Total Film magazine recently asked twenty-five British film critics to come up with their choices of the best British films ever made. The result is somewhat surprising, with the 1971 Mike Hodges-directed thriller Get Carter, starring Michael Caine and some scary-looking weaponry, was selected as Britain’s very best movie ever.
Other top-ten surprises include Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979), seen by many Christians as sacrilegious and by myself as an unfunny bore; the Sean Connery/James Bond actioner From Russia with Love (1963); and Mike Leigh’s Naked, with David Thewlis. No pre-1945 film made it to the top ten, which shows that British critics are as ignorant about film history as their American counterparts. Also worth noting is that every single movie on the top-ten list revolves around men and their issues; not one features a woman in a starring role. Here's the list:
1. Get Carter (1971), Mike Hodges
2. A Matter of Life and Death / Stairway to Heaven (1946), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
3. Trainspotting (1996), Danny Boyle
4. The Third Man (1949), Carol Reed
5. Life of Brian (1979), Terry Jones
6. The Wicker Man (1973), Robin Hardy
7. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Robert Hamer
8. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), David Lean
9. From Russia with Love (1963), Terence Young
10. Naked (1993), Mike Leigh
Missing from the top ten were:
- David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations (1946), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957);
- Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938) and The 39 Steps (1935);
- Leslie Howard and Anthony Asquith's Pygmalion (1938) and Asquith's The Winslow Boy (1948);
- Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol (1948);
- Alexander Mackendrick’s The Man in the White Suit (1951);
- Laurence Olivier’s Henry V (1945) and the Oscar-winning Hamlet;
- John Schlesinger’s Darling (1965) and Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971);
- Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Black Narcissus (1946) and The Red Shoes (1948);
- Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Laundrette (1985).
According to the BBC, besides Get Carter three other Michael Caine films made it to the top 50: Zulu, The Italian Job, and Alfie (its 2004 remake starring Jude Law will open later this month in the United Kingdom). The full list will be published in this month’s edition of Total Film.