Martin Scorsese Shares 50 British Film Recommendations

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:

1. Shooting Stars (1927) dir. Anthony Asquith
2. Underground (1928) dir. Anthony Asquith
3. Brief Ecstasy (1937) dir. Edmond T. Gréville 
4. Went the Day Well? (1942) dir. Alberto Cavalcanti
5. The Man in Grey (1943) dir. Leslie Arliss
6. The Halfway House (1944) dir. Basil Dearden
7. The Happy Breed (1944) dir. David Lean
8. Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) dir. Arthur Crabtree
9. Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945) dir. Robert Hamer
10. The Seventh Veil (1945) dir. Compton Bennett
11. Green for Danger (1946) dir. Sidney Gilliat
12. Hue and Cry (1947) dir. Charles Crichton
13. It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) dir. Robert Hamer
14. Uncle Silas (1947) dir. Charles Frank
15. To the Public Danger (1948) dir. Terence Fisher
16. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) dir. Robert Hamer
17. The Queen of Spades (1949) dir. Thorold Dickinson
18. The Blue Lamp (1950) dir. Basil Dearden
19. So Long at the Fair (1950) dir. Antony Darnborough, Terence Fisher
20. Stolen Face (1952) dir. Terence Fisher
21. The Sound Barrier (1952) dir. David Lean
22. Mandy (1952) dir. Alexander Mackendrick
23. Spaceways (1953) dir. Terence Fisher
24. The Good Die Young (1954) dir. Lewis Gilbert
25. Four Sided Triangle (1953) dir. Terence Fisher
26. Yield to the Night (1956) dir. J. Lee Thompson
27. Nowhere to Go (1958) dir. Seth Holt, Basil Dearden
28. The Snorkel (1958) dir. Guy Green
29. Sapphire (1959) dir. Basil Dearden
30. The Flesh and the Fiends (1960) dir. John Gilling
31. Taste of Fear (1961) dir. Seth Holt
32. Night of the Eagle (1962) dir. Sidney Hayers
33. Station Six-Sahara (1962) dir. Seth Holt
34. The Damned (1961) dir. Joseph Losey
35. The Innocents (1961) dir. Jack Clayton
36. The Mind Benders (1963) dir. Basil Dearden
37. Guns at Batasi (1964) dir. John Guillermin
38. The Pumpkin Eater (1964) dir. Jack Clayton
39. A High Wind in Jamaica (1965) dir. Alexander Mackendrick
40. The Nanny (1965) dir. Seth Holt
41. The Plague of the Zombies (1966) dir. John Gilling
42. Quatermass and the Pit (1967) dir. Roy Ward Baker
43. The Devil Rides Out (1968) dir. Terence Fisher
44. Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968) dir. Jonathan Miller
45. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) dir. Roy Ward Baker
46. The Asphyx (1972) dir. Peter Newbrook
47. The Legend of Hell House (1973) dir. John Hough
48. Vampyres (1974) dir. José Ramón Larraz
49. The Long Good Friday (1980) dir. John Mackenzie
50. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987) dir. Jack Clayton

Words by Steph Green

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