BFI Top 100 British films

In 1999 the British Film Institute surveyed 1000 people from the world of UK 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'. A few of the selected films were wholly or partly produced by non-UK companies, but were perceived by voters as having significant British involvement.

List breakdown

• The 1960s came out as the most popular decade, with 26 films, and 1963 and 1971 as the most popular years, with four films each. The earliest film chosen was from 1935 (The 39 Steps), with only two other 1930s films featuring in the list. After 1935, 1974–78 was the only period of more than a year from which no films were chosen.

• The most popular director was David Lean, with seven films in the list. Powell and Pressburger ("The Archers") and John Schlesinger had four films each while Alexander Mackendrick and Tony Richardson each had three. Six of the films were produced by Ealing Studios.

• The most represented actor was Sir Alec Guinness, starring in nine films on the list, though three appearances were in supporting roles. The most represented living actor is Sir Michael Caine, starring in seven films.

• The most represented actress is Julie Christie, starring in six films on the list.

The films

Rank	Title	Year	Director	External link / Comment
1	The Third Man	1949	Carol Reed	@ The BFI
2	Brief Encounter	1945	David Lean	@ The BFI
3	Lawrence of Arabia	1962	David Lean	@ The BFI
4	The 39 Steps	1935	Alfred Hitchcock	@ The BFI
5	Great Expectations	1946	David Lean	@ The BFI
6	Kind Hearts and Coronets	1949	Robert Hamer	@ The BFI
7	Kes	1969	Ken Loach	@ The BFI
8	Don't Look Now	1973	Nicolas Roeg	@ The BFI
9	The Red Shoes	1948	Powell & Pressburger	@ The BFI
10	Trainspotting	1996	Danny Boyle	@ The BFI
11	The Bridge on the River Kwai	1957	David Lean	@ The BFI
12	if....	1968	Lindsay Anderson	@ The BFI
13	The Ladykillers	1955	Alexander Mackendrick	@ The BFI
14	Saturday Night and Sunday Morning	1960	Karel Reisz	@ The BFI
15	Brighton Rock	1947	John Boulting	@ The BFI
16	Get Carter	1971	Mike Hodges	@ The BFI
17	The Lavender Hill Mob	1951	Charles Crichton	@ The BFI
18	Henry V	1944	Laurence Olivier	@ The BFI
19	Chariots of Fire	1981	Hugh Hudson	@ The BFI
20	A Matter of Life and Death	1946	Powell & Pressburger	@ The BFI
21	The Long Good Friday	1980	John Mackenzie	@ The BFI
22	The Servant	1963	Joseph Losey	@ The BFI
23	Four Weddings and a Funeral	1994	Mike Newell	@ The BFI
24	Whisky Galore!	1949	Alexander Mackendrick	@ The BFI
25	The Full Monty	1997	Peter Cattaneo	@ The BFI
26	The Crying Game	1992	Neil Jordan	@ The BFI
27	Doctor Zhivago	1965	David Lean	@ The BFI (a US production)
28	Monty Python's Life of Brian	1979	Terry Jones	@ The BFI
29	Withnail and I	1987	Bruce Robinson	@ The BFI
30	Gregory's Girl	1980	Bill Forsyth	@ The BFI
31	Zulu	1964	Cy Endfield	@ The BFI
32	Room at the Top	1958	Jack Clayton	@ The BFI
33	Alfie	1966	Lewis Gilbert	@ The BFI
34	Gandhi	1982	Richard Attenborough	@ The BFI
35	The Lady Vanishes	1938	Alfred Hitchcock	@ The BFI
36	The Italian Job	1969		@ The BFI
37	Local Hero	1983
38	The Commitments	1991
39	A Fish Called Wanda	1988
40	Secrets & Lies	1996
41	Dr. No	1962
42	The Madness of King George	1994
43	A Man for All Seasons	1966
44	Black Narcissus	1947	Powell & Pressburger
45	The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp	1943	Powell & Pressburger
46	Oliver Twist	1948	David Lean
47	I'm All Right Jack	1959
48	Performance	1970
49	Shakespeare in Love	1998
50	My Beautiful Laundrette	1985
51	Tom Jones	1963
52	This Sporting Life	1963
53	My Left Foot	1989
54	Brazil	1985
55	The English Patient	1996		(a US production)
56	A Taste of Honey	1961
57	The Go-Between	1971
58	The Man in the White Suit	1951
59	The IPCRESS File	1965
60	Blowup	1966
61	The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner	1962
62	Sense and Sensibility	1995
63	Passport to Pimlico	1949
64	The Remains of the Day	1993
65	Sunday Bloody Sunday	1971
66	The Railway Children	1970
67	Mona Lisa	1986
68	The Dam Busters	1955
69	Hamlet	1948
70	Goldfinger	1964		(a joint UK-US production)
71	Elizabeth	1998
72	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	1939
73	A Room with a View	1985
74	The Day of the Jackal	1973
75	The Cruel Sea	1952
76	Billy Liar	1963
77	Oliver!	1968
78	Peeping Tom	1960
79	Far from the Madding Crowd	1967
80	The Draughtsman's Contract	1982
81	A Clockwork Orange	1971
82	Distant Voices, Still Lives	1988
83	Darling	1965
84	Educating Rita	1983
85	Brassed Off	1996
86	Genevieve	1953
87	Women in Love	1969
88	A Hard Day's Night	1964
89	Fires Were Started	1943
90	Hope and Glory	1987
91	My Name Is Joe	1998
92	In Which We Serve	1942	David Lean
93	Caravaggio	1986
94	The Belles of St. Trinian's	1954
95	Life is Sweet	1990
96	The Wicker Man	1973
97	Nil by Mouth	1997
98	Small Faces	1995
99	Carry On up the Khyber	1968
100	The Killing Fields	1984

See also

• Films considered the greatest ever
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

External links

• The list in full