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With his feature film directorial debut, Hungarian émigré Peter Medak created a provocative U.K. classic and launched one of the most unique careers in cinema history: When a young couple—Peter McEnery of Entertaining Mr. Sloane and two-time Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson in her film debut—grows bored with their kinky roleplay games, they invite an uninhibited photographer (Academy Award nominee Diane Cilento of Tom Jones and The Wicker Man) to come between them. Maurice Denham (Sunday Bloody Sunday) co-stars in the groundbreaking 1968 drama that “leaves nothing to the imagination” (NY Daily News), now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative by the British Film Institute. Also included is a bonus disc of the “magnificent” (NY Post) 1963 comedy Sparrows Can’t Sing starring James Booth (Zulu) and Barbara Windsor (the Carry On series)—directed by Joan Littlewood (Oh! What a Lovely War) and assistant directed by Medak...

Kenneth Colley, the British actor who appeared in seven features for director Ken Russell and portrayed the Darth Vader underling Admiral Piett in the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, has died. He was 87.

Colley died Monday at his Ashford home in Kent, England, of complications from Covid and pneumonia, his agent Julian Owen announced.

For Ken Russell, Colley played dramatist Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, younger brother of the famed composer, in The Music Lovers (1971), and he did six other features with the director: The Devils (1971), The Boy Friend (1971), Mahler (1974), Lisztomania (1975) — as Frédéric Chopin — The Rainbow (1989) and Prisoner of Honor (1991).

In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Colley also enjoyed a fruitful association with Monty Python and its members; he worked with director Terry Gilliam in Jabberwocky (1977) and with Michael Palin and Terry Jones on a 1977 episode of the BBC’s Ripping Yarns and...

Billy Williams, the esteemed British cinematographer who shared an Oscar for shooting Gandhi and also was nominated for his work on the Glenda Jackson-starring Women in Love and Henry Fonda’s final film, On Golden Pond, has died. He was 96.

Williams’ death was announced in British Cinematographer magazine. No details on the cause of death were provided.

“With deep sorrow, we bid farewell to Billy Williams — an outstanding British cinematographer, laureate of the ‘Golden Frog’ for exceptional achievements in the art of cinematography at the Camerimage Festival in 2000,” tweeted the official X account of Camerimage, the Poland-based film festival dedicated to cinematography.

Williams also served as the director of photography on John Milius’ The Wind and the Lion (1975), Stuart Rosenberg’s Voyage of the Damned (1976), Martin Brest’s Going in Style (1979) and Peter Yates’ Suspect (1987).

The London native received an early career break when he was hired for Ken Russell...

Laurence Olivier was an Oscar-winning thespian best remembered for his psychologically intense Shakespeare adaptations, both as an actor and a director. Yet his filmography extends well past the Bard's work. Let's take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1907 in Surrey, England, Olivier first came to prominence on the British stage. A series of acclaimed theatrical performances, most notably in Noel Coward's "Private Lives," caught the attention of filmmakers both in the UK and the US.

He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor for William Wyler's "Wuthering Heights" (1939), competing the very next year for Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" (1940). Having firmly established himself as a formidable talent in front of the camera, he stepped behind it to great success with "Henry V", the first of three films he would direct and star in based on the works of William Shakespeare.

When Richard Attenborough first read Louis Fischer’s biography of Indian activist and attorney Mahatma Gandhi in the early 1960s, he was around 20 years into an acting career that included work with David Lean (“In Which We Serve”), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (“A Matter of Life and Death”), and John Sturges (“The Great Escape”). Attenborough hadn’t directed anything himself at that point, but discovering Gandhi’s story gave him the desire to mount a biopic on the epic scale of his mentors.

It would take Attenborough another couple of decades to find the necessary funding, but when he finally made “Gandhi” in 1982, it was worth the wait, both for him and for audiences worldwide. A literate three-hour drama for adults that was, amazingly, a box-office blockbuster as well as an awards behemoth, “Gandhi” was one of those rare films that seemed to please just about everybody.

That must...

An icon of British film beloved by all who worked with her, Dame Maggie Smith sadly passed away last month. For generations, she was a force to be reckoned with playing an incredible array of roles over her long career on stage and screen. With two Academy Awards, five BAFTAs, four Emmys, three Golden Globes, a Tony, and countless nominations, she was loved by both audiences and critics around the world. Enter Our Heroine, Stage Right Maggie Smith was born in Essex to Margaret Hutton and Nathaniel Smith. As many do, Smith started on stage in 1952. At just 17, she made her debut with the Oxford University Dramatic Society playing Viola in a production of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ at the Oxford Playhouse. She played in many productions with Oxford University, including ‘Cinderella’ (1952), ‘Rookery Nook’ (1953), ‘Cakes and Ale’ (1953) and ‘The Government Inspector’ (1954). In 1956, she made her first appearance on Broadway at...

Esteemed British actor and presenter Joanna Lumley stars in short film “My Week With Maisy” by director and actor Mika Simmons.

Lumley stars as Mrs. Foster, a retired lady whose cup is half empty, is starting chemotherapy and is anxious. The last thing she needs is to have to share the treatment room with a know it all child, the titular Maisy Jones who wants to grow up to be a lesbian. But through their unexpected friendship, Maisy Jones gives Mrs. Foster much more than just a glimmer of hope.

The film is written by Mark Oxtoby and produced by Georgina French via French Fancy Productions.

“My Week With Maisy” is supported by the Create Health Foundation, dedicated to empowering women with information about their health at all ages, from puberty to post-menopause. The foundation was founded by Geeta Nargund, who has spent much of her life campaigning for closing...

“I think I’m… quite ready for another adventure!” -Bilbo Baggins

Ian Holm, esteemed knighted British actor and standout of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Alien, is dead at the age of 88, having succumbed to complications from Parkinson’s disease. Holm passed away in a London hospital peacefully near his family and caregiver, as his agent confirmed to The Guardian, referring to the late actor as “charming, kind and ferociously talented,” and that “we will miss him hugely.”

Holm stood as a peer amongst other knighted legends like Ian McKellen and Laurence Olivier, but he never saw himself as a marquee-dominating movie star type, having maintained the grounded approach of a working actor. It’s a conceit evidenced by the way in which he selected roles across his 60-year career on stage and screen, rarely revisiting thematically similar characters, lest he become typecast. However, it’s also the...

Epics — everybody wants to make them but the studios are naturally wary. Richard Attenborough’s ode to the youthful ambitions of Sir Winston Churchill was a big hit in England but didn’t make a dent here. Although a dead ringer for the young Winston, Simon Ward didn’t take off as a star either, leaving Anne Bancroft and Robert Shaw in a sidebar drama that will mostly be remembered for an Std. Correspondent-soldier Churchill sees action in India, The Sudan and South Africa, thanks to the intervention of his socially adept mother. It’s a beautiful, ‘safe’ production with plenty of national pride. Its American premiere served as the Grand opening screening for the second Filmex film festival.

Young Winston

Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 154 min. / Street Date October 28, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Simon Ward, Robert Shaw, Anne Bancroft, Jack Hawkins, Patrick Magee, Edward Woodward, John Mills,...

Laurence Olivier would’ve celebrated his 112th birthday on May 22, 2019. The Oscar-winning thespian is best remembered for his psychologically intense Shakespeare adaptations, both as an actor and a director. Yet his filmography extends well past the Bard’s work. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1907 in Surrey, England, Olivier first came to prominence on the British stage. A series of acclaimed theatrical performances, most notably in Noel Coward‘s “Private Lives,” caught the attention of filmmakers both in the UK and the Us.

SEEAlfred Hitchcock movies: 25 greatest films ranked from worst to best

He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor for William Wyler‘s “Wuthering Heights” (1939), competing the very next year for Alfred Hitchcock‘s “Rebecca” (1940). Having firmly established himself as a formidable talent in front of the camera, he stepped behind...