Best of Post-War Britain

Once again, the Gallery collaborates with the Atlantic Film Festival with our five o'clock film series, screened daily in the gallery during the Festival. Selected to complement the Festival's Strategic Partners Co-Production Conference with the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Ron Foley Macdonald's choices also emphasise some decidedly literary connections in post-War British filmmaking.

Friday, 12 September - The Third Man

Carol Reed, 1949, 104 minutes

With a script by Graham Greene and riveting acting by Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton, this classic, enigmatic film set in post-war Vienna never ceases to enthrall.

Saturday, 13 September - The Ladykillers

Alexander Mackendrick, 1955, 90 minutes

This deliciously offbeat and biting black comedy stars Alec Guinness as the leader of a gang of thieves who pose as musicians. 

Sunday, 14 September - A Taste of Honey

Tony Richardson, 1961, 100 minutes

Shelaigh Delaney's Liverpool-set kitchen-sink drama helped bring actress Rita Tushingham to fame with this startling story of a fish-out-of-water girl who falls in love with, and is then abandoned by, a black sailor.

Monday, 15 September - Accident

Joseph Losey, 1967, 105 minutes. 

Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay and Dirk Bogarde stars in this dark, compressed tale of desire and release set in the leafy environs of Oxford University.

Tuesday, 16 September - Ryan's Daughter

David Lean, 1970, 192 minutes

Robert Bolt wrote the screenplay for this visually stunning drama about an unsatisfied young wife who falls in love with a British soldier during Ireland's long occupation.

Wednesday, 17 September - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, 1975, 90 minutes.

King Arthur's tale gets a mighty twisted retelling from the Python troupe. The humour ranges from brilliant to base but the film stands as one of the funniest ever made in Britain.

Thursday, 18 September - Local Hero

Bill Forsythe, 1983, 111 minutes

Burt Lancaster stars in this tender, funny story of how an ecologically threatened Scottish villiage bewitches a team of American oil developers.

Friday, 19 September - Shakespeare in Love

John Madden, 1998, 122 minutes

Best Picture honours went to director John Madden and writer Tom Stoppard's irresistable tale of the Bard's early days when he was just another playwright struggling in Christopher Marlowe's shadow.