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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 12:35:17 GMT
But I think the next list will blow this lot away - David Lean and Carol Reed, for starters, will dominate. No ice-cream for you until you eat all your brussel sprouts. Curb your impatience and savor the nutritional benefits of vitamins A thru J.
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angel
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Post by angel on May 29, 2017 13:35:36 GMT
No "Stephen Frears?" and it's great to see Bill Douglas getting a heads up but where's his magnificent "Childhood" trilogy?
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 13:43:07 GMT
Another one of my favorites is Trainspotting by Danny Boyle. I know it is highly regarded but I have twice failed to get past the early scene where he dives head-first into the toilet bowl. Also, as a passionate childhood trainspotter, I object to the disrespectful use of the word. I will give it a third try some day but I will need to be feeling great physically and emotionally, and on the rare days when that happens I feel obligated to devote time to my kids (2 and 8).
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angel
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Post by angel on May 29, 2017 13:47:14 GMT
Oh, and while I've always considered his career as a director as mixed, Richard Attenborough is another consideration simply for Gandhi alone.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on May 29, 2017 13:51:33 GMT
i am glad that Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) has the most number of votes so far. it shows that this board has people with good taste.
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 14:22:34 GMT
O dear! Not only is Stephen Frears one of my favorite current directors (and he could not be more English), but he is actually one of the names which inspired me to start this thread. What a cock-up! Thanks for catching it early! He is perhaps too much of a chameleon to have made a really great film, but he has made many very good ones in various genres. My favorites are The Grifters (1990) and Philomena (2013). The latter is both funny and moving and I think an American director would have strayed into sentimentality whereas it made me very angry (and not many semi-fictional films do that). Dench and Coogan are wonderful. He has made so many good ones and all so different: -- Prick Up Your Ears (1987) Gary Oldman is great -- Dangerous Liaisons (1988) -- High Fidelity (2000) notable because Jack Black is actually likeable -- Dirty Pretty Things (2002) I wrongly remembered this as being his breakthrough movie. Only 18 years out! But it has that feel to it. -- The Queen (2006) somehow managed to avoid being either too gossipy or too reverential -- Tamara Drewe (2010) Old-fashioned movie and not in a good way, but I am a Hardy buff and in love with Dorset so I like it. Besides which, Gemma Arterton has big tits and supports Charlton Athletic (I wonder if she has enough to buy the club?) His only bad film is Lay the Favorite (2012). It is kind of rambling as if they were making it up as they went along. Another entry for Bruce Willis' "direct to DVD" collection? I would love to watch again his "A Personal History of British Cinema" (TV documentary). I watched it on TV when it came out (1995) but would have missed a lot of the references back then. It is hard to acquire. Because I have never seen it. Sorry! Thanks for drawing our attention to it.
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 14:32:54 GMT
Oh, and while I've always considered his career as a director as mixed, Richard Attenborough is another consideration simply for Gandhi alone. I suppose I should have included it as an option. It would have got a lot of votes. But, like I said, I give it a lot of respect as a project, but I simply cannot love it. Partly it is too reverential and partly because it wildly over-simplifies very difficult issues which resulted in the death of many millions, deaths which continue today. Still, it is indeed a major movie.
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 17:08:53 GMT
Ken Annakin ... Nor the Moon by Night (1958) Thanks for reminding me about Annakin. Aside from his inspiring the whole Star Wars series, I always thought of him as no more than a competent hack in both his UK and US movies. I liked the first "Huggett Family" film, Holiday Camp (1947), and when I saw it again a decade ago I found it very nostalgic about the England in which I grew up. Of course the sequels became clichéd and lazy. Miranda (1948) had a lighter touch than the US rip-off Splash (1984) on probably 5% of the budget. I like the W Somerset Maugham portmanteaus Quartet (1948) and Trio (1950) but Annakin's were the weaker sections. If I saw Nor the Moon by Night (1958) I do not remember it. It sounds very "genre" and racist. But there is one oddity in Annakin's filmography, Across the Bridge (1957), a nifty noir starring Rod Steiger. It had the advantage of being based on a Graham Greene story but, even so, it is so different from anything else he directed that I wonder if it was really his work or whether he lent his name to a banned director. It was shot in Europe, so that would have been possible. If that is too fanciful, then perhaps Steiger, who was a forceful character, steered him in a new direction.
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angel
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Post by angel on May 29, 2017 19:13:04 GMT
O dear! Not only is Stephen Frears one of my favorite current directors (and he could not be more English), but he is actually one of the names which inspired me to start this thread. What a cock-up! Thanks for catching it early! No worries, i guessed it was an accidental omission. Incidentally, I caught one of Frear's earlier films very recently completely by accident and knowing virtually nothing about it. It was called the The Hit, and not only was I unaware it was directed by Frears, I was also surprised to find it starred acting luminaries such as John Hurt, Tim Roth (in a very early role) and Terence Stamp (at his charismatic best) - It was a kind of stylized, existential gangster flic and I'm still flabbergasted I'd never heard of it up to that point. Apparently, Wes Anderson considers it in his top ten of the greatest ever British films. I wouldn't go that far but it really is a little gem and deserves to be better known. Definitely worth seeking out, especially the first two in the trilogy: My Childhood and My Ain Folk, once seen, never forgotten.
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angel
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Post by angel on May 29, 2017 19:16:24 GMT
Oh, and while I've always considered his career as a director as mixed, Richard Attenborough is another consideration simply for Gandhi alone. I suppose I should have included it as an option. It would have got a lot of votes. But, like I said, I give it a lot of respect as a project, but I simply cannot love it. Partly it is too reverential and partly because it wildly over-simplifies very difficult issues which resulted in the death of many millions, deaths which continue today. Still, it is indeed a major movie. I generally agree with you assessment of Gandhi, as well as his other highly regarded: Cry Freedom, although on balance, I do believe he made a decent fist of it without descending into complete hagiography. A couple more for consideration - I know it's your thread therefore your rules but I wonder if you would consider Henry Cornelius as a possible contender. I know he was South African born but he did direct some pretty quintessentially British films in Britain like Passport To Pimlico, (one of my favourite Ealing comedies), The Galloping Major and Genevieve and not a lot anywhere else. The other one is a bit cheeky because she's really just starting out in her career but I do feel with a fair wind Amma Asante could end up as a significant director. I really enjoyed her first three features A Way of Life, A United Kingdom and Belle and it's early days I know, but she already has me looking forward to what she does next.
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Post by fangirl1975 on May 29, 2017 21:01:42 GMT
A Night To Remember Excalibur Funeral In Berlin Rebecca The King's Speech (love me some Colin Firth wearing tailored suits)
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 22:44:05 GMT
I know it's your thread therefore your rules but I wonder if you would consider Henry Cornelius as a possible contender. I know he was South African born but he did direct some pretty quintessentially British films in Britain like Passport To Pimlico, (one of my favourite Ealing comedies), The Galloping Major and Genevieve and not a lot anywhere else. I embrace Henry Cornelius with enthusiasm for five reasons: 1) I like your attitude: "your thread therefore your rules". You will go far! 2) In his day white British Empire citizens were regarded as "British" (and still are by the alt-right in the UK) 3) The poor guy died at 44. Who could refuse him a mention? 4) He made Genevieve, an emblematically English movie 5) He was assistant producer and script doctor on It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), possibly my favorite English film outside of Powell and Pressburger. Anyone who contributed to that masterpiece deserves UK citizenship, a season ticket to Lords, and a complimentary carton of Marmite. He only directed five films. The Galloping Major (1951) is heavy-handed and Next to No Time (1958) a bit twee, but Genevieve (1953), Passport to Pimlico (1949) and I Am a Camera (1955) are all good. Thanks for drawing my attention to him.
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 23:02:19 GMT
The other one is a bit cheeky because she's really just starting out in her career but I do feel with a fair wind Amma Asante could end up as a significant director. I really enjoyed her first three features A Way of Life, A United Kingdom and Belle and it's early days I know, but she already has me looking forward to what she does next. Not cheeky at all. That is what this thread is for, to mention those who are not obvious choices but may have made at least one very good film or have a body of serious work. You say "just starting out" but she is already 48. I must confess to complete ignorance. I have been living outside the UK for ten years on Devil's Island so impossible to keep up with anything but mainstream British films. She sounds a talented lady, acts, writes, directs. Let us hope she hits the jackpot with Where Hands Touch this year. SS officers are always good for the Box Office.
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 23:47:52 GMT
Not represented: Jonathan Glazer Started by making pop videos, always a red flag for me. First movie was Sexy Beast (2000) with great interplay between Ben Kingsley and Ray Winstone. Brit gangster movies were all the rage at that time. This was one of the best.
Followed up with Birth (2004), which sounded embarrassing, and Under the Skin (2013) which was well reviewed but I found unwatchable. There is an interminable sequence near the start where she cruises the streets of Glasgow looking for victims. Did anyone else think this was stolen from Taste of Cherry (1997)?
Glazer is 52 now. Too old to be an enfant terrible.
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Post by london777 on May 29, 2017 23:59:53 GMT
Not represented: Nicholas Hytner Mainly films theater plays, either straight or with some "opening out".
His first that wasn't was a romcom starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd with a gay theme. Sounds awful. His latest, The Lady in the Van (2015), could easily have been a theater play. Too depressing for me, I'm afraid.
His first, The Madness of King George (1994), got three Oscar nominations. The Academy likes that sort of stuff. It adds a bit of British "class".
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Post by BATouttaheck on May 30, 2017 0:10:16 GMT
angelGenevieve is one of my all time forever favorite films. Thanks for the quiet shout out !
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Post by london777 on May 30, 2017 0:24:33 GMT
Not represented: John Irvin English born, he served a sixteen years "apprenticeship" making documentaries and TV dramas. The last of these was the very good and popular mini-series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Alec Guinness as Smiley. With its seven episodes it can do more justice to the original novel. I find Oldman a better Smiley and prefer the depressing environment of the more recent movie, but no reason not to enjoy both versions.
Anyway, that success catapulted Irwin to Hollywood where he has been trusted with a string of big budget movies with mixed financial results. His attempts at "artier" movies have mostly flopped.
My favorite: a low(ish) budget TV war movie When Trumpets Fade (1998) about the gruelling Hurtgen Forest campaign. It is ironic that this campaign is overshadowed by the Battle of the Bulge which soon followed, while Irwin's film was overshadowed by Saving Private Ryan which appeared around the same time.
Whatever, Irwin ceased to be in any sense a British director once he followed the money.
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Post by london777 on May 30, 2017 0:33:31 GMT
Not represented: Duncan Jones I only found out the director of Moon (2009) was English when preparing this thread. It is OK but a bit of a shaggy dog story. Jones seems bent on doing sci-fi so we will go our different ways.
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 30, 2017 1:53:39 GMT
Great Thread Topic, enjoying the interesting contributions and getting some good recommendations, thanks london777
Charles Frend has many good credits to his name. A highlight and a great favourite being a Googie Withers fan is a film in which she shines in the leading role ... The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947) The screenplay is from author H.E.Bates and the film also stars Jean Kent, John McCallum, Derek Bond and Chips Rafferty.
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Post by manfromplanetx on May 30, 2017 6:29:28 GMT
Harold French Had several box-office successes as director he was known for his romantic dramas and comedies but he also did a good wartime espionage thriller and a historical adventure. Directing feature films from 1937-1955, French was also an actor and scriptwriter and lived to the ripe old age of 97. Have watched and enjoyed a few of his films just recently, last week we saw Quiet Weekend (1946) with quite a cast of characters ! starring Derek Farr, Frank Cellier, Marjorie Fielding, George Thorpe and Barbara White it was a good play adaption, a very busy little comedy. The week before we watched the very entertaining W.Somerset Maugham anthology films, based on short stories introduced by the author himself... Quartet (1948), Trio (1950) & Encore (1951) Harold French directed supported with outstanding casts, the Quartet segment " The Alien Corn" , from Trio "Sanatorium" and from Encore the exciting "Gigolo and Gigolette" Glynis Johns ... Stella (Gigolette)
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