BFI Top 100 British films

In 1999 the British Film Institute surveyed 1,000 people from the world of British film and television to produce the BFI 100 list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were 'culturally British'. Some of the selected films were wholly or partly produced by non-UK companies, or made with input from film makers born overseas, but were regarded by voters as having significant British involvement.^[1]

List breakdown

• The 1960s led the pack with 26 films of merit for the decade; four films for each year, 1949, 1963 and 1971; and The earliest film selected was The 39 Steps (1935). Only two other 1930s films made the list, and after 1935, the only years not represented are 1936–1937, 1940–1941, 1950, 1956, 1972 and 1974–78.
• David Lean, with seven films, is the most popular director; followed by Michael Powell (five films, of which four were collaborations with Emeric Pressburger); Powell and Pressburger ("The Archers") and John Schlesinger had four films each while Alexander Mackendrick and Tony Richardson each had three. Seven of the films were produced by Ealing Studios during the years 1949–55.
• The most represented actor is Alec Guinness, with nine films of merit although three appearances were in supporting roles. Michael Caine is the most represented living actor, starring in seven films.
• Julie Christie is the most represented actress, with six films on the list.
• All of the directors in this list are male.

Full List

Rank	Title	Year	Director
1	The Third Man	1949	ReedCarol Reed
2	Brief Encounter	1945	LeanDavid Lean
3	Lawrence of Arabia	1962	LeanDavid Lean
4	The 39 Steps	1935	HitchcockAlfred Hitchcock
5	Great Expectations	1946	LeanDavid Lean
6	Kind Hearts and Coronets	1949	HamerRobert Hamer
7	Kes	1969	LoachKen Loach
8	Don't Look Now	1973	RoegNicolas Roeg
9	The Red Shoes	1948	Powell and PressburgerPowell and Pressburger
10	Trainspotting	1996	BoyleDanny Boyle
11	The Bridge on the River Kwai	1959	LeanDavid Lean
12	if...	1968	AndersonLindsay Anderson
13	The Ladykillers	1955	MackendrickAlexander Mackendrick
14	Saturday Night and Sunday Morning	1960	ReiszKarel Reisz
15	Brighton Rock	1947	BoultingJohn Boulting
16	Get Carter	1971	HodgesMike Hodges
17	The Lavender Hill Mob	1951	CrichtonCharles Crichton
18	Henry V	1944	OlivierLaurence Olivier
19	Chariots of Fire	1981	HudsonHugh Hudson
20	A Matter of Life and Death	1946	Powell and PressburgerPowell and Pressburger
21	The Long Good Friday	1980	MackenzieJohn Mackenzie
22	The Servant	1963	LoseyJoseph Losey
23	Four Weddings and a Funeral	1994	NewellMike Newell
24	Whisky Galore!	1949	MackendrickAlexander Mackendrick
25	The Full Monty	1997	CattaneoPeter Cattaneo
26	The Crying Game	1992	JordanNeil Jordan
27	Doctor Zhivago	1965	LeanDavid Lean
28	Monty Python's Life of Brian	1979	JonesTerry Jones
29	Withnail and I	1987	RobinsonBruce Robinson
30	Gregory's Girl	1980	ForsythBill Forsyth
31	Zulu	1964	EndfieldCy Endfield
32	Room at the Top	1959	ClaytonJack Clayton
33	Alfie	1966	GilbertLewis Gilbert
34	Gandhi	1982	AttenboroughRichard Attenborough
35	The Lady Vanishes	1938	HitchcockAlfred Hitchcock
36	The Italian Job	1969	CollinsonPeter Collinson
37	Local Hero	1983	ForsythBill Forsyth
38	The Commitments	1991	ParkerAlan Parker
39	A Fish Called Wanda	1988	CrichtonCharles Crichton
40	Secrets & Lies	1995	LeighMike Leigh
41	Dr No	1962	YoungTerence Young
42	The Madness of King George	1994	HytnerNicholas Hytner
43	A Man for All Seasons	1966	ZinnemannFred Zinnemann
44	Black Narcissus	1947	Powell and PressburgerPowell and Pressburger
45	The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp	1943	Powell and PressburgerPowell and Pressburger
46	Oliver Twist	1948	LeanDavid Lean
47	I'm All Right Jack	1959	BoultingJohn Boulting
48	Performance	1970	Roeg and CammellNicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell
49	Shakespeare in Love	1998	MaddenJohn Madden
50	My Beautiful Laundrette	1985	FrearsStephen Frears
51	Tom Jones	1963	RichardsonTony Richardson
52	This Sporting Life	1963	AndersonLindsay Anderson
53	My Left Foot	1989	SheridanJim Sheridan
54	Brazil	1985	GilliamTerry Gilliam
55	The English Patient	1996	MinghellaAnthony Minghella
56	A Taste of Honey	1961	RichardsonTony Richardson
57	The Go-Between	1970	LoseyJoseph Losey
58	The Man in the White Suit	1951	MackendrickAlexander Mackendrick
59	The Ipcress File	1965	FurieSidney J. Furie
60	Blow Up	1966	AntonioniMichelangelo Antonioni
61	The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner	1962	RichardsonTony Richardson
62	Sense and Sensibility	1995	LeeAng Lee
63	Passport to Pimlico	1949	CorneliusHenry Cornelius
64	The Remains of the Day	1993	IvoryJames Ivory
65	Sunday, Bloody Sunday	1971	SchlesingerJohn Schlesinger
66	The Railway Children	1970	JeffriesLionel Jeffries
67	Mona Lisa	1986	JordanNeil Jordan
68	The Dam Busters	1955	AndersonMichael Anderson
69	Hamlet	1948	OlivierLaurence Olivier
70	Goldfinger	1964	HamiltonGuy Hamilton
71	Elizabeth	1998	KapurShekhar Kapur
72	Goodbye, Mr Chips	1939	WoodSam Wood
73	A Room with a View	1985	IvoryJames Ivory
74	The Day of the Jackal	1973	ZinnemannFred Zinnemann
75	The Cruel Sea	1953	FrendCharles Frend
76	Billy Liar	1963	SchlesingerJohn Schlesinger
77	Oliver!	1968	ReedCarol Reed
78	Peeping Tom	1960	PowellMichael Powell
79	Far From the Madding Crowd	1967	SchlesingerJohn Schlesinger
80	The Draughtsman's Contract	1982	GreenawayPeter Greenaway
81	A Clockwork Orange	1971	KubrickStanley Kubrick
82	Distant Voices, Still Lives	1988	DaviesTerence Davies
83	Darling	1965	SchlesingerJohn Schlesinger
84	Educating Rita	1983	GilbertLewis Gilbert
85	Brassed Off	1996	HermanMark Herman
86	Genevieve	1953	CorneliusHenry Cornelius
87	Women in Love	1969	RussellKen Russell
88	A Hard Day's Night	1964	LesterRichard Lester
89	Fires Were Started	1943	JenningsHumphrey Jennings
90	Hope and Glory	1987	BoormanJohn Boorman
91	My Name is Joe	1998	LoachKen Loach
92	In Which We Serve	1942	Coward and LeanNoël Coward and David Lean
93	Caravaggio	1986	JarmanDerek Jarman
94	The Belles of St Trinian's	1954	LaunderFrank Launder
95	Life Is Sweet	1990	LeighMike Leigh
96	The Wicker Man	1973	HardyRobin Hardy
97	Nil By Mouth	1997	OldmanGary Oldman
98	Small Faces	1995	MackinnonGillies Mackinnon
99	Carry On... Up the Khyber	1968	ThomasGerald Thomas
100	The Killing Fields	1984	JofféRoland Joffé

See also

• Time Out 100 best British films
• Films considered the greatest ever
• BFI TV 100 – a list of the best British television programmes
• BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14
• In 2004 the BFI compiled a list of the 100 biggest UK cinematic hits of all time based on audience viewing, the list was released as a book. The top 10 are available in this BBC News Online story.

References

1. BBC. 23 September 1999. Entertainment: Best 100 British films - full list. Accessed 30 January 2014.