Empire's List of the Best British Films of All Time.
In October 2011 the British movie magazine EMPIRE published its list of the 100 Best British Films of all time.
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- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.David Lean's epic account of British solider TE Lawrence's experiences in First World War Arabia. Won 7 Oscars including Best Director for Lean. Initially cut by 20 minutes on its original release, the film was restored to it's original length in a Director's Cut which premiered as the Opening Night film at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.
- DirectorTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseMichael PalinBorn on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.Released in 1979 to a storm of controversy. Voted by Britain's Channel 4 in 2006 the Best Comedy film of all time. Michael Palin's diaries (The Python Years) contain a detailed account of gestation, production and release of the film.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsAnton WalbrookMarius GoringMoira ShearerA young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.Lermontov: When we first met ... you asked me a question to which I gave a stupid answer, you asked me whether I wanted to live and I said "Yes". Actually, Miss Page, I want more, much more. I want to create, to make something big out of something little – to make a great dancer out of you. But first, I must ask you the same question, what do you want from life? To live?
Vicky: To dance.
Won Oscars for Best Music Score and Best Art Direction. - DirectorNicolas RoegStarsJulie ChristieDonald SutherlandHilary MasonA married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.Horror story featuring a recently bereaved couple - Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland - in a wintery Venice. Won the BAFTA for Best Cinematography.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsCelia JohnsonTrevor HowardStanley HollowayMeeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.David Lean's timeless love story featuring an unconsumated romance between a suburban English doctor (Trevor Howard) and a married housewife (Celia Johnson). Premiered at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 where it shared the Palm D'Or.
- DirectorEdgar WrightStarsSimon PeggNick FrostKate AshfieldThe uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.Comedy horror. Zombies take over a London suburb. Nice guy Shaun (Simon Pegg) and friend Ed (Nick Frost) comes to the rescue of his girlfriend Liz.
- DirectorRobert HamerStarsDennis PriceAlec GuinnessValerie HobsonA distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.Edwardian black comedy in which lowly Dennis Price murders his way through an aristocratic family (all played by Alec Guinness) until he inherits the title that is rightfully his.
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsEwan McGregorEwen BremnerJonny Lee MillerRenton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Junkies in modern day Edinburgh. Directed by Danny Boyle, The New York Times review declared: "Dark as its subject matter is, this film manages the incredible trick of remaining jubilant and fresh" (July 19, 1996). Won the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay.
- DirectorBill ForsythStarsBurt LancasterPeter RiegertFulton MackayAn American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.American oil executive goes to buy a remote Scottish coastal village. Won the BAFTA for Best Director.
- DirectorBruce RobinsonStarsRichard E. GrantPaul McGannRichard GriffithsIn 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned."It dazzles the senses and the mind" wrote Vincent Canby in The New York Times (December 20, 1971). Nominated for four Oscars including Best Film.
- DirectorShane MeadowsStarsThomas TurgooseStephen GrahamJo HartleyA young boy becomes friends with a gang of skinheads. Friends soon become like family, and relationships will be pushed to the very limit.An English town during the recession of 1983 and a young teenager befriends a gang. Won the BAFTA for Best British Film and led to a spin-off TV series.
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsPete PostlethwaiteFreda DowieAngela WalshThe lives of an English working-class family are told out of order in a free-associative manner. The first part, "Distant Voices", focuses on the father's role in the family. The second part, "Still Lives", focuses on his children.Terence Davies account of working class Liverpool life in the 1940s and 1950s. Premiered at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.Thriller set in post-war Vienna. Won the Palm D'Or at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.Second world war drama set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Won 7 Oscars including Best Director for David Lean and Best Actor Alec Guinness.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsSean ConneryGert FröbeHonor BlackmanWhile investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.Third James Bond film in which 007 battles sinister millionaire Goldfinger and his plot to destroy Fort Knox.
- DirectorStephen DaldryStarsJamie BellJulie WaltersJean HeywoodA talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.During the English miners strike of 1984, a young miners son defies convention and becomes a ballet dance. Directed by Stephen Daldry, the film won 3 BAFTAs including Best Actor and was nominated for three Oscars including Best Director, Screenplay and Supporting Actress.
- DirectorTerry GilliamTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseEric IdleKing Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.Comedy with King Arthur and his knights on a surreal quest through a very real looking medievel England.
- DirectorJohn MackenzieStarsBob HoskinsHelen MirrenPaul FreemanAn up-and-coming gangster is tested by the insurgence of an unknown, very powerful threat.A London gangster finds his whole world collapse over two days of the Easter holidays. Set in a London of Docklands redevelopment and IRA bombings, the film is a metaphor for Britain at the end of the 1970s/beginning of 1980s.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDavid NivenKim HunterRobert CooteA British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.Powell and Pressburger's fantasy in which RAF pilot David Niven refuses to die and enter heaven because he has fallen in love. Features a celestial debate about Britain and America's role in the post-war world.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsHugh GrantAndie MacDowellJames FleetOver the course of five social occasions, a committed bachelor must consider the notion that he may have discovered love.Grossed $244 million world-wide. Winner of 4 BAFTAs including Best Film, Director and Actor, Golden Globe for Best Actor and the Ceasar Award for Best Foreign Film. Oscar nominated for Best Film.
- DirectorKarel ReiszStarsAlbert FinneyShirley Anne FieldRachel RobertsA rebellious, hard-living factory worker juggles relationships with two women, one of whom is married to another man but pregnant with his child.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLaurence OlivierJoan FontaineGeorge SandersA self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.Though shot in Hollywood, directed by an Englishman (Alfred Hitchcock) with a British setting and mostly British cast. Won the 1940 Best Film Oscar.
- DirectorDuncan JonesStarsSam RockwellKevin SpaceyDominique McElligottAstronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsRoger LiveseyDeborah KerrAnton WalbrookFrom the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.