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The British New Wave is the name conventionally given to a series of films released between 1959 and 1963. Conventional approaches to these films place emphasis upon viewing them as a series, stressing their similarities, and using these similarities to include the films in broader debates about class, gender and/or ideology. This chapter defines a new approach in relation to British New Wave and demonstrates that one can fruitfully consider the detail of these films individually and discusses British New Wave based upon the idea of difference without continually re-emphasising their similarities. The innovation of this approach is also complemented by the position its subjects occupy within the history of British cinema. As their collective title suggests, the arrival of these films was marked by a similar sense of innovation. The innovation of a film such as Room at the Top was its engagement with a contemporary British social life, and the emphasis in these new films was on the relationship between a character's leisure time and their working life.

This chapter examines Jack Clayton's 1959 Room at the Top and concentrates on the film's opening sequences in order to achieve two related objectives. It explores in detail the ideas of the arrivals and new beginnings that these sequences bring to attention. It also demonstrates how these two ideas also allow us to overcome the way in which existing considerations of this film have tended to place unnecessary limits upon the interest and importance of Room at the Top's miseen-scène. Room at the Top offers far more than just a linear examination of one man's desire to get ahead. The film offers the opportunity for a more circular discussion of the many (potentially) conflicting concerns that new spaces and their accompanying experiences must inevitably generate. The film articulates its principal thematic concerns through a series of introductions. In Room at the Top, matters of (personal) mobility co-exist with the problem of social paralysis.

This chapter reconsiders the style and meaning of British New Wave cinema. The examination of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Taste of Honey or Billy Liar, is based upon the pressing desire to re-evaluate the mise-en-scène of these films. This has been achieved by applying the kind of British critical methodology, which first suggested that such an approach was unnecessary. The kind of style-based film criticism originally advocated by Movie is a useful tool for reconsidering the nature and the status of the series of films. Reconsidering the nature of each of these films is made possible by concentrating upon the details of each one and allowing a discussion of these details to develop a deeper understanding of each individual film. The implications of this are twofold. Firstly, it enables a clear demonstration that it is not the methodology that is at fault; it is just the way in which the methodology has (not) been applied. The strand of British film criticism which has developed is an impressive tool by which discussions of the British New Wave can be moved forward. The impressive nature of the methodology is further enhanced by the implications that such an approach has for other aspects of British cinema. Secondly, it is important to understand that examining the style and meaning of any individual film allows that film to have a position within any kind of broader framework.

This chapter considers Tony Richardson's contribution to British New Wave. Richardson's first film Look Back in Anger (1959), despite its faults, was important for the development of ‘a style to the purposes of the piece’. Look Back in Anger is an interesting film for many reasons. It represents the beginning of Richardson's efforts to establish a new and separate position within the British film industry. The film also helped to generate a new series of critical debates about the development of a British cinematic style, or the lack of it. The film also became allied with other films trying to do similar things, such as Clayton's Room at the Top. It can best be characterised by the extremity of shot scale deployed to show the claustrophobic relationship between Alison and Jimmy, and the construction of The Entertainer demonstrates a willingness to move out from this extreme proximity. Richardson's four films from this period need to be seen as indicative of a talent being developed rather than the achievements of a director at the height of his creative ability.

This element is a wrap-up of who Ridley Scott is as a man and filmmaker. The epilogue discusses Scott’s process of gathering material for future projects, what constitutes a Ridley Scott film, and his personal characteristics. Also explored are how his drawing abilities impact his productions, his use of lighting and of size and space in his movies, and how his dark nature draws him to particular material. The epilogue investigates Scott’s evolution from the early days of the British New Wave of the 1970s and 1980s. Now an octogenarian, Ridley Scott continues to work as hard as ever, on as many projects as ever. His stamina and consistency of vision give him a very special place in film history.