Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema Book

 Great Expectations

British Postwar Cinema, 1945-1960

Published to coincide with the retrospective at the 

78th Locarno Film Festival (2025)

order the book here

It is not an inflated statement to say that among Western European national cinemas, British cinema of the studio era remains one of the least explored internationally. A cinema that was once critically celebrated, consistently presented at international film festivals, and widely distributed – from the best cinemas in Paris to Tehran – epitomised a “golden age” that weakened and fell out of fashion with the arrival of later movements, such as the British New Wave. While recent academic studies of the period in question have been astonishingly rich, the actual act of screening these films has been rare and far between.

The director who wasn’t there: Mohammad Rasoulof on The Seed of the Sacred Fig

 “I am very close to nature. I spend a great deal of time in the mountains. If Iran becomes a free country one day, I’d love to make wildlife documentaries,” says Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled the country last year, crossing the mountainous terrain of western Iran on foot with nothing, not even a passport (which had been confiscated). He sought refuge in Germany and added the final touches there to The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which premiered in Cannes last May. The man who could have been the David Attenborough of Iran is, until further notice, one of the foremost clandestine filmmakers from that country. “For now, the freedom and dignity of man are my top priorities,” he says. “I keep asking myself why a system allows itself to do this to us.”

Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema, 1945-1960

Retrospective at Locarno Film Festival 2025

Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema

1945-1960

Though not quite the “lost continent” it was once called, British cinema still remains under-explored by international audiences. Featuring 45 titles, this retrospective celebrates some of the defining years of British cinema—a “golden age” of sorts— structured around the question of Britishness and life in the British Isles as reflected through its postwar cinema.

Presenting both major classics and some lesser-known, if equally worthy, titles, across a wide range of genres – comedies, melodramas, crime films, and literary adaptations – this selection focuses solely on contemporary films (no period pieces, WWII narratives, or fantastical premises) and pointedly excludes the New Wave and Kitchen Sink movements whose early years overlapped with the period covered here. Although the retrospective includes a handful of documentaries for context, the primary focus remains on narrative films.

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025: Favourites & Discoveries

Artists and Models

Il Cinema Ritrovato XXXIX concluded on June 30. With 140,000 admissions, the attendance was comparable to that of the previous edition. However, the scorching temperatures resulted in more foot blisters.

This survey is not a competition but a compendium showcasing what you missed so that you can catch up later. (190 festival attendees have voted.) Your local cinematheques and festivals might consider showing these films if you can convince them that the diversity and adventurous selection is essential for keeping film culture alive. (And good luck doing that!) Those who complain that some strands were not as rewarding as they expected miss an important point: if we do not screen these films, nobody else will.

The festival has screened Battleship Potemkin and One Hour with You, yet they do not appear in any lists. I would like to think this suggests that these films have already been seen and enjoyed as both favourites and discoveries. Still, one person’s obvious title may be another’s revelation. I see that as part of the excitement of what we do. So, please take this list as just a reference—nothing more and nothing less.

There is a sense of purpose in programming Il Cinema Ritrovato, even if it is not immediately apparent to an outsider. Everything is centered on reevaluating the history of cinema, and with that come our political and social ideas and biases. However, the framework is almost always aesthetic—a bad film about a significant subject remains a bad film. Duke Ellington once said there are two kinds of music: the good music and the other kind. In our case, we avoid the "other kind."

Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (David Heeley, 1993)

Cover of All About Me's VHS edition of 

Playing on June 18, 2025 at Il Cinema Ritrovato XXIX. – EK

Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (David Heeley, 1993)

When Katharine Hepburn appeared in All About Me at age 85, it was a year after she had published her autobiography, Me: Stories of My Life – stories from which she repeats on camera. Not exactly all about her, but still very much focused on a star who was, at various times, deemed “unusual,” “box office poison,” and a feminist trailblazer in a film industry built on familiarity, money, and misogyny.

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025 | Films on Film

Summertime by David Lean, shot in Venice, in colour, on 35mm

Il Cinema Ritrovato shows more films on film — from 35mm, 16mm, and 70mm prints — than any other festival in the world. (If you have any doubt, ask FedEx or DHL.)

This year, 130 titles will be projected from celluloid. It's true that a good number of these belong to early cinema, but there is an equally substantial selection—from the silent period to the early 21st century—shown in archival prints and occasionally brand-new prints.

Here is a list of 50 titles to be shown on film that I think are worth adding to your schedule, once the schedule is out!

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025: Twenty Recommendations

Il Museo dei sogni

Il Cinema Ritrovato XXIX is just around the corner, and I think you should not miss these twenty titles:

Safar (Bahram Beyzaie, 1972)

Safar

Written for the world premiere of the brand new restoration (from the camera negative) at Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025. – EK

A 12-year-old orphan with a habit of seeking out his potential parents takes his friend along on a journey through the wastelands on the outskirts of Tehran. Seemingly a children’s folk tale, Safar is so visually singular that it evades easy breakdown. It is allegorical, but allegory is the engine; visual density the result.

Online with SFFP—Discussing the Work of Lewis Milestone

Lewis Milestone with Joan Crawford during the shooting of Rain (1932)

On Thursday, June 5, SFFP Board President Rob Byrne will be joined by Ehsan Khoshbakht to discuss Lewis Milestone’s incredible body of work, including—of course—The Garden of Eden, which SFFP restored!

This event is free and open to everyone. Simply register below to attend.

Cecil Taylor à Paris (Gérard Patris, 1968)

The brand-new restoration of Cecil Taylor à Paris, courtesy of INA, will be premiered at the 2025 edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato. – EK

“He doesn’t come from my community,” replies avant-garde jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, hidden deep behind dark glasses, when asked by the interviewer about Stockhausen. The same response follows for questions about Bach and John Cage. In a style characteristic of 1968, the African-American musician, filmed for Cecil Taylor à Paris in an old French palace with oversized chimneys, dismisses European traditions in favour of “across the track” culture – the lived experiences of African-Americans.