The beloved director has revealed 50 of his personal favourite films from British cinema, from Kind Hearts and Coronets to The Innocents.
Edgar Wright, in a series of tweets posted today, explained that he emailed the Academy Award-winning director asking for “a list of British films that he admired or had inspired him growing up.”
“It must be stressed that this is a personal list of favourites and also, by his admission, incomplete,” Wright explained. “For example Powell & Pressburger do not feature, as he’s praised them on many occasions, so their work is taken as read.”
Scorsese, known for his generously affable nature and rigorous cineliteracy, often shares these types of lists. However, this is thought to be the first time he has recommended British films alone, with his favourites mainly lying in the 1940s–1960s.
His British film recommendations show clear favourites, with the list including six films by Terence Fisher, five by Basil Dearden and four by Seth Holt. Many films are of the cult horror variety, while others are historical epics and small-budget wartime dramas.
Martin Scorsese’s list of British film recommendations, in chronological order:
- Shooting Stars (1927) dir. Anthony Asquith
- Underground (1928) dir. Anthony Asquith
- Brief Ecstasy (1937) dir. Edmond T. Gréville
- Went the Day Well? (1942) dir. Alberto Cavalcanti
- The Man in Grey (1943) dir. Leslie Arliss
- The Halfway House (1944) dir. Basil Dearden
- The Happy Breed (1944) dir. David Lean
- Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) dir. Arthur Crabtree
- Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945) dir. Robert Hamer
- The Seventh Veil (1945) dir. Compton Bennett
- Green for Danger (1946) dir. Sidney Gilliat
- Hue and Cry (1947) dir. Charles Crichton
- It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) dir. Robert Hamer
- Uncle Silas (1947) dir. Charles Frank
- To the Public Danger (1948) dir. Terence Fisher
- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) dir. Robert Hamer
- The Queen of Spades (1949) dir. Thorold Dickinson
- The Blue Lamp (1950) dir. Basil Dearden
- So Long at the Fair (1950) dir. Antony Darnborough, Terence Fisher
- Stolen Face (1952) dir. Terence Fisher
- The Sound Barrier (1952) dir. David Lean
- Mandy (1952) dir. Alexander Mackendrick
- Spaceways (1953) dir. Terence Fisher
- The Good Die Young (1954) dir. Lewis Gilbert
- Four Sided Triangle (1953) dir. Terence Fisher
- Yield to the Night (1956) dir. J. Lee Thompson
- Nowhere to Go (1958) dir. Seth Holt, Basil Dearden
- The Snorkel (1958) dir. Guy Green
- Sapphire (1959) dir. Basil Dearden
- The Flesh and the Fiends (1960) dir. John Gilling
- Taste of Fear (1961) dir. Seth Holt
- Night of the Eagle (1962) dir. Sidney Hayers
- Station Six-Sahara (1962) dir. Seth Holt
- The Damned (1961) dir. Joseph Losey
- The Innocents (1961) dir. Jack Clayton
- The Mind Benders (1963) dir. Basil Dearden
- Guns at Batasi (1964) dir. John Guillermin
- The Pumpkin Eater (1964) dir. Jack Clayton
- A High Wind in Jamaica (1965) dir. Alexander Mackendrick
- The Nanny (1965) dir. Seth Holt
- The Plague of the Zombies (1966) dir. John Gilling
- Quatermass and the Pit (1967) dir. Roy Ward Baker
- The Devil Rides Out (1968) dir. Terence Fisher
- Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968) dir. Jonathan Miller
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) dir. Roy Ward Baker
- The Asphyx (1972) dir. Peter Newbrook
- The Legend of Hell House (1973) dir. John Hough
- Vampyres (1974) dir. José Ramón Larraz
- The Long Good Friday (1980) dir. John Mackenzie
- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987) dir. Jack Clayton
Words by Steph Green
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Brief Encounter
The Kidnappers
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
The Third Man
Tom Brown’s Schooldays
Hatter’s Castle
Tunes Of Glory
Our Man In Havana
A Xmas Carol
Hobson’s Choice
The Cruel Sea
Far From The Madding Crowd
The Go Between
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Saturday Night & Sunday Morning
A Kind Of Loving
Alfie
A Tale Of Two Cities
Victim
The Assault