Three movies that make the case for 1949 as perhaps the greatest year in post-war British cinema.
David Lean, two Dickens adaptations after Brief Encounter, returns to the subject of romance.
Directed by blacklisted Edward Dmytryk, Obsession stars the superb actor Robert Newton, in his most refined villain role. Note: Phil Brown, who plays Newton’s would-be victim, was Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen in Star Wars.
Powell and Pressburger returned to the war to provide dramatic tension in The Small Back Room. Its leading lady is the incomparable Kathleen Byron.