1940's England

[GHT]

A modern film, set in the 40's was Enigma.
By way of a contrast, what might fascinate you, is the comic strip in the Daily Mirror, of Jane.
She was by far and away the most read, most sort after and most popular pin up of the British soldiers during WW2. There are hundreds of cartoons featuring Jane, but to give you a flavour of the history and popularity, the link will take you to Wiki, from there you can find many other links. Hope you enjoy.

 

[Haversack]

A couple or three of the Ealing Studio comedies referenced above that I would particularly recommend for scenes of England are A Run for Your Money (1949), The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), and Passport to Pimlico (1949). Both ARFYM and PTP were primarily shot in London and show a lot of everyday life. TTT, although a bit later, concerns the efforts of a small village to maintain rail service in the face of Beeching's closure of many small rail lines. For the train buffs among us, it features an actual 1838 locomotive. What is particularly good about the Ealing studio movies is that they are not recreations of 1940s England, (And Wales and the Outer Hebrides). They were filmed then and there.

 

[tuppence]

Brideshead revisited and Cambridge Spies starts off with the characters as students.

 

[tuppence]

Also ' Any human heart'

 

[Fading Fast]

And the TV series "Home Fires -" which came out after this thread started follows the lives of several every-day people living in a small English Village at the start of WWII.

 

[Morty]

Slightly out of your timescale at 1938, but otherwise covering all of your bases would be A Yank At Oxford.

"Lee Sheridan, arrogant son of an American small-town publisher, is sent to England to complete his education. A crack sportsman, he is convinced that Oxford University has much to learn from him. It is, of course, the other way round."

I have a digital copy if you have a Dropbox account.

 

[Stanley Doble]

This web site offers a long list of free movies, many of them English. Hope you find a few you enjoy.

Free Classic Movies - The Largest Privately Owned Web Site In The World

 

[SurfGent]

Great website

 

[AdeeC]

Recently watched the first and only season of THE CAZALETS TV series made in 2001. A British series set during the war years. Similar in concept to DOWNTON ABBEY but far more sophisticated and well developed story IMO. More adult themed and not as soapy. ALsomstars Hugh Bonneville. Shame it was cancelled after only one season and leaving all the plot lines unresolved.

 

[EngProf]

There are a lot of British-made WWII movies made from mid-war through the '50's that my group of war-movie fans call "How We Won the War" movies. These are mostly black and white movies that cover various aspects of the better events of WWII, from the British perspective.
A partial list, in no order:
"We Dive at Dawn"
"Sink the Bismarck"
"The Dam Busters"
"Malta Story"
"Angels One Five"
"Glory at Sea"
"Above Us the Waves"
"In Which We Serve"
"Dunkirk"
There are so many of these that it's hard to remember all of them. Most are at least worth watching and some are really good.

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^Haven't seen all of those, but really enjoyed "In Which We Serve," and "Dam Busters." They are solid, entertaining movies that pair well with a documentary on the same subject if you can find one (the Dam Busters is a great story as movie or documentary).

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

The obscure film "Merry Andrew," (1958) features Danny Kaye as an English boy's school teacher bicycling around the Sussex countryside in search of a buried Roman statue. I think it meets all your requirements.

 

[GHT]

Malta Story is a 1953 British war film, it's directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, and is based on the heroic air defence of Malta during what became known as, the Siege of Malta, in the Second World War.
The film uses real and unique footage of the locations at which the battles were fought and includes a love story between a RAF pilot and a Maltese girl, as well as the anticipated execution of her brother, caught as an Italian spy.
In the promotional poster you can just see The George Cross. It's the highest bravery award Britain can give to civilians. (The Victoria Cross is for the military.) So courageous were The Maltese that the entire Island was presented with the George Cross honour.

 

[rocketeer]

Most of the 40s films of the era are a romanticised version of the those times. They rarely touched on true realism and it is todays films and TV that often show how things really were.
For a truer outlook we have to go to the 1950s and 60s to view a more realistic version and what are known as 'kitchen sink ' dramas such as the recently shown "Cathy Come Home" a 1960s play about how the welfare state only appeared to care(to quote a line from Ken loach's film)
During these times reality really hit home with back street abortion(Up the Junction), homosexuality(The leather boys), perversion(10 Rillington Place), While we all laughed along to The Belles of St Trinians and the mentioned Passport to Pimlico. Some of course mixed laughter with tragedy as in The Bells Go Down, a comedy film where the heros die in the end.
I know this is blowing our own trumpet but I think British TV and film do have more character actors who are not all glamorous, but who else could play Miss Marple better than Margaret Rutherford or be a bigger cad than Terry Thomas or play a pervert such as Christie than Richard Attenborough
Loved Foyel's War by the way hated Hanover Street and the like. Ealing studio's forever laughter
Nearly forgot. The deserted airfield and leafy lane scenes in 12 o'clock high are spot on, and that was made in the US.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
Nearly forgot. The deserted airfield and leafy lane scenes in 12 o'clock high are spot on, and that was made in the US.

That is very powerful and poignant imagery in a movie that got so many things right.

 

[rocketeer]

Anyone interested in a "Then and Now' perspective of Britain in the 40s and 50s would do well to check out this site for it's abundance of old British films and comparison screen shots sent in by viewers
http://www.reelstreets.com
There are a lot of other films/movies call them what you will, listed from all over the world too.

 

[daisy2er]

Captain America is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It return to England during this time.