Movements and schools
Classic British cinema
The golden age of English studios, from adventure to muted noir.
Between the thirties and the fifties the English studios produced a cinema of craftsmen in which know-how counted more than the signature: Lean built a bridge in Thailand in order to blow it up, Reed filmed occupied Vienna in tilted shots and zither music, Powell sent nuns into the Himalayas to the point of breakdown. The Ealing studios added a very English black comedy in which old ladies outlive gangsters. It is a cinema of solid storytelling, stage actors and polite censorship.
works 5
- CinemaPygmalionAnthony Asquith and Leslie Howard · 1938A phonetics professor bets that he can pass off a young flower seller from London as a duchess.Cinema
- CinemaBlack NarcissusMichael Powell and Emeric Pressburger · 1947Five nuns open a school in a mountain palace that once housed courtesans.Cinema
- CinemaThe Third ManCarol Reed · 1949A man arrives in a ruined city to find a friend who has just been buried.Cinema
- CinemaThe LadykillersAlexander Mackendrick · 1955Five criminals move in with an old lady and make her believe they are rehearsing chamber music.Cinema
- CinemaThe Bridge on the River KwaiDavid Lean · 1957A captive colonel sets an international convention against the man who wants to make him work.Cinema