Bryan Forbes

A Sense of Carol Reed (2006)

The film director, Carol Reed, is the subject of this documentary short. The illegitimate son of the famous stage actor, 'Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree' , Reed was brilliant with actors, especially child actors, making him the perfect person to bring Oliver! t ...

The Many Lives of Richard Attenborough (2003)

Two-part Arena special celebrating the life and distinguished career of one of Britain's best-loved public figures. Lord Attenborough's film CV as actor stretches from Brighton Rock to Jurassic Park, while as director he has been responsible for Oh! What a ...

Memories on a Wet Afternoon (2003)

The Stepford Life (2001)

A documentary about the making of The Stepford Wives (1975). ...

Sir John Mills' Moving Memories (2000)

A film biography with a difference, Sir John Mills' Moving Memories charts the life of one of Britain's most distinguished actors. Compiled from interviews with the man himself and with his family and friends, it traces his career from humble beginnings to ...

Empire of the Censors (1995)

The history of film and video censorship in Great Britain. ...

Restless Natives (1985)

Two lads in Edinburgh embark on a non-violent spree of robberies. They dress up in clown masks and act as modern highwaymen, robbing coach loads of tourists in the highlands. In the process they become folk heroes to the locals. ...

December Flower (1984)

Newly widowed Etta visits her beloved Aunt M and discovers her bedridden and listless. Etta's struggle to restore her aunt's dignity and cheer brings renewed meaning to the lives of both women, but also reveals family secrets and forces confrontations with ...

An Audience with Kenneth Williams (1983)

Outstanding raconteur Kenneth Williams regales his spellbound audience in typical fashion with a long look back at his career - from his time entertaining troops in the army, his radio work (including the Hancock shows), his work in theatre and - of course ...

The Slipper and the Rose (1976)

Prince Edward wants to marry for love, but the King and court of the Kingdom of Euphrania are anxious for the Prince to wed no matter what. When the Prince meets Cinderella at a ball, he's sure she's the one, and when she loses her slipper upon exiting the ...

Elton John and Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye Norma Jean and Other Things (1973)

A documentary detailing the production of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" LP featuring footage from the recording session in France, interviews, and concert footage. ...

I Am a Dancer (1972)

Documentary about the dancer Rudolf Nureyev. ...

Hitchcock at the N.F.T. (1969)

In his 70th year, Alfred Hitchcock came to the National Film Theatre in London to talk to fellow director Bryan Forbes and to answer questions from an audience of film enthusiasts. ...

King Rat (1965)

When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. Among the American prisoners is Cpl. King, a wheeler-dealer who has managed to establish a pretty good li ...

A Shot in the Dark (1964)

Inspector Jacques Clouseau, smitten with the accused maid Maria Gambrelli, unwittingly turns a straightforward murder investigation into a comedic series of mishaps, testing the patience of his irritable boss Charles Dreyfus as casualties mount. ...

The Guns of Navarone (1961)

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers. ...

The League of Gentlemen (1960)

Involuntarily-retired Colonel Hyde recruits seven other dissatisfied ex-servicemen for a special project. Each of the men has a skeleton in the cupboard, is short of money, and is a service-trained expert in his field. The job is a bank robbery, and milita ...

The Angry Silence (1960)

When the union in his factory walks out on strike, a family man refuses to participate, risking the wrath — and retaliation — of his fellow workers. ...

Yesterday's Enemy (1959)

Set during the Burma Campaign of World War 2, this is the story of courage and endurance of the soldiers struggling at close quarters against the enemy. The film examines the moral dilemmas ordinary men face during war, when the definitions of acceptable m ...

I Was Monty's Double (1958)

The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the Germans about his intentions before the North Africa campaign. ...

The Key (1958)

In wartime England, circa 1941, poorly-armed tugs are sent into "U-Boat Alley" to rescue damaged Allied ships. An American named David Ross arrives to captain one of these tugs. He's given a key by a fellow tugboat-man -- a key to an apartment and its pret ...

Quatermass 2 (1957)

In England, a group of space scientists led by Bernard Quatermass, who have developed plans for the first Moon colony, learn that a secret, ostensibly government-run, complex of identical design has been built in a remote part of England and is the focus o ...

It's Great to be Young! (1956)

IT'S GREAT TO A YOUNG stars John Mills as Dingle an easygoing high school teacher. When autocratic new headmaster Frome (Cecil Parker) begins imposing all sorts of repressive rules, Dingle does his best to stand up for his students, only to be dismissed fo ...

Now and Forever (1956)

A rich young society girl falls in love with a car mechanic. Her family is appalled and stops her seeing him. The girl attempts to commit suicide and then decides to elope. ...

Satellite in the Sky (1956)

A bomb dooms the first space satellite, manned by a selfless crew, a stowaway reporter (Lois Maxwell) and a mad scientist (Donald Wolfit). ...

The Baby and the Battleship (1956)

After a quayside mix-up with the Italian family of his fiancée, Able Seaman Knocker White finds himself literally left holding the baby. Unable to return it before his ship sails he enlists the help of best mate Puncher Roberts to smuggle the child aboard ...

The Extra Day (1956)

Director William Fairchild's 1956 British comedy takes a peek into the private lives of various performers employed as extras in a new film that's currently shooting. ...

Passage Home (1955)

Set in 1931, the film takes place aboard a merchant ship, briefly harboured in South America. A young woman (Diane Cilento) boards the ship as a passenger, resulting in disharmony among the superstitious crew members. Virtuous seaman Anthony Steel protects ...

The Colditz Story (1955)

The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the British, French, Dutch and Polish prisone ...

An Inspector Calls (1954)

An upper-crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Ins ...

The Million Pound Note (1954)

An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, p ...

Up to His Neck (1954)

A maritime farce set in the South Seas. A strong supporting cast includes Brian Rix, Anthony Newley & Harry Fowler. ...

Wheel of Fate (1953)

Two brothers work in their invalid father's repair garage. Johnny is the quiet, reliable one while Ted is younger and wilder. The brothers feud over Lucky, a beautiful band singer. Then their life is complicated: first by a police search for the unknown ki ...

Sea Devils (1953)

Gilliatt, a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful woman to the French coast in the year 1800. She tells him she hopes to rescue her brother from the guillotine. Gilliatt finds himself falling in love and so feel ...

Appointment in London (1953)

Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from England. Having flown eighty-seven missions he will shortly be retiring from flying, but the strain is showing. He tries to make sure his men concentrate only on th ...

The World in His Arms (1952)

A boisterous sea captain in the Pacific Coast, circa 1850, has a plan to buy Alaska from the Russians… if they don't kill him first. ...

Green Grow the Rushes (1951)

Efforts to move Britain into the modern age don't sit well with the people of the small village of Anderia Marsh, who have claimed a right (going back to Henry III) to evade government-imposed import duties and taxes. And when the government decides to cur ...

The Wooden Horse (1950)

True story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany ...

Dear Mr. Prohack (1949)

A modern-day retelling of Arnold Bennett's novel, in which a Treasury official with a reputation for fiscal prudence is left a great deal of money and has no idea how to cope with sudden personal wealth. ...

All Over the Town (1949)

Newspaper reporter Nat Hearn returns home after serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II. When one of the paper's owners dies, the man's partner and son offers Nat a position as editor in return for his financial backing. But Nat's reluctance to ...

The Small Back Room (1949)

As the Germans drop explosive booby-traps on 1943 Britain, the embittered expert who'll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol. ...

Chaplin (1992)

An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI. ...

The Endless Game (1989)

A British agent comes back from retirement after several of his former colleagues, including his former lover, are murdered. He must examine events from his own past to determine who killed them and why. ...

The Naked Face (1984)

Chicago psychiatrist Judd Stevens is suspected of murdering one of his patients when the man turns up stabbed to death in the middle of the city. After repeated attempts to convince the cops of his innocence, Dr. Stevens is forced to go after the real vill ...

Better Late Than Never (1983)

Two men show up claiming to be the grandfather of a child heiress. ...

Jessie (1980)

A woman starts work as a nanny to a mute boy in a Victorian household. The boy's growing attachment to her however causes greater problems than his original detachment to his family. Part of the 1980 season of BBC Play for Today. ...

Sunday Lovers (1980)

A sex comedy anthology containing four stories, each from a different country (England, France, USA and Italy). ...

Hopscotch (1980)

When CIA operative Miles Kendig deliberately lets KGB agent Yaskov get away, his boss threatens to retire him. Kendig beats him to it, however, destroying his own records and traveling to Austria where he begins work on a memoir that will expose all his fo ...

International Velvet (1978)

Sarah Brown is sent to England after her parents die in a car crash. There, she lives with her aunt Velvet who introduces Sarah to the world of equestrian competition and gives her the last foal of her own prize horse, The Pie. Under the watchful eye of he ...

The Slipper and the Rose (1976)

Prince Edward wants to marry for love, but the King and court of the Kingdom of Euphrania are anxious for the Prince to wed no matter what. When the Prince meets Cinderella at a ball, he's sure she's the one, and when she loses her slipper upon exiting the ...

The Stepford Wives (1975)

Joanna Eberhart comes to the town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all too perfect behavior of the female residents. ...

Elton John and Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye Norma Jean and Other Things (1973)

A documentary detailing the production of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" LP featuring footage from the recording session in France, interviews, and concert footage. ...

I Am a Dancer (1972)

Documentary about the dancer Rudolf Nureyev. ...

The Raging Moon (1971)

Bruce Pritchard is paralysed in a soccer game and is confined to a wheelchair in a convalescence home. But this doesn't slow his lust for life. Then he meets Jill and has to think about the effects of disability. ...

The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)

Executive Harold Pelham suffers a serious accident after which he faces the shadow of death. When, against all odds, he miraculously recovers, he discovers that his life does not belong to him anymore. ...

Eyewitness (1970)

A boy who cries wolf witnesses a political assassination on the island of Malta. But will anyone other than his granddad believe him? ...

The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)

An eccentric Parisian woman's optimistic perception of life begins to sound more rational than the traditional beliefs of others. The story is set in a 20th-century society endangered by power and greed and imagines the rebellion of the "little people" aga ...

Deadfall (1968)

Cat burglar Henry Clarke and his accomplices the Moreaus attempt to steal diamonds from the chateau of millionaire Salinas. ...

The Whisperers (1967)

Margaret Ross is an impoverished old woman who lives alone in a seedy apartment and enjoys a rich fantasy life as an heiress. One day she discovers stolen money hidden by her son and believes her fantasy has come true. ...

The Wrong Box (1966)

In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other—or can be made to have seemed to do so. ...

King Rat (1965)

When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. Among the American prisoners is Cpl. King, a wheeler-dealer who has managed to establish a pretty good li ...

The High Bright Sun (1964)

This story of love and espionage focuses on political turmoil as a small nation struggles to free itself from colonial rule, and one man tries to serve both justice and his own heart. ...

Of Human Bondage (1964)

Medical student Philip Carey becomes involved with flirtatious waitress Mildred Rogers. Their love affair is interrupted when Philip is made aware of her constant infidelity. As Mildred quits her job and becomes a prostitute, Philip is still in love with h ...

Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

Working-class British housewife Myra Savage reinvents herself as a medium, holding seances in the sitting room of her home with the hidden assistance of her under-employed, asthmatic husband, Billy. In an attempt to enhance her credibility as a psychic, My ...

Station Six-Sahara (1963)

A beautiful blonde joins a small group of men running an oil station in the Sahara Desert and starts the emotions soaring. ...

The L-Shaped Room (1962)

Jane is young, French, pregnant and unmarried. Bucking convention, she is uninterested in settling with her baby's father or getting an abortion. After renting a room in a dingy London boarding house, Jane befriends the odd group of inhabitants and starts ...

Only Two Can Play (1962)

John Lewis is bored of his job and his wife. Then Liz, wife of a local councillor, sets her sights on him. But this is risky stuff in a Welsh valleys town - if he and Liz ever manage to consummate their affair, that is. ...

Whistle Down the Wind (1961)

When an injured wife-murderer takes refuge on a remote Lancashire farm, the farmer's three children mistakenly believe him to be the Second Coming of Christ. ...

Man in the Moon (1960)

William is an unsuccessful guinea pig for a medical group interested in researching the common cold. He is soon fired and offered a job by the nearby National Atomic Research Center where they figure anyone who could fail at being a guinea pig is just what ...

The League of Gentlemen (1960)

Involuntarily-retired Colonel Hyde recruits seven other dissatisfied ex-servicemen for a special project. Each of the men has a skeleton in the cupboard, is short of money, and is a service-trained expert in his field. The job is a bank robbery, and milita ...

The Angry Silence (1960)

When the union in his factory walks out on strike, a family man refuses to participate, risking the wrath — and retaliation — of his fellow workers. ...

Danger Within (1959)

Drama set in an Italian prisoner of war camp during World War 2, where a group of British soldiers find their plans for escape thwarted by a mysterious traitor in their midst. ...

The Captain's Table (1959)

A captain is promoted by his company from tramp steamers to their flagship passenger liner. Although he is a thoroughly competent sailor ready to take charge of such a ship, he is less prepared for the social duties his new position involves, not least the ...

I Was Monty's Double (1958)

The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the Germans about his intentions before the North Africa campaign. ...

House of Secrets (1956)

Police in Paris recruit an English ship's officer (Michael Craig) to help trap counterfeiters by joining them. ...

The Baby and the Battleship (1956)

After a quayside mix-up with the Italian family of his fiancée, Able Seaman Knocker White finds himself literally left holding the baby. Unable to return it before his ship sails he enlists the help of best mate Puncher Roberts to smuggle the child aboard ...

The Black Tent (1956)

During the British retreat through Libya, a British officer takes shelter with a group of Arab Bedouin. He marries the chief's daughter. Sometime later, his younger brother, who had believed him to be dead, is informed that he may be alive in Libya - promp ...

The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)

During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them. ...

The Black Knight (1954)

John, a blacksmith and swordsmith, is tutored at Camelot. As a commoner, he can't hope to win the hand of Lady Linet, daughter of the Earl of Yeoniland, so he creates a secret alternate identity as the Black Knight. In this new role, he is now able to help ...