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Time Out Magazine has published a top 100 list of British films chosen in its poll of 150 British film makers. And its Top 10 didn't include David Lean's 'Lawrence of Arabia'!!
The list contains productions of iconic standing within the history of British Cinema. There is not one in it you could argue vigorously against, but!!
 
The BFI list of the top 100 British Films compiled in 1999 can be seen on their website, http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/bfi100/ 
The BFI had these films in the 1999 Top 10 -
 
1 The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
2 Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)
3 Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
4 The 39 Steps (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 The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
10 Trainspotting (1996, Danny Boyle)
 
Three films in the top 10, of seven overall that David Lean had in the top 100 listing, 'Lawrence of Arabia' was third and is now relegated to twenty-third in the Time Out list. 
The Time Out Top 10 -
 
1 Don't Look Now (1973, Nicholas Roeg)
2 The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
3 Distant Voices Still Lives (1988, Terence Davies)
4 Kes (1969 Ken Loach)
5 The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell,Emeric Pressburger)
6 A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Michael Powell,Emeric Pressburger)
7 Performance (1970, Nicholas Roeg) 
8 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, Robert Hamer)
9 If (1968, Lindsay Anderson)
10 Trainspotting (1996, Danny Boyle)
 
Take a look at the 'Time Out' 100 list in full on their website, http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/886/100-best-british-films-the-full-list#bestOf-20
 
Some have held their places and others climbed a bit, others have dropped but no David Lean at all in the 'Top 10', surely shome mishtake?
 
The BFI deliberately invite argument about the films they listed saying, "The list is intended, and offered, as a starting-point for any discussion, rather than as an end to one."
 
Time Out also see the exercise as a starting point -
"In that spirit, we acknowledge that list-making is no science. It’s a snapshot of taste at one moment in time. Hopefully, too, it’s a chance to look back and consider the ideas and the people that inform British cinema now. How can we know where we're going, if we don't know where we came from?"
 
We do see changes in style that reflects a generation's prevailing attitude, could the same be true of films we grow fonder of over time and those which cease to resonate? Would it even be possible to write a definitive list and if it were, should it be encouraged?
 
We want to hear what you think, what would you include that isn't in the recent Time Out Top 100 (and maybe not in the 1999 BFI list either). Maybe even create your own Top 10 for us to discuss?
MM.

 

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