Movies This article is more than 24 years oldThird Man voted best of British
This article is more than 24 years oldIndustry insiders vote for golden oldies in survey of century's finestDavid Lean was the greatest British film director ever and the Third Man the best movie, according to a definitive survey of industry insiders.
The British Film Institute has spent the last year questioning 1,000 movers and shakers within the business, including Terry Gilliam, Neil Jordan, Mike Leigh and Jeremy Irons, many of whom figure in the list themselves.
Lean emerged as the century's overarching talent, with six films in the top 100, three of them - Brief Encounter, Lawrence Of Arabia and Great Expectations - in the top 10. He co-directed a seventh with Noel Coward (In Which We Serve).
Many will be surprised that Alfred Hitchcock, far and away the most popular British director in terms of bums on seats, has only two films in the selection - The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes.
But Mark Batey of the BFI defended the decision to include only work which they deemed "culturally British".
"The whole idea was to gather together films that have been made here or were about the British Isles or their peoples," he said "Hitchcock went to Hollywood in 1940 and both Psycho and The Birds, for instance, are Hollywood movies.
"The Bond films, on the other hand, although all were made with American money, and some even made there, are very much culturally British."
Two early Bond films, Dr No and Goldfinger appear on the list while the only Carry On film to make it, Carry On Up The Khyber, sneaks in at 99th.
"I was very glad and relieved that the Carry Ons were recognised," Mr Batey said. "It would have been a real gap if their kiss-me-quick seaside humour wasn't there."
The sixties appear to have been the "golden age" of British cinema - 26 of the top 100 were made during the decade. However, this may say more about the age of the people now running the industry than the quality of the films.
The real golden oldies were voted the cream of the crop, with no film made after 1950 making the top five.
The only film from the 90s in the top 10 is 1996's Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle.
Only 100 votes divided the top three films, even though nearly 26,000 votes were cast.
Mr Batey said Carol Reed's masterpiece The Third Man, which was written by Graham Greene and starred Orson Welles, Trevor Howard and Joseph Cotten, was the "clear but not a runaway winner".
A new print of the thriller, set in post-war Vienna, has just been released. Robert Krasker, the film's cinematographer, also shot the second-placed Brief Encounter.
Sir Alec Guinness stars in more of the top 100 than any other actor, with nine appearances - even if you count his eight roles in Kind Hearts And Coronets as one. Michael Caine is the next most prolific, appearing in seven of the top 100. Julie Christie appears in six.
The survey also highlights the "amazing vein" of character actors, picking out Hermione Baddeley (Brighton Rock, The Belles Of St Trinian's) and Harcourt Williams (Hamlet).
The post-war directorial duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger also showed strongly with four films: The Red Shoes, A Matter Of Life And Death, Black Narcissus and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Peeping Tom, the controversial 1960 film which effectively ended Powell's career, comes 60th.
Alexander Mackendrick's Ealing comedies Whisky Galore!, The Ladykillers and The Man In The White Suit also figure strongly. The only documentary is Fires Were Started, the revolutionary but neglected film shot during the Blitz by Humphrey Jennings, who was then a fireman.
Ironically, the BFI's own president, Alan Parker - himself nominated for The Commitments - did not reply to the survey in time.
Britain's 100 greatest films
1 The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
2 Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)
3 Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
4 The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchcock)
5 Great Expectations (1946, David Lean)
6 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, Robert Hamer)
7 Kes (1969, Ken Loach)
8 Don't Look Now (1973, Nicholas Roeg)
9 The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
10 Trainspotting (1996, Danny Boyle)
11 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, David Lean)
12 If... (1968, Lindsay Anderson)
13 The Ladykillers (1955, Alexander Mackendrick)
14 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960, Karel Reisz)
15 Brighton Rock (1947, John Boulting)
16 Get Carter (1971, Mike Hodges)
17 The Lavender Hill Mob (1951, Charles Crichton)
18 Henry V (1944, Laurence Olivier)
19 Chariots of Fire (1981, Hugh Hudson)
20 A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
21 The Long Good Friday (1980, John McKenzie)
22 The Servant (1963, Joseph Losey)
23 Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994, Mike Newell)
24 Whisky Galore! (1949, Alexander MacKendrick)
25 The Full Monty (1997, Peter Cattaneo)
26 The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan)
27 Dr Zhivago (1965, David Lean)
28 Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979, Terry Jones)
29 Withnail and I (1987, Bruce Robinson)
30 Gregory's Girl (1980, Bill Forsyth)
31 Zulu (1964, Cy Endfield)
32 Room at the Top (1958, Jack Clayton)
33 Alfie (1966, Lewis Gilbert)
34 Gandhi (1982, Richard Attenborough)
35 The Lady Vanishes (1938, Alfred Hitchcock)
36 The Italian Job (1969, Peter Collinson)
37 Local Hero (1983, Bill Forsyth)
38 The Commitments (1991, Alan Parker)
39 A Fish Called Wanda (1988, Charles Crichton)
40 Secrets & Lies (1995, Mike Leigh)
41 Dr No (1962, Terence Young)
42 The Madness of King George (1994, Nicholas Hytner)
43 A Man for All Seasons (1966, Fred Zinnemann)
44 Black Narcissus (1947, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
45 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
46 Oliver Twist (1948, David Lean)
47 I'm All Right Jack (1959, John Boulting)
48 Performance (1970, Nicholas Roeg, Donald Cammell)
49 Shakespeare in Love (1998, John Madden)
50 My Beautiful Laundrette (1985, Stephen Frears)
51 Tom Jones (1963, Tony Richardson)
52 This Sporting Life (1967, Lindsay Anderson)
53 My Left Foot (1989, Jim Sheridan)
54 Brazil (1985, Terry Gilliam)
55 The English Patient (1996, Anthony Minghella)
56 A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson)
57 The Go-Between (1970, Joseph Losey)
58 The Man in the White Suit (1951, Alexander MacKendrick)
59 The Ipcress File (1965, Sidney J Furie)
60 Blow Up (1966, Michelangelo Antonioni)
61 The Loneliness of the Long Distant Runner (1962, Tony Richardson)
62 Sense and Sensibility (1995, Ang Lee)
63 Passport to Pimlico (1949, Henry Cornelius)
64 The Remains of the Day (1993, James Ivory)
65 Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971, John Schlesinger)
66 The Railway Children (1970, Lionel Jeffries)
67 Mona Lisa (1986, Neil Jordan)
68 The Dam Busters (1955, Michael Anderson)
69 Hamlet (1948, Laurence Olivier)
70 Goldfinger (1964, Guy Hamilton)
71 Elizabeth (1998, Shekhar Kapur)
72 Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939, Sam Wood)
73 A Room with a View (1985, James Ivory)
74 The Day of the Jackal (1973, Fred Zinnemann)
75 The Cruel Sea (1952, Charles Ford)
76 Billy Liar (1963, John Schelsinger)
77 Oliver! (1968, Carol Reed)
78 Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell)
79 Far From the Madding Crowd (1967, John Schelsinger)
80 The Draughtsman's Contract (1982, Peter Greenaway)
81 A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick)
82 Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988, Terence Davies)
83 Darling (1965, John Schelsinger)
84 Educating Rita (1983, Lewis Gilbert)
85 Brassed Off (1996, Mark Herman)
86 Genevieve (1953, Henry Cornelius)
87 Women in Love (1969, Ken Russell)
88 A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester)
89 Fires Were Started (documentary, 1943, Humphrey Jennings)
90 Hope and Glory (1987, John Boorman)
91 My Name is Joe (1998, Ken Loach)
92 In Which We Serve (1942, Noel Coward, David Lean)
93 Caravaggio (1986, Derek Jarman)
94 The Belles of St Trinian's (1954, Frank Launder)
95 Life is Sweet (1990, Mike Leigh)
96 The Wicker Man (1973, Robin Hardy)
97 Nil By Mouth (1997, Gary Oldman)
98 Small Faces (1995, Gillies MacKinnon)
99 Carry On Up the Khyber (1968, Gerald Thomas)
100 The Killing Fields (1984, Ronald Joffe)
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