Top 10 British Films

[altariel]

communicator will be pleased, I hope, to see that Get Carter has topped a poll of 25 film critics of best British films. I was pleased to see A Matter of Life and Death come second, and made this icon in honour of my favourite film.

The top ten was:

1. Get Carter


2. A Matter of Life and Death


3. Trainspotting


4. The Third Man


5. Life of Brian


6. The Wicker Man


7. Kind Hearts and Coronets


8. Lawrence of Arabia


9. From Russia With Love


10. Naked

I personally don't think Trainspotting deserves to be so high and certainly not ahead of The Third Man, although it's possible I'm affected by a brilliant documentary we saw last night on BBC4 about the making of The Third Man. Still, I think it would be my own preferred film about illegal drugs set in a blighted urban wasteland.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I love The Third Man and agree, Trainspotting should not come first. But... but... why is Lawrence of Arabia only on 8?!!!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It does seem pretty low down. I mean, Life of Brian is great, but...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

My point exactly.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

It is, at least, good to see Sir Alec Guinness so well represented.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And how!

I wonder if Star Wars counts as a British film...

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

:) Good question!

I agree that LoA is much too low. Happy to see NAKED there, though. How anyone saw that and thought "**There** is our Remus Lupin!" is beyond me, though in retrospect I'm glad he or she did.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Naked is very good (and you are so right about Lupin!). I think Topsy-Turvy might be my favourite Mike Leigh film, but it's more mainstream.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

The Wicker Man! W00t!

Some surprising choices on that list - in a good way. I love Get Carter but is it really better than The Third Man or Lawrence of Arabia? Still good picks all round (and some suggestions for a couple I haven't seen).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

In a way it works better as a list of 'Ten Best' rather than 'Top Ten'. Personally I'd drop Trainspotting for Withnail and I.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The Wicker Man I'm oddly ambivalent about: intellectually, I know it's brilliant, and the end of it is just amazing (plus: Edward Woodward!!!). But I have never managed to watch it without dropping off for half an hour in the middle.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Well, I fully admit to being a sucker for the cheesy, head-sticky songs admit all that tension as well as the imposing hotness of young-ish Christopher Lee.

[dberry.livejournal.com]

This is completely and utterly unrelated to your post, but I lost your email address and wanted to show you something . . .

I took this Meme from kradical today - slightly weird result:

LiveJournal Username:

LJ Stalker Finder (http://www.go-quiz.com/stalker/stalker.php)
From Go-Quiz.com (http://www.go-quiz.com)

Hmmm. And I was in Cambridge just yesterday . . .

*slinks slowly away from Altariel*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

*taps nose*

You ain't seen me, right?

[kathyh]

If it was me devising the list I think A Matter of Life and Death would be top and Kind Hearts and Coronets and Lawrence of Arabia would definitely be higher. Love the icon!

I'm glad The Third Man documentary was good. We forgot to record it but fortunately BBC4 is very kindly giving us another opportunity to do so. I do like channels that give idiots like us second chances and repeat things!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I don't tire of A Matter of Life and Death. It is a beautiful, visionary film.

The documentary is very good, and hurray for BBC4 repeats!

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

Hang on. Am I being asked to believe that From Russia With Love is better than Ian McKellen's Richard III? Yer baws.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

You're up late!

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

Decompressing after an OU revision weekend in which I gave 9 tutorial session of an hour and a half each in the space of a day and a half. I have now used up all my astrophysical knowledge, and have reverted to believing the Ptolemaic cosmological model.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

have reverted to believing the Ptolemaic cosmological model.

Is that the one where the universe revolves around you? That might explain a lot. Or not. YMMV especially on a waiter's bill pad.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I bought that BBC4 set-top-box thing on Saturday, plugged it in and - Result! The Third Man was on. I had forgotten how briiliant it was. But I am so delighted to see Get Carter at the top there - literally my favourite film ever. Must post on my journal about this. Thanks for the pointer.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

BBC4 is fabulous. Where else would you get dramas like this:

The Manns
1923-1929: New drama series exploring the lives of German novelists Thomas, Heinrich and Klaus Mann. While Thomas subordinates his life to writing, the children grow up in a wealthy, liberal home.

Even if I don't watch it, it's good to know it's being transmitted.

Also, China Mieville is on The Book Show on Wednesday.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I know I'm going to love it

The Other Graham Greene documentary

[(Anonymous)]

Did you happen to stay on and watch the second documentary on that night, "The Other Graham Greene"?

I ask, because I was in it, briefly. :-)

-- Ian Griffiths

Re: The Other Graham Greene documentary

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Huh, I've been without net connection till this morning. Damn, I missed the second documentary, and I even remembered that you were in one about him!

[mgkellner.livejournal.com]

I have a problem with that list in that Lawrence of Arabia is on my list of top movies I refuse to rank against each other because great movies are unique. Like the Oscars one year, how do you decide if Shakspeare In Love is better or worse than Saving Private Ryan. Lawrence is the best movie on that list, on my all time top ten, which is larger than ten.

I was surprised to find that Sparticus and A Clockwork Orange are not considered British movies. (I looked it up) However Dr. Strangelove is. I definitely would put Dr Strangelove in there alongside Lawrence. Bridge On The River Kwai is also in that group.

Help! What else is there to say. One of the few rock star movies that was good. Watch it, you will have fun.

I can't leave without a word for one of my favorite 50s-60s low budget sci-fi movies, Five Million Years From Earth. And, who can forget Raquel and her fur bikini in One Million Years BC. Its send up, Caveman, starring Ringo is better, but not British. The Magic Christian is, (Peter Sellers & Ringo) and I liked it, but I cannot guarantee all would.

Mike

[mgkellner.livejournal.com]

Ohh! How could I forget Lolita.

mk