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 Early
in 1999, the
British Film Institute produced a selection booklet and sent
copies to 1,000 people embracing all strands of the film, cinema and
television industries throughout the UK - producers, directors, writers,
actors, technicians, academics, exhibitors, distributors, executives
and critics. Participants were asked to consider (and vote for up to
100) 'culturally British' feature films, released in cinemas during
the 20th century, which they felt had made a strong and lasting impression
on the art form and the culture. Altogether, more than 25,700 votes
were cast, covering 820 different films. The final selection makes compulsive
reading. The BFI admits:
The key to the BFI 100, though, is that it does provoke
an argument. Of course one person might urge that one title should
be included or another not. Of course there may be films that are
not on this list which one could argue passionately merit a place...The
list is intended, and offered, as a starting-point for any discussion,
rather than as an end to one.
Facts
About the Top 100 British Film Selections:
- The films span seven decades, from 1935 to 1998,
and the list accommodates the work of 70 film directors and much international
talent.
- The list contains no silent films. The earliest film
included is Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) at #4. There's just one documentary
on the list: Fires Were Started (1943) - at #89.
- Of the seven decades represented (1930s to 1990s),
the most represented decade is the 1960s, and the least represented
is the 1930s. There are three from the 1930s; 16 from the 1940s; 10
from the 1950s; 26 from the 1960s; 10 from the 1970s; 18 from the
1980s; and 17 from the 1990s.
- David Lean directed six of the 100 films and co-directed
another, with Noel Coward: In Which We Serve (1942) at #92.
- The actor with the most included films to his credit
is Sir Alec Guinness, who appears in nine films, three of them in
the top 10:
 Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Great
Expectations (1946), and Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949).
- Michael Caine and Julie Christie each star in six
films.
- Unsurprisingly, literary adaptations feature strongly
- ranging from Shakespeare and Dickens to Roddy Doyle and Irvine Welsh
- and the highbrow mixes easily with the low, as one favorite Carry
On lurches into the list.
Note: Descriptions are excerpted from the
BFI web site. The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films"
site has selected as the "100
Greatest Films".
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