Martin Scorsese’s list of English film recommendations to Edgar Wright
Sweet manna from heaven!
Thanks to Empire Magazine for putting together two of the biggest cinema nerds (Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino) to talk about films for three hours.
The whole podcast is a joy (make sure you check it out) but the real highlight is when Edgar reveals his correspondence with Martin Scorsese.
During the Covid lockdowns Edgar has been inspired to finally catch up with all the classics he has missed — and used Martin Scorsese’s list of film history and foreign cinema as a guide. You can see that list in full here.
Speaking on the podcast Edgar says he wrote to Scorsese to thank him for the list and ask for any insights with English cinema he might have missed himself (aside from his well-known favourites such as the Powell and Pressburger classics and Alfred Hitchcock).
Scorsese obliged. Here’s the list in full with director and release year (I’ve put Edgar’s favourites in bold):
- Kind Hearts & Coronets — Robert Hamer (1949)
- Station Six Sahara — Seth Holt (1962)
- Brief Ecstasy — Edmond T. Greville (1937)
- The Halfway House — Basil Dearden (1944)
- Went The Day Well — Alberto Cavalcanti (1942)
- Nowhere to Go — Seth Holt (1958)
- The Nanny — Seth Holt (1965)
- Madonna of the Seven Moons — Arthur Crabtree (1945)
- The Man in Grey — Leslie Arliss (1943)
- So Long at the Fair — Terence Fisher (1950)
- Stolen Face — Terence Fisher (1952)
- Four-sided Triangle — Terence Fisher (1953)
- The Sound Barrier — David Lean (1952)
- This Happy Breed — David Lean (1944)
- Guns at Batasi —John Guillermin (1964) Tarantino was a particular fan
- Green for Danger — Sidney Gilliat (1946)
- The Mindbenders — Basil Dearden (1963)
- To the Public Danger — Terence Fisher (1948) It’s on YouTube!
- It Always Rains on Sunday — Robert Hamer (1947)
- A High Wind in Jamaica — Alexander Mackendrick (1965)
- The Queen of Spades — Thorold Dickinson (1949)
- Hue and Cry — Charles Crichton (1947)
- Pink String and Sealing Wax — Robert Hamer (1945)
- The Blue Lamp — Basil Dearden (1950)
- The Good Die Young — Lewis Gilbert (1954)
- Mandy — Alexander Mackendrick (1952)
- Vampyres — José Ramón Larraz (1974)
- Uncle Silas — Charles Frank (1947)
- The Legend of Hell House — John Hough (1973)
- Night of the Eagle (US title: Burn Witch Burn)—Sidney Hayers (1962)
- The Flesh and the Fiends — John Gilling (1960)
- The Snorkel — Guy Green (1958)
- Taste of Fear (US title: Scream of Fear) — Seth Holt (1961)
- The Damned (US title: These are the Damned) — Joseph Losey (1963)
- Plague of the Zombies — John Gilling (1966)
- Quatermass and the Pit (US title: Five Million Years to Earth)— Roy Ward Baker (1967)
- Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde — Roy Ward Baker (1971)
- The Devil Rides Out — Terence Fisher (1968)
- The Asphyx — Peter Newbrook (1972) (“I was so happy to see on the list, one of those movies I thought only me and my brother had seen” — Edgar Wright)
- Underground — Anthony Asquith (1928)
- Shooting Stars — Anthony Asquith (1927)
- Sapphire — Basil Dearden (1959)
- Whistle and I’ll Come To You — Jonathan Miller (1968)
- Dead of Night — Alberto Cavalcanti (1945)
- Enfield Haunting (Sky Living three-part drama from 2015 directed by Kristoffer Nyholm)
- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne — Jack Clayton (1987)
- The Pumpkin Eater — Jack Clayton (1964)
- The Innocents — Jack Clayton (1961)
- The Seventh Veil — Compton Bennett (1945)
- Yield to the Night — J. Lee Thompson (1956) Edgar recommends doubling billing it with Dance with a Stranger — Mike Newell (1985)
Edgar says he wrote back saying ‘Thank you Martin Scorsese for the amazing email’ but also included a list of his own recommendations in response.
Embarrassing author’s note: I’ve only seen ONE of the above movies… (I’m still working my way through the Ingmar Bergman Criterion boxset).
My to-watch list never gets shorter.
Be sure to check out the excellent podcast in full. Just try and keep up.
