Time Out - 100 Best British Films
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- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsPete PostlethwaiteFreda DowieAngela WalshThe lives of an English working-class family are told out of order in a free-associative manner. The first part, "Distant Voices", focuses on the father's role in the family. The second part, "Still Lives", focuses on his children.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsDavid BradleyBrian GloverFreddie FletcherA working-class English boy spends his free time caring for and training his pet kestrel.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDavid NivenKim HunterRobert CooteA British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsCelia JohnsonTrevor HowardStanley HollowayMeeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsRoger LiveseyDeborah KerrAnton WalbrookFrom the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsEric PortmanSheila SimDennis PriceThree modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.
- DirectorGary OldmanStarsRay WinstoneKathy BurkeCharlie Creed-MilesA rough, short-tempered patriarch of a working-class family sees his life and the relationships around him slowly unravel.
- DirectorBill DouglasStarsStephen ArchibaldHughie RestorickJean Taylor SmithThe First part of Bill Douglas' influential trilogy harks back to his impoverished upbringing in early-'40s Scotland. Cinema was his only escape - he paid for it with the money he made from returning empty jam jars - and this escape is reflected most closely at this time of his life as an eight-year-old living on the breadline with his half-brother and sick grandmother in a poor mining village.
- DirectorBill DouglasStarsStephen ArchibaldHughie RestorickJean Taylor SmithJamie and Tommy are separated by the death of their grandmother; Jamie with another relative and Tommy to a welfare home. Now Jamie is all alone and his life is not at all happy taken over by silence, rejection and violence.
- DirectorBill DouglasStarsStephen ArchibaldPaul KermackJessie CombeJamie leaves the children's home to live with his paternal grandmother. After working in a mine and in a tailor's shop, he is conscripted into the RAF, and goes to Egypt, where he is befriended by Robert, whose undemanding companionship releases Jamie from self-pity.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsTimothy SpallBrenda BlethynPhyllis LoganFollowing the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsDirk BogardeSarah MilesWendy CraigUpper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsMichael RedgraveTom CourtenayAvis BunnageA young thief takes up long-distance running when he is sent to a borstal.
- DirectorRobert HamerStarsGoogie WithersJack WarnerJohn McCallumAn escaped convict tries to hide out at his former lover's house, but she has since married and is reluctant to help him.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsLeslie BanksC.V. FranceValerie TaylorAn English village is occupied by disguised German paratroopers as an advance post for a planned invasion.
- DirectorPatrick KeillerStarsPaul ScofieldJohn MajorNorma MajorAn inspiring tale through London by pictures narrated by Paul Scofield.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsTommy FlanaganMandy MatthewsWilliam EadieA naïve young lad navigates the dirty squalid streets of 1973 Glasgow and the poor youth around him.
- DirectorHumphrey JenningsStewart McAllisterStarsLeonard BrockingtonJoseph MacleodBud FlanaganA depiction of life in wartime England during the Second World War. Director Humphrey Jennings visits many aspects of civilian life and of the turmoil and privation caused by the war, all without narration.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsRalph RichardsonMichèle MorganSonia DresdelA butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderLiam CunninghamStuart GrahamIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
- DirectorAndrew KottingStarsAndrew KottingEden KottingBenji MingWhen British filmmaker Andrew Kotting decided to tour the perimeter of Great Britain with his grandmother Gladys and his daughter Eden, he brought a film crew along. The result is this often humorous and picturesque documentary.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsTony CosgroveOlivier Espitalier-NoelDon FairserviceThe 1746 Battle of Culloden, the last land battle fought in the British Isles and the battle that ensured that Scotland was controlled by England.
- DirectorBill ForsythStarsBurt LancasterPeter RiegertFulton MackayAn American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.
- DirectorPatrick KeillerStarsPaul ScofieldRobinson is commissioned to investigate the unspecified "problem of England." The narrator describes his seven excursions, with the unseen Robinson, around the country. They mainly concentrate on ports, power stations, prisons, and manufacturing plants, but they also bring in various literary connections, as well as a few conventional landscapes.
- DirectorLindsay AndersonStarsRichard HarrisRachel RobertsAlan BadelDespite success on the field, a rising rugby star senses the emerging emptiness of his life as his inner angst begins to materialize through aggression and brutality, so he attempts to woo his landlady in hopes of finding reason to live.
- DirectorChristopher PetitStarsDavid BeamesLisa KreuzerSandy RatcliffIn 1970s Britain, a man drives from London to Bristol to investigate his brother's death, and the purpose of his trip is offset by his encounters with a series of odd people.
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsNoam AlmazDexter FletcherNigel TerryA retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century painter through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.
- DirectorBill ForsythStarsJohn Gordon SinclairDee HepburnJake D'ArcyGregory is a normal teen who is infatuated with a classmate. He must work to win her affection.
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsJane AsherJohn Moulder-BrownKarl Michael Vogler15-year-old dropout Mike takes a job at Newford Baths, where inappropriate sexual behaviour abounds, and becomes obsessed with his coworker Susan.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsRoger SlomanAlison SteadmanAnthony O'DonnellA middle-class couple go camping in Dorset, but peace and quiet elude them.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsJim BroadbentAllan CordunerDexter FletcherSet in the 1880s, the story of how, during a creative dry spell, the partnership of the legendary musical/theatrical writers Gilbert and Sullivan almost dissolves, before they turn it all around and write the Mikado.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsShirley HendersonGina McKeeMolly ParkerThere's little wonder in the working-class lives of Bill, Eileen, and their three grown daughters. They're lonely Londoners. Nadia, a café waitress, places personal ads, looking for love; Debbie, a single mother, entertains men at the hair salon after hours; her son spends part of the weekend with her ex, a man with a hair-trigger temper. Molly is expecting her first baby and the child's father acts as if the responsibility is too much for him. Eileen is bitter, complaining about her husband and the dog next door; Bill's a doormat. His West Indian neighbour offers him a drink; her own grown son locks himself in his room most of the time. Will anyone connect during this Guy Fawkes weekend?
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsBasil RadfordJoan GreenwoodCatherine LaceyScottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsMark LesterRon MoodyShani WallisAfter being sold to a mortician, young orphan Oliver Twist runs away and meets a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor in 1830s London.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsGeir WestbyGro FraasKerstii AllumThis biopic of Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch focuses on the influences that shaped his art, his devastating affair with a married woman that will haunt him for the rest of his life
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsLeigh McCormackMarjorie YatesAnthony WatsonA lyrical reverie about a young Liverpool boy coming of age in the 1950s among his loving family and the austere Catholic Church as he enters the rigors of school, nurtures a bedazzled love of the movies and longs for companionship.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsAlec GuinnessJoan GreenwoodCecil ParkerAn altruistic chemist invents a fabric which resists wear and stain as a boon to humanity, but big business and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.
- DirectorShane MeadowsStarsMartin ArrowsmithDave BlantDarren CampbellAfter stopping 12 y.o. Romeo and Gavin from being beaten up, Morell drives them home and meets Romeo's adult sister and falls in love. The boys "help" him in his pursuit.
- DirectorAlan ClarkeStarsSpencer BanksJohn AtkinsonGeorgine AndersonSummer 1955, and pastor's son Stephen must come to terms with his own identity amid societal pressure, religious guilt and his own imaginings.
- DirectorEwald André DupontStarsGilda GrayAnna May WongJameson ThomasA young Chinese woman working in the kitchen at a London dance club is given the chance to become the club's main act, which leads to a plot of betrayal, forbidden love, and murder.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsTom CourtenayJulie ChristieWilfred PicklesA lazy, irresponsible young clerk (Sir Tom Courtenay) in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsSean ConneryTrevor HowardVivien MerchantA burnt-out British police detective finally snaps whilst interrogating a suspected child molester.
- DirectorCarine AdlerStarsSamantha MortonClaire RushbrookRita TushinghamA woman explores her sexuality to cope with the passing of her mother, leading her to profound revelations about herself and the people closest to her.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryUrsula AndressBernard LeeA resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program.
- DirectorSally PotterStarsTilda SwintonBilly ZaneQuentin CrispAfter Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsHans Adalbert SchlettowUno HenningNorah BaringA former barber escapes from a high security prison. Flashback story of an escape from the lonely, high-security Dartmoor Prison.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsIan CarmichaelTerry-ThomasPeter SellersA naive aristocrat in search of a career becomes caught up in the struggles between his profit-minded uncle and an aggressive labor union.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsJulie ChristieAlan BatesDominic GuardA tale of torrid and forbidden love between a couple in the English countryside.
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsDerek JarmanTilda SwintonJohn QuentinIn his final - and most daring - cinematic statement, Jarman the romantic meets Jarman the iconoclast in a lush soundscape pulsing against a purely blue screen, laying bare his physical and spiritual state.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsIan HartRosana PastorIcíar BollaínDavid is an unemployed communist that comes to Spain in 1937 during the civil war to enroll the republicans and defend the democracy against the fascists. He makes friends between the soldiers.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsSteve CooganLennie JamesJohn ThomsonIn 1976, Tony Wilson sets up Factory Records and brings Manchester's music to the world.
- DirectorPaul Andrew WilliamsStarsLorraine StanleyGeorgia GroomeJohnny HarrisDesperate to evade an angry pimp, a London prostitute and a young girl flee by train to Brighton after an appointment with a powerful client goes violently wrong.
- DirectorRobert HamerHal E. ChesterCyril FrankelStarsIan CarmichaelTerry-ThomasAlastair SimA young man finds a very special school. It teaches him how to take advantage of people. He begins to put the lessons into operation.
- DirectorLionel JeffriesStarsDinah SheridanBernard CribbinsWilliam MervynAfter the enforced absence of their father, three children move with their mother to Yorkshire, where during their adventures they attempt to discover the reason for his disappearance.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsJamal Udin TorabiEnayatullahImran ParachaA refugee family is trying to reach more peaceful lands illegally inside trucks.