'Best British films'
0 comment Monday, June 2, 2014 |
Here is a list of the '100 Best British Films', according to 150 'experts', people in the film industry. I find these kinds of lists interesting, even though I usually don't agree with many of the choices made. Now, if the results were based on the movie-watching public's assessment, that would be more interesting to read, for me, although I think I could predict what the popular choices would be.
When such lists are based on critics' preferences, I usually find that I haven't even seen many of the films in question, since I more or less boycott movies today, and have not watched most new releases for many years. But as it happens, I've seen a few of the films on the list, namely, the following:
The Railway Children (1970)
School for Scoundrels (1960)
Zulu (1964)
Night and the City (1950)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
I'm Alright Jack (1959)
Dr No (1962)
Billy Liar (1963)
Piccadilly (1929)
The Man in the White Suit (1951)
Dead of Night (1945)
Whisky Galore! (1949)
Blackmail (1929)
Gregory's Girl (1981)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)
Local Hero (1983)
The Fallen Idol (1948)
The Ladykillers (1955)
The Wicker Man (1973)
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Great Expectations (1946)
The Innocents (1961)
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Black Narcissus (1947)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
The Third Man (1949)
I blogged in the past about the film 'A Canterbury Tale', which I enjoyed. There are a few well-liked ones among the ones I listed above, films that I've seen more than once, like The Ladykillers, The Man in the White Suit, I Know Where I'm Going, and Great Expectations.
Another movie I've watched several times, and found compelling, was Black Narcissus. Beautiful cinematography, unusual story.
The movie 'Zulu' impressed me more than I expected, as I had thought that political correctness had already set in by then, but it had not yet got its death-grip on our world in 1964.
As always, it's the older movies that I prefer, and generally the older the better. The oldest one on that list that I've seen is Piccadilly, which was not a movie I would watch more than once, but the 1920s has a certain allure for me.
The Third Man is #2 on the list, and I suppose deservedly so. It held my interest, though to me the setting (post-war Vienna, looking rather grim and depressing) and the characters were not especially sympathetic. But like most of Orson Welles' movies, it was interesting, though not very likeable.
There are a couple of my favorites that were not on the list, such as The Lavender Hill Mob and The Four Feathers. But then it's all fairly subjective, isn't it? I can see that a given movie may be technically impressive but if I don't become absorbed in the characters and the story, it will not be on my list of best movies.
I do notice that most people's favorites are the newer ones. It seems that for most audiences today, what matters is the technical wizardry, or the sensationalistic aspects: bigger, louder, more. There's not much taste for subtlety or nuance or understatement. Everything must be over the top and excessive or people say it's 'boring.'
What do you say? Would your list be similar to this one?

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