Parma's AWFUL, empty, tasteless, revolting and mindless "Scarface" with Al Pacino. Although the expletives and bullets fly, he is still sexy Al PACINO going down like Errol Flynn in "They Died With Their Boots On".



If you want gangster movies, then try a real seedy portrayals like Richard Burton in "Villian" or Michael Caine in "Get Carter" or "Mona Lisa" or Michael Gambon in "The Thief, the Cook, His Wife and Her Lover". Personally, I think you should never like the bad guys....



...besides, I like gangster films.



IMO, the best was going to be "The Long Good Friday" until the producers ruined it by bringing in an IRA angle.

Bob Hoskins has still produced, IMO, the best British gangster.



Perhaps someone can help me here but what was the film with Richard Todd trying to get his Ford Anglia back that villian Peter Sellers had stolen? Peter showed he could act a bit in that film.

[Polynikes]

DB7:



Rancid Aluminium knocks many supposed 'bad' films into a cocked hat as by the finish you're left wondering just what has been going on for the previous 90 minutes.



It was on cable a while ago here in the USA. I tried to watch it but couldn't...it's unwatchable tripe.



I saw "Reign of Fire" recently too and that's pretty bad.



Last week I caught "28 Days Later" in the cinema and quite liked it until the soldiers went mad...I think it would've been better had the director remembered he was making a Sci-Fi movie and not swapped genres into psycho-analysis in the last reel.

Was it just me but did it also rip off the end of "Resident Evil"?

[dylan]

Polynikes



<Perhaps someone can help me here but what was the film with Richard Todd trying to get his Ford Anglia back that villian Peter Sellers had stolen? Peter showed he could act a bit in that film.>





John Guillermin's Never Let Go (1960). Apparently Sellers found a side of himself he didn't like in Meadows the gangster and rarely played straight roles again. Peter showed he could act in quite a few other films too.

[Hackett]

"NEVER LET GO" 1960 You can buy it now on DVD. Richard Todd plays a great part. Its very well acted for a low budget film. "VILLIAN" 1971 what makes this film a cut above the rest are the characters and dialogue. You can feel Clement & La Frenais hand on the script. Ian McShane's hustler does well next to Burton's psychopath. He was good a year later in "SITTING TARGET" this time teamed up with Oliver Reed. Going back to "THE KRAYS" best summed up as "THE KEMPS" to much faction. "LET HIM HAVE IT" is almost the same. Jim Clark did a mutch better job with his BBC play about the P.C.Miles murder.

[dylan]

Alan Clarke's *To Encourage the Others* about the Craig and Bentley case thankfully still exists on film and was recently shown at the NFT.



I recall that it caused some controversy back in 1972 as did much of Clarke's work.

[Polynikes]

What I liked about "Villian" was Richard Burton's willingness to show a the crook as the deep, dark, nasty animal that they usually are.



Contrast that to the bad guys in say "3000 Miles to Graceland" or John Travolta in "Broken Arrow" or "Swordfish" - always willing to indulge in some designer shooting but not really scary.



Burton's character is one you would genuinely fear running into in an East End pub. The guy who played "Bricktop" in Guy Ritchie's "Snatch" is another.



For sheer acting a tough bad guy, I'd like to nominate Robert Carlyle as "frank" in "Trainspotting".

[Polynikes]

dylan:



John Guillermin's Never Let Go (1960). Apparently Sellers found a side of himself he didn't like in Meadows the gangster and rarely played straight roles again. Peter showed he could act in quite a few other films too.



I can't think of any other Peter Sellers straight roles to be honest...it must be great acting on both parts because ordinarily you wouldn't think Richard "Dambusters" Todd would have much trouble with Peter "the Goon" Sellers.

[dylan]

Those fortunates who have seen The Blockhouse (1973)claim that it contains one of Sellers' finest performances as one of a number of Frenchmen trapped in a fortification during WW2.



Legal difficulties between the producers are given has the reason it wasn't shown in the cinemas or on TV.



Anyone here seen it?

[Hackett]

Ian McShane said he watched "VILLIAN" in a New York cinema. For some reason,unknown to him,they had dubbed every actors voice with a Bronx accent except Burton.

As for the actor who played Bricktop, Alan Ford, he was in another good British gangster movie "THE SQUEEZE" 1977. Leon Griffiths wrote it, he of "MINDER" fame and "THE GRISSOM GANG". Stacy Keach came over to star. And stayed a little longer then he wanted.

[Polynikes]

HACKETT:



Ian McShane said he watched "VILLIAN" in a New York cinema. For some reason,unknown to him,they had dubbed every actors voice with a Bronx accent except Burton.



Americans are very insular people. Most do not have passports and little experience of the world...the British (and Dutch, Germans etc) all have widespread knowledge of the USA and culture through TV, cinema and travel. An American by contrast will struggle in Britain to even understand regional accents.



American producers and distributors (being completely commerically driven) will go out of their way to "Americanize" film & TV as they genuinely fear that unless the average American (of which they have a very poor view of) relates and accepts and understands the product in front of them, they will walk out.



Hence British films are as American as possible (usually with American leads or at least a British lead who is recognised by Americans).



A British accent is dubbed.

A British TV series like Eastenders is only shown on minority interest channels.

A foriegn film is dubbed into (American) English rather than subtitled - I saw "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "La Reine Margot" in English.

An Emma Thomson film was given CGI treatment to airbrush out her armpit hair as the distributors didn't want to offend American audiences (and hence lose ticket sales).

British TV comedy series have "canned" laughter imposed on them - BBC America also does this to the Blackadder - something I have complained to them over.



"Bend it Like Beckham" was an exception and the distributors actually retained the title.



As for the actor who played Bricktop, Alan Ford, he was in another good British gangster movie "THE SQUEEZE" 1977. Leon Griffiths wrote it, he of "MINDER" fame and "THE GRISSOM GANG". Stacy Keach came over to star. And stayed a little longer then he wanted.



The Squeeze was a rather nasty British gangset film...but again, why was an American actor asked to don a British accent?

I don't remember Alan Ford being in it but I also can't remember the last time I saw it.



I like the grit of British gangster movies....the 2 Sweeney films also had it.

Guy Ritchies 2 films has it in buckets...is anyone aware of plans for him to make a third gangset movie?

There were all kind of rumours of a movie on the recent Attempted Gem Heist at the Millenium Dome.