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The 100 best British films
Time Out counts down the best British films, as chosen by the film industry
Read our contributors' top tens
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Explore the individual selections of every contributor
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By Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston and David Jenkins, with Derek Adams, Geoff Andrew, Adam Lee Davies, Gareth Evans, Paul Fairclough and Wally Hammond. Explore the individual top tens of every contributor.
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20
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Dir Terry Jones (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle et al)
Bishop of Southwark Eunt Domus
One of the strangest but most welcome side effects of great comedy is the way it crystallises ideas, bringing concepts previously vague and inexpressible into the public consciousness. How long into a chat about the splintering of political pressure groups before someone mentions the People’s Front of Judea? When talking about the impossibility of a successful military occupation, how long before someone mentions what the Romans did for us? When discussing religion in general, and cults in particular, how long before someone pipes up, ‘Yes, we’re all individuals’? The controversy may have faded, but three decades on, ‘Life of Brian’ still dominates our perceptions of organised religion (and organised resistance) and their many obfuscations, untruths and double standards in a way that is not just remarkable, but extremely heartwarming. TH
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19
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Dir Stanley Kubrick (Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee)
Kubrick by candlelight
Is it a surprise that Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’ (1975) should beat off ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971) and ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968) in our poll for the best loved British Kubrick? The 1976 Academy showered Kubrick’s painstaking, candlelit version of Thackeray’s 1844 novel of a scoundrel Irish soldier’s picaresque adventures with Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Music. Despite those garlands, however, it was a relative failure at the time – notably in the US, albeit a hit with the discerning Parisians – and by the mid-1980s, its reputation had further declined: our own film editor, Chris Peachment, was not alone when he described it as ‘a triumph of technique over any human content’ and ‘an array of waxwork figures against lavish backdrops’.
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But what technique; what waxworks; and what backdrops there are in this $11million, three-hour epic, shot over an impossible eight months. ‘“Barry Lyndon” is a story which does not depend upon surprise,’ Kubrick told Michel Ciment in one of his rare interviews, nailing the film’s re-found appeal. ‘What is important is not what is going to happen, but how it will happen. I think Thackeray trades off the advantage of surprise to gain a greater sense of inevitability and a better integration of what might otherwise seem melodramatic or contrived.’ Likewise, as time goes by, Kubrick’s own contrivances – the technical obsessions, the outwardly puppet-like performances, Ryan O’Neal’s seemingly endless wanderings, adventures and increasingly futile ambitions – have themselves fallen away to reveal something quite extraordinary: the shape of a life, a human’s rise and fall, rendered as an epic, mesmeric, suffusing slow dance of immersive cinema – and therefore, not only Kubrick’s most beautiful but also his most empathetic and understanding work. WH -
18
The Innocents (1961)
Dir Jack Clayton (Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave)
If there’s something strange…
This superior ghost story is an adaptation of Henry James’s novella ‘The Turn of the Screw’ that still manages to feel more subtle and inventive than the vast majority of spooky pretenders that came in its wake. The story sees Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) become governess to two children who live in a sprawling country pile and are the wards of an absent uncle (Michael Redgrave) who lives in London. As Miss Giddens spots ghosts and becomes convinced of the kids’ malevolence, it’s the ambiguity of both the story and film that impress. Is Miss Giddens mad? Are there ghosts? Are both things true, even? If you list a lot of the film’s more creepy tics – sweet but demonic children; ghostly visions; a music-box score; stuffed animals; a scary attic – they now sound like clichés, but the film still works fantastically well as a supernatural-cum-psychological chiller and most obviously feels like a template for Polanski’s ‘Repulsion’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and even ‘The Tenant’. DC
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17
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Dirs Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, John Sweet, Dennis Price)
The glue that binds us
For many, this light-fingered take on Chaucer’s infamous tome will always be Powell and Pressburger’s great work. It’s possibly the film of theirs which touches most poignantly on what it means to live and what it means to be living in England. Amusing, tragic, inquisitive and profoundly poetic, on the surface it’s a World War Two-set shaggy dog story of three unlikely compatriots – a British sergeant, an American GI and a Land Girl – who are thrown together in the sleepy, fictitious town of Chillingbourne which sits on the rail link to Canterbury. No sooner have they disembarked from the train than one of their number is stung by a night-time prowler who’s getting his jollies by putting glue in women’s hair (and no, this isn’t a foresight into ‘Peeping Tom’). Their hokey investigation to locate the scoundrel acts as the narrative through-line with which Powell and Pressburger hang a gorgeous, panoramic vision of an England steeped in history, tradition and eccentric, downhome custom. It also takes a comic look at the cultural divisions between America and Britain and the need to bridge that divide for the common good. A heady, almost surreal climax in Canterbury, where the three pals part ways and find comfort in friends, music and memory, is tremendously moving, not least because we also discover the reason why they were all there in the first place. DJ
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16
Black Narcissus (1947)
Dirs Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar)
Nun but the brave
All those prissy critics outraged by Powell’s shift into voyeuristic overkill with ‘Peeping Tom’ should have done their homework: from the perverted ‘glue man’ and his ‘sticky stuff’ in ‘A Canterbury Tale’ through the abusive, alcoholic anti-romance of ‘The Small Back Room’, his films are rife with suppressed deviance and sexual panic, none more so than this unsettling adaptation of Rumer Godden’s nuns-in-peril novel ‘Black Narcissus’. All The Archers’ best work resisted categorisation, and this might be the pinnacle of their tendency for audience-baiting idiosyncracy: set in Darjeeling but shot in West Sussex, the film seems as far out of time as it does out of place, eschewing genre (is it romance? Period drama? Horror? Social satire?) in favour of pure atmosphere and an unparalleled sense of mounting hysteria. Deborah Kerr’s career-best performance is just the icing on the Himalaya. TH
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Comments
I wanted to disagree with this list but the reviewers made it very difficult. I have 9 out of the top 10 and thought they were all excellent so no complaints from me. Get Carter maybe shouldve been higher. But sincere thanks for leaving out Guy Richie!
what a shite and uninteresting list . Featuring movies from the 1940´s purely because of the fact there are enough decent British movies being made these days is a pathetic attempt to glorify the obviously sub standard British film industry . Pass me a prawn sandwich .
Where is Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels? Where is Snatch? And Trainspotting should be in the Top 3
Enjoyed the poll , but where was my favorite film I.D, as well as Twin Town, Love honour and Obey?
And what about Cashback... positively brilliant little indie flick. Just like Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange I think it too will have its own following
In wich we serve was one of the best 40s films made and should be listed.
Miller changes a little bit . He and Benedict played
the Frankenstein.
I still love this film.
What happened to Sir John Mills who was in some great films : In Which We Serve, The Way To The Stars, Ryan's Daughter and more than 120 other movies and he is only mentioned once for Great Expectations.
This could qualify as the most terrifying yet at the same time the most beautiful film i have ever seen its evocation of venice loss and the loveliness of julie christie!! .Didnt we all want to look like that?The end is truly horrific the mist enters your living room and how can you understand ?Iit truly fantastic and unutterably memorable and what an unusual but sublime casting
Here are some suggestions: In the Name of Our Father, My Left Foot, O Lucky Man, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Hard Day's Night, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Our Mutual Friend, Look Back in Anger, Casino Royale (Peter Sellers). Bridge on the River Kwai, Blythe Spirit.
Yes very strange list and I agree with other's that commented on great films that were missed out.
A Room With A View, Howard's End, The Remains of the Day.
Billy Elliott, The Crying Game, Mona Lisa, Harry Brown. Slumdog millionaire
I think the iconic Lady Killers should have been first, its just a perfectly formed masterpiece. But I think depressing reality has won over for your judges.
There is still something to be said for damn good entertainment! Maybe do another list and let the people vote? Yes the list will not be so pretentious but thats not a bad thing.
Delighted to happen upon your 100 and delightfully surprised to note your No.1. I saw it when it first came to Ottawa and the ending caused my hair to stand on end. Somehow unsatified, I went again the next night and, yes, I used the comb again. It belongs beside The Shining. Missed 7Up.
I must add a "cheers" to everything (that I know of) Masterpiece Theatre and Channel 4.
Alun
What a random list. It over represents certain directors at the expense of better films (and heavily biased by the directors who were on the committee). 2 x Roeg + 2 x Powell/Pressburger (& not their best) in the top 10, but not Hitchcock, Losey or Leigh (ok, 11 is close, but am I alone in thinking that Naked is not his best?). The list also has foreign directors, foreign actors, foreign settings....what qualifies as British? Glaring Ommissions: Prick Up Your Ears, Darling, Victim, A Zed & Two Noughts, The Cook/Wife/Thief/Lover, Forever & A Day, I Am A Camera, The Ruling Class, A Taste Of Honey, Look Back In Anger, Lock/Stock/Barrels, Brighton Rock, Paranoiac, The War Zone, Room With A View . Gratuitious Inclusions: Peeping Tom, The Witchfinder General, Dracula, 24 Hour Party People, Barry Lyndon, 4 Weddings. Am I alone in thinking that Powell/Pressburger are over rated & don't hold up well?
Just looked through the first 40 films - not a single film since 1999, and only 3 or since the eighties. Has the British film industry not made a film since, worthy of accolade? So many excellent recent films, most mentioned already by others, maybe the listmakers will review their choices one day...
Where's Tim Roth's The War Zone?
A Room With A View, Howard's End, The Remains of the Day.
Ang Lee's Sense and Sensability
Billy Elliott, The Crying Game, Mona Lisa, Harry Brown.
Antonia Bird's Priest.
Trainspotting at number 10. Really? Has anybody voting rewatched that lately, it hasn't aged well at all. I didn't undertsnad the critical adulation at the time, now I find it unwatchable. 'Shallow Grave' and '28 Days Later' were both better films.
20 - 11 would be a better top 10.
Nice to see 'Nuts In May' make an appearance. Even if it is a TV play and not a feature film.
Not much from the last 15 years which is odd - How about 'Dirty Pretty Things', 'Last Resort'. 'My Summer Of Love', also the omission of 'Snatch' and 'Lock Stock' is just snobbery surely.
PS: You may want to spell check the Third Man review.
shirley a great movie is measured by which movies you've watched at the cinema more then once. Full \Monty and Life of Brian for me.
"Oliver!" Are you joking? Where's "Whistle Down the Wind?" Glad to see "The Offence" made the list though. One of my favourite films.
What a lazy, up-itself list. Just because a film was made before 1960 does not automatically make it better than anything made since then. I suspect the pretentious knobwits at Time Out would have you think otherwise.
Wow! What a pretentious list! I wonder what the average age of the people polled was as, correctly pointed out below, it seems to omit the past 20 years of British cinema.
Also, what makes a film British? There are a number of titles on that list that were made by foreign directors, used foreign actors or were produced using foreign (mainly US) money. It is apparent that the criteria for selection was not fully explained otherwise you would not have, for example, Witchfinder General (a film that has not aged well at all) above 2001!!!
It is an incredibly bleak list. Where’s the fun? Anyone looking at it would think we are a nation obsessed with war, alcohol, social deprivation, self-loathing and drugs (OK – fair point!).
A few omissions IMO (unless I overlooked them in the list) – The Italian Job, Brassed Off, The Full Monty, the Constant Gardener, The Madness of King George, Quadrophenia, Gandhi, Slumdog Millionaire...
Wow! What an incredibly pretentious list! Wonder what the average age of the people polled was as it has pretty much overlooked the last 25 years of British Cinema.
What makes a film British anyway? This list is full of films with foreign directors, foreign actors and a lot of them were made with foreign (mainly US) money. It is obvious the criteria was not laid down sufficiently as you would not have Witchfinder General (a B-movie at best) above 2001!!!
It is an incredibly bleak list as well. Where's the fun? Anyone looking at it would think we are a nation obsessed with war, self-loathing, social deprivation, alcoholism and drugs (alright - fair point).
A few ommissions IMO - Quadrophenia, The Full Monty, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Italian Job, The King's Speech, Pride and Prejudice, Slumdog Millionairre, The Constant Gardener...
What a ridiculous list. Only a handful of films made in the last 20 years feature, and most of them come at 90-100 because clearly EVERY OTHER British film has already been listed ahead of them.
Codswallop.
No John Boorman? No John Boorman? Enjoyed the list as a talking point but no John Boorman?
Massive omissions? 'A Taste of Honey' (do you seriously think that 'Four Weddings blah blah.' is a better film?). Also, 'Spring and port Wine', 'Melody' and 'If...'...come on, where are they?
OK, I spoke too soon. THE THIRD MAN was second, even though a vastly better film than DON'T LOOK NOW. What is it with people overrating PERFORMANCE, which is quirky and weird, but not great.
Two other comments. First I'm a huge Powell and Pressburger fan. Even own all their films on DVD (except ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING). But even given my huge love for them I think there are too many of their films in the Top Twenty. But better than being unjustly neglected.
Second, I've read around 12 to 15 books on Hitchcock, listened to every commentary on every one of this films that has a commentary, and know that most Hitchcock scholars rate THE LADY VANISHES as his greatest British film. So why does THE THIRTY NINE STEPS, a film that I do in fact love, always rank higher on lists like this? Those most expert on Hitchcock always rank it below THE LADY VANISHES. Just a comment. I love them both, but I incline towards THE LADY VANISHES.
DON'T LOOK NOW???????
I've seen that 3 or 4 times and while it is gorgeous to look at, I would not call it even a very good film. Vastly less of a film than THE THIRD MAN.
I'll have to look at this list a bit more closely, but any list that doesn't put THE THIRD MAN in the top 2 or 3 is really iffy.
Chariots of FIre? ---- it certainly is my personal top 10.
The Ipcress File? -----perhaps the best British Spy Film
As far as I know, Donald Sutherland is from Saskatchewan, which was located in Canada the last time I looked. Hollywood has a habit of turning all actors who don't have foreign accents into American actors, and this has helped to create the myth that all North Americans who don't have British accents are either U.S. citizens or French Canadians.
Another vote for O Lucky Man , I also have a soft spot for Overlord & O What a Lovely War.
This list is for me anyway, inspiring , demonstrating how British Cinema is grossly underrated.
I urge anyone who hasn't seen 'Tunes of Glory' to try to do so. It contains some of the best performances you will ever see from Guinness ansd Mills and just gets a grip on the class system.
I urge anyone who hasn't seen 'Tunes of Glory' to try to do so. It contains some of the best performances you will ever see from Guinness ansd Mills and just gets a grip on the class system.
Lists like these are always likely to stir up dissent however, I think the truly world class British directors (Powell, Hitchcock and Lean) are well represented but would have had Lawrence of Arabia at number 1, followed by "The Third Man" and "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning". Can't see that Kubrick has any Britishness at all. "Women in Love" "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and "Tom Jones" should be in any list of great british films. I also have a soft spot for "The Ruling Class" and "Gumshoe."
Am I the only one who thought "The WInd that Shakes the Barley" was bloody brilliant.
Winterbottom is dishonest, pretentious, calculating, sensationalist fraud. There should no films of his in this list.
Uh, Donald Sutherland is Canadian. You'd think his director would know that.
Nothing by Olivier? Maybe he's unfashionable at the moment, but Henry IV is still the first great Shakespeare film and remains one of the most colorful, buoyant, and magical films ever made in the UK.
brilliant list;
those I'd have liked to ahev seen are
OF TIME AND THE CITY
RED ROAD
MY SUMMER OF LOVE
LAST RESORT
BABYLON (was this for TV though?)
BULLET BOY
BROTHERS IN TROUBLE
MY SON THE FANATIC
FOUR LIONS
MORVERN CALLAR
NUNS ON THE RUN (joking!)
oh yeah forgot - OF TIME AND THE CITY. One of the best odes to a city and a life ever committed to film and it happens to be about my home city Liverpool. Terence Davies = National Treasure. I prefer LONG DAY CLOSES to DISTANT VOICES. Pete Postlethwaite RIP. Special mention to the very short AMONGST GIANTS... (that film felt chopped! but was still brilliant)
oh yeah forgot - OF TIME AND THE CITY. One of the best odes to a city and a life ever committed to film and it happens to be about my home city Liverpool. Terence Davies = National Treasure. I prefer LONG DAY CLOSES to DISTANT VOICES. Pete Postlethwaite RIP. Special mention to the very short AMONGST GIANTS... (that film felt chopped! but was still brilliant)
oh yeah forgot - OF TIME AND THE CITY. One of the best odes to a city and a life ever committed to film and it happens to be about my home city Liverpool. Terence Davies = National Treasure. I prefer LONG DAY CLOSES to DISTANT VOICES. Pete Postlethwaite RIP. Special mention to the very short AMONGST GIANTS... (that film felt chopped! but was still brilliant)
Super list. A few films that would've been good to include would be Babylon (or was that made for TV), Bullet Boy (by Saul Dibb) and Andrea Arnold's Red Road.
My Son The Fanatic - which is probably (the crap intro aside) the very best Hanif Kureishi Film adapt to date. Brothers In Trouble is largely overlooked too....
Last Resort and My Summer Of Love would also elbow a few out... and maybe the Robert Carlyle move from a few years back called Summer. That was flawless.
Thanks for a great skive though.
Where is Ken Russell???
The Devils, The Music Lovers and Women in Love to name but three!
Ridiculous to miss off the great Master!
I agree with the posters more than the 'experts'. OLM, HDN etc even Little Voice. Of course you can't get everything in or even hope to be 'accurate' (unless you take a true consensus which means only the film literatti get to vote), and I think that the point of this is far from trying to actually provide a list of academic interest, it's just more empty hype for the medium (which isn't film here).
Great list! Even Hammer makes awell-deserved appearance! I'm sure many will complain about the number of Archers films, but how could you leave any off? I wish Edgar Wright were on there, as well as The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, & Her lover, and Lord of the Flies. 28 Days Later and Four Weddings & A Funeral could be justifiably removed to make room.
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