Best of British Films

[Winkle]

No Snatch or Lock stock? blimey.

[Stavros]

I completely disagree with your assessment of Powell movies. Stunning - and Bond movies being like Big Mac's. Come down off your pedestal.

Hang on - just looked at your list and it has "A Matter of Life & Death" on it?

A Matter of Life and Death -I did a cut and paste job and left that in by mistake, I really do have an almost physical aversion to Powell movies, and if I want to be entertained why would I go to see a Bond movie when British cinema has Norman Wisdom for light-hearted entertainment? Anyway the Americans do light hearted and energetic escapist fantasy so much better, and I have recorded how much I like popular films like many of Clint Eastwood's films, Walter Hill's early films and so on, I don't live on a pedestal. In fact I went to the cinema to see Skyfall and couldn't believe how bad it was, a film franchise that has run out of stories and falls back on a single idea -the most lethal enemy is one of our own etc. There was a time when you knew in advance that if it was a Bond movie there would be a car chase, a boat/underwater chase, a ski chase, improbable gadgets, beautiful women taking their clothes off, and a multi-billionaire megalomaniac determined to destroy the world, as predictable as a burger in a bun and just as satisfying. That's not entertainment, it is superficial trash. Yes, even Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a better film; as is The Italian Job, but I didn't list it as Noel Coward defiles it.

[GroobySteven]

Goldfinger.

[Stavros]

[QUOTE=Prospero;1272673]
I wouldn't be so bold as to say Best - because what is the measure. Box office success? (In which case why isn"t the Sound of Music on either list ) What is a "british" film - financed rimarily by the UK? Made in UK studios? etc... and is best its performances or the screenplay or the fact it is pioneering work?All unanswered by looking at these lists. So in terms of favourites... and some I am prejudiced to think are among the best - is my list.

Rebecca
Walkabout
Lawrence of Arabia
Paths Of Glory
--Are these really British films?
--The problem with Lean is that his obsession with getting the right image often led him to forget he was supposed to be telling a story. There is a comical scene in Lawrence when the 2nd Unit (directed by Nicolas Roeg) films Lawrence and the Arabs moving east-west across the Wadi Rum, then moments later moving west-east -they changed the camera angle and asked the group to move one way then another, an amateurish manoeuvre in a film that makes a mockery of historical events anyway.

Letter to Brezhnev
Sammy And Rosie get laid
--You cannot be serious, Prospero, unbelievable!

Blow up
--again, is this a British film?

In This World
--I have never heard of this film, so cannot comment.

The Third man
--the abuse of music alone makes this one of the worst films ever made, and it isn't British either, surely?

I think the strength of the best of British films is the different narrative style that they have compared to Hollywood, the European continent and Japanese cinema. We have produced some idiosyncatic directors like Ken Russell, Derek Jarman, Lindsay Anderson and Isaac Julien, and even the recently deceased Tony Scott''s first feature, Loving Memory, could never be made or even shown in a country with such puritan attitudes to film as the USA.

[Dino Velvet]

Hey Stavros, speaking of Ken Russell, have you seen Crimes Of Passion? Anthony Perkins is Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs in that deal.

I keep waiting for The Devils to get a good Blu-ray release over here.

[Stavros]

Anthony Perkins is Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs in that deal.

I think I need a translator on this one Dino! Yes, seen it, but not one of Russell's best.

[Prospero]

Stavros wrote:

Rebecca
Walkabout
Lawrence of Arabia
Paths Of Glory
--Are these really British films? Good question? I think so...

--The problem with Lean is that his obsession with getting the right image often led him to forget he was supposed to be telling a story. There is a comical scene in Lawrence when the 2nd Unit (directed by Nicolas Roeg) films Lawrence and the Arabs moving east-west across the Wadi Rum, then moments later moving west-east -they changed the camera angle and asked the group to move one way then another, an amateurish manoeuvre in a film that makes a mockery of historical events anyway. Does authenticity matter? Its the overall cinematic experience for me.... it was a terrific cinematic vision

Letter to Brezhnev
Sammy And Rosie get laid
--You cannot be serious, Prospero, unbelievable! LOL Stavros... I remember liking them... I did say favourites. but it was a looong time ago.

Blow up
--again, is this a British film? italian director - but shot in the Uk and, I think, UK funded

In This World
--I have never heard of this film, so cannot comment. Michael Winterbottom film about five years ago - about two boys trying to get to the Uk from, I think, Kandahar. Heartbreaking

The Third man
--the abuse of music alone makes this one of the worst films ever made, and it isn't British either, surely? Nope... I love the music

I think the strength of the best of British films is the different narrative style that they have compared to Hollywood, the European continent and Japanese cinema. We have produced some idiosyncatic directors like Ken Russell, Derek Jarman, Lindsay Anderson and Isaac Julien, and even the recently deceased Tony Scott''s first feature, Loving Memory, could never be made or even shown in a country with such puritan attitudes to film as the USA.[/QUOTE]

Russell was certainly idisyncratic. Did you like Mahler then and The Music Lovers... The lair Of The White Worm, Tommy etc etc.... many shocklingly bad if visually arresting. As was, IMHO, The Devils (though Jarman's set design was something else)


And I completly forgot The Italian Job which was wonderful (the original not the remake) despite Noel Coward.

I've excluded Ken Loach from my list because i think him a joyless agitprop director who is far too po faced.

[bluesoul]

Some good films, but have they lasted? No Terence Davies; no Michael Winterbottom, and Ken Loach directed Kes.

neither did they include jarman. i'm not sure how serious that list is because it seems like they just listed a bunch of popular (obvious) films

also, i'd consider walkabout aussie

[Prospero]

[QUOTE=

also, i'd consider walkabout aussie[/QUOTE]

That is the problem... this is what it says about the movie on Wikipedia..."Roeg obtained backing from two American businessmen, Max Raab and Si Litvinoff, who incorporated a company in Australia but raised the budget entirely in the US and sold world rights to 20th Century Fox. Filming began in Sydney in August 1969 and later moved to Alice Springs.[1]


British director and writer, Aussie setting, British and Aussie cast, American money but an Australian based commerial operarion. What is it... Aussie/US/British? or cos the cash came from the Americans, it is an american film?

[thebunnyman]

I aint seen a mention of either The Wickerman or Dead Mans Shoes in this thread yet! I can only imagine that this is a oversight by everyone who has posted so far!