News for
If.... (1968)

advertisement

IMDbPro offers the latest entertainment industry news from the Hollywood Reporter. Sign-up for a two-week free trial today. Click here for a free trial!

The Third Man Voted Best British Film Ever
23 September 1999 (StudioBriefing)
One thousand members of the British Film Institute have named Carol Reed's 1949 film Third Man, The (1949), starring Orson Welles, the best British film of all time and David Lean, the greatest director. In releasing its list of 100 top British films, the BFI drew surprisingly little criticism -- unlike the American Film Institute's top-100 list, which was excoriated in some quarters when it was released last year. (Coincidentally, it selected another Orson Welles starrer, Citizen Kane (1941) as the greatest American film.) Nick James, editor of the U.K.'s Sight and Sound magazine, told today's (Thursday) London Independent: "There are very few films on it that we could have an argument with."

The top twenty on the British Film Institute list:

1. Third Man, The (1949) (Carol Reed); 2. Brief Encounter (1946) (David Lean); 3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (1962, David Lean); 4. 39 Steps, The (1935) (Alfred Hitchcock); 5. Great Expectations (1946) (David Lean); 6. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) (Robert Hamer); 7. Kes (1969) (Ken Loach); 8. Don't Look Now (1973) (Nicolas Roeg); 9. Red Shoes, The (1948) (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger); 10. Trainspotting (1996) (Danny Boyle); 11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) (David Lean); 12. If... (1968) (Lindsay Anderson); 13. Lady Killers, The (1955) (Alexander Mackendrick); 14. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) (Karel Reisz); 15. Brighton Rock (1947) (John Boulting); 16. Get Carter (1971) (Mike Hodges (I)); 17. Lavender Hill Mob, The (1951) (Charles Crichton); 18. Henry V (1944) (Laurence Olivier); 19. Chariots of Fire (1981) (Hugh Hudson); 20. Matter of Life and Death, A (1946) (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger).