Best of British

[Charlie]

In the thread called Music Room, the French critics did not incude a single British film in their top 100 films of all-time. I would have only a handful:

1. The Third Man , dir by David Lean, 1948 (better than the much-lauded Citizen Kane, I always thought).
2. The Hit Man, dir by Stephen Frears, with Terence Stamp, set in Spain.
3. Gumshow, also dir by Stephen Frears

4. Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, circa 1960 (came soon after Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and was an improvement; also written by Alan Sillitoe; I didn't pay attention to film director credits in those days).
5. A Taste of Honey. Introduced Rita Tushingham. A pretty good representation of what it felt like, living in the north of England. Again, I don't recall its director, but went to see a play by its author Shelagh Delaney, when it was staged in Stockton.

It meant a lot that film makers were trying to present a non-London reality. Shane Meadows is the closest to doing that sort of thing now.

What was the name of the film set in the dance club scene in Cardiff in the late 1990s? Powerful, well-acted, convincing.

[Rod B.]

What was the name of the film set in the dance club scene in Cardiff in the late 1990s? Powerful, well-acted, convincing.

Human Traffic?

[uiwangmike]

The Third Man was directed by Carol Reed, Charlie. I would have thought it an automatic choice in anyone's top 100. My favourite David Lean film is Brief Encounter - probably something to do with being a country music fan. That period around the turn of the 60s was a really good time for British films, with the ones you mention plus Room at the Top, A Kind of Loving, This Sporting Life, Billy Liar, the L-shaped Room and Whistle Down the Wind.

[NormanD]

I would put my money on some of the Ealing Comedies.

1 The Ladykillers
2 The Lavender Hill Mob
3 Passport To Pimlico
4 Whisky Galore

And Powell & Pressburger are worthy of any list (shamefully excluded par les hoity-toity critiques français):

5 A Matter Of Life & Death
6 A Canterbury Tale
7 Black Narcissus
8 The Red Shoes

[kas]

Hit Man - or was its title The Hit? - is a terrific film, one of my favourites too. Wasn't it John Hurt as the hit man and Terence Stamp as the kidnapped target?
A splendid black comedy.

Third Man and one or two of those Ealing comedies would be on my list as well: Ladykillers and Whiskey Galore most likely.

[David Flower]

David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia surely must be his best. Talk about a sweeping epic

[Hugh Weldon]

Charlie wrote:

Gumshow

Gumshoe to be pedantic, a perfect little light hearted private eye flick with Alfred Finney, set in Liverpool. Came out around the same time as Get Carter. a nastier film altogether, which often appears when this topic comes up. I think it even came out as top in some recent critics poll.

Kind Hearts and Coronets should be included in any Ealing list. I also remember liking an Ealing film called Hue and Cry, but as I haven't seen it since the sixties wouldn't know how well it has stood the test of time.

David Lean's Dickens adaptations of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.

Another film with Alec Guinness called Tunes of Glory which I think was probably his best screen performance.

Terence Davies can be uneven and self indulgent, but at its best Distant Voices Still Lives is a sublime re-creation of 1950s working class Liverpool.

Oh and Withnail and I. And Mona Lisa. Always knew I should avoid these list things, better stop there else I'll be here all night...

[Charlie]

[Human Traffic?

Yes, thank you.

Human Traffic was a 1999 film written and directed by Justin Kerrigan.

Introduced John Simm, one of the best British actors of his generation (born Leeds, 1970). Strangely, in view of the common word in the title, he also played the lead role in the TV series Sex Traffic. But that's not a film and doesn't count in our rankings.

[Charlie]

Gumshoe to be pedantic, a perfect little light hearted private eye flick with Alfred Finney, set in Liverpool. Came out around the same time as Get Carter. a nastier film altogether, which often appears when this topic comes up. I think it even came out as top in some recent critics poll.

Thanks Hugh, sorry for the slip of the finger. I know Get Carter is highly rated, but I don't know why it is. The Hit (thanks for correcting the title, everyone) is better in just about every way. But it never gets shown on TV, something to do with who owns it. Hard luck for Peter Prince, who never gets the residual payments due to the writer on such showings.

.......as I haven't seen it since the sixties wouldn't know how well it has stood the test of time.

With most films, we only go to see them once, form an indelible impression and stick the film in its place in our personal ranking forever.