Great Expectations – British Postwar Cinema 
1945–1960

From lighthearted comedies to bleak film noir: Curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht in collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse and the BFI National Archive, the 2025 Locarno Film Festival's wide-ranging retrospective offered a multifaceted panorama of postwar life as depicted in British popular cinema. In June, Arsenal will present a selection of 12 films, including works by renowned directors such as David Lean, Michael Powell and Carol Reed as well as rarely screened discoveries, some in rare 35mm prints from British archives.

Khoshbakht placed the question of identity as reflected in the cinema and daily reality of life in postwar Britain at the heart of the retrospective: the British, as seen through British films. Great Expectations focuses on contemporary narratives—not on historical, fantasy or war films—that were set exclusively in Britain. But though the program does not include explicit war films, the war casts its shadow over the characters’ motivations and shapes the rugged landscapes of urban life. The films of this era depict a country marked by grief and uprooting, and by slow reconstruction in the context of the decline of the British Empire. The selection also includes outside perspectives, such as those of Jules Dassin, one of the directors who found refuge in the British film industry after being blacklisted in Hollywood. His NIGHT AND THE CITY is one of the outstanding examples of British film noir, a genre that has a prominent place in the retrospective. Another focus is on the significant role of women in this period of British cinema, as exemplified by the works of Muriel Box and Jill Craigie, whose films open our program. (Hans-Joachim Fetzer)

Thanks to Ehsan Khoshbakht, Michèle Bavaud (Locarno Film Festival) and Hannah Prouse (BFI).