Best Of...
British cinema: 1940s
49th Parallel (1941)
Michael Powell
Early in WWII, a German U-boat surfaces off the east coast of Canada. Only six members if its crew survive when RCAF bombers destroy the submarine in a fierce raid...
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Michael Powell
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Michael Powell
One summer during WWII, three complete strangers are thrown together when they get off a train one evening at Chillingbourne village, several miles from Canterbury...
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Michael Powell
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Michael Powell
During WWII, an RAF fighter pilot Peter Carter is returning to England after a raid over Germany when his plane is hit. Realising his has no parachute, he sends one last radio message, which is received by a young American radio operator, June, before bailing out to certain death...
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Michael Powell
Black Narcissus (1947)
Michael Powell
At the invitation of General Toda Rai, Sister Clodagh leads a group of Anglican nuns to a remote part of India to start a convent...
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Michael Powell
Blithe Spirit (1945)
David Lean
To gather material for his next book, writer Charles Condomine invites a local mystic, Madame Arcati, to hold a séance at his house, in the presence of his wife Ruth and two guests...
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David Lean
Brief Encounter (1945)
David Lean
Each Thursday, housewife Laura Jesson treats herself to a day in the nearby town of Milford, to do some shopping and watch a film at the cinema... [More...]
David Lean
Each Thursday, housewife Laura Jesson treats herself to a day in the nearby town of Milford, to do some shopping and watch a film at the cinema... [More...]
Brighton Rock (1947)
John Boulting
Beneath its quaint, tourist-friendly surface impression, Brighton of the 1930s is a squalid town where gangland crime is rampant... [More...]
John Boulting
Beneath its quaint, tourist-friendly surface impression, Brighton of the 1930s is a squalid town where gangland crime is rampant... [More...]
The Captive Heart (1946)
Basil Dearden
In August 1940, a German prisoner-of-war camp receives a fresh intake of captured British soldiers. These include Captain Hasek, a Czech soldier who, after escaping from a Nazi concentration camp, stole the uniform and papers from a dead British soldier named Captain Mitchell... [More...]
Basil Dearden
In August 1940, a German prisoner-of-war camp receives a fresh intake of captured British soldiers. These include Captain Hasek, a Czech soldier who, after escaping from a Nazi concentration camp, stole the uniform and papers from a dead British soldier named Captain Mitchell... [More...]
Champagne Charlie (1944)
Alberto Cavalcanti
In 1860, Joe Saunders and his brother Fred give up their mining jobs and try to find work in London. Joe immediately gets a job as a bar singer in a public house... [More...]
Alberto Cavalcanti
In 1860, Joe Saunders and his brother Fred give up their mining jobs and try to find work in London. Joe immediately gets a job as a bar singer in a public house... [More...]
The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift (1944)
Laurence Olivier
London, 1600. At the Globe Theatre, players are performing Shakespeare's Henry V to a packed house. The play opens in 1415... [More...]
Laurence Olivier
London, 1600. At the Globe Theatre, players are performing Shakespeare's Henry V to a packed house. The play opens in 1415... [More...]
Cottage to Let (1941)
Anthony Asquith
When Mrs Barrington puts her cottage up for let she gets far more than she bargained for. It is wartime and the cottage serves as a military hospital, although the only patient being treated on the premises is Flight Lieutenant Perry, who injured himself when he parachuted from his Spitfire... [More...]
Anthony Asquith
When Mrs Barrington puts her cottage up for let she gets far more than she bargained for. It is wartime and the cottage serves as a military hospital, although the only patient being treated on the premises is Flight Lieutenant Perry, who injured himself when he parachuted from his Spitfire... [More...]
Dead of Night (1945)
Alberto Cavalcanti
Wanting to make some changes to his farmhouse, Eliot Foley invites the architect Walter Craig to spend the weekend with him and his family... [More...]
Alberto Cavalcanti
Wanting to make some changes to his farmhouse, Eliot Foley invites the architect Walter Craig to spend the weekend with him and his family... [More...]
The Fallen Idol (1948)
Carol Reed
Eight-year old Philippe is the only child of a London-based ambassador. With his parents away from home, Philippe is looked after by the kindly butler Baines, whom he comes to idolise... [More...]
Carol Reed
Eight-year old Philippe is the only child of a London-based ambassador. With his parents away from home, Philippe is looked after by the kindly butler Baines, whom he comes to idolise... [More...]
Fiddlers Three (1944)
Harry Watt
England, 1943. Tommy and the Professor, two sailors in the Royal Navy, are on their way back to their Portsmouth base when they see a WREN, Lydia, being molested by a man... [More...]
Harry Watt
England, 1943. Tommy and the Professor, two sailors in the Royal Navy, are on their way back to their Portsmouth base when they see a WREN, Lydia, being molested by a man... [More...]
The Foreman Went to France (1942)
Charles Frend
June 1940. With the German armies poised to sweep into France, Fred Carrick, the foreman at a British munitions factory, takes it upon himself to recover three special purpose machines that have been loaned to the French... [More...]
Charles Frend
June 1940. With the German armies poised to sweep into France, Fred Carrick, the foreman at a British munitions factory, takes it upon himself to recover three special purpose machines that have been loaned to the French... [More...]
Gaslight (1940)
Thorold Dickinson
Not long after moving into her new home, a grand London mansion, Bella Mallen becomes convinced that she is starting to lose her mind... [More...]
Thorold Dickinson
Not long after moving into her new home, a grand London mansion, Bella Mallen becomes convinced that she is starting to lose her mind... [More...]
The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)
Marcel Varnel
During WWII, William Lamb travels to the Isle of Skye in Scotland to take up the post of a science teacher at school that has temporarily relocated to Dunbain Castle... [More...]
Marcel Varnel
During WWII, William Lamb travels to the Isle of Skye in Scotland to take up the post of a science teacher at school that has temporarily relocated to Dunbain Castle... [More...]
Great Expectations (1946)
David Lean
Orphan boy Pip lives with his bullying sister and her kindly blacksmith husband, Joe, in a small house on the coast of Kent... [More...]
David Lean
Orphan boy Pip lives with his bullying sister and her kindly blacksmith husband, Joe, in a small house on the coast of Kent... [More...]
Green for Danger (1946)
Sidney Gilliat
August 1944. A postman injured in a V1 bombardment of southern England dies during an operation at a country hospital. No one takes seriously the suggestion that foul play is involved until a second murder is committed... [More...]
Sidney Gilliat
August 1944. A postman injured in a V1 bombardment of southern England dies during an operation at a country hospital. No one takes seriously the suggestion that foul play is involved until a second murder is committed... [More...]
The Halfway House (1944)
Basil Dearden
June 1943. Ten disparate individuals badly in need of a rest arrive at a small hotel, The Halfway House, lost in the Welsh valleys... [More...]
Basil Dearden
June 1943. Ten disparate individuals badly in need of a rest arrive at a small hotel, The Halfway House, lost in the Welsh valleys... [More...]
Hamlet (1948)
Laurence Olivier
One night, atop the ramparts of Elsinore Castle, the ghostly apparition of the recently deceased King of Denmark appears to his son Hamlet to reveal that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, so he could usurp his throne and his wife, Gertrude... [More...]
Laurence Olivier
One night, atop the ramparts of Elsinore Castle, the ghostly apparition of the recently deceased King of Denmark appears to his son Hamlet to reveal that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, so he could usurp his throne and his wife, Gertrude... [More...]
Hue and Cry (1947)
Charles Crichton
Joe Kirby, a 15 year-old lad living in London's East End, has a passion for adventure stories. When he notices the similarity between a car parked in the street with one he has and seen in his favourite comic, he suspects foul play is afoot... [More...]
Charles Crichton
Joe Kirby, a 15 year-old lad living in London's East End, has a passion for adventure stories. When he notices the similarity between a car parked in the street with one he has and seen in his favourite comic, he suspects foul play is afoot... [More...]
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Michael Powell
For her entire life, Joan Webster has always known where she is going. Now aged 25, she intends to make her fortune by marrying Sir Robert Bellinger, one of the richest men in England... [More...]
Michael Powell
For her entire life, Joan Webster has always known where she is going. Now aged 25, she intends to make her fortune by marrying Sir Robert Bellinger, one of the richest men in England... [More...]
In Which We Serve (1942)
Noel Coward
Captain Kinros is the commander of HMS Torrin, a Royal Navy destroyer whose launch coincides with the outbreak of World War II... [More...]
Noel Coward
Captain Kinros is the commander of HMS Torrin, a Royal Navy destroyer whose launch coincides with the outbreak of World War II... [More...]
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
Robert Hamer
England, 1947. Rose Sandigate is an ordinary working class housewife living in the East End of London. She is married to a man 15 years her senior, who has two teenage daughters from a previous marriage... [More...]
Robert Hamer
England, 1947. Rose Sandigate is an ordinary working class housewife living in the East End of London. She is married to a man 15 years her senior, who has two teenage daughters from a previous marriage... [More...]
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Robert Hamer
In the early 1900s, Louis Mazzini, tenth Duke of Chalfont, finds himself in prison, condemned for murder. On the eve of his execution, he begins to write an account of how he came to arrive at such a sorry end... [More...]
Robert Hamer
In the early 1900s, Louis Mazzini, tenth Duke of Chalfont, finds himself in prison, condemned for murder. On the eve of his execution, he begins to write an account of how he came to arrive at such a sorry end... [More...]
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Michael Powell
London, 1943. Humiliated in a Home Guard training exercise by an impulsive young army officer, General Clive Wynne-Candy casts his mind back forty years to the time when he too was a dashing man of action... [More...]
Michael Powell
London, 1943. Humiliated in a Home Guard training exercise by an impulsive young army officer, General Clive Wynne-Candy casts his mind back forty years to the time when he too was a dashing man of action... [More...]
The Man in Grey (1943)
Leslie Arliss
In Regency England, Hesther Shaw is welcomed by Miss Patchett to her school for young ladies in Bath. Hesther's straitened circumstances makes her resentful of the kindnesses shown to her by Miss Patchett and her pupils but she soon buries her grievances and makes friends with the universally popular Clarissa Marr... [More...]
Leslie Arliss
In Regency England, Hesther Shaw is welcomed by Miss Patchett to her school for young ladies in Bath. Hesther's straitened circumstances makes her resentful of the kindnesses shown to her by Miss Patchett and her pupils but she soon buries her grievances and makes friends with the universally popular Clarissa Marr... [More...]
Millions Like Us (1943)
Sidney Gilliat
England, during WWII. Celia Crowson is an ordinary young woman who lives at home with her sister and her old father, whilst her brother serves in the army... [More...]
Sidney Gilliat
England, during WWII. Celia Crowson is an ordinary young woman who lives at home with her sister and her old father, whilst her brother serves in the army... [More...]
Night Train to Munich (1940)
Carol Reed
Just before his country is annexed by Nazi Germany, the Czech inventor Axel Bomasch manages to escape to England, but his daughter Anna is arrested and sent to a concentration camp... [More...]
Carol Reed
Just before his country is annexed by Nazi Germany, the Czech inventor Axel Bomasch manages to escape to England, but his daughter Anna is arrested and sent to a concentration camp... [More...]