um…why is 2001 way down at #57?
@ Steve I don’t know man somebody messed up, they have “Clockwork” at #34 too
Interesting list. Have to admit I haven’t seen a lot of these, but I do think that the order of films is a bit strange. I agree that Don’t Look Now is a terrific film, a great entry in its genre, but over The Third Man??!! I do like the variety on this list, particularly the fact that for once I’m seeing one of my favourite films, Theatre of Blood, included on a list that doesn’t have horror or Vincent Price in the title.
Interesting list. Have to admit I haven’t seen a lot of these, but I do think that the order of films is a bit strange. I agree that Don’t Look Now is a terrific film, a great entry in its genre, but over The Third Man??!! I do like the variety on this list, particularly the fact that for once I’m seeing one of my favourite films, Theatre of Blood, included on a list that doesn’t have horror or Vincent Price in the title.
- Where’s The Horse’s Mouth?
- They got #2 right
- Lawrence, Kubrick and Python should all be higher
- Dr. No is not the best James Bond movie
- Don’t Look Now is a great film, but the top spot?
@Bijoux “Theatre of Blood” sounds like a must see
@Brad S. They got a lot of things wrong in this list
Lorenzo, It really is. It’s an oft-overlooked horror film, I think. At least in America.
Trainspotting #10? Meh.
This list has pretty much the usual suspects for a UK film list. It seems focused on the kinds of films that preach to the audience.
I haven’t seen most of these films (how many of us have?), I shall confess. But I feel “2001” should be way higher: behind the Monty Python films? Please! Ditto “A Clockwork Orange”: it needs to be a lot higher, certainly higher than “If…”
I would rate “The Man In The White Suit” much higher than “The Ladykillers” (Alexander Mackendrick directed both).
Nicolas Roeg’s “Insignificance” didn’t make the list and I would take it over another surrealist film from 1985, “Brazil”, which did make the list.
Do my eyes deceive me or is “Ryan’s Daughter” (David Lean) absent from the list? “The Bridge on the River Kwai”? I know the latter was a UK/US co-production but then again couldn’t the same be said for “Clockwork”? I’ve seen “Clockwork” listed previously as a UK/US co-production.
I didn’t notice “The Last Emperor” and “Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence” in the list: not counted as British films? Certainly the latter should be and if the former is counted as one too…both puzzling omissions.
Since horror is allowed on this list, I might as well suggest “The Beast Must Die”, a cracking horror film from the Amicus studio. It’s certainly better than some of the films that made the list—and how about “Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde” from Hammer Studios as long as we’re at it?
no Turtle Diary or Pumpkin Eater :(
Some voters may not have considered 2001 as British, and that may have been the case for some other well known Kubrick and Anglo-American films. Hitch’s Sabotage did surprisingly well- it’s often overlooked. Welsh cinema is ignored as usual. I would have included Hedd Wyn, Eldra and The Other Side of Underneath. John Pilger’s documentaries like Stealing a Nation should be here. That film is essential to an understanding of Britain’s govts (whether Conservative or Labour), political system, national character and role in the world. I hope my list The Best of British in the Lists section, with both my favourites and longer list of notable and essential films, may be of interest. Another list The Other Side of Underneath has many overlooked films
both puzzling omissions.
Merry Christmas is one of Oshima’s least intriguing films and Last Emperor is one of Bertollucci’s last great but certainly not ecstatic films.
I’ll agree though that they’re better than Oliver!, now THAT’S a travesty, hahahaha.
Nicolas Roeg’s “Insignificance” didn’t make the list
But at least 2 of his other films have…
But I feel “2001” should be way higher: behind the Monty Python films? Please! Ditto “A Clockwork Orange”: it needs to be a lot higher, certainly higher than “If…"
Kubrick is not God…
- Dr. No is not the best James Bond movie
But at least they added a Sean Connery Bond vehicle, imagine what would happen had they have added a silly Moore one!!!
I’ve seen that list before and I presume it must be an update because I wasn’t aware Fish Tank had made that list (!) since it’s so recent and all. I don’t understand the complaint about the positions of Kubrick and Lawrence of Arabia, if only….other Lean films should be higher. What more do people want for Third Man, as with Citizen Kane and American cinema, IT’S NOT THE BEST BRITISH FILM OF ALL TIME, FACE IT!
Complain about the additions of Four Weddings, This is England and Danny Boyle’s films, not that they’re bad or anything but they don’t match the overall quality of the rest AT ALL.
P.S.: If one Kubrick film should be higher, it should be Barry Lyndon.
I’m also hungry for more Hammer myself!
Don’t Look Now is indebted to Petulia, on which Roeg was cinematographer. I doubt it should be #1. Where are the Quay brothers- Street of Crocodiles, The Piano Tuner of Eartthquakes-, Bill Douglas’ masterpiece Comrades, Clayton’s The Pumpkin Eater? No HowardsEnd? A recent Welsh fim Sleep Furiously should be in, as should Terrence Davies’ documentary Of Time and the City. Withnail and I is ridiculously high but it has a cult following. Len Lye’s handpainted shorts of the 30s deserve attention. Good to see love for the often overlooked A Canterbury Tale. Surely Greenaway- The Draughtsman’s Contract, The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover- isn’t missing?
I think the fact that Kubrick films are lower are sign that those involved in the polling have good taste in films and are not apt to just fall in line with moron critics. ;-}
It’s a shame they didn’t include Comrades :/
More likely it’s cos his films aren’t considered British enough. Not all Kubrick admirers are morons. But in any event there’s still a preference in many quarters for social comment/“realism”/grunge over visual qualities. Meadows> Greenaway? The voters also don’t seem especially keen on the “big” blockbuster films, as by David Lean (and i guess 2001 also fits this), but with Ivory at his best the backlash against costume dramas risks throwing baby out with bathwater
Even the politically enlightened Ken Loach, who’s done several Scottish and irish films, seems disinterested in Wales. A pity Dickie Attenborough’s Valleywood studios project got stuck. That would have raised Wales’ international profile a lot.
I’m not saying people who like Kubrick are morons, I’m saying critics are morons.
And No Neil Jordan?
Yeah I guess Walkabout is considered more British.
The list didn’t need any Kubrick films; Britain has produced many superior filmmakers to Kubrick and putting ‘2001’ on there (a film already affiliated with the AFI list) seems like pandering to “the canon”.
No films by Neil Jordan, Peter Greenaway, James Ivory or Ken McMullen would be my biggest grievance, but again, that’s just a personal preference.
Still, shouldn’t complain too much. How many other published lists for British cinema include films by Clarke, Jarman, Davies and Potter? Not many, right.
The idea of a mainstream publication including titles like Blue, Penda’s Fen, Radio On, Gallivant and Culloden (etc) alongside perennial classics like The Lady Killers, Secrets & Lies and Brief Encounter is fairly exciting.
For anyone interested in Welsh cinema and its wider contribution: The Welsh Connection. Ozufan has done a fine list Scotland on Film
I really envy the ability of self-promotion of British and American film industry. I would like to see the same selection for many other countries, sigh. At least in Taiwan it was done recently…
Oh the British and US know how to promote themselves alright! Just ask the Chagos islanders. I’m still reeling with anger and disgust from Pilger’s essential film
I really envy the ability of self-promotion of British and American film industry. I would like to see the same selection for many other countries
It will never happen until many lesser-known countries finally decide to remove this self-bigotry slate of inferiority and charge against the popularly acclaimed cinematic countries by considering their own worthy crop equal to the “big guns”.
I thought Don’t Look Now was cheesy as hell. The first 10 mins are absolutely fantastic, then it’s all downhill.
no way i’d put it against The Third Man or Kes or many other filmson that list
Well,are Kubrick’s films considered to be British?Moreover,Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai are produced by american studios.I can’t find the reason why they should be considered British.Because some of the actors were British too?I think that these movies are definetely part of american cinema.It’s something obvious,in my opinion,especially if we compare these films with Lean’s british films.And that’s one of the very interesting things in Lean’s work,in my opinion,how his movies became bigger when he went to Hollywood.
Lawrence of Arabia is more British than Statesican imo. Made by a British director, with a British cast, about a British icon and the beggining of the film is set in Britian (and none of the film is set in the States).
Lawrence of Arabia is a British film according to imdb, wikipedia, mubi- financed by a British company, Horizons GB ltd London England, and also for reasons given by Cecil.
Greenaway is usually left off these lists. He is more liked in France and Italy than he is England, which is odd, because i always considered Greenaway to be a fairly typical British artist anyway, perhaps not in film necessarily, but certainly in terms of his humour, use of caricature, ironic-faux-pomposity, and the general theatrical feel of his best work.
Sure never really fit in with the cultural agenda of ‘realism’ in the film industry, and has always been an outsider in that particular respect, but it’s a shame he isn’t appreciated more in his homeland.
Judging by the 100 list there’s some antipathy to the theatrical and visually daring- i suspect the British don’t really appreciate the possibilities of cinema. At least Powell-Pressburger fare well, but their classics are well established and seen as a properly British antidote to Lean’s epics considered more American in style and bombastic. I’m not a great fan of Olivier films but he also suffers from this mistrust of theatre. British cinema is well known for its literary tradition, but voters here are suspicious of it. But many of the alternatives aren’t exactly dazzling
Greenaway’s intellectual approach and admiration for films like La Notte and Last Year at Marienbad give him more of a European appeal
Lorenzo D.
This recent list was taken from www.timeout.com, (http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/881/the-100-best-british-films-introduction).
I’m not sure when this list was made (or updated) but the list is very surprising considering the new Number 1 film is Director Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” with my all time favorite film “The Third Man” coming in second.They said it was voted by a who’s who of film making heavyweight filmmakers, critiques and industry bigwigs but I think there were some better British films made that were left out (The Italian Job) and some films that I thought wasn’t deserving (Four Weddings and a Funeral and Oliver!).
Feel free to put your 2 cents but here is the list:100. In This World (2002) Dir Michael Winterbottom (Jamal Udin Torabi, Enayatullah)
99. The Railway Children (1970) Dir Lionel Jeffries (Dinah Sheridan, William Mervyn, Jenny Agutter)
98. School for Scoundrels (1960) Dir Robert Hamer (Ian Carmichael, Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas)
97. 28 Days Later… (2002) Dir Danny Boyle (Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson)
96. Theatre of Blood (1973) Dir Douglas Hickox (Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry)
95. London to Brighton (2006) Dir Paul Andrew Williams (Lorraine Stanley, Johnny Harris, Georgia Groome)
94. 24 Hour Party People (2002) Dir Michael Winterbottom (Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Ron Cook)
93. Zulu (1964) Dir Cy Endfield (Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Michael Caine)
92. Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) Dir Shane Meadows (Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell)
91. Land and Freedom (1995) Dir Ken Loach (Ian Hart, Icíar Bollaín, Tom Gilroy)
90. Blue (1993) Dir Derek Jarman (voices of Tilda Swinton, John Quentin, Nigel Terry)
89. The Go-Between (1970) Dir Joseph Losey (Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Dominic Guard)
88. This Is England (2006) Dir Shane Meadows (Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley)
87. Night and the City (1950) Dir Jules Dassin (Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers)
86. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Dir David Lean (Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins)
85. I’m All Right, Jack (1959) Dir John Boulting (Peter Sellers, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas)
84. Fish Tank (2009) Dir Andrea Arnold (Katie Jarvis, Kierston Wareing, Michael Fassbender)
83. A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929) Dir Anthony Asquith (Hans Adalbert von Schlettow, Uno Henning, Norah Baring)
82. Orlando (1993) Dir Sally Potter (Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, John Wood)
81. Dr No (1962) Dir Terence Young (Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman)
80. Under the Skin (1997) Dir Carine Adler (Samantha Morton, Claire Rushbrook, Rita Tushingham)
79. The Offence (1972) Dir Sidney Lumet (Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant)
78. Billy Liar (1963) Dir John Schlesinger (Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles)
77. Piccadilly (1929) Dir EA Dupont (Anna May Wong, Gilda Gray, Jameson Thomas)
76. Penda’s Fen (1974) Dir Alan Clarke (Spencer Banks, John Atkinson, Ian Hogg)
75. A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) Dir Shane Meadows (Paddy Considine, Andrew Shim, Ben Marshall)
74. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Dir Mike Newell (Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas)
73. The Man in the White Suit (1951) Dir Alexander Mackendrick (Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker)
72. The Long Day Closes (1992) Dir Terence Davies (Marjorie Yates, Leigh McCormack, Anthony Watson)
71. Edvard Munch (1974) Dir Peter Watkins (Geir Westby, Gro Fraas, Iselin von Hanno Bart)
70. Bad Timing (1980) Dir Nicolas Roeg (Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel)
69. Oliver! (1968) Dir Carol Reed (Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed)
68. Dead of Night (1945) Dirs Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer (Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver)
67. Whisky Galore! (1949) Dir Alexander Mackendrick (Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, Jean Cadell)
66. Wonderland (1999) Dir Michael Winterbottom (Gina McKee, Shirley Henderson, Molly Parker, John Simm)
65. Dracula (1958) Dir Terence Fisher (Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough)
64. Topsy-Turvy (1999) Dir Mike Leigh (Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall)
63. Nuts In May (1976) Dir Mike Leigh (Roger Sloman, Alison Steadman)
62. Deep End (1970) Dir Jerzy Skolimowski (Jane Asher, John Moulder-Brown, Diana Dors)
61. Walkabout (1971) Dir Nicolas Roeg (Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Lucien John)
60. The Long Good Friday (1980) Dir John Mackenzie (Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Derek Thompson)
59. Blackmail (1929) Dir Alfred Hitchcock (Anny Ondra, Sara Allgood, John Longden)
58. Gregory’s Girl (1981) Dir Bill Forsyth (John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Claire Grogan)
57. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Dir Stanley Kubrick (Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester)
56. Caravaggio (1986) Dir Derek Jarman (Nigel Terry, Sean Bean, Tilda Swinton)
55. Radio On (1980) Dir Chris Petit (David Beames, Lisa Kreuzer, Sandy Ratcliff)
54. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974) Dirs Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones (Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Eric Idle et al)
53. This Sporting Life (1963) Dir Lindsay Anderson (Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts)
52. Robinson in Space (1997) Dir Patrick Keiller (Paul Scofield (voice))
51. Local Hero (1983) Dir Bill Forsyth (Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson)
50. Culloden (1964) Dir Peter Watkins (George McBean, Alan Pope, the people of Inverness)
49. Gallivant (1996) Dir Andrew Kötting (Andrew Kötting, Eden Kötting, Gladys Morris)
48. Hunger (2008) Dir Steve McQueen (Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham)
47. Blow-Up (1966) Dir Michelangelo Antonioni (David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Paul Bowles)
46. The Fallen Idol (1948) Dir Carol Reed (Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Bobby Henrey)
45. Repulsion (1965) Dir Roman Polanski (Catherine Deneuve, Yvonne Furneaux)
44. Sabotage (1936) Dir Alfred Hitchcock (Oscar Homolka, Sylvia Sidney, John Loder)
43. Fires Were Started (1941) Dir Humphrey Jennings
42. Listen to Britain (1942) Dir Humphrey Jennings
41. Witchfinder General (1968) Dir Michael Reeves (Vincent Price, Patrick Wymark, Ian Ogilvy)
40. Ratcatcher (1999) Dir Lynne Ramsay (William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews)
39. London (1994) Dir Patrick Keiller (voice of Paul Scofield)
38. Went the Day Well? (1942) Dir Alberto Cavalcanti (Leslie Banks, Elizabeth Allan, Frank Lawton)
37. It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) Dir Robert Hamer (Googie Withers, Edward Chapman, John McCallum)
36. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) Dir Tony Richardson (Tom Courtenay, James Bolam, Julia Foster)
35. The Servant (1963) Dir Joseph Losey (James Fox, Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig)
34. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Dir Stanley Kubrick (Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates)
33. Secrets & Lies (1996) Dir Mike Leigh (Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Marianne Jean-Baptiste)
32. Get Carter (1971) Dir Mike Hodges (Michael Caine, Britt Ekland, John Osborne)
31. The Lady Vanishes (1938) Dir Alfred Hitchcock (Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave)
30. The Ladykillers (1955) Dir Alexander Mackendrick (Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Katie Johnson)
29. Peeping Tom (1960) Dir Michael Powell (Karl Böhm, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley)
28. The Wicker Man (1973) Dir Robin Hardy (Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland)
27. The Bill Douglas Trilogy (1972, 1973, 1978) Dir Bill Douglas (Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor-Smith)
26. I Know Where I’m Going! (1945) Dirs Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey)
25. Great Expectations (1946) Dir David Lean (John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Martita Hunt)
24. Brazil (1985) Dir Terry Gilliam (Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond)
23. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Dir David Lean (Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness)
22. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) Dir Karel Reisz (Albert Finney, Rachel Roberts, Shirley Anne Field)
21. Nil by Mouth (1997) Dir Gary Oldman (Kathy Burke, Ray Winstone)
20. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) Dir Terry Jones (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle et al)
19. Barry Lyndon (1975) Dir Stanley Kubrick (Ryan O’Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee)
18. The Innocents (1961) Dir Jack Clayton (Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave)
17. A Canterbury Tale (1944) Dirs Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, John Sweet, Dennis Price)
16. Black Narcissus (1947) Dirs Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar)
15. Withnail & I (1987) Dir Bruce Robinson (Richard E Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths)
14. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) Dirs Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr)
13. The 39 Steps (1935) Dir Alfred Hitchcock (Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Godfrey Tearle)
12. Brief Encounter (1945) Dir David Lean (Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson)
11. Naked (1993) Dir Mike Leigh (David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Karin Cartlidge)
10. Trainspotting (1996) Dir Danny Boyle (Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller)
9. If… (1968) Dir Lindsay Anderson (Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick)
8. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Dir Robert Hamer (Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood)
7. Performance (1970) Dirs Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell (James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg)
6. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Dirs Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey)
5. The Red Shoes (1948) Dirs Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring)
4. Kes (1969) Dir Ken Loach (David Bradley, Lynne Perrie, Freddie Fletcher)
3. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) Dir Terence Davies (Pete Postlethwaite, Freda Dowie)
2. The Third Man (1949) Dir Carol Reed (Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alide Valli)
1. Don’t Look Now (1973) Dir Nicolas Roeg (Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland)