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England swings like a pendulum do - Brit directors

24.208.213.190

Posted by Harmonia on November 28, 2002 at 22:31:01

Too much Zinfandel (3 glasses), but I promised, the dishes are done the guests are gone, so here it is.

TOP TEN BRITISH DIRECTORS

The first six were easy:

Charles Chaplin
Alfred Hitchcock
Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger
Carol Reed
David Lean
Nic Roeg

Chaplin made almost all his films in the US but I still think he retained an essentially English sensibiity at core. In addition to the usual suspects like Modern Times, City Lights and The Gold Rush, I'm especially fond of the shorter films like The Rink, The Pilgrim, The Circus, The Immigrant, Shoulder Arms, Easy Street et all. Hitchcock is self recommending. From the The 39 Steps to Notorious to Rear Window to Vertigo to Frenzy - wicked fun.

Powell/Pressberger have the highest percentage rate of great films to output: The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life & Death, A Canterbury Tale, I know Where I'm Going, The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp. Carol Reed's The Third Man is one of the all-time greats IMO. David Lean is another obvious choice. Roeg is a personal favorite: not a lot of output but a brilliant, unique and influential director (also a cameraman on Lawrence of Arabia). Performance & Don't Look Now are must see films. I even like The Man Who Fell To Earth. (The coke bills during the making of that film must have been enormous.)

Directors seven and eight display a preoccupation with social realism and stories of the common people:

Ken Loach, still going strong (anyone remember Poor Cow?), who wears his political conscience on his sleeve. An honorable output - Kes, Ladybug Ladybug, Raining Stones, Riff Raff, Hidden Agenda, Bread & Roses among others. Thatcher gave him and other filmmakers lots of material.

Mike Leigh, equally committed but perhaps a bit more versatile, whose collaboration with his casts in shaping a film is legendary. His most successful film was Secrets & Lies, but he was also on a roll with Naked and last year's Topsy Turvy.

Slot number 9:

Peter Greenaway. (I can hear the howls.) Yes. I love him, the snotty p***k. He's totally uninterested in traditional film and storytelling. You have to admit he follows his personal vision, and his films are visually stunning: The Draughtsman's Contract, Drowning By Numbers, The Belly of an Architect, A Zed & Two Noughts, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover, Prospero's Books, The Pillow Book. I have a tape of The Baby of Macon on the way. I have seen about half a dozen of Greenaways shorts, some of which are available on VHS.

Slot number 10?????

John Boorman ??? Oooo I dunno...Excaliber is interesting (love Nicol Williamson spouting spells with Helen Mirren) but Zardoz is...beyond preposteous. Hope and Glory is excellent. The General is wonderful.

Maybe Stephen Frears - for The Grifters, Sammy & Rosie Get Laid, Prick Up Your Ears, The Snapper, My Beautiful Laundrette, Dangerous Liasons. Nice try with High Fidelity. His misses miss by a wide mark though...Hero, Mary Reilly, The Hi-Lo Country.

James Whale - Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, Invisible Man...and the wickedly funny Remember Last Night, a wonderful version of Showboat, a heart rending anti-war film Journey's End...and the superior version of Waterloo Bridge. Plus, he inspired a wonderful film, Gods and Monsters.

So who?

I think for number 10...Joseph Losey (hah!) American expat director I inadvertantly left out of the American list 'cuz I intended to put him in this list. At least, all his great films were made and produced in Old Blighty.

Honarable mentions to Frears and Boorman, and a special achievement for making camp so elegant to Whale.

What's that you say? No Ridley Scott??? Nope. The Duellists and Blade Runner are not enough to get him into this list.

Any other suggestions???

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