The Best Of British

As I approached the halfway stage of my mammoth mission to review the top fifty films on the Internet Movie Database, it suddenly dawned on me how under-represented the British film industry was. Although directors and stars from these shores crop up regularly, wholly British productions are entirely absent. With that in mind, here’s my totally subjective top ten British films ever made...

The rules for qualification are simple: the film must have been made in Britain and feature largely British talent. In a global film industry, transference of skills and talent mean that many productions are multinational affairs: in my list there can be no doubt that the films qualify as purely British. The only other concrete rule is that no director is allowed to appear more than once – there would be a serious danger of Shane Meadows and Danny Boyle making up the whole top ten otherwise. Of course, there are bound to be films I’ve missed and you won’t agree with my choices. But it’s my list – if you want to debate it, comment below.

A Matter Of Life And Death:
Dir: Michael Powell & Emerich Pressburger
Was there ever a more British film than A Matter of Life and Death? When David Niven’s World War II pilot is shot down over the Channel, his soul is lost in an all encompassing mist. Thanks to the heavenly mix-up he’s then able to argue for his life in court – asserting that the female radio-operator whose voice he fell in love with on his plummet to Earth has given him fresh cause to live. The film is a beguiling mixture of courtroom drama, romance and philosophy – and hits the target every single time. A lovely, thought provoking film.

Trainspotting
Dir: Danny Boyle
Currently slugging it out with Chris Nolan to be considered our greatest current director, Danny Boyle has won Oscars and conquered Hollywood. But it’s his earlier British films which linger longest in the memory: the blackly comic Shallow Grave, amazingly apocalyptic 28 Days Later and, of course, his incendiary adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting. Catapulting its cast and crew into superstardom, it remains the finest film about youth culture and drug use ever made: my in depth review of the film is here.

Withnail & I
Dir: Bruce Robinson
The quintessential student film is filled to the brim with choice quotations, amazing music and copious quantities of booze. The famous drinking game which sees you match the permanently inebriated Withnail drink for drink would see you consume nine and a half glasses of red wine, half a pint of cider, one shot of lighter fluid, two and a half shots of gin, six glasses of sherry, thirteen glasses of whisky and half a pint of ale. According to the medical profession, this quantity of alcohol, consumed over the course of the film, would be fatal. My love affair with Withnail & I is detailed here.

Kind Hearts & Coronets
Dir: Robert Hamer
The blackest of black comedies stars the marvellous Sir Alec Guinness in eight different roles, playing every single member of the aristocratic D’Ascoyne family as scheming relative Louis Mazzini attempts to murder his way to their fortune. Price is wonderfully poised as the calculatingly charming killer, but it’s Guinness’ film as performs male and female roles with admirable class and skill. It’s hard to believe that such biting satire could have been made in 1949 and serves to hammer home how uninventive and staid much of Hollywood’s comedic output is nowadays.

Tyrannosaur
Dir: Paddy Considine
Paddy Considine’s directorial debut owes a debt to his great friend and mentor, Shane Meadows. Of that, there is no doubt. But it’s not a homage or pastiche. Instead, Considine takes his friend’s grittily realistic style and stamps his own authority all over it. Along the way he explores huge issues like alcoholism, rape and domestic violence and coaxes amazing performances from a strong British cast – including the magnificent Olivia Colman. My review of the film (and a Q&A with the director) is here.

Dead Man’s Shoes
Dir: Shane Meadows
A claustrophobically intense film with a mesmeric central performance from a terrifying Paddy Considine. He plays a soldier returning to the small Midlands town whose inhabitants terrorised his younger brother – and to take revenge on them. Full of darkly comic set pieces and harrowing black and white flashbacks, it’s a tour de force in building tension from director Shane Meadows – and features a brilliantly conceived twist. Meadows might equally have appeared in this list with the estimable This Is England, but the less well known A Room For Romeo Brass is arguably a better film – again with Considine playing ‘unhinged’ with scary accuracy.

A Clockwork Orange
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
A Clockwork Orange was never banned in this country. Rather, director Stanley Kubrick withdrew it from release – perhaps in response to threats against his life. The furore surrounding the film overplays the more controversial elements of its content – the violence is stylised and the oft-mentioned sexual violence does not occur on camera. As a result it’s easy to forget that the majority of the film concerns Alex deLarge’s curative ‘aversion therapy’ and poses serious and probing moral questions. Aside from this, however, it remains a powerful and iconic picture which has influenced cinema, fashion and music ever since its release.

The Wicker Man
Dir: Robin Hardy
There are very few films which are genuinely creepy: The Wicker Man is one of them. Set on the remote Scottish island of Summerisle, the film sees Edward Woodward’s devoutly religious policeman searching for a missing child amongst the isle’s pagan inhabitants. It’s a thoroughly unsettling affair thanks to its sinister folk music soundtrack, thoroughly disturbing characters and off-kilter imagery. Even the sight of Britt Ekland dancing naked is slightly disconcerting – not least because it wasn’t her bottom at all, but that of a body double.

Hunger
Dir: Steve McQueen
Michael Fassbender is now firmly part of the Hollywood A-list, but this is where his career really began. He gives a sensitive and powerful performance of huge bravery and physicality in his portrayal of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. He lost 33 pounds to play the part – yet as he shrinks in stature Fassbender seems to grow in power. McQueen has developed an unobtrusive style incorporating extremely long takes – and Hunger features an absolute stonker. As he engages a Catholic priest in political discourse, the two characters smoke cigarette after cigarette – a seventeen minute scene of minute detail and tremendous skill.

Control
Dir: Anton Corbijn
For years, Ian Curtis’ widow denied filmmakers the rights to her story. When she finally relented, it was first time director Anton Corbijn who was handed the reins. Schooled in photography and music video, Corbijn brings his experience to bear in beautifully shot black and white. But all the directorial skill in the world would be irrelevant were it not for Sam Riley’s performance as the Joy Division frontman. He IS Ian Curtis: jittery, charismatic, achingly sad and manically energetic. And with a soundtrack provided by Manchester’s finest, Control is one of the finest biopics ever produced.