This year’s Locarno Film Festival Retrospective focuses on the theme “Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema 1945-1960”, which was revealed in London on Monday. This is a continuation of the festival’s 2024 reflection on Columbia Pictures at 100.
As a gaming enthusiast diving into the world of cinematic adventures, I’m excited to embark on a journey through the golden age of British cinema! This tribute promises to be an immersive experience, offering a vibrant and multifaceted glimpse into postwar life as seen through the lens of popular British films.
This retrospective is not just another movie event; it’s a collaboration between the BFI National Archive, Cinémathèque Suisse, supported by StudioCanal, and carefully curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht. Together, we’ll uncover more than 40 timeless films that will transport us back to an era full of charm and resilience.
Following the conclusion of World War II and the decline of its colonial empire, Britain commenced the challenging journey towards national rebuilding and revitalization. This period, spanning from 1945 to 1960, is showcased in the Locarno festival program. It includes timeless masterpieces by esteemed directors such as David Lean, Carol Reed, and Powell and Pressburger (who were highlighted in a significant Locarno retrospective in 1982 and a BFI retrospective in 2023) alongside underrated genre treasures from lesser-known filmmakers like Seth Holt or Lance Comfort. The program honors British studio filmmakers during this era, marking the arrival of a new wave in British cinema.
They emphasized: “The substantial contributions women made in that earlier era, particularly in movies directed by Muriel Box, Wendy Toye, Margaret Tait, and Jill Craigie, are equally important. Additionally, the impact of American filmmakers who were forced to flee due to the anti-Communist blacklist, such as Joseph Losey, Cy Endfield, and Edward Dmytryk, will also be significant.
Some of the films to be showcased in the retrospective include “Pool of London,” a noir crime film helmed by Basil Dearden and starring Bonar Colleano, Earl Cameron, and Susan Shaw, noted for portraying the first interracial relationship in a British movie; Edward Dmytryk’s crime film “Obsession” featuring Robert Newton, Sally Gray, Phil Brown, and Naunton Wayne; George King’s “The Shop at Sly Corner” with Oscar Homolka, Derek Farr, and Muriel Pavlow; and Michael Powell’s psychological horror-thriller “Peeping Tom,” starring Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, and Maxine Audley.
The event will unite digital restorations and archival prints from the BFI National Archive’s collection, marking its 90th anniversary this year. This retrospective will be accompanied by a book in English, published by Les Éditions de l’Œil, compiled by Ehsan Khoshbakht and including essays from various international authors. After the conclusion of the 78th Locarno Film Festival, the program is scheduled to tour internationally, with stops at the Cinémathèque Suisse in August and September.
Khoshbakht stated, “It’s astonishing that one of Europe’s most polished and exceptional national cinemas, which has even provided some of the top talents to Hollywood, remains relatively unexplored outside its own borders.” He went on to explain that British cinema, produced within the studio system, was able to merge popular entertainment with stylistically groundbreaking forms, transforming it into a form of art. By limiting our focus to modern films (while excluding period, fantasy, and war films), we aimed to depict the story of a nation grappling with its identity – at times somber and brooding, yet at other times, in the grand tradition of British humor, witty and biting.
Giona A. Nazzaro, head of the Locarno Film Festival, noted that they will be delving deeply into the post-war years of British cinema, as Martin Scorsese has endorsed and admired this period. This retrospective in Locarno will cover the time from the end of World War II up until the emergence of Free Cinema. It’s a significant era for filmmaking, as it had a profound impact on how cinema evolved not only in Britain but also globally during subsequent years.
James Bell, senior curator at BFI National Archive, commented: “The years following the end of the war up until the cultural revolutions of the 1960s were marked by turbulence in Britain. At home, there were struggles and abroad, changes in status, but these times fostered a creatively rich – although often misinterpreted – era in British cinema.
The 78th Locarno festival runs Aug. 6-16.
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2025-03-10 13:25