Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema, 1945 – 1960
Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema, 1945–1960 is a Harvard Film Archive retrospective examining British filmmaking in the years immediately following World War II. Curated by film curator and archaeologist Ehsan Khoshbakht, the program is a focused version of a Locarno rediscovery originally produced with the BFI National Archive and Cinémathèque Suisse, with support from Studiocanal. The BFI supplied several prints for the Harvard presentation.
The series considers Britishness and life in the British Isles through contemporary films that address a nation searching for its identity. Its selections range from dark, brooding dramas to sharp comedies, highlighting how the British studio system combined popular entertainment with formal innovation and exploring the period’s social tensions, contradictions, and urgent concerns.
When: October 23–November 20
Venue: Harvard Film Archive
Curator: Ehsan Khoshbakht
Schedule: The page lists the following screenings:
October 23, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *Mandy*, directed by Alexander Mackendrick (1952); 9:00 p.m., *The Yellow Balloon*, directed by J. Lee Thompson (1953), screening on film.
October 24, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *Pool of London*, directed by Basil Dearden (1951); 9:00 p.m., *Turn the Key Softly*, directed by Jack Lee (1953), screening on film.
October 25, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *It Always Rains on Sunday*, directed by Robert Hamer (1947).
October 26, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *Hunted*, directed by Charles Crichton (1952), screening on film.
October 31, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *Daughter of Darkness*, directed by Lance Comfort (1948), screening on film; 9:00 p.m., *The Three Weird Sisters*, directed by Daniel Birt (1948), screening on film.
November 1, 2026: 3:00 p.m., *They Made Me a Fugitive*, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti (1947).
November 13, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *Temptation Harbour*, directed by Lance Comfort (1947); 9:15 p.m., *Tiger in the Smoke*, directed by Roy Ward Baker (1956), screening on film.
November 14, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *Hell is a City*, directed by Val Guest (1960), screening on film; 9:00 p.m., *Never Let Go*, directed by John Guillermin (1960), screening on film.
November 16, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *Nowhere to Go*, directed by Seth Holt (1958), screening on film.
November 20, 2026: 7:00 p.m., *This Was a Woman*, directed by Tim Whelan (1948).
Tickets: Price not available