Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

K-Pax
Bladerunner
Pulp Fiction
If
O Lucky Man
Big Fish
American Beauty
Young Frankenstein
The Producers (both!!!)
Life of Brian
Holy Grail
Great Escape
Shaun of the Dead

just for starters!

Butch Cassidy and Sundance
Hocus Pocus
The Lion King

Good call englishangel, definitely the Robert Donat version of Goodbye Mr. Chips, although the O'Toole/Petula Clark version does have a certain charm (I was always in love with Petula from that period). The actor Trevor Eve has always reminded me of Donat… (could be just me)

Luckily I grew up when TV had great films on all the time, right up to the early 90s, whereas now you’re lucky to see anything great, and if so, usually at 1am.

Off the top of my head, in no particular order, avoiding too many obvious ones everybody knows, I'd recommend:

A Matter Of Life And Death (and all the other Powell/Pressburger films incl. Colonel Blimp,Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, Peeping Tom etc.)
The Third Man
Dead Of Night (superior 1930s horror)
Night Of The Eagle (English horror with Peter Wyngarde aka Jason King)
The 5000 Fingers Of Dr.T
The Lavender Hill Mob, Ladykillers etc. (and any all Ealing Comedies)
Brief Encounter
West Side Story
The Lady Vanishes
Dead Man's Shoes
Kes
That Sinking Feeling
The Conversation
American Graffiti
Blow Up
On The Waterfront
Performance
Get Carter
The Bicycle Thief
The Icicle Thief
The 39 Steps (Robert Donat again)
The Vanishing (original, not the Hollywood remake with cop-out ending)
Les Enfants Du Paradis
Touch Of Evil
Bonbon El Perro
Mon Oncle, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday etc.
Badlands
City Of God
L’Atalante
Mean Streets
Midnight Cowboy
The Harder They Come
Down By Law
Le Boucher (and other Claude Chabrol films)
North By Northwest
The Kids Are Alright
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
Hairspray
The Apartment
Downfall
A Night At The Opera, Duck Soup etc.
Magnolia
The Shining
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Heimat
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Easy Rider
Boyz ‘N The Hood
If
A Simple Plan
Sons Of The Desert
O Lucky Man
A Clockwork Orange
Walkabout
Double Indemnity
An American Werewolf In London
This Is Spinal Tap
After Hours
Arsenic And Old Lace
Harold And Maude
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
Great Expectations (John Mills version)
The Italian Job (original)
Alfie (original)
Gaslight (original)
Waterloo Bridge
Where Eagles Dare
Shane
Night Of The Hunter
Bad Boy Bubby (insane Aussie nut gone weirdfest)
Rear Window
Eraserhead
Vertigo
The Manchurian Candidate (original)
Whistle Down The Wind (“He’s not Jesus, he’s just a fella”)

I could go on, but I won’t.

Just remembered that I was going to recommend "Kenny". Saw it when I was over in Oz back in March. It's one of the funniest, most heart warming films I've ever seen.

My daughter is doing film at uni. and has to do an essay on a British film and how it relates to its time.

I suggested the Lavender Hill Mob and/or Passport to Pimlico (my personal favourite) but she is doing my husband's favourite, Local Hero.

He (and my brother) also adore Gregory's Girl.

englishangel wrote:My daughter is doing film at uni. and has to do an essay on a British film and how it relates to its time.

I suggested the Lavender Hill Mob and/or Passport to Pimlico (my personal favourite) but she is doing my husband's favourite, Local Hero.

He (and my brother) also adore Gregory's Girl.

A good film for this type of excercise would be John Boorman's 'Hope and Glory.' The 2nd world war in and around London, as seen through the eyes of a young boy.

A brilliant film.

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/genres/drama ... y/020.html

Englishangel wrote:

"My daughter is doing film at uni. and has to do an essay on a British film and how it relates to its time. I suggested the Lavender Hill Mob and/or Passport to Pimlico (my personal favourite) but she is doing my husband's favourite, Local Hero."

Both are right up there with the best. In Lavender Hill Mob, I still laugh out loud when they're running down the Eiffel Tower steps. Every time seeing it is as funny as the first time.
A film that relates to its time is another off my above list: "The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp", which came out during World War 2. Churchill was furious that it had a sympathetic German in it and tried to have it banned. It also has resonance with today, as one theme is the gulf between old pre-WW1 style fair play, chivalry, and honour in war as opposed to the new generation's ideas of "total war" and hitting the enemy before they hit you.

Englishangel wrote:

"He (and my brother) also adore Gregory's Girl."

"That Sinking Feeling", which Bill Forsyth wrote and directed before Gregory's Girl, is absolutely priceless and unmissable. If you've seen one, you have to see both.

englishangel wrote:My daughter is doing film at uni. and has to do an essay on a British film and how it relates to its time.

I suggested the Lavender Hill Mob and/or Passport to Pimlico (my personal favourite) but she is doing my husband's favourite, Local Hero.

He (and my brother) also adore Gregory's Girl.

If she wants to come up to date Beautiful Thing captures modern working (under) class life on a South East London council estate quite well and won some awards.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115640/

No one has mentioned Marat/Sade or whatever its full title was. It features a very young and pretty Glenda Jackson as a narcoleptic playing Charlotte Corday.

And Closely Observed Trains: much better than its title.

Futtock's End is a good short.

michael scuffil wrote:No one has mentioned Marat/Sade or whatever its full title was. It features a very young and pretty Glenda Jackson as a narcoleptic playing Charlotte Corday.

And Closely Observed Trains: much better than its title.

Futtock's End is a good short.

Sunday bl**dy Sunday starring Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch is also very good.

marty wrote:Sunday bl**dy Sunday starring Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch is also very good.

...featuring the first gay male kiss in a British film I believe.

Mid A 15 wrote:

englishangel wrote:My daughter is doing film at uni. and has to do an essay on a British film and how it relates to its time.

I suggested the Lavender Hill Mob and/or Passport to Pimlico (my personal favourite) but she is doing my husband's favourite, Local Hero.

He (and my brother) also adore Gregory's Girl.

If she wants to come up to date Beautiful Thing captures modern working (under) class life on a South East London council estate quite well and won some awards.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115640/

1996 actually.

There are loads

From Trainspotting to East is East, but Local Hero is one she knows and loves so why go through all the angst?

englishangel wrote:

Mid A 15 wrote:

englishangel wrote:My daughter is doing film at uni. and has to do an essay on a British film and how it relates to its time.

I suggested the Lavender Hill Mob and/or Passport to Pimlico (my personal favourite) but she is doing my husband's favourite, Local Hero.

He (and my brother) also adore Gregory's Girl.

If she wants to come up to date Beautiful Thing captures modern working (under) class life on a South East London council estate quite well and won some awards.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115640/

1996 actually.

There are loads

From Trainspotting to East is East, but Local Hero is one she knows and loves so why go through all the angst?

Sorry,

I didn't make myself very clear! When I said up to date I meant relative to the films you mentioned which, without looking them up, are 40s or circa 1980.

You are right she should choose a film she likes for the assignment.

May I add 'Being there'

Peter Seller's greatest performance, and a perferct parody of modern western society