Whistle Down the Wind (1962), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), The Ruling Class (1972), 36 Hours (1964), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Green Man (1957), It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), The Scapegoat (1959) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best British Literature On Screen movies.
Storyline: Little Kathy (Hayley Mills) discovers a man wanted for murder hiding in her family's barn. When she asks him who he is, he says Jesus Christ just before he goes unconscious. Kathy and her siblings are convinced that he is Jesus, and try to hide him from grown-ups.—Nasser <NasKU@aol.com>
Plot Keywords: farm, directorial debut, fugitive, coming of age, based on novel, manipulative man, pretending to be someone else ...
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: factory worker, british new wave, based on novel, british, caught cheating, fair, playground ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A member of the House of Lords dies in a shockingly silly way, leaving his estate to his son. Unfortunately, his son is insane: he thinks he is Jesus Christ. The other somewhat-more respectable members of their family plot to steal the estate from him. Murder and mayhem ensues.—Mark Logan <marklo@west.sun.com>
Plot Keywords: kiss, river, hanging, hallucination, orchestra, lobotomy, confetti ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In this psychological war-drama an Army Major is captured by the Germans during World War II. They attempt to brainwash him into believing the war is over and that he is safe in an Allied hospital, so that he will divulge Allied invasion plans.—Patrick Dominick <p-dominick@adfa.oz.au>
Plot Keywords: world war two, brainwashing, year 1944, amnesia, d day, hospital, lie ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Sidney Stratton, a humble inventor, develops a fabric which never gets dirty or wears out. This would seem to be a boon for mankind, but the established garment manufacturers don't see it that way; they try to suppress it.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
Plot Keywords: invention, capitalism, idealism, capitalist, labor union, factory, inventor ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Work has been going with a bang for freelance assassin Hawkins but a job in England is a different matter. His apparently easy target, a pompous government minister, is off for some hanky-panky at the Green Man on the south coast, where Hawkins is planning to retire him for good. But before he can get on with this the hit-man has a procession of unwanted visitors at home to dispose of - one way or another.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: based on play, fake identity, radio announcer, husband wife relationship, corpse, tape recorder, finding a dead body ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Slice of life drama following the lives of various people in London's East End on a wet Sunday. (Is this film why people think it always rains in England ?) Rose was engaged to local wild boy Tommy Swann but he got imprisoned on Dartmoor. After he was locked up she got married to sedate but dull George. Tommy's now broken out of jail and comes to see Rose to get help to flee the country.—Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: london england, train, train station, suicide attempt, jewish family, working class, stepmother ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: On a vacation in France from his nondescript job and life, John Barratt encounters a titled but impoverished French nobleman who looks exactly like him. The nobleman gets John drunk, and switches places with him to take a breather from his failing business and too-complicated life. John tries to convince everyone he is not who they think he is, but he begins to get more and more involved with the count's family, including an unhappy wife, domineering mother, lonely but talented young daughter, bitter spinster sister and the expected mistress. As John gets to know them he feels he can help them with their problems, but is also becoming used to his borrowed life, which has given him a purpose for the first time.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>
Plot Keywords: man wears pajamas, restaurant, passport, title based on the bible, look alike, identity swap, impostor ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Oliver Bramwell, an insurance inspector, arrives at Lewis Manor where he is to investigate a fire that broke out there on Christmas Eve. He rings the bell and to his amazement he finds himself face to face with Sarah, the woman he once loved in Hong Kong and who, one day, disappeared from his life without apparent reason. Love resurfaces and when Tracey, the owner of the manor and Sarah's husband, dies in a second fire, the couple is reunited. Nevertheless, Oliver suspects Sarah of having tricked him and murdered Tracey with a view to attaining her ends. Fortunately his suspicions are allayed and he can marry Sarah. They are first very happy, until a blackmailer starts preying on them...—Guy Bellinger
Plot Keywords: british noir, based on novel, cousin, mother son relationship, christmas eve, secretary, literature on screen ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In London, American heiress Kit Preston (Doris Day) has been married for three months to a British executive, Anthony 'Tony' Preston (Sir Rex Harrison). During a foggy evening while walking across Hyde Park, Kit is threatened by a voice that tells she will be murdered soon. The next day, Kit receives a phone call from the stalker threatening to kill her in the next month. She and her husband go to Scotland Yard, but Inspector Byrnes (John Williams) believes that Kit may be making up the story to get more attention from her husband. Kit's Aunt Bea (Myrna Loy) arrives, but only Kit receives the phone call raising the question: is she losing her mind?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Plot Keywords: telephone terror, london england, embezzlement, police detective, psychiatrist, psychological torment, scaffold ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A couple uses extremely black comedy to survive taking care of a daughter who is nearly completely brain dead. They take turns doing the daughter's voice and stare into the eyes of death and emotional trauma with a humor that hides their pain.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
Plot Keywords: independent film, fantasy sequence, policeman, christmas, prank, prankster, practical joke ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: John Lewis is bored by his librarian's job and henpecked at home. Then Liz, wife of a local counciller, sets her sights on him. But this is risky stuff in a Welsh valleys town - if he and Liz ever manage to consummate their affair, that is.—J-26
Plot Keywords: librarian, bow tie, alarm clock, wales, playwright, library, husband wife relationship ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Hard up and with a grudge against insurance companies, English pilot Rex Black fakes his death and meets up with his wife and the money in Malaga, Spain when things have quieted down. But when the insurance investigator turns up, Rex starts a game of cat-and-mouse.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: post coital scene, adulterous wife, adultery, cheating wife, unfaithful wife, rivalry, rival ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In early 19th century Cornwall, a young orphan, Mary, is sent to live with Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss who are landlords of the Jamaica Inn. Mary soon realises her uncle's inn serves as the base for a gang of ship wreckers - who lure ships to their doom on the rocky coast, and Mary begins to fear for her life.—Claudio Sandrini <pulp99@geocities.com>
Plot Keywords: based on novel, flintlock pistol, intrigue, inn, title same as book, 20th century literature on screen, british literature on screen ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: During the 1950s, in a small isolated Mexican village, the local Roman Catholic priest, Father Gomez (Leslie French), is an older man with a broken spirit. During his tenure in the village of Quantano, he fought hard to keep his flock of parishioners, in spite of threats and intimidation from the part of local bandit Anacleto Comachi (Sir Dirk Bogarde) and his men. The atheistic bandit has imposed his tyrannical rule over the region for many years. The local Police cannot find any witnesses to come forward and testify to any wrongdoing from the part of Anacleto. Therefore, they cannot charge him or arrest him. The Catholic Church replaces Father Gomez with a younger, more energetic priest, Father Keogh (Sir John Mills) from Ireland. Before departing the village, Father Gomez warns Father Keogh of the dangers of defying Anacleto Comachi's authority. But Father Keogh openly defies the bandit and administers his daily priestly duties at the village church. He even manages to persuade some of the villagers to start attending church again. In retaliation, Anacleto tries to intimidate the priest by starting to murder the villagers in alphabetical order. He also plans a few attempts on the priest's life. Coming between them, Locha (Mylène Demongeot), the beautiful daughter of the major local landowner, brings a bit of reason, sanity, and innocence to this violent world. Anacleto promises to Father Keogh to mend his ways and embrace religion if Father Keogh can persuade him that it's the religious message and teachings, not the personality and charisma of the priest that drives the faith. Father Keogh accepts the challenge and invites Anacleto to live with him and read the Bible. Upon doing this, Anacleto discovers Father Keogh's little secret.—nufs68
Plot Keywords: gas station, police car, small town, outlaw gang, mexico, love triangle, belief ...
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