The All Time Top British Directors

The greatest director the world has ever seen. Most great directors will have three great films they are remembered for (at best). After moving to America in 1940, Hitchcock was on the top of his game for a quarter of a century. During this period he directed Rebecca, Notorious, Rope, Dial M For Murder, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds and Marnie. All these films are classics. Hitchcock was the master of suspense and also the master of cinematic technique. He didn't believe in wasting the first twenty minutes of a movie setting up the plot. In Dial M For Murder he showed Grace Kelly's character embracing her lover and the same day embracing her husband and this established that the character was having an affair in less than a minute. This was typical of Hitchcock. Hitchcock's style was very distinctive, often showing the audience things the characters didn't know in order to heighten the suspense. In Frenzy a woman has been murdered. The audience knows this. The camera shows the outside of the building where the murder has taken place. The woman's secretary enters the building, unaware that her boss has been murdered. The camera remains outside the building. There is a delay before the secretary finds the body. Trademark Hitchcock. He may have been cold and autocratic, but no one knew more about the art of film making than Alfred Hitchcock.

Andrea Arnold is a great director that has made few films to date, but two of them have been classics (Red Road and Fish Tank). They both feature her trademark realistic style. The sets seem like real places. The characters seem like real people rather than actors playing parts. There is plot development, character development and deep human emotions, without slushy sentimentality. Although the situations that Arnold creates may seem bleak, her films are uplifting and usually end on a positive yet realistic note. Arnold also has a knack of building up suspense that is second only to the master himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

Whilst Hitchcock loved to remain in the studio, David Lean was the master of location shooting. His epic movies have gone into legend. The Bridge on the River Kwai was a brilliant film, not only for its excellent cast, but also its expert direction. Lean understood how to integrate the landscape and the characters in such a brilliant way. Colonel Nicholson's final scene when he presses the detonator is a masterpiece of filmmaking.

A great director of modern times, Shane Meadows is similar to Andrea Arnold in his realistic depiction of working class British life. Like Arnold, his films are bleak, yet are often uplifting. A Room For Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes are two of his best films. He also uses moments of humour to lighten the mood at just the right time. This Is England is another great film and very realistic, but a little too bleak and depressing for my tastes.

Educating Rita was arguably Lewis Gilbert's greatest film. Sure, Gilbert had a great script and cast to work with, but he never allowed the pace to drop. In a film with a lot of dialogue, it could have become slow and patchy, but in Gilbert's hands it was a masterpiece. Gilbert also directed several of the Bond movies and several other well known films.

Turning The Singing Detective into a great piece of television must have been a monumental task. Jon Amiel was the director of this extraordinary work. The Singing Detective is a fantasy about what is going on in a man's mind. There were complicated visual sequences, different plot strands and the character drifting into deep thought and back into the real world. Dennis Potter's script was brilliant, but Jon Amiel's direction was also brilliant. The end product could have been a disaster in a less skilled director's hands. In Amiel's hands it was the greatest TV drama of all time.

The 1958 Hammer film version of Dracula is a masterpiece. The film builds suspense brilliantly. The director Terence Fisher deserves a lot of credit for the film's success. There were many brilliant scenes in this film. The pacing is brilliant. Although it differs from the novel considerably, the end product is probably the greatest horror film of all time.

WW1 movie 1917 and by far the best Bond film since the 1980s (Skyfall) were both directed by Sam Mendes.

One of this great director's best movies was Marathon Man. The pace of this film was excellent and many of the scenes were particularly well directed in order to build the suspense.

A great film director of modern times. Boyle began directing television series. Boyle directed some of the best episodes of Inspector Morse.

Although Roy Boulting was known for comedies, one of his best films was the suspense horror film Twisted Nerve. This movie was described as Hitchcockian. It was brilliantly directed.

The director of the early Bond movies created a very distinctive feel about them. They were serious suspense movies. The best Bond movies were the first three.

A great director of yesteryear, one of Ronnie Neame's best films was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

This British director is primarily known for one of Steve McQueen's finest movies, Bullitt. It is remembered for a brilliantly directed car chase, but actually the finale is just as good.

Mike Leigh is one of the most unique film makers there has ever been. His process of making a film is probably too long to explain. It involves a collaborative process with the actors in which they have input into their character's development in the film. Although his films are supposed to be done in a realistic style, some of them can appear strange and incoherent. In some of his films his characters don't seem realistic. However, with the right actors, characterisations and plot developments, he is capable of creating a masterpiece. Secrets and Lies is his masterpiece.

Originally from Britain, Sir Ridley Scott achieved success in Hollywood. One of his best films was Alien.