British Movies of the 1960’s

During the sixties British Movies were enjoying huge success in the International Market most of these movies were exposing a liberated attitude to sex, stemming from the “swinging London” lifestyle and image that was created by Time Magazine. Popular movies like ‘Darling’, ’Alfie’, ‘Gregory Girl’ and ‘The Knack..And How to Get it All’ these played up to this reputation pushing the bar out further later on where movies such as ‘Blowup’, ‘Repulsion’ and ‘Women in Love” these movies broke taboos and exposed sex and nudity on the screen.

From these types of movies began the creation of the widely popular Bond Movies, Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli used sex, exotic locations and some violence and comedy. The first Bond Movie ‘Dr No’ in 1962 was not a huge success domestically, but the second movie ‘From Russia with Love’ was released world wide and found a large audience the third move ‘Goldfinger” in 1964 established the Bond series as a world wide hit which still continues today.

During the 1960’s British movies was also dealing with a new competition from a new medium. This was the coming of television. This change the standard wide screen format and films more appropriate for the home and family for a viewing time of thirty minutes or one hour were created. Proper pauses and cuts were also incorporated to allow for commercial and sponsor messages.

With the introduction of television as entertainment for the home, print media and the film

industry had to adapt. The times were becoming more open with new rock stars singing of modern themes. The Beatles, Rolling Stones and other rock bands and hippie groups all arrived on the scene. With them, a more liberal attitude to sex emerged. London and British culture swept over the cities of America and the world as the new swinging capital. Many film producers rode on these phenomena and easily opened the gate to a series of films combining sex, exotic locations, violence, humor and fast action. Foreign directors such as Joseph Losey, Stanley Kubrick, were famous for their anti-war dramas, spy spoofs, black comedies. Richard Lester made two Beatles films ‘A Hard days Night’ (1964) and ‘Help! (1965), memorable for his sharp editing, So me say he brought in the birth of the music video so very popular today and used by every recording artist.

The successes of the Beatle movies bought about the music videos later on, and other memorable movies, American studios found it attractive to invest more in British films. Movies such as ‘Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Tom Jones (1963), ‘Zulu’ (1964) and ‘Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines’ (1965).

Towards the end of the 1960’s British movies started to change yet again with the slow return of social realism and the start of a recessions that would extend into the 1970’s.