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The History of British Cinema: 1963

10/10 -

From Russia With Love, the second film in cinema’s longest-running franchise, is released.   Sean Connery reprises his role as slick secret agent James Bond and is faced this time with foes in the form of Robert Shaw and Lotte Lenya with her poison-spiked shoes. [ADD]

Nov -

Joseph Losey’s The Servant, in which Dirk Bogarde stars as a manservant who slowly destroys his affluent young master (James Fox) is released.   The script, based on a 1948 novella by Robin Maugham, is written by Harold Pinter.   Sarah Miles also stars. [ADD]

Nov -

The soundtrack of South Pacific, released in 1958, becomes the first LP to sell a million copies in the UK. [ADD]

– The British National Film Catalogue is founded. [ADD]

– Cinema-in-the-round is shown at Piccadilly Circus under the name of Russian Roundabout.    [ADD]

– The British Board of Film Censors ban Robert B. Spafford’s The Keeler Affair on the grounds that the film ‘would not be in the public interest.’ [ADD]

– The British Board of Film Censors reject Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor for suggesting that residence in a mental hospital could cause insanity. [ADD]

Other Key British Films of 1963

Billy Liar (John Schlesinger) [ADD]

Carry on Cabby (Gerald Thomas) [ADD]

The Damned (Joseph Losey) [ADD]

Heavens Above! (John Boulting, Roy Boulting) [ADD]

Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook) [ADD]

The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards) [ADD]

Summer Holiday (Peter Yates) [ADD]

This Sporting Life (Lindsay Anderson) [ADD]

Tom Jones (Tony Richardson) [ADD]

The V. I. Ps (Anthony Asquith) [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1963