Top 25 British Films

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So many good movies, so little time.
A British magazine had a survey and top 25 films were

1. Get Carter (1971)
2. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
3. Trainspotting (1996)
4. The Third Man (1949)
5. Life of Brian (1979)
6. The Wicker Man (1973)
7. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
8. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
9. From Russia with Love (1963)
10. Naked (1993)
11. Billy Liar (1963)
12. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
13. Withnail and I (1987)
14. Great Expectations (1946)
15. If... (1968)
16. Kes (1969)
17. Brighton Rock (1947)
18. Don't Look Now (1973)
19. Sexy Beast (2000)
20. Brazil (1985)
21. Blowup (1966)
22. The 39 Steps (1935)
23. The Servant (1963)
24. Peeping Tom (1960)
25. Made in Britain (1982)
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So many good movies, so little time.
I haven't seen 1/2 of these including the top 2. But missing from list are Gandhi, Chariots of Fire and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Has anyone seen Get Carter or A Matter of Life and Death, and how good are they?



The BFI (British Film Institute) made a list back in 1999 of the top 100 British films of the 20th Century. Their's looked like this...

1. "The Third Man," 1949
2. "Brief Encounter," 1945
3. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962
4. "The 39 Steps," 1935
5. "Great Expectations," 1946
6. "Kind Hearts and Coronets," 1946
7. "Kes," 1969
8. "Don't Look Now," 1973
9. "The Red Shoes," 1948
10. "Trainspotting," 1996
11. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957
12. "If....," 1968
13. "The Ladykillers," 1955
14. "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," 1960
15. "Brighton Rock," 1947
16. "Get Carter," 1971
17. "The Lavender Hill Mob," 1951
18. "Henry V," 1944
19. "Chariots of Fire," 1981
20. "A Matter of Life and Death," 1946
21. "The Long Good Friday," 1980
22. "The Servant," 1963
23. "Four Weddings and a Funeral," 1994
24. "Whisky Galore!," 1949
25. "The Full Monty," 1997
26. "The Crying Game," 1992
27. "Doctor Zhivago," 1965
28. "Monty Python's Life of Brian," 1979
29. "Withnail and I," 1987
30. "Gregory's Girl," 1980
31. "Zulu," 1964
32. "Room at the Top," 1958
33. "Alfie," 1966
34. "Gandhi," 1982
35. "The Lady Vanishes," 1938
36. "The Italian Job," 1969
37. "Local Hero," 1983
38. "The Commitments," 1991
39. "A Fish Called Wanda," 1988
40. "Secrets & Lies," 1995
41. "Dr. No," 1962
42. "The Madness of King George," 1994
43. "A Man For All Seasons," 1966
44. "Black Narcissus," 1947
45. "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," 1943
46. "Oliver Twist," 1948
47. "I'm All Right Jack," 1959
48. "Performance," 1970
49. "Shakespeare in Love," 1998
50. "My Beautiful Laundrette," 1985
51. "Tom Jones," 1963
52. "This Sporting Life," 1963
53. "My Left Foot," 1989
54. "Brazil," 1985
55. "The English Patient," 1996
56. "A Taste of Honey," 1961
57. "The Go-Between," 1971
58. "The Man in the White Suit," 1951
59. "The Ipcress File," 1965
60. "Blow-Up," 1966
61. "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," 1962
62. "Sense and Sensibility," 1995
63. "Passport to Pimlico," 1949
64. "The Remains of the Day," 1993
65. "Sunday Bloody Sunday," 1971
66. "The Railway Children," 1970
67. "Mona Lisa," 1986
68. "The Dam Busters," 1955
69. "Hamlet," 1948
70. "Goldfinger," 1964
71. "Elizabeth," 1998
72. "Goodbye Mr. Chips," 1939
73. "A Room with a View," 1985
74. "The Day of the Jackal," 1973
75. "The Cruel Sea," 1952
76. "Billy Liar," 1963
77. "Oliver!," 1968
78. "Peeping Tom," 1960
79. "Far from the Madding Crowd," 1967
80. "The Draughtsman's Contract," 1982
81. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971
82. "Distant Voices, Still Lives," 1988
83. "Darling," 1965
84. "Educating Rita," 1983
85. "Brassed Off," 1996
86. "Genevieve," 1953
87. "Women in Love," 1969
88. "A Hard Day's Night," 1964
89. "Fires Were Started," 1943
90. "Hope and Glory," 1987
91. "My Name Is Joe," 1998
92. "In Which We Serve," 1942
93. "Caravaggio," 1986
94. "The Belles of St. Trinian's," 1954
95. "Life Is Sweet," 1990
96. "The Wicker Man," 1973
97. "Nil By Mouth," 1997
98. "Small Faces," 1995
99. "Carry On up the Khyber," 1968
100. "The Killing Fields," 1987


As with the AFI's list, some movies are not so clear-cut to claim as one country's or another. The AFI also included Lawrence of Arabia (Hollywood certainly produced it financially, but as for the talent involved...), and Terry Gilliam and Kubrick are American transplants who shot many of their best-known works in the UK, but does that make them "British" films? And so on.



Anyway, to answer your question, Ucon, yes, I've seen those two movies. Get Carter is still the best Brit Gangster pic, a hardboiled revenge tale with Michael Caine killing bunches of folks trying to find out what happened to his brother. A Matter of Life & Death is a fun movie, kind of an English It's A Wonderful Life meets A Guy Named Joe, and David Niven is great in it. But for me it is up way too high on that list you posted. Powell & Pressburger made a whole host of films better and more important than that one, including The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp, The Black Narcissus, Tales of Hoffman and The Red Shoes. At least Powell's solo masterpiece Peeping Tom made the list, though personally I'd put it way ahead of A Matter of Life & Death.
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chicagofrog's Avatar
history *is* moralizing
mmh, i don't wanna offend my Cornish, Manx, Scottish, Irish, Shetlandic and Welsh friends, so i'll be quiet about *british* (ugh!) movies. or else whatever.



Hello Salem, my name's Winifred. What's yours
im not sure on shaun of the dead, personally id put the italian job up a lil bit higher and really i would've liked to see Lock, Stock... in there somewhere, i really enjoyed that film
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The People's Republic of Clogher
Here's my 25 favourites.

1. The Wicker Man
2. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
3. Withnail & I
4. Life is Sweet
5. Naked
6. The Bridge on the River Kwai
7. The Ladykillers
8. Whiskey Galore
9. The Day of the Jackel
10. Mona Lisa
11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
12. Angel
13. Gregory's Girl
14. Black Narcissus
15. A Matter of Life and Death
16. Trainspotting
17. The Long Good Friday
18. Life of Brian
19. Get Carter
20. Peeping Tom
21. The Third Man
22. A Room With a View
23. 28 Days Later
24. The Dambusters
25. Reach For the Sky
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Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
Here's my top 10 brit imports.
(...and there are a lot on these lists I haven't seen, so this is (of course) just among the ones I have.)

1 "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962
2 "Withnail and I," 1987
3 "Elizabeth," 1998
4 "Brazil," 1985
5 "Gandhi," 1982
6 "The Crying Game," 1992
7 "The English Patient," 1996
8 "Four Weddings and a Funeral"
9 "A Fish Called Wanda," 1988
10 "A Clockwork Orange," 1971
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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10



brazil
o lucky man
if...
a clockwork orange
britannia hospital
four weddings and a funeral
love actually
braveheart
hard days night
help
saving grace
twin town
the italian job (1969)
fish called wanda
maurice
a room with a view
calendar girls
howard's end
the crying game
chariots of fire
kings of hearts
tom jones
a night to remember
hope and glory
alfie
educating rita
monty python and the holy grail
life of brian
time bandits
full monty



And this is my BOOMstick!
I can only think of two:

Shaun of the Dead
Italian Job
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I am having a nervous breakdance
Hmmmm... Land and Freedom and Repulsion are missing on the top 100.
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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but
now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.



So many good movies, so little time.
1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. The Third Man
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. The Bridge on the River Kwai
5. The Life of Brian
6. Local Hero
7. Mona Lisa
8. A Man For All Seasons
9. A Clockwork Orange
10. The Long Good Friday

Holden - how could Holy Grail not even be in BFI top 100. Is it more popular over here?



does anyone like this 1995 film with sting
Called: the grotesque



mmh, i don't wanna offend my Cornish, Manx, Scottish, Irish, Shetlandic and Welsh friends, so i'll be quiet about *british* (ugh!) movies. or else whatever.
Wise decision.
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Great Expectations was such a big disappointment, especially if you have read the book. But then again, if the whole book was adapted, the movie would be 4.5 hours long. But still it is a disappointment.


At least from the 25, I can say all of them great choices. Get Carter as #1 is a bit hard to believe though!
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My Favorite Films



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
does anyone like this 1995 film with sting
Called: the grotesque
16 years!!!

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.