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The History of British Cinema: 1968

20/1 -

33-year-old director Roman Polanski marries 24-year-old Sharon Tate, one of the stars of last year’s The Fearless Vampire Killers, in London. The couple plan to settle in America following Polanski’s contracting to make Rosemary’s Baby in Hollywood. [ADD]

15/2 -

The UK ban on Laslo Benedek’s The Wild One (1953) is finally lifted. [ADD]

4/3 -

17-year-old Leonard Whiting and 15-year-old Olivia Hussey star in Franco Zeffirelli’s version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Michael York and John McEnery also appear. [ADD]

26/9 -

Oliver!, Carol Reed’s adaptation of Lionel Bart’s 1961 London and Broadway smash, is released. Mark Lester stars as Oliver Twist, who falls in with unsavoury types Fagin (Ron Moody), Bill Sykes (Oliver Reed), and the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild). Shani Wallis stars as Nancy, while support is provided by Harry Secombe, and Joseph O’Conor. [ADD]

30/11 -

Sympathy for the Devil (One Plus One), Jean-Luc Godard’s documentary film of the Rolling Stones, premieres in London. [ADD]

29/12 -

Anthony Harvey's The Lion in Winter receives its UK premiere. Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn star as Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane, his rebellious wife. Also starring are Anthony Hopkins, John Castle, Nigel Terry and Timothy Dalton. [ADD]

– EMI buys Warner Bros shares in Associated British Pictures in a bid to gain full control of the company. [ADD]

– The BBC buys the rights to British Lion’s film library. [ADD]

Other Key British Films of 1968

The Bofors Gun (Jack Gold) [ADD]

Carry On… Up the Khyber (Gerald Thomas) [ADD]

The Charge of the Light Brigade (Tony Richardson) [ADD]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Ken Hughes) [ADD]

If… (Lindsay Anderson) [ADD]

Isadora (Karel Reisz) [ADD]

Up the Junction (Peter Collinson) [ADD]

Witchfinder General (Michael Reeves) [ADD]

Yellow Submarine (George Dunning) [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1968