Big screen classics
A collection of the best the big screen has to offer.
Tickets for these screenings are only £8
May-June
Man Hunt
A loose adaptation of Geoffrey Household’s classic ‘Rogue Mail’, distinguished by Lang’s taut direction and fine expressionist camerawork.
The Killers
Siodmak’s classic film noir about amour fou and inevitable betrayal, with Lan-caster and Gardner on top form.
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The Killers + pre-recorded intro by Imogen Sara Smith, author of ‘In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City’
Siodmak’s classic film noir about amour fou and inevitable betrayal, with Lan-caster and Gardner on top form.
Sweet Smell of Success
Lancaster and Curtis locked together in Mackendrick’s masterly tale of toxic corruption in the media in 50s New York.
Touch of Evil
Welles’ brilliant, baroque noir mystery about a murder investigation in a nightmarish border town.
Le Doulos
Questions of friendship and loyalty, deceit and betrayal lie at the dark heart of Melville’s labyrinthine thriller.
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Le Doulos + pre-recorded intro by Professor Ginette Vincendeau, King’s College London
Questions of friendship and loyalty, deceit and betrayal lie at the dark heart of Melville’s labyrinthine thriller.
Alice in the Cities
Wenders’ touching, lyrical and witty odd-couple road-movie, lovingly shot by the late, great Robby Müller.
Bitter Victory
Richard Burton is at his very best in Ray’s superb, stunningly shot war-movie set in the Libyan desert.
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Billy Bob Thornton is terrific in the Coens’ canny combination of crime movie and psychological study of extreme alienation.
Cleo from 5 to 7
Varda’s classic almost-real-time character study of a young woman wandering Paris as she awaits the results of a medical test.
The Big City
Ray’s meticulously observed, gently satirical tale of a wife deciding to go out to work despite her family’s disapproval in ’50s Calcutta.
Citizen Kane
Welles’ ageless gem about the life and times of a media tycoon reveals further riches with each repeat viewing.
Persona
Bergman’s modernist masterpiece about a traumatised actress and a chatty nurse undergoing strange changes during an isolated convalescence.
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Persona + pre-recorded intro by Geoff Andrew, Programmer-at-Large
Bergman’s modernist masterpiece about a traumatised actress and a chatty nurse undergoing strange changes during an isolated convalescence.
The Tango Lesson
Part troubled love story, part terrific dance movie, Potter’s tale of a filmmaker fighting creative block is screened too rarely.
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The Tango Lesson + pre-recorded intro by So Mayer, author of ‘The Cinema of Sally Potter’
Part troubled love story, part terrific dance movie, Potter’s tale of a filmmaker fighting creative block is screened too rarely.
L’eclisse
Vitti and Delon shine in Antonioni’s cool, subtly stylised account of a relationship floundering amid the distractions of modern life.
The Last Picture Show
Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd star in Peter Bogdanovich’s beautiful evocation of a lost era.
The Gospel According to Matthew
Pasolini’s classic account of the life of Christ foregoes pomp and piety to present him as a political animal fighting social injustice.
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Keaton’s brilliantly inventive comedy is set in a painstakingly created Southern riverside town, famously wrecked in the film’s extraordinary finale.
The Night of the Hunter
In Laughton’s masterpiece, Mitchum excels as a psychopathic preacher hunting down two children in a vividly recreated Depression America.
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The Night of the Hunter + pre-recorded intro by Geoff Andrew, Programmer-at-Large
In Laughton’s masterpiece, Mitchum excels as a psychopathic preacher hunting down two children in a vividly recreated Depression America.
The White Ribbon
Haneke’s masterly portrait of life in a quiet north German village just before WW1 examines the education of a troubled and troubling generation.
Eraserhead
Lynch’s debut is a deeply eccentric, darkly comic, nightmarish fable about the perils of parenthood, desire and urban existence.
25 & under
If you're aged 16 to 25, you can get £3 cinema tickets at BFI Southbank to any film, any time.
BFI Southbank Guide
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