The 100 Best British Films Ever

The Saloon
1

…According to Empire Magazine:

100 45 Years (Haigh, 2015)
99. The Ipcress File (Furie, 1965)
98. Oh! What A Lovely War (Attenborough, 1969)
97. 24 Hour Party People (Winterbottom, 2002)
96. Nil By Mouth (Oldman, 1997)
95. Gregory’s Girl (Forsyth, 1981)
94. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alfredson, 2011)
93. Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
92. Four Lions (Morris, 2010)
91. The Remains Of The Day (Ivory, 1993)
90. Dracula (Fisher, 1958)
89. The Railway Children (Jeffries, 1970)
88. Gandhi (Attenborough, 1982)
87. Hope And Glory (Boorman, 1987)
86. The Killing Fields (Joffé, 1984)
85. Billy Liar (Schlesinger, 1963)
84. Hamlet (Olivier, 1948)
83. Skyfall (Mendes, 2012)
82. The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock, 1938)
81. Paddington (King, 2014)
80. Goodbye, Mr Chips (Wood, 1939)
79. The King’s Speech (Hooper, 2010)
78. Henry V (Branagh, 1989)
77. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part Two (Yates, 2011)
76. Naked (Leigh, 1993)
75. Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (Ritchie, 1998)
74. Starred Up (Mackenzie, 2013)
73. Atonement (Wright, 2007)
72. The Man In The White Suit (Mackendrick, 1951)
71. Control (Corbijn, 2007)
70. Casino Royale (Campbell, 2006)
69. Blow-Up (Antonioni, 1966)
68. Senna (Kapadia, 2010)
67. In The Loop (Iannucci, 2009)
66. Man On Wire (Marsh, 2008)
65. Hunger (McQueen, 2008)
64. The Lavender Hill Mob (Crichton, 1951)
63. Chariots Of Fire (Hudson, 1981)
62. Secrets And Lies (Leigh, 1996)
61. The Full Monty (Cattaneo, 1997)
60. A Hard Day’s Night (Lester, 1964)
59. Peeping Tom (Powell, 1960)
58. Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle, 2008)
57. My Name Is Joe (Loach, 1998)
56. Shakespeare In Love (Madden, 1998)
55. Tom Jones (Richardson, 1963)
54. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Schlesinger, 1971)
53. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (Cuarón, 2004)
52. The 39 Steps (Hitchcock, 1935)
51. Wallace & Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (Box/Park, 2005)
50. Hot Fuzz (Wright, 2007)
49. Look Back In Anger (Richardson, 1959)
48. Topsy Turvy (Leigh, 1999)
47. The Wicker Man (Hardy, 1973)
46. The English Patient (Minghella, 1996)
45. Black Narcissus (Powell/Pressburger, 1947)
44. Sexy Beast (Glazer, 2000)
43. Great Expectations (Lean, 1946)
42. The Man Who Fell To Earth (Roeg, 1976)
41. Monsters (Edwards, 2010)
40. Mr. Turner (Leigh, 2014)
39. The Italian Job (Collinson, 1969)
38. The Descent (Marshall, 2005)
37. 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002)
36. If… (Anderson, 1968)
35. A Fish Called Wanda (Crichton, 1988)
34. A Man For All Seasons (Zinneman, 1966)
33. Zulu (Endfield, 1964)
32. Sense And Sensibility (Lee, 1995)
31. Performance (Roeg/Cammell, 1970)
30. The Ladykillers (Mackendrick, 1955)
29. Kes (Loach, 1969)
28. Borat (Charles, 2006)
27. Dead Man’s Shoes (Meadows, 2004)
26. Shallow Grave (Boyle, 1994)
25. The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (Powell/Pressburger, 1943)
24. Moon (Jones, 2009)
23. Rebecca (Hitchcock, 1940)
22. Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (Reisz, 1961)
21. Four Weddings And A Funeral (Newell, 1994)
20. A Matter Of Life And Death (Powell/Pressberger, 1946)
19. The Long Good Friday (Mackenzie, 1980)
18. Monty Python And The Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975)
17. Billy Elliot (Daldry, 2000)
16. Goldfinger (Hamilton, 1963)
15. Bridge On The River Kwai (Lean, 1957)
14. The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
13. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Davies, 1988)
12. This Is England (Meadows, 2005)
11. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
10. Withnail & I (Robinson, 1987)
9. Local Hero (Forsyth, 1983)
8. Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996)
7. Kind Hearts And Coronets (Hamer, 1948)
6. Shaun Of The Dead (Wright, 2004)
5. Brief Encounter (Lean, 1945)
4. Don’t Look Now (Roeg, 1973)
3. The Red Shoes (Powell/Pressberger, 1948)
2. Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (Jones, 1979)

  1. Lawrence Of Arabia (Lean, 1962)

Reasonable enough list, that, I reckon. I’ll never understand the appeal of Withnail & I, though.

(Seen 62
Own 29
Thrown 5 in the bin)

2

Last time I saw a list of Best British Movies, The Third Man was N°1. What has become of that movie? Aha, N° 14. Don’t know if it’s the very best, but I would’ve expected it in the Top 10, probably even Top 3.

3

Personally recommend The Black Panther from 1977. Fantastic realistic depiction of the robber and killer.

I’ve seen just 50 of these, but I’m the same about Whitnail and I. I just found it odd.

4

Considering this list, I wonder which criteria exactly define a British film.

The film has its own museum in Vienna. It’s a strange world indeed …

5

My favourite movie of all time (and yes that includes spaghettis) is in fact a British one, Lindsay Anderson’s O Lucky Man from 1973. This is not on the list at all hence the list is bullshit :slight_smile:

And Shaun of the Dead no. 6 ? I love the movie, but 6th best British movie ever? Come on.

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6

I love “The Third Man”. It would be very near the top, if not at the very top, of my list. That’s amazing it has its own museum!

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With the exception of N°10 I find all Top 10 movies okay, but I don’t think I’d have any of them in my Top 10, with the possible exception of Kind Hearts and Coronets. Lawrence of Arabia is a good movie, of course, and a lot of it is impressive, but the best British movie ever? Not even close imo.

8

No Ken Russell on the list?

9

I’m surprised The Devils didn’t make the list.

10

Plenty of interesting ones not on the list. I recommend a podcast with Edgar Wright from last year that yields quite nice letterboxed output