48. Jack Clayton (1921 - 1995)
Rarely mentioned alongside great British filmmakers, people easily forget that Jack Clayton specialized in adapting novels to the screen in brilliant fashion. His films were in competition at the Cannes film festival three times and his Room at the Top (1959) heralded the beginning of the British New Wave movement, which was said to be a new dawn of maturity for British film. It also sits at #32 in
BFI's 100 Greatest British Film list, so you can put that in your pipe and smoke it. Adapting novels from such writers as Henry James and F. Scott Fitzgerald (the Great Gatsby version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow everyone loves to hate except Tennessee Williams), Clayton had a knack for getting out wonderful performances from his actresses and was one of many great British directors during the artistically fruitful 50s and 60s.
Must See: The Innocents (1961)
47. Ken Loach (1936 - )
Perhaps not a name many British people like to call their own, Ken Loach doesn't always make the greatest movie around but he's been such a consistent workaholic with his output and his determination to show a (subjectively) realistic viewpoint of the inner-workings of U.K. society that omitting him from this list would have been a bit too cruel. A Cannes regular, Loach won the Palme D'Or in 2006 with The Wind That Shakes The Barley, a piece of important history set during the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, and also his biggest success. Not one to shy away from his ardent political views about the British empire, his government or any other corner of the world where he believes people's freedoms are somehow being impeached, Loach has done some of the finer works in British cinema by capturing the reality of its working class and their daily struggles.
Must See: Kes (1969)
46. Basil Dean (1888 - 1978)
Here's a name that's easy to forget unless you dig into some history; Basil Dean was mostly renowned for being a producer rather than director. As producer, he put a couple of superstars of his time on the map (George Formby and Gracie Fields) but as director, many believed he was overshadowed by the artistic creativity in the (often uncredited) production staff around him, including the likes of Thorold Dickinson, David Lean and Carol Reed. Dean's expertise laid with theatrics, which didn't translate all too well with the critics when he tried to convert into cinema at the beginning stages of the talkies. Regardless of his failings as a film director, Dean's contribution to British cinema as producer and major figure during the transitioning from silence to sound makes him worthy of mention here.
Must See: The Constant Nymph (1933)