British "B's" chugged along for the better part of two decades after WWII, and like their French counterparts showing a surprising energy boost in the early 60s (though French films never really inhabit the very specific "B" world that seems to radiate through the UK "quota quickie"). Here are a couple of good ones to kick things off...
THE MARKED ONE (1963) directed by Francis Searle
NOTES FROM IMDb: "Some very well acted scenes. William Lucas and Zena Walker play off each other wonderfully.
The director Francis A. Searle made great use of location shots, including: 'The Pilot' public house and Brentford Dock, Brentford, Middlesex,England, UK.
This stems from Searle's work at Gaumont-British where he joined their instructional unit and made documentaries. This coupled with outstanding cinematography adds a feel of documentary and realism.
You feel for Lucas's character ; Don Mason. One twist after another. Unexpected punchline."
THE IMPERSONATOR (1961) directed by Alfred Shaughnessy
IMDb NOTES: "Tubby British character actor John Salew after over twenty years of supporting roles got probably his most showy film part in the title role of this excellent little drama released by Michael Balcon's company Bryanston the same year he died. The presence of obligatory American star John Crawford is well integrated into the plot, central to which is the presence of US servicemen in Britain in those days and the tensions that sometimes resulted.
Vividly evoking its wintry setting of a provincial English coastal town during the pre-Christmas panto season, enhanced by vivid night-for-night photography by John Coquillon (who ten years later shot Straw Dogs for Sam Peckinpah) and with a climax that echoes that of Hitchcock's Murder! thirty years earlier; it was the personal favourite of the handful of films directed by Alfred Shaughnessy, who brought it in for just £23,000."
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