I am English, so I do not feel qualified to write on behalf of my Scottish, Welsh or Irish
neighbours. Now there is no longer an Empire, I think the "idea of Britishness" is dying fast, and a good thing too.
The idea of Englishness is a hot topic, however, and will be increasingly debated, so I will limit myself to that.
I will list a few now, but will no doubt return with more later. My memory is not what it was.
The greatest single portrait of Englishness is:
A Canterbury Tale (1944) by Powell and Pressburger
It is a deeply serious and moving film, much admired and imitated by some of the greatest directors since. Its weirdness in parts, and its "amateurishness" in parts, the fact that it is naked propaganda for the Anglo-American alliance, and that its hero is a patronizing crackpot, somehow make it all the more English.
The same team's "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943) and "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946) are other good candidates.
Ealing Studios were massive generators of both "Britishness" and "Englishness". My favorite movie of theirs is:
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
Of course it is specifically, and wonderfully, set in London, but you could imagine the story being transposed to any English or British city.
"The Lavender Hill Mob" and "Pool of London" (both 1951) are both very good and very English movies from Ealing.
I do not agree with most of John Cleese's social or political opinions off-screen, but his TV series "Fawlty Towers"(1975/79) is hilariously English. Most commentators point out what an obnoxious, incompetent, snobbish and xenophobic character Basil Fawlty is, but I guess most English (male) viewers are really rooting for him to escape from the situations he puts himself into.
But for a profound study of Englishness on the big screen, his "Clockwise" (1986), is too subtle for most viewers, and goes right over the heads of the US public. Although Cleese is perfect for the leading role, I think what is best about this movie is all down to the script by the brilliant playwright, novelist and philosopher Michael Frayn, and what is wrong with it (mostly the bungled ending) is down to interference by Cleese and the distributors. I suspect the director did not play much of a role.
Two more TV series that treat what it means to be English intelligently are:
Anglo Saxon Attitudes 1992
A sensitive and cultured man is appalled at England's moral decline under Thatcherism
Cambridge Spies 2003
The three leads all find their English patriotism sorely tested by moral dilemmas and all react differently.
O Lucky Man! (1973) by Lindsay Anderson is another surrealistic and ultimately pessimistic commentary on the corruption of English (or British) virtues.
reply
share