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Building on the success British cinema had enjoyed during World War II, the industry hit new heights of creativity in the immediate post-war years.

Among the most significant films produced during this period were David Lean's Brief Encounter ( 1945 ) and his Dickens adaptations Great Expectations ( 1946 ) and Oliver Twist ( 1948 ), Carol Reed's thrillers Odd Man Out ( 1947 ) and The Third Man ( 1949 ), and Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death ( 1946 ), Black Narcissus ( 1946 ) and The Red Shoes ( 1948 ).

British cinema's growing international reputation was enhanced by the success of The Red Shoes, the most commercially successful film of its year in the U. S., and by Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Ealing Studios ( financially backed by J. Arthur Rank ) embarked on their series of celebrated comedies, including Whisky Galore ( 1948 ), Kind Hearts and Coronets ( 1949 ) and The Man in the White Suit ( 1951 ).