Of the myriad cinematic revolutions that swept the globe in the 1950s and ’60s, the British New Wave stood out for the raw immediacy and intense realism with which it rendered working-class lives and experiences. Emerging alongside the “angry young men” of England’s literary scene, filmmakers like Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz, and Lindsay Anderson broke new ground by giving voice to the frustrations and disillusionment felt by average Britons in tough, hard-hitting touchstones of what came to be known as “kitchen-sink realism,” including LOOK BACK IN ANGER, SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING, and THIS SPORTING LIFE. Throughout the 1960s, directors such as John Schlesinger (BILLY LIAR, DARLING) and Richard Lester (THE KNACK . . . AND HOW TO GET IT) would continue to push the boundaries of the movement, taking it into increasingly expressionistic, fanciful, and experimental territory that reflected the liberated spirit of swinging-sixties London.
The following interview with critic Alicia Malone was recorded in 2022.
Directed by Jack Clayton • 1959 • United Kingdom
An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.
Directed by Tony Richardson • 1959 • United Kingdom
Starring Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Mary Ure
Based on the smash-hit play by John Osborne that inaugurated Britain’s “angry young men” literary movement, this touchstone of the British New Wave features a searing performance from Richard Burt...
Directed by Karel Reisz • 1960 • United Kingdom
Starring Albert Finney, Shirley Anne Field, Rachel Roberts
Adapted by Alan Sillitoe from his own influential debut novel, this quintessential kitchen-sink drama was one of the first films to give voice to the discontent of Britain’s working class. ...
Directed by Tony Richardson • 1960 • United Kingdom
Starring Laurence Olivier, Brenda de Banzie, Roger Livesey
“Life is a beastly mess,” states the great Laurence Olivier in this superb drama of the seedy music-hall life. He plays Archie Rice, a third-rate vaudevillian whose song-and-dance ro...
Directed by Tony Richardson • 1961 • United Kingdom
Starring Rita Tushingham, Murray Melvin, Paul Danquah
The revolutionary British New Wave films of the early 1960s were celebrated for their uncompromising depictions of working-class lives and relations between the sexes. Directed by Tony Richa...
Directed by Bryan Forbes • 1962 • United Kingdom
Starring Leslie Caron, Tom Bell, Brock Peters
Left pregnant following a meaningless weekend affair, Jane Fosset (an Oscar-nominated Leslie Caron) moves to a squalid L-shaped room in a crumbling boarding house in the seamier section of London. Ther...
Directed by John Schlesinger • 1962 • United Kingdom
Starring Alan Bates, June Ritchie, Thora Hird
John Schlesinger’s moving debut feature traces the relationship that develops between Vic (Alan Bates, in his first starring role), a young draftsman, and Ingrid (June Ritchie), a typist who works ...
Directed by Lindsay Anderson • 1963 • United Kingdom
Starring Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel
One of the finest British films ever made, this benchmark of kitchen-sink realism follows the self-defeating professional and romantic pursuits of a miner turned rugby player eking out an exi...
Directed by Tony Richardson • 1963 • United Kingdom
In the early 1960s, at the height of the British New Wave, director Tony Richardson and playwright John Osborne set out for more fanciful territory than the gritty realism of the movement they’d helped establish. TOM JONES brings a theatrical...
Directed by John Schlesinger • 1963 • United Kingdom
Starring Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie
Tom Courtenay gives a flawlessly nuanced performance as Billy Fisher, the underachieving undertaker’s assistant whose constant daydreams and truth-deficient stories earn him the nickname “Billy Liar.” Jul...
Directed by Joseph Losey • 1963 • United Kingdom
Starring Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig
Director Joseph Losey and playwright Harold Pinter kicked off their celebrated trio of collaborations with this provocative deconstruction of class, power, and identity adapted from the novella by Ro...
Directed by Bryan Forbes • 1964 • United Kingdom
Starring Kim Stanley, Richard Attenborough, Margaret Lacey
The medium is the menace in this hair-raising suspense classic. In one of her precious few screen roles, stage legend and renowned Method actor Kim Stanley delivers an electrifying, Academ...
Directed by Desmond Davis • 1964 • United Kingdom
Starring Rita Tushingham, Peter Finch, Lynn Redgrave
Wonderfully tender, fresh, and full of lyricism and life, this offbeat romance follows the young Kate Brady (Rita Tushingham) as she leaves behind her sheltered existence in the Irish countrysi...
Directed by John Schlesinger • 1965 • United Kingdom
Starring Julie Christie, Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Harvey
Julie Christie won a best actress Oscar for her star-making performance as a restless model ascending the social ladder of swinging-sixties London as she bounces between affairs with two m...
Directed by Richard Lester • 1965 • United Kingdom
Starring Ray Brooks, Michael Crawford, Rita Tushingham
From director Richard Lester comes this mod masterpiece that won the Palme d’Or at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and all but defined the look and spirit of swinging London. Sophisticated Tol...
Directed by Lindsay Anderson • 1969 • United Kingdom
Starring Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick
Lindsay Anderson’s IF.... is a daringly anarchic vision of British society, set in a boarding school in late-sixties England. Before Kubrick made his mischief iconic in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE,...
Directed by Ken Loach • 1970 • United Kingdom
Starring David Bradley, Freddie Fletcher, Lynne Perrie
Named one of the ten best British films of the century by the British Film Institute, Ken Loach’s KES is cinema’s quintessential portrait of working-class Northern England. Billy (an astonishingl...
