Favourite British Films 1950s
by jmct-53906 | created - 05 Feb 2016 | updated - 3 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Richard III (1955)
Not Rated | 161 min | Biography, Drama, History
Shakespeare's powerful tale of the wicked deformed King and his conquests, both on the battlefield and in the boudoir.
Director: Laurence Olivier | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Nicholas Hannen, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 5,229
2. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 233,397 | Gross: $44.91M
3. The Ladykillers (1955)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Crime
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom
Votes: 31,413
4. The Man in the White Suit (1951)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
An altruistic chemist invents a fabric which resists wear and stain as a boon to humanity, but big business and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough
Votes: 10,817 | Gross: $0.01M
5. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Approved | 78 min | Comedy, Crime
A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers.
Director: Charles Crichton | Stars: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass
Votes: 15,569
6. Look Back in Anger (1959)
Approved | 98 min | Drama
A disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms with his grudge against middle-class life and values.
Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Mary Ure, Edith Evans
Votes: 4,369
7. Room at the Top (1958)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Romance
An ambitious young accountant plots to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter despite falling in love with a married older woman.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit
Votes: 7,331
8. Hobson's Choice (1954)
Not Rated | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Widower Henry Hobson refuses to let his three daughters get married because he doesn't want to pay settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Charles Laughton, John Mills, Brenda de Banzie, Daphne Anderson
Votes: 8,813
9. The Blue Lamp (1950)
Approved | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The daily routine of two London Policemen is interrupted by a killer.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Jack Warner, Dirk Bogarde, Jimmy Hanley, Robert Flemyng
Votes: 2,538
10. Our Man in Havana (1959)
Not Rated | 111 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Jim Wormold, who is a vacuum cleaner salesman, participates as an Agent in the British Secret Service. But he soon realizes that his plans by lying are going to get him into trouble.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Burl Ives, Ernie Kovacs
Votes: 6,104
11. I'm All Right Jack (1959)
Not Rated | 105 min | Comedy
A naive aristocrat in search of a career becomes caught up in the struggles between his profit-minded uncle and an aggressive labor union.
Director: John Boulting | Stars: Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 4,367
12. Ice Cold in Alex (1958)
Approved | 130 min | Adventure, Drama, War
During World War II in North Africa, a medical field unit must cross the desert in their ambulance in order to reach the British lines in Alexandria.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: John Mills, Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms, Harry Andrews
Votes: 6,616
13. A Town Like Alice (1956)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama, Romance, War
A newly wealthy English woman returns to Malaya to build a well for the villagers who helped her during war. Thinking back, she recalls the Australian man who made a great sacrifice to aid her and her fellow prisoners of war.
Director: Jack Lee | Stars: Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, Kenji Takaki, Tran Van Khe
Votes: 1,910
14. Outcast of the Islands (1951)
Not Rated | 93 min | Adventure, Drama
A man occupies a position of trust with a merchant in an East Asian port. He's sacked after he's caught stealing, but he pretends to commit suicide, and a Captain he befriended agrees to take him to a secret trading post.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Trevor Howard, Robert Morley, Wendy Hiller
Votes: 1,261
15. A Tale of Two Cities (1958)
117 min | Drama, History, Romance
During the turbulent days of the French Revolution, Frenchwoman Lucie Manette falls in love with Englishman Charles Darnay, who's hiding his true identity and purpose.
Director: Ralph Thomas | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Cecil Parker, Stephen Murray
Votes: 1,617
16. The Green Man (1956)
Not Rated | 80 min | Comedy, Crime
An assassin is annoyed by a vacuum cleaner salesman determined to stop him.
Directors: Robert Day, Basil Dearden | Stars: Alastair Sim, George Cole, Terry-Thomas, Jill Adams
Votes: 2,326
17. A Christmas Carol (1951)
TV-PG | 86 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
Ebenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly, miserly businessman, has no time for sentimentality and largely views Christmas as a waste of time. However, this Christmas Eve, he will be visited by three spirits who will show him the error of his ways.
Director: Brian Desmond Hurst | Stars: Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns
Votes: 25,730
18. Tiger Bay (1959)
Not Rated | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A twelve-year-old tomboy witnesses the murder of a woman by her Polish merchant marine boyfriend, but bonds with him and thwarts the police in their investigation.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Hayley Mills, Horst Buchholz, John Mills, Yvonne Mitchell
Votes: 3,165
19. Yield to the Night (1956)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
Woman abused by men meets a man she thinks loves her. He cheats, she kills his mistress. Based on Ruth Ellis, last woman executed in Britain. Less than
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Marie Ney
Votes: 1,482
20. Hell Drivers (1957)
Approved | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A rookie trucker tries to expose his boss' rackets.
Director: Cy Endfield | Stars: Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan
Votes: 4,056
21. Court Martial (1954)
Approved | 105 min | Drama
A court-martial attempts to find out why, and if, an officer embezzled his unit's funds.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: David Niven, Margaret Leighton, Noelle Middleton, Allan Cuthbertson
Votes: 756
22. Separate Tables (1958)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Romance
The stories of several people are told as they stay at a seaside hotel in Bournemouth which features dining at "Separate Tables."
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Burt Lancaster
Votes: 8,602 | Gross: $7.40M
23. The Long Memory (1953)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released from prison after twelve years, a wrongfully convicted British man seeks revenge on the witnesses who lied at his trial.
Director: Robert Hamer | Stars: John Mills, John McCallum, Elizabeth Sellars, Eva Bergh
Votes: 1,288
24. The Sound Barrier (1952)
Approved | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Fictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick, John Justin
Votes: 2,326
25. The Cruel Sea (1953)
Approved | 126 min | Drama, War
The World War II adventures of a British convoy escort ship and its officers.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, John Stratton, Denholm Elliott
Votes: 5,412
26. Malta Story (1953)
97 min | Drama, History, War
1942 and the island of Malta is battling for survival. The threat of invasion by Axis forces is increasing as air raids wear down its defence. Entering this maelstrom is Flight Lieutenant Peter Ross, an RAF photo-reconnaissance pilot.
Director: Brian Desmond Hurst | Stars: Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Steel, Muriel Pavlow
Votes: 1,962
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