Best Films Free On BBC iPlayer (14th November 2021)

We appreciate not everyone can afford or even has access to the likes of Virgin Media, Sky, BT . Many of us Freeview is our only option on television, we can relate to it as it’s partly our option too. A way back when it was Father’s Day we created a feature “Great Films To Let Your Dad Watch On BBC iPlayer On Fathers Day“. It was an success and for a while we hoped to make some sort of weekly feature. Today that day has come below is our Top 10 best films currently free BBC iPlayer. Off course this is only a selection and includes some of the new additions along with some long running films.

All different genres from drama to thrillers, classics to world cinema. Do have a look all the films on offer at BBC iPlayer, please beware some films are limited time only enjoy!

TOP HAT MUSICAL

Fans of Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger this film is quintessential Astaire and Rogers. This wonderful musical is all about an American dancer staying at a hotel in London falls in love with the guest staying in the room below. However, she gets her wires crossed, convinces herself that the dancer is already hitched and hotfoots it off to Venice. Classic numbers include Cheek to Cheek and Top Hat. This is Fred and Ginger’s fourth pairing, but the first with a screenplay written specifically for them. WATCH

THE DEATH OF STALIN COMEDY

Moscow, 1953 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is suddenly taken ill and dies. Immediately, members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power against one another. If you were to pick one vintage Jason Issacs film role this is up there. He may not be one of the main characters, when he’s on the screen he steals the scene every time. A Russian who sounds like he’s from Barnsley, totally bonkers and equally frightening film. WATCH

THE KEEPER DRAMA

Recruited from the local prisoner-of-war camp by the manager of non-league St Helens, Bert Trautmann has to overcome the prejudices of his fellow team members who are all appalled at the prospect of playing with the enemy. At the end of the war, Bert is free to return to his home in Bremen, but his growing connection with Margaret, the boss’s daughter, leads him to stay and pursue a career in professional football. Hey maybe unknown to many football fans but loved by Man City fans, his story is truly fascinating. WATCH

ZAPPA DOCUMENTARY, MUSIC

The first all-access documentary – which was years in the making – about the legendary icon, Frank Zappa. It conveys the scope of his prodigious and varied creative output and the breadth of his extraordinary personal and political life.

The documentary team was granted exclusive access by Frank’s wife Gail to a vast collection of unreleased music, movies, incomplete projects, unseen interviews and unheard concert recordings. Much of these were deteriorating and in danger of being lost forever. Directed by Alex winter aka Bill S. Preston, Esq. of Bill And Ted fame, Zappa himself was a genius. WATCH

PORTRAIT OF ALADY ON FIRE DRAMA, ROMANCE

In late 18th-century Brittany, painter Marianne is commissioned by an affluent countess to paint a portrait of her sheltered daughter Héloïse so that she can be appraised by a prospective suitor in Milan.

A previous attempt couldn’t be completed as Héloïse refused to pose for the artist, so Marianne has to finish the portrait in secret by pretending to be a companion for Héloïse, who is unhappy at the prospect of marriage to a stranger. Sumptuous and haunting [our review] WATCH.

EIGHTH GRADE COMEDY, DRAMA

Wallflower Kayla’s last days of middle school are a minefield of awkwardness, both in person and on all-consuming social media – and the young teen’s well-meaning single dad also mortifies her. [our review] WATCH

TEEN SPIRIT DRAMA, MUSIC

Shy teenager Violet lives a life of poverty on the Isle of Wight, working multiple jobs to try to help her mother keep their farm. When TV singing competition Teen Spirit begins holding auditions on the island, Violet sees a chance to fulfil her own dreams. But fearing her mother’s disapproval, she turns to a washed-up regular at her local pub for help. WATCH

PATHS OF GLORY WAR, DRAMA

Colonel Dax, the commanding officer of a platoon of French soldiers, is obliged to defend them when they are accused of cowardice in a court martial during World War I. One of Stanley Kubrick’s best films and of course World War I. Politics and corruption are rife in this one, like one rule for us, one for them. WATCH

DONT LOOK NOW HORROR, THRILLER

Grieving the loss of their young daughter in a tragic accident, Laura and John Baxter visit Venice, where John is helping to restore a delapidated church. As John works, Laura is befriended by two sisters, one of whom warns them to leave the city, claiming she has seen their dead daughter. Some consider this Roeg’s finest film, it’s certainly a study of love and grief with great profound tension. WATCH

MAN ON THE MOON BIOGRAPHY, COMEDY

Biopic of controversial comedian Andy Kaufman, starring Jim Carrey. Star of Taxi and Saturday Night Live, Kaufman was a troubled individual for whom the boundaries of reality and stage performance were often blurred. Frequently misunderstood, even by those closest to him, he remained a strictly maverick entertainer until his untimely death from lung cancer in 1984. There very few Jim Carrey films that get the pass marks, this is one of them. When the comedic actor gets a little more serious his films become more likable. This one is for one of his heroes, one it nearly broke him mentally. WATCH