TCM Spotlight: New Waves Around the World: ‘British New Wave’
TCM, beginning at 7 p.m.
Around the time that the British Invasion in pop-music innovation was starting to take place, there were likewise developing
filmmaking trends across the pond that were becoming, and which remain, influential, and this cinematic British New Wave is tonight’s spotlight on Turner Classic Movies. Like the French New Wave movement in film, the British New Wave held many of the same styles and themes. From about the late
1950s to the mid ’60s, filmmakers in the British New Wave were heavily influenced by French filmmakers such as Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, and British
directors such as Jack Clayton and Tony Richardson were similarly trying to capture and depict the lives of everyday people. These films that were being made during this time were usually shot in black and white, produced outside the studio setting and shot on location to give the movies a realistic feel. Tonight’s movies from the British New Wave, in order, are: the 1959
romantic drama Room at the Top, which
was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Clayton, and won Best Actress, for Simone Signoret, and Best Adapted Screenplay; Karel Reisz’ 1960 romantic drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (pictured), named
the 14th greatest British film of all time by the British Film Institute in 1999; the 1963 romantic comedy drama Billy Liar, directed by John Schlesinger and with a breakthrough performance for Julie Christie; The Knack
... and How to Get It, Richard Lester’s 1965 comedy that remains a fun time capsule of swinging ’60s London; co-writer/director Tony Richardson’s 1961 drama A Taste of Honey, which won four BAFTA awards, including Best British Screenplay and Best British Film; and This Sporting Life, the 1963 sports drama that earned stars Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar nominations. — Evan McLean