Monday, September 14, 2009

Top Ranked Films from the UK

The first list is just UK produced films, 92 total with 73 in the top 1000. The second list are multi-country projects which include the UK, 18 more mentioned with 11 of those in the top 1000. There are also 8 best picture winners.


UK (only)

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey [Kubrick, Stanley; 1968] #2
2. Third Man, The [Reed, Carol; 1948] #15 [photo rt]
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Kubrick, Stanley; 1964] #17
4. Lawrence of Arabia [Lean, David; 1962] #50
5. A Clockwork Orange [Kubrick, Stanley; 1971] #69
6. Bridge on the River Kwai, The [Lean, David; 1957] #85
7. Barry Lyndon [Kubrick, Stanley; 1975] #101
8. Kind Hearts and Coronets [Hamer, Robert; 1949] #117
9. Brief Encounter [Lean, David; 1945] #127
10. Red Shoes, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1948] #156
11. Great Expectations [Lean, David; 1946] #180
12. Brazil [Gilliam, Terry; 1985] #189 [photo rt]
13. Performance [Roeg, Nicolas/Donald Cammell; 1970] #202
14. Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones; 1975] #224
15. A Matter of Life and Death [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1946] #280
16. Gandhi [Attenborough, Richard; 1982] #286
17. Lady Vanishes, The [Hitchcock, Alfred; 1938] #295
18. Don't Look Now [Roeg, Nicolas; 1973] #306
19. Repulsion [Polanski, Roman; 1965] #311
20. A Hard Day's Night [Lester, Richard; 1964] #332
21. Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1943] #334
22. 39 Steps, The [Hitchcock, Alfred; 1935] #346
23. Trainspotting [Boyle, Danny; 1995] #360
24. Peeping Tom [Powell, Michael; 1960] #369
25. Secrets & Lies [Leigh, Mike; 1996] #385
26. Henry V [Olivier, Laurence; 1944] #409
27. Black Narcissus [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1946] #412
28. Crying Game, The [Jordan, Neil; 1992] #415
29. Monsieur Verdoux [Chaplin, Charles; 1947] #422
30. Thief of Bagdad, The [Powell, Michael, Berger, & Whelan; 1940] #434
31. Odd Man Out [Reed, Carol; 1947] #478
32. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning [Reisz, Karel; 1960] #485
33. English Patient, The [Minghella, Anthony; 1996] #502
34. Man of Aran [Flaherty, Robert; 1934] #517
35. Kes [Loach, Ken; 1969] #526
36. If… [Anderson, Lindsay; 1968] #533
37. Local Hero [Forsyth, Bill; 1983] #535
38. Canterbury Tale, A [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1944] #536 [photo rt]
39. Providence [Resnais, Alain; 1977] #548
40. Mononoke-hime (anime) [Miyazaki, Hayao; 1997] #555
41. Servant, The [Losey, Joseph; 1963] #560
42. Listen to Britain [Jennings, Humphrey; 1941] #562
43. Shakespeare in Love [Madden, John; 1998] #563
44. Tom Jones [Richardson, Tony; 1963] #583
45. Life of Brian [Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones; 1979] #599
46. Snatch [Ritchie, Guy; 2000] #605
47. I Know Where I'm Going! [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1945] #607
48. Distant Voices, Still Lives [Davies, Terence; 1988] #647
49. Lolita [Kubrick, Stanley; 1962] #650
50. Topsy-Turvy [Leigh, Mike; 1999] #661
51. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels [Ritchie, Guy; 1998] #673
52. Monty Python's Life of Brian [Jones, Terry; 1979] #675
53. Man Who Fell to Earth, The [Roeg, Nicolas; 1976] #678
54. Devils, The (of Loudun) [Russell, Ken; 1971] #684
55. In Bruges [McDonagh, Martin; 2008] #708
56. Man for All Seasons, A [Zinnemann, Fred; 1966] #715
57. Innocents, The [Clayton, Jack; 1961] #742
58. Overlord [Cooper, Stuart; 1975] #763
59. Get Carter [Hodges, Mike; 1971] #776
60. Chicken Run [Park, Nick & Lord, Peter; 2000] #781
61. Fires Were Started [Jennings, Humphrey; 1943] #800
62. Howards End [Ivory, James; 1992] #812
63. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [Park, Nick & Box, Steve; 2005] #815
64. Naked [Leigh, Mike; 1993] #870
65. Bad Timing [Roeg, Nicolas; 1980] #880
66. Fallen Idol, The [Reed, Carol; 1948] #886
67. Goldfinger [Hamilton, Guy; 1964] #901
68. Gregory's Girl [Forsyth, Bill; 1981] #906
69. Night of the Demon [Tourneur, Jacques; 1957] #917
70. This Is England [Meadows, Shane; 2006] #920
71. Chariots of Fire [Hudson, Hugh; 1981] #925
72. Fish Called Wanda, A [Crichton, Charles; 1988] #970
73. O Lucky Man! [Anderson, Lindsay; 1973] #972
74. Quadrophenia [Roddam, Franc; 1979] #1000
75. Love & Diane [Dworkin, Jennifer; 2002] #1006
76. Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The [Richardson, Tony; 1962] #1030
77. Atonement [Wright, Joe; 2007] #1036
78. Hamlet [Olivier, Laurence; 1948] #1044
79. Tales of Hoffmann, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1951] #1053
80. A Room with a View [Ivory, James; 1985] #1067
81. Go-Between, The [Losey, Joseph; 1970] #1115
82. Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The [Greenaway, Peter; 1989] #1128
83. Excalibur [Boorman, John; 1981] #1157
84. Lavender Hill Mob [Crichton, Charles; 1951] #1186
85. Ryan's Daughter [Lean, David; 1970] #1189
86. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman [Lewin, Albert; 1951] #1194
87. Song of Ceylon [Wright, Basil; 1934] #1195
88. Pillow Book, The [Greenaway, Peter; 1996] #1196
89. Full Monty [Cattaneo, Peter; 1997] #1200
90. Accident [Losey, Joseph; 1967] #1226
91. Room at the Top [Clayton, Jack; 1959] #1231
92. Duellists, The [Scott, Ridley; 1977] #1259


UK Plus

1. Pianist, The [Polanski, Roman; 2002] #200 - Fr-Gy-UK-Poland
2. Blow-Up [Antonioni, Michelangelo; 1966] #244 - Italy-UK
3. Big Lebowski, The [Coen, Ethan and Joel; 1998] #386 - US-UK
4. Queen, The [Frears, Stephen; 2006] #481 - UK-Fr-Italy
5. Triplets of Belleville, The [Chomet, Sylvain; 2003] #624 - France-Belg-Can-UK
6. Man on Wire [Marsh, James; 2008] #712 - UK-US
7. Straight Story, The [Lynch, David; 1999] #745 - US-France-UK
8. Orlando [Potter, Sally; 1992] #907 - UK-Russia-France-Italy-Netherlands
9. Sweet Sixteen [Loach, Ken; 2002] #927 - UK-Gy-Spain
10. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, The [Butler, George; 2000] #968 - Sw-UK-Gy-US
11. Festival Express [Smeaton & Cvitanovich; 2003] #985 - UK-Neth
12. Eyes Wide Shut [Kubrick, Stanley; 1999] #1046 - UK-US
13. Leaving Las Vegas [Figgis, Mike; 1995] #1048 - US-UK-France
14. Last Emperor [Bertolucci, Bernardo; 1987] #1054 - UK-Italy-China-France
15. Paragraph 175 [Epstein, Rob & Friedman, Jeffrey; 2000] #1063 - UK-US-Germany
16. Tale of the Wind, A [Ivens, Joris; 1988] #1066 - UK-France-Germany
17. Sense and Sensibility [Lee, Ang; 1995] #1222 - US-UK
18. Sheltering Sky, The [Bertolucci, Bernardo; 1990] #1263 - UK-Italy

© 2009, William L. Sinclair

This is a great list of films, you can pretty much enjoy all the films of these directors: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Powell, Carol Reed, and David Lean - these all belong on any list of great directors. 2001, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia are all in my all-time top 10, and apparently many others lists as well. At Criterion's film club / networking site, The Auteurs, over 100,000 members have 2001 ranked #1, A Clockwork Orange #2, and Dr. Strangelove #5, so it's fair to say they rank Kubrick #1 for directors.

There are many offbeat classics on this list: Kind Hearts and Coronets, In Bruges, A Hard Day's Night, Brazil, Performance, The Servant, Shakespeare in Love, Local Hero, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, Orlando. Probably the most glaring omission for me is Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, a romantic comedy (which includes insanity and communism) from Karel Reisz with David Warner and Vanessa Redgrave as the ex-wife who drives Warner into gorilla suits and insanity.