Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), A Taste of Honey (1961), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), The Passionate Friends (1949), I Became a Criminal (1947), Term of Trial (1962), The Entertainer (1960) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Post-war Britain movies.
Storyline: A British manufacturer (Ralph Richardson) loses a son and a son-in-law (Nigel Patrick) trying to fly faster than the speed of sound.
Plot Keywords: war, aviation, british film, drama, history, biography, technology ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Arthur, one of Britain's angry young men of the 1960s, is a hardworking factory worker who slaves all week at his mindless job for his modest wages. Come Saturday night, he's off to the pub for a loud and rowdy beer session. With him is Brenda, his girlfriend of the moment. Married to a fellow worker, she is nonetheless captivated by his rugged good looks and his devil-may-care attitude. Soon a new love interest Doreen enters and a week later, Brenda announces she's pregnant. She tells Arthur she needs money for an abortion, and Arthur promises to pay for it. By this time, his relationship with Doreen has ripened and Brenda, hearing of it, confronts him. He denies everything, but it's obvious that their affair is all but over.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: social realism, working class, moral dilemma, sexual liberation, class conflict, black and white, life struggles ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Black and white, gay and straight, mothers and daughters, class, and coming of age. Jo is working class, in her teens, living with her drunk and libidinous mother in northern England. When mom marries impulsively, Jo is out on the streets; she and Geoffrey, a gay co worker who's adrift himself, find a room together. Then Jo finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with Jimmy, a Black sailor. Geoffrey takes over the preparations for the baby's birth, and becomes, in effect, the child's father. The three of them seem to have things sorted out when Jo's mother reappears on the scene, assertive and domineering. Which "family" will emerge?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: british film, social realism, working class, single parent family, independent film, black and white film, 1960s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The shock is that it's an all-girls school that has been sent. The two head teachers are soon battling for the upper hand with each other and the Ministry. But a crisis (or two) forces them to work together.—Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: comedy, british film, black and white, school, misunderstanding, education, classic ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The Passionate Friends were in love when young, but separated, and she married an older man. Then Mary Justin (Ann Todd) meets Steven Stratton (Trevor Howard) again and they have one last fling together in the Alps.—David Wark <dwark@atge.automail.com>
Plot Keywords: romance, drama, british film, black and white, classic film, marriage, love triangle ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In this gritty film noir, cynical ex-RAF flyer Morgan, bored with civilian life, joins a break-in gang led by Narcy. On his first job, the getaway car crashes after killing a policeman. Morgan is framed as the driver and sent to jail. Seeking revenge, he escapes and heads for London. Along the way he's helped by a woman (Mrs. Fenshaw), who wants him to murder her husband. In London, Morgan is sheltered by Sally, who falls in love with him. He confronts Narcy and the gang in an abandoned warehouse. Brazilian Director Cavalcanti's crime drama should not be confused with the totally unrelated "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939).—Mike Rogers <MICHAELPEM@aol.com>
Plot Keywords: crime, film noir, fugitive, british film, 1940s, prison, wrongly accused ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Graham Weir is an alcoholic schoolteacher whose criminal record for refusing to fight during World War II has prevented him from progressing further in his teaching career. He is looked upon with disdain by his headmaster, his pupils, and even his wife. The one person who appreciates his shyness and warmth is one of his pupils, Shirley Taylor. After Weir offers to give her free private tuition, the pupil slowly falls in love with her teacher. She treats this as an obsession that can never be fulfilled, but in her frustration and naivety, she reveals her true feelings for Weir and offers to sleep with him. Weir gently refuses and intends to forget about the episode but a new problem surfaces in his life when Taylor accuses him of indecent assault.—David Claydon <dc6212@bristol.ac.uk>
Plot Keywords: courtroom drama, british film, black and white, 1960s, moral dilemma, social critique, laurence olivier ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: On the far side of middle age, Archie Rice (Sir Laurence Olivier) lives in a British seaside resort with his father, retired successful vaudevillian Billy Rice (Roger Livesey), second wife Phoebe Rice (Brenda de Banzie), and doting son Frank Rice (Sir Alan Bates). Following in retired Billy's footsteps, Archie is a song-and-dance music hall headliner, with Frank supporting his dad as his shows' stage manager. The waning popularity of Archie's type of shows, a dying form of entertainment, is not helped by Archie's stale second rate material, which brings in small unappreciative crowds. Archie clings to his long-held lifestyle, including heavy drinking and chronic infidelity, of which Phoebe is aware. What Archie has not told his offspring is that Phoebe was his mistress while he was still married to their now deceased mother. His want to be a music hall headliner is despite his financial problems, he an undischarged bankrupt who now signs Phoebe's name to everything. Phoebe wants them to escape this life to something more stable, such as the offer from her relations to manage a hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, while Archie, always one step ahead of his creditors for his current show, wants to mount another for the winter season. Long-suffering Phoebe often drowns her sorrows with booze. One person in their immediate family who has somewhat escaped their life is Archie's daughter, Jean Rice (Dame Joan Plowright), an art school teacher in London, she who is still trying to find her place in the world. Her pre-engagement boyfriend Graham (Daniel Massey) wants her to move to Africa with him for a job, which she is reluctant to do if only because of not yet being ready to leave her dysfunctional family behind, they who she still feels to need to watch over. Unlike Archie, Jean is more concerned about the fact that her brother Mick Rice (Albert Finney) has just been shipped overseas to fight in the Suez Crisis. Archie's steps in his determination to mount that new show, seemingly at any cost, may break the family apart once and for all.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: drama, british, laurence olivier, play adaptation, realism, family, show business ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: When an unexploded World War II bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, London, England, it reveals a treasure trove. They find documents proving that the region is, in fact, part of Burgundy, France, and thus foreign territory. The British government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area. The "Burgundians" fight back.—Stephen Parkin <stephen@spcap.demon.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: comedy, british film, classic, 1940s, satire, humour, social commentary ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Jim Ackland, who suffers from a head injury sustained in a bus crash, is the chief suspect in a murder hunt after a young woman that he has just recently met is found dead on the local common, and he has no alibi for the time she was killed.—Mike Wilson <Mike.Wilson6@btinternet.com>
Plot Keywords: mystery, thriller, film noir, crime, drama, psychological thriller, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Jimmy Porter is a loud, obnoxious man, rude and verbally abusive to his wife, Alison. Alison comes from an upper class family that Jimmy abhors and he berates Alison for being too reserved and unfeeling. Jimmy is college educated but works with a partner, Cliff Lewis, as a street vendor operating a candy stall. Cliff lives with Jimmy and Alison and is close friends with both. When Jimmy pushes Alison while she is at the ironing board she is burned. Alison visits her doctor where it is revealed that she is pregnant. She asks him if it is too late to do something about it but the doctor immediately tells her never to mention such an idea. When Jimmy leaves for work, Alison confides to Cliff that she is pregnant. She is frightened of Jimmy's reaction to this news, and has not told him. Jimmy is visited by his childhood nanny, Mrs. Tanner, whom Jimmy loves and calls "Mom." Alison tries to tell Jimmy of the pregnancy but is frustrated when Jimmy insults her for being cool towards Mrs. Tanner.. Alison tells Jimmy that her actress friend, Helena Charles, is coming to stay at the flat. Jimmy hates Helena. In his anger, he curses Alison for her cool demeanor, and wishes that she would have a child and that the child would die so she could feel anguish to break her cool demeanor. Helena arrives, and when she has had enough of Jimmy's bitterness toward Alison, she convinces Alison she should allow her to call Alison's father, Colonel Redfern, to take her to the family home and leave Jimmy. Jimmy then gets word that his nanny has had a stroke. Jimmy begs Alison to come with him to see her but Alison goes with Helena to church. Jimmy visits his nanny in the hospital and is convinced she is dying. Before Jimmy returns, Alison's father arrives and leaves with Alison. Helena stays in the flat. Jimmy returns and Helena tells Jimmy that Alison is going to have a baby. Jimmy says he does not care. When he calls Helena an evil-minded virgin, she slaps him. Then they kiss and make love, locking Cliff from the flat. Jimmy and Helena live for a while in the flat, apparently happy, with Cliff, while Alison stays at her family's home waiting to give birth. Cliff begins to feel out of place, having been close to Alison but not Helena. At the candy stall, Cliff tells Jimmy that he has decided to leave. He wants something better. Jimmy has decided to get out of the candy business, too. Cliff says good-bye to Jimmy at the train station and Jimmy tells him he is worth more to him than a dozen Helenas. Jimmy and Helena enter a train station pub where they find Alison seated at a table alone. Jimmy leaves and Alison tells Helena she lost her child in pregnancy. Helena feels that she has to leave Jimmy. Helena returns to the flat and tells Jimmy she is leaving him because she cannot stand the torment of their lives. Jimmy returns to the train station and finds Alison waiting to return home. They talk of the lost child and Alison tells him she can never have children. Jimmy and Alison reconcile.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, marriage, class conflict, anger, british, working class ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: An English scientist runs away from a research center with an atomic bomb. In a letter sent to the British Prime Minister he threatens to blow up the center of London if the Government don't announce the end of any research in this field within a week. Special agents from Scotland Yard try to stop him, with help from the scientist's assistant future son-in-law to find and stop the mad man.—Jean-Marie Berthiaume <jiembe@videotron.ca>
Plot Keywords: suspense, thriller, crime, drama, film noir, british film, cold war ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The diamond merchant's niece falls for his new footman who is really an impoverished aristocrat.
Plot Keywords: romance, comedy, musical, british film, 1940s, high society, misunderstanding ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Norman and Mr Grimsdale are council workmen mending the road outside an Army base when they come into conflict with the military. Shortly afterwards, they get drafted and fall into the clutches of the Sergeant they have just bested. They are sent to France to repair roads in front of the Allied advance but get captured. Norman takes advantage of a useful similarity to impersonate General Schreiber and manages to return a hero.—Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: comedy, british film, black and white, 1950s, school setting, social satire, classic film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: We follow the daily activities of two London bobbies, veteran Police Constable George Dixon (Jack Warner) and rookie Police Constable Andy Mitchell (Jimmy Hanley). Meanwhile, young hoods Tom (Sir Dirk Bogarde) and Spud (Patric Doonan) plan a series of robberies with Tom's girl Diana (Peggy Evans), a discontented beauty, as an inside worker. But in their second crime, one of our heroes is shot, setting off a citywide manhunt. The killer is clever, but will he outsmart himself?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, british film, film noir, police, murder, london ...
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