Before she took on the iconic role of Scarlett O’Hara in ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939), Vivien Leigh was one of the brightest talents in British cinema. By the time she moved to the US, she had already proven herself a gifted actor and dazzling screen presence with a series of roles. Nowhere is this more evident than in ‘Fire Over England’ (1937), one of the treasures screening in this selection of films from the Cohen Collection that puts a spotlight on a number of British screen stars. In addition to Leigh, there was Margaret Lockwood, who had shone so brightly in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Lady Vanishes’ (1938). She became a scandalous villain in Gainsborough studio’s borderline bawdy period romps ‘The Man in Grey’ (1943) and ‘The Wicked Lady’ (1945), and convinces here as a suspected killer in ‘Bedelia’ (1946). And there’s Anna Neagle who, like Leigh, transformed her British success into US stardom playing the title role of ‘Nurse Edith Cavell’ (1939).
