The Scarlet Pimpernel
Olivier's and Brannaugh's Henry V and Hamlet
Olivier's Othello
Lawrence of Arabia
All of the Bond films
The entire BBC series of Shakespeare's Plays
Larry, The Secret of Roan Inish was magical...
I loved The Full Monty! I laughed my head off the first time I saw it and literally walked out of the theater smiling.
I just went back over all of the mentioned films and noticed that there are quite a few David Lean films so I decided to add a few more of his that are worthy of mention: "A Passage to India", "Doctor Zhivago", "Great Expectations", "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Oliver Twist". Several of his films have been greatly enhanced by Maurice Jarre's scores.
Funny, I haven't seen any responses from the uk'ers. Was wondering if anyone has seen that Zhivago tv mini remake mentioned above.
hebba has already mentioned Genevieve, one of my favorite English movies, but it's so good I can't resist describing it in more detail. It's about the London-to-Brighton antique car rally, it stars Kenneth More (those of you who saw the original TV version of The Forsyte Saga will remember him as young Jolyon) and Kay Kendall, and there's a scene in which Kay Kendall plays the trumpet! I still laugh when I think of the look on Kenneth More's face when his drunken girlfriend gets up to play the trumpet with the band (he's afraid she'll make a fool of herself, and embarrass him), then suddenly realizes she actually knows how to play the thing, and relief suffuses his face.
Another lesser-known British movie I love is I Know Where I'm Going, a 1945 film in which Wendy Hiller plays a young Scottish woman who's on her way to a remote island to marry a rich businessman. When the weather makes it impossible for her to cross to the island, she gets stranded in a small village, meets a navy officer played by Roger Livesey, and begins to wonder whether she really knows where she's going after all...
Then there's The Wrong Box, which has a cast to die for (Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Peter Sellers, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore), and which has probably done more to keep the word "tontine" alive than any number of dictionaries.
Speaking of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, they were great in the original version of Bedazzled. Remember how the seven deadly sins were personified in the movie? Well, I recently learned that Envy was played by Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna Everage). I don't think I knew who he was the last time I saw the movie, but I'll be looking for him the next time I watch it.
That Ealing Studios movie about the little old lady was The Ladykillers. And how could I forget The Lavender Hill Mob?
Best UK films
A list of best British films without
"The Third Man"? Directed by Carol Reed.
I believe it was Roger Ebert who called it
the perfect film and Peter Bogdonavich who
said that, except for some auteur directors films,
The Third Man is the best movie ever made.
Thanks Billy - its one of those I forgot about in my original list.
I didn't see the mini-series of "Doctor Zhivago" but thinking about the film brought to mind two other excellent films by cast members of the original: Tom Courtney in "The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner" and Rita Tushingham in "A Taste of Honey". She was so wonderful in the role of a schoolgirl who became pregnant by a black soldier. She was absolutely perfect in the role, with that innocent forlorn look of hers.
I think this link will work, LarryBS ... hope this helps.
TCM Ealing Studios Web Pages
timber
Thanks timber - I found that right before I made the post above, but was unable to make it work like you did, using the "URL" option on the Post-a-Reply page. Don't know why.
TCM Ealing
It worked this time
What about Quills was that a UK movie? I have seen it twice and just loved it.
I'm not sure if it was US or UK. I have this dvd and still haven't watched it!
Larry, do you recall an old (probably late '4os) British comedy movie about a rather wacky London neighborhood which asserted an old Royal Patent and seceeded from Britain? I can't recall the title or the cast, but I remember it was hilarious ... at least it seemed so at the time.
And two of my favorite Britcoms were To The Manor Born, and Fawlty Towers. Never got into AbFab. The BBC Historicals are always great.
timber
Every Saturday night in my area at least, Tampa, one of the local PBS stations carries a full night of British sitcoms from 8:00 to midnight. Currently, the lineup is Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, Waiting for God, As Time Goes By, Last of the Summer Wine, Chef!, Some Mothers Do `Ave `Em, and Fawlty Towers. I think As Time Goes By may be my favorite, though I don't watch them religiously. There was a British sitcom recently shown on Comedy Central, about the goings on at a bookstore, that I just loved, but it has disappeared and I can't recall the name. Loved the wacky League of Gentlemen.
The movie doesn't ring a bell, but sounds fun. I'm going to use my rusty IMDb search skills to try to hunt down that title. Reminds me of The Mouse That Roared, that I remember fondly.
Has anyone seen The Million Pound Note, with Gregory Peck?
Timber,the film you´re thinking of is "Passport to Pimlico".
One of the films I listed,in fact.
It is still funny and very charming.
If you´re in London you get off at Pimlico tube station to visit the Tate Britain.The area isn´t quite as wacky as in the film I´m sorry.
Very expensive and sedate these days.
LarryBS
My apology for repeating myself. I'm still learning how to use this here
goldarned contraption.
No problem, The Third Man deserves repeating!
Thanks hebba, I hunted IMDb for the name of that movie for an hour last night, and it turns out it was one of those shown on the TCM retrospective last month. I missed it.
Yeah, that's it ... missed it in your earlier post, hebba. Thanks a lot! I haven't seen that in years, and I'm going to find it. It'll be a great addition to my library. That Pimlico is not the gritty, still "Post-War-Giddy" home to the Merely Odd it once might have been is no cause for wonder. There is a lot of similarity to "The Mouse That Roared", and I don't dpoubt "Pimlico" heavily influenced the much later "Mouse"
Aside to LarryBS ... Striking avatar. If you don't mind my asking, is that from a videogame?
timber, who may eventually learn to use "Preview" instead of "Edit"
