Dylan Cave

Sep 2, 2024 | bfi.org.uk | Alex Barrett |Dylan Cave |Adam Scovell |Philip Kemp

Despite being the most prolific director at England’s beloved Ealing Studios, Basil Dearden is largely absent from history books – that is, when he’s not being damned with faint praise or outright savaged. Take this, for example, from David Thomson’s The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: “[Dearden’s] proficiency was at the expense of inventiveness or artistic personality… His films are decent, empty, and plodding.” Ouch.