Retrospective books purchased as add-ons to Retrospective screenings will be available for pickup at the Piazza Grande Info Point from August 4 upon presentation of the purchase receipt.
Director: Humphrey Jennings
United Kingdom · 1945 · 35 mm · Black and White · 38' · o.v. English
Director: Margaret Tait
United Kingdom · 1952 · Digibeta PAL · Color · 4' · o.v. English
Director: John Boulting
United Kingdom · 1948 · DCP · Black and White · 92' · o.v. English
Director: Lewis Gilbert
United Kingdom · 1955 · DCP · Black and White · 82' · o.v. English
Director: Lance Comfort
United Kingdom · 1948 · 35 mm · Black and White · 92' · o.v. English
Director: Cy Endfield
United Kingdom · 1957 · DCP · Black and White · 109' · o.v. English
Director: Val Guest
United Kingdom · 1960 · 35 mm · Black and White · 93' · o.v. English
Director: Charles Crichton
United Kingdom · 1952 · 35 mm · Black and White · 84' · o.v. English
Director: John Boulting
United Kingdom · 1959 · DCP · Black and White · 105' · o.v. English
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
United Kingdom · 1945 · DCP · Black and White · 90' · o.v. English / Gaelic
Director: Robert Hamer
United Kingdom · 1947 · DCP · Black and White · 92' · o.v. English
Director: Henry Cass
United Kingdom · 1950 · DCP · Black and White · 88' · o.v. English
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
United Kingdom · 1952 · DCP · Black and White · 93' · o.v. English
Director: John Guillermin
United Kingdom · 1960 · 35 mm · Black and White · 92' · o.v. English
Director: Jules Dassin
United Kingdom, USA · 1950 · DCP · Black and White · 96' · o.v. English
Director: Seth Holt
United Kingdom · 1958 · 35 mm · Black and White · 89' · o.v. English
Director: Edward Dmytryk
United Kingdom · 1949 · DCP · Black and White · 96' · o.v. English
Director: Carol Reed
United Kingdom · 1947 · DCP · Black and White · 116' · o.v. English
Director: Henry Cornelius
United Kingdom · 1949 · DCP · Black and White · 84' · o.v. English
Director: Michael Powell
United Kingdom · 1960 · DCP · Color · 101' · o.v. English
Director: Basil Dearden
United Kingdom · 1951 · DCP · Black and White · 85' · o.v. English
Director: Muriel Box
United Kingdom · 1955 · 35 mm · Color · 91' · o.v. English
Director: Lance Comfort
United Kingdom · 1947 · DCP · Black and White · 102' · o.v. English
Directors: Terence Fisher, Antony Darnborough
United Kingdom · 1950 · 35 mm · Black and White · 85' · o.v. English
Director: Ralph Thomas
United Kingdom · 1950 · 35 mm · Black and White · 86' · o.v. English
Director: John Krish
United Kingdom · 1953 · 35 mm · Black and White · 11' · o.v. English
Director: Carol Reed
United Kingdom · 1948 · 35 mm · Black and White · 95' · o.v. English
Director: Compton Bennett
United Kingdom · 1957 · DCP · Black and White · 70' · o.v. English
Director: Frank Launder
United Kingdom · 1950 · DCP · Black and White · 82' · o.v. English
Director: Muriel Box
United Kingdom · 1952 · 35 mm · Black and White · 86' · o.v. English
Director: David Lean
United Kingdom · 1949 · 35 mm · Black and White · 95' · o.v. English
Director: George King
United Kingdom · 1947 · DCP · Black and White · 91' · o.v. English
Director: Wendy Toye
United Kingdom · 1952 · DCP · Black and White · 23' · o.v. English
Director: Daniel Birt
United Kingdom · 1948 · 35 mm · Black and White · 83' · o.v. English
Director: Anthony Asquith
United Kingdom · 1950 · 35 mm · Black and White · 88' · o.v. English
Director: J. Lee Thompson
United Kingdom · 1953 · 35 mm · Black and White · 79' · o.v. English
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti
United Kingdom · 1947 · DCP · Black and White · 104' · o.v. English
Director: Tim Whelan
United Kingdom, USA · 1948 · DCP · Black and White · 104' · o.v. English
Director: Roy Baker
United Kingdom · 1956 · 35 mm · Black and White · 94' · o.v. English
Director: Joseph Losey
United Kingdom · 1957 · 35 mm · Black and White · 88' · o.v. English
Director: Jill Craigie
United Kingdom · 1951 · 35 mm · Black and White · 18' · o.v. English
Directors: Sidney Cole, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden
United Kingdom · 1949 · 35 mm · Black and White · 89' · o.v. English
Director: Jack Lee
United Kingdom · 1953 · 35 mm · Black and White · 81' · o.v. English
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
United Kingdom · 1949 · DCP · Black and White · 83' · o.v. English
Director: Francis Searle
United Kingdom · 1952 · DCP · Black and White · 84' · o.v. English
After the end of the Second World War – and as its overseas empire began to crumble – Britain had to embark on the rocky road to national reconstruction and revival. This wide-ranging survey of British cinema of that period shows the cultural response by the nation's filmmakers, writers, producers, performers, and studios as they collectively tried to make sense of the transformations of this turbulent new era.
Featuring everything from beloved classics by legendary filmmakers like David Lean, Carol Reed, or Powell and Pressburger to unheralded genre gems by lesser-known craftsmen like Seth Holt or Lance Comfort, the program celebrates British studio filmmakers from 1945 to 1960, when a new wave washed up on Britain's shores.
British cinema made in the studio system managed to blend popular entertainment with some of the most stylistically innovative forms, elevating it to the status of art. By focusing exclusively on contemporary films (and omitting period, fantasy, and war films), we aimed to tell the story of a nation in search of its identity – sometimes dark and brooding, and at other times, as in the finest tradition of British comedies, hilarious and biting.
The significant role women played in that earlier period – in films directed by Muriel Box, Wendy Toye, Margaret Tait, and Jill Craigie – as well as the role of American filmmakers exiled by the anti-Communist blacklist – like Joseph Losey, Cy Endfield, and Edward Dmytryk – also plays a part in Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema (1945-1960).
