My Criterion Top Ten

I don't harbor many illusions of one day being famous but if I did become famous, or well-known in some field or another, I think the best perk would be the possibility of being asked to do a Top Ten list for the Criterion Collection website.

I know it's a relatively small dream but small dreams have a better chance of coming true. And just in case, here's what I would pick. A fairly twee list, now that I look at it, pretty short on the big hitter foreign films. But I gotta be true to myself.

No pithy commentary. I'll save that for the real thing.

Charade

Mona Lisa

Notorious

The Rules of the Game

Metropolitan

The Lady Vanishes

I Know Where I'm Going!

The Third Man

Walkabout

Stagecoach

The Best British Films

My friend Kevin alerted me to a new list of 100 Best British Films, compiled by Time Out Magazine. I say it's a new list because the British Film Institute has already done a top 100 British films but this list is quite different. For example, The Third Man does not rank number one on the Time Out list; that spot goes to Don't Look Now. Now, I love Don't Look Now as much as the next 1970s horror fan, but it's not better than The Third Man, at least in my game of poker.

The real reason to look at the list is that they compile everyone they polled and give you their individual Top Tens. This, to me, is far more interesting than the big list. Who knew that Thandie Newton's favorite British film is The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner?

So, because I love making lists like my cat loves shoelaces, I thought I'd do my top ten Brit Flicks, not an easy task. Here they are, in order.

10. The Wings of the Dove (1997)

A film I love a lot more than anyone I know. Contains, I believe, one of the greatest screen performances ever by Helena Bonham Carter.

9. Walkabout (1971)

Unpleasant but unshakeable. Australian children lost in the wilderness.

8. Dead of Night (1945)

My choice for greatest British horror film. It has some flawed moments but the final sequence seals the deal.

7. Mona Lisa (1986)

 My favorite British noir and a heartbreaking tragedy.

6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

Everything came together for the sixth Bond film--best story, best Bond girl, best music. Well, everything but best Bond. Would Connery have worked in this odd film? We'll never know.

5. The 39 Steps (1935)

The first of many perfectly-realized Hitchcock films.

4. Local Hero (1983)

A love story between a man and a place. Dry wit and and magical realism.

3. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)

My favorite Powell & Pressburger, also about love and about place.

2. The Third Man (1949)

Not only is this one of the great thrillers it also has some great comedy, zither music, and an unrequited love story.

1. The Lady Vanishes (1938)

I do believe this is the greatest melding of adventure, comedy and romance. It is also the British version of Stagecoach and a call to arms for pre-war Britain.