British Cinema
In the 1940s three directors - David Lean, Michael Powell and Carol Reed produced outstanding films which greatly enhanced the reputation of British Cinema overseas. Oliver Twist (1948), was the second of David Lean's acclaimed Dickens' adaptations with Alec Guinness playing his celebrated Fagin. In 1946 Michael Powell directed the visually breathtaking Black Narcissus (1946) an erotically charged story set in a convent in the Himalayas; and in 1958 The Red Shoes (1948) his exuberant landmark dance film. In 1950 he also produced The Elusive Pimpernel a colourful remake of Korda's The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) starring David Niven in the leading role.
The late 1940s also witnessed the emergence of the Ealing comedies. The intrinsically British irreverence of authority, and celebration of English eccentricity characteristic of these films, and their self-deprecating satirical style won them global success. In 1951 The Lavender Hill Mob won an oscar for script writer T.E.B.Clarke. Alec Guinness played the self-effacing bank clerk who masterminds a bullion robbery, but whose gang's efforts are thwarted by their incorruptible elderly landlady.
The world-wide success of all these Ealing films enticed the American Film industry to resume its activities in Britain, and led to some prestigious Anglo-American productions in the late '50s. David Lean progressed from intimate drama to cinema on a grand scale with the multi-award winning films The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence Of Arabia (1962). American involvement was not only financial, many American directors moved to Britain in the early '60s including Richard Lester who directed The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965).
The posters in the following section represent British Cinema at its best.
Gregory J.Edward
Author of International Film Poster
Peter Sellers/British Comedy
Details
Peter Sellers/British Comedy
Seventeen British Quads: I'm Alright Jack, 1959, British Lion, (A-); Two Way Stretch, 1960, British Lion, (A-); Heavens Above, 1963, British Lion, (A-); Casino Royale, 1967, Columbia, (A-); The Pink Panther, 1963, U.A., (A-); After The Fox, 1966, U.A., Frazett Art, (B+); The Wrong Arm Of The Law, 1962, Romulus, (A-); Monty Python And The Holy Grail, 1975, E.M.I., (A-); The League Of Gentlemen, 1960, Rank, (A-); The Lavender Hill Mob, (re-issue), Ronald Searle Art, (A-); The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery, 1966, British Lion, (A-) and six others, each - 30 x 40in. (76.2 x 101.6cm.) (18)
Seventeen British Quads: I'm Alright Jack, 1959, British Lion, (A-); Two Way Stretch, 1960, British Lion, (A-); Heavens Above, 1963, British Lion, (A-); Casino Royale, 1967, Columbia, (A-); The Pink Panther, 1963, U.A., (A-); After The Fox, 1966, U.A., Frazett Art, (B+); The Wrong Arm Of The Law, 1962, Romulus, (A-); Monty Python And The Holy Grail, 1975, E.M.I., (A-); The League Of Gentlemen, 1960, Rank, (A-); The Lavender Hill Mob, (re-issue), Ronald Searle Art, (A-); The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery, 1966, British Lion, (A-) and six others, each - 30 x 40in. (76.2 x 101.6cm.) (18)
Provenance
Collection from a private Irish cinema