When Lewis Gilbert passed away, much of the focus on his work was on the three Bond films he directed, plus his resurgence in the 80s with Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita. However, it's arguable that his run of films in the 50s were his greatest contribution to cinema.
He was born into a family of music hall performers and began his career in films as a child actor. Alexander Korda was impressed with him and offered to send him to RADA to train but Gilbert preferred to aim for a directing career so Korda sent him to Denham to begin as a third assistant director. by the time war broke out he'd reached the rank of first assistant director.
He enlisted with the RAF, but was later assigned to the US Army Air Forces film unit. On being invalided out he wrote and directed documentary shorts. He made several low budget features over the next few years, but it was the success of Emergency Call, released as a first feature, which raised his status. this was also the first film in which he collaborated with writer Vernon Harris who he would work with consistently throughout his career.
As a director who'd served in the war, he was a natural pick for the cycle of war films which dominated 50s cinema. He also showed, in Cast a Dark Shadow and Carve Her Name With Pride an ability to provide strong roles for actresses - something of a rarity in the 50s - which would resurface in the 80s with Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita.
The massive hit he scored with Alfie which kept him afloat in the Swinging 60s while many of his contemporaries had to move to television to survive. It also got him the first of his Bond films. Apart from Bonds, his 70s films were little noticed. He fought to get Educating Rita made, raising the money before getting a distribution deal and insisted it retain the star of the original stage production, Julie Walters. He received a lifetime achievement award from BAFTA in 1990 and continued to make films into his 80s.
Gilbert's brand of solid professionalism was little regarded by film critics in an age of auteurism but there are few directors who can match his sustained career or match the number of great films he produced.
| 1944 | Sailors Do Care |
| 1945 | The Ten Year Plan |
| 1946 | Arctic Harvest |
| 1947 | The Little Ballerina |
| 1949 | Under One Roof |
| 1950 | Once a Sinner |
| 1951 | The Scarlet Thread |
| 1951 | There is Another Sun |
| 1952 | Emergency Call |
| 1952 | Time, Gentlemen, Please! |
| 1953 | Cosh Boy |
| 1953 | Johnny on the Run |
| 1953 | Albert, R.N. |
| 1954 | The Good Die Young |
| 1954 | The Sea Shall Not Have Them |
| 1955 | Cast a Dark Shadow |
| 1956 | Reach for the Sky |
| 1957 | The Admirable Crichton |
| 1958 | Carve Her Name With Pride |
| 1958 | A Cry from the Streets |
| 1959 | Ferry to Hong Kong |
| 1960 | Sink the Bismark! |
| 1960 | Light Up the Sky! |
| 1961 | The Greengage Summer |
| 1962 | HMS Defiant |
| 1964 | The 7th Dawn |
| 1966 | Alfie |
| 1967 | You Only Live Twice |
| 1970 | The Adventurers |
| 1971 | Friends |
| 1974 | Paul and Michelle |
| 1975 | Operation: Daybreak |
| 1976 | Seven Night in Japan |
| 1977 | The Spy Who Loved Me |
| 1979 | Moonraker |
| 1983 | Educating Rita |
| 1985 | Not Quite Paradise |
| 1989 | Shirley Valentine |
| 1991 | Stepping Out |
| 1995 | Haunted |
| 2002 | Before You Go |
