Some of the great works and directors of British film will be examined in this course. Starting with the 1940s, we will study works from the fantasy of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger to the black comedy of Chris Morris, via the whimsy Alexander Mackendrick, the social realism of Lindsay Anderson and the comedy of Mike Leigh. Consideration will be given to the formal merit of this work, as well as the political, social and economic contexts of post-war Britain. Titles to be screened include: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp; The Man in the White Suit; This Sporting Life; If....; Punishment Park; Bleak Moments; Distant Voices, Still Lives. This course will put to rest once and for all the notion, as articulated by French director François Truffaut, that there is "a certain incompatibility between the terms 'cinema' and 'Britain.' " Paul Cronin, film historian, filmmaker. BA, University of