Ultimate Film Unveiled

'The Ultimate Film' poll has named the 1939 classic 'Gone with the Wind' most popular film of all time amongst UK cinema-goers.

Nov 29 2004

'Gone with the Wind' has been seen by more movie-goers than any film in the history of UK cinema.

The 1939 US Civil War epic, which starred Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh, was viewed by more than 35 million on the big screen, topping the British Film Institute and Channel 4's 'Ultimate Film' poll.

'The Sound of Music' came in second with an audience of 30 million turning out to sing along with the von Trapps, while 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' came a close third, attracting 28 million to cinemas to see what a beautiful woman was doing living with seven short men.

The chart was painstakingly compiled by estimating numbers of admissions to cinemas rather than the amount of money taken at the box office, and resulted in several surprising omissions from the top 100, with perennial favourites like 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Casablanca' and 'The Great Escape' all failing to make the cut.

Of those that did hit big, 'Star Wars' predictably came in at number four, followed by 'Spring in Park Lane', 'The Best Years of Our Lives', 'The Jungle Book', 'Titanic' and 'The Wicked Lady', with hypnotism drama 'The Seventh Veil' rounding off the top ten.

Further down the list, the 'Harry Potter' and 'Lord of the Rings' films put in strong shows, while James Bond proved his universal appeal by having several entries in the hot 100.

Indeed 007 provided the chart with its most featured actor in the shape of Bernard Lee, whose performances as 'M' gave him six movies on the list, which when combined with his turns in 'The Blue Lamp', 'The Courtneys of Curzon Street', and 'The Third Man' meant that Lee has appeared in a total of nine 'ultimate films'.

Lewis Gilbert, Steven Spielberg, Herbert Wilcox and William Wyler meanwhile, proved to be the most popular directors, with four films each on the chart.

'Spanning almost a century of cinema-going, the list highlights the diversity of the British palate when it comes to choice of film favourites' said BFI Director Amanda Nevill. 'And these are the nation's favourites – selected not by vote, or by critics, but by the number of actual visits by everyone living in this country over the past 100 years.'

And if you want to see what all the fuss is about, a beautifully restored print of 'Gone with the Wind' will be screening at the NFT from Friday, and is reviewed in Time Out London December 1-8 2004. Issue No 1789.