What is your top 3 english films....mine 1) dead mans shoes
2) scum
3)rita sue and bob 2...soooo funny

A Canterbury Tale
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Secrets and Lies

of course...monty python, how silly of me to forget, life of brian as well...classic...can I make mine top six, nil by mouth, educating Rita and Alfi( the orig not jude law)...god I can think of loads now.

1. Kind hearts and coronets (Alec Guiness playing 8 members of the same family, class!!)

2. Carry on Screaming "frying tonight" and Fenella Fielding gothic style

3. Monty Phython's Life of Brian

The Full Monty
28 Days Later
Layer Cake

In no order...

Rita, Sue and Bob too
Full Monty
Brassed Off

kes
full monty
dog soldiers

The Third Man
Life & Death of Colonel Blimp

Umm ...

Don't know if I can think of a 3rd one of that calibre ...

Maybe the Hitchcock version of The 39 Steps?

Scrooge (Alistair Sim)
The Ladykillers
Brassed Off

Withnail and I
I Know Where I'm Going
Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

rita sue and bob too,quadrophenia, and scum.

Performance.
Brighton Rock
Trainspotting.

English... or British? Thing is, there's some great Scottish and Welsh actors in some of the films above, not to mention crew.

Snatch
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
28 Days Later

Trainspotting
The Ladykillers
Withnail & I

I am pleased that only one person (unless I have missed something) has yet mentioned anything by the awful and grossly over-rated Ken Loach. :thumbsup:

difficult to choose just 3....
Full Monty
Shrek 2
& as its hurtling toward Christmas...Its a Wonderful Life

Oops just spotted my mistake - it said English films - oh well.......

As David Lean is in my view the greatest of English film directors, any three by him deserve a mention :thumbsup:

kes
full monty
dog soldiers

On what grounds are we making films "British" ? Because Dog Soldiers was financed by the Luxembourg Film Commission and was shot in a forest in Luxembourg.

Withnail & I

A Powell/Pressberger film, probably Colonel Blimp but possibly Black Narcissus.

Another Powell/Pressberger film - take your pick really. They are the greatest team that have ever worked in British cinema.

On what grounds are we making films "British" ? Because Dog Soldiers was financed by the Luxembourg Film Commission and was shot in a forest in Luxembourg.

I think the idea is that it is by a British director and British cast (mainly).

When i mean english,i include wales, scotland and ireland, it has to be english theme and location.....my hubby's are dead mans shoes, kes and shaun of the dead......nice!!!!!

shall we allow james bond films?.....none, I don't think, are locatated entirely in the UK, but they are classes as british....arn't they?

There aren't many British films now a days made entirely with British money......we just don't have it! Look at film 4 films, that went under after couple of years of trying to survive on its own..........We cant compete with Hollywood!

shall we allow james bond films?.....none, I don't think, are locatated entirely in the UK, but they are classes as british....arn't they?


Sadly the Cubby Broccoli stage at Pinewood has just been destroyed by fire so the odds of any of bond being filmed in the UK, for the forseeable future at least, has unfortunately ......ahem....... gone up in smoke.

The problem the UK film industry has is not a lack of facillities, talent or production companies. What this country lacks is a large financially stable distribution company. Getting a film made is relatively cheap. Dog Soldiers was made for around £300,000. The costs with any movie are marketing and producing prints. With distribution companies in this country not having the direct links to the cinema chains that 20th Century Fox and Universal have it is a struggle to get a large chain of cinemas to take a gamble on holding a print and a screen for seven days and will often require a deposit to cover the seven day running costs of that screen.

Often what happens is that Universal will buy distribution rights to a film and release it. Thus the original producers receive enough to cover their initial production costs and not a lot else. The executive producers (Universals film buyers) will be the main money earners. This is also why a filmis very rarely produced by a single company any more, hence all the "in association withs" you get in the pre title sequence.

Things are getting better Working Title (Richard Curtis) now have a distribution deal with Universal and BrandyWine Productions (Ridley and Tony Scott) have a deal also with Universal. Orange have started to provide financing for feature films as is The National Lottery and the UK Film Council, we are however no where near making £100,000,000 movies solely out of UK money.

Due to Gordon Brown recently changing the tax breaks available to filmmakers the country has become a lot less enticing to the small budget filmmaker. Ths we see films such as The Descent (Neil Marshall), Dog Soldiers (Neil Marshall) and Creep (Chris Smith) despite these being set within the UK they are filmed and financed through Europe. Creep despite being based arond the London Underground was financed by a German company and from a nine week principal photography shoot only two days were in the UK underground and a full mock up of the station was built on a sound stage in Berlin.

Thus ends my rant on the state of the UK film industry.

Apologies for veering slightly off topic.

Goodbye Mr Chips
Hobsons Choice
? (Forgot the name)

My top 3 would be

Trainspotting
Scum
28 Days Later

Quadrophenia
Four weddings and a funeral
American Werewolf in London

But if i am being British i would add
Trainspotting and
Gregory's girl to that list.

Other notable mentions:

Clockwork orange.
Hope and Glory
And Alien although the theme is not very British!

American werewolf....oh my, class...we may not be as big as hollywood but we can turn out some good ****e....look at wallace and gromit, bags the O's year after year....english films rock..

I say english cause it is important, to me anyway, to see wales(twin towm) scotlant(train spotting) and ireland....er? my family irish can't leave them out...quite man! american really...as an important contribution to the film industry with as much class, if not more, than our allies over the atlantic..

Donuticus....wow you are passionate man, good on ya! however got to say Ridley and Tony may as well have been born over there, they are soooo american...Alien, Top Gun, Gladiator, True Romance????? with all due respect no where near english or "british" films. Richard curtis, yea I get but is he real?????I am talkin about raw real films which reflect how we, the english, as I see myself, look at films and relate to them.

I say english cause it is important, to me anyway, to see wales(twin towm) scotlant(train spotting) and ireland....er? my family irish can't leave them out...quite man! american really...as an important contribution to the film industry with as much class, if not more, than our allies over the atlantic..
I don't really understand tbh, but are you saying Wales et al are in England? Or are you saying English films only, no Scottish, Irish or Welsh films? That would leave only films starring Hugh Grant or Richard E Grant... which make me puke.

What about "The Third Man"?

"Kind Hearts and Coronets" is also am amazing film, brilliantly written and acted.

"Bedazzled" (the original version with Peter Cook et al) is another fabulously written film - I watched it a couple of Christmasses ago, I think it was, and I was just sat there in awe at the cleverness and skill of the script.

StarSparkle

I don't really understand tbh, but are you saying Wales et al are in England? Or are you saying English films only, no Scottish, Irish or Welsh films? That would leave only films starring Hugh Grant or Richard E Grant... which make me puke.
Richard E Grant is from Swaziland.

Richard E Grant is from Swaziland.
In that case I humbly commit Hara-Kiri.

the whole of the uk chic..

So you mean UK films, not just English? It's just that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but the people of NI are not English. I thought you might have meant top 3 English-language films...

WENT THE DAY WELL( The wartime story of germans taking over a small English village)

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (With Kiera Knightly)

BLACK NARCISIS

Life Of Brian
The Ladykillers (NOT the US remake)
Hard Days Night

Also any Ealing & Boulting Brothers production. Then there's St Trinians & any film with Alistair Sim in it. Don't forget the Carry On films as well. Peter Sellers' early films.And last but not least, Lawrence of Arabia.
Hollywood eat your heart out.

Life Of Brian
The Ladykillers (NOT the US remake)
Hard Days Night

Also any Ealing & Boulting Brothers production. Then there's St Trinians & any film with Alistair Sim in it. Don't forget the Carry On films as well. Peter Sellers' early films.And last but not least, Lawrence of Arabia.
Hollywood eat your heart out.

Great choices!

In my opinion, Peter Sellers film "Heaven's Above" is very underrated - it's a beautiful film with very sharp social commentary. And it always makes me cry! :)

StarSparkle

jack and sarah,
trainspotting,
layer cake

This is really hard.

Kes
Holy Grail
Dead Man's Shoes

In no order.

Carry on Screaming (but who sings the theme tune?????? does any one know?)
Time Bandits (Fantastic, all the best comic bods are in it)
Brief Encounter (a classic)

Carry on Screaming (but who sings the theme tune?????? does any one know?)
"Although a vocal version of the theme sung by Boz Burrell was released as a single in the UK, many people believed the uncredited singer of the theme song was Jim Dale. However it was actually performed in the movie by Ray Pilgrim, a session singer for the Woolworths-owned Embassy label."

IMDB strikes again (http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0060214/trivia) :thumbsup:

[Yes, that Boz Burrell, of Bad Company and King Crimson fame ... apparently!]

Donuticus....wow you are passionate man, good on ya! however got to say Ridley and Tony may as well have been born over there, they are soooo american...Alien, Top Gun, Gladiator, True Romance????? with all due respect no where near english or "british" films. Richard curtis, yea I get but is he real?????I am talkin about raw real films which reflect how we, the english, as I see myself, look at films and relate to them.

Thanks for the kind cmments. I'm passionate about this subject because as someone who worked full time till recently in the British Film Industry (now only part-time as im now at university), I have met several people who have been involved in films which have made vast sums of money at the box office but who have made virtually none themselves.

With regards to my earlier point W2 which is a subsidiary of Working Title Pictures has signed an agreement with Universal to distribute and to jointly finance some UK productions. W2 have been involved as the non-romantic comedy arm of Working Title and there main success' so far have been Shaun of the Dead and Alien Autopsy ( I believe AA to be one of theirs but am unable to confirm at present. Will alter post if neccessary)

I see your argument and as a rule would agree that Tony Scott has become more americanised. Ridley however still as a rule makes good solid films. Your point about Alien being an "American Style" film however I feel is incorrect. The Americanisation of the Alien franchise occurs only when Scott is not involved in production. The original has a very European Gothic feel to it. The use H.R Gigers industrial biology designs for the alien. The feel of the original has a claustrophobic feel to it that is sorely missing from its sequels. The films changed from a claustrophobic horror to all out action in the first sequel which was a good action movie, but was as far removed from the original as ham is from cheese.

wow!!!you know ya stuff...can't really challenge that point your knowledge is vast in this area...you ought to talk to my hubby he is a massive film fan, ...I bow to you mr or mrs ...we need more film chat on this forum....watched saw last night...wow, is all I can say....

Am I the only one who thinks 28 days later is utter garbage?:gag:

Boredom personified.

Am I the only one who thinks 28 days later is utter garbage?:gag:

Boredom personified.
You're not alone - I love horror, but that just weren't it. Neither was Doggy-Style Soldiers. Whetever happened to Hammer?

Plenty of excellent films have been mentioned already, but I would like to add 'Young Adam' to the list. I love the dampness and darkness and the creaking of the boat and the raw sex. Oh, and "Ewan McGregor is at the height of his powers in this stunning, existential crime drama by British writer/director David MacKenzie". Apparently.

I am suprised that nil by mouth has not had much of a mention...kathy burke and ray winston...can't remember off hand what year...a very moving gritty film..there was another film around the same time with tim roth in it about him falling for a dentist who workes in a prison...can't remember the name...that was fab

I am suprised that nil by mouth has not had much of a mention...kathy burke and ray winston...can't remember off hand what year...a very moving gritty film..there was another film around the same time with tim roth in it about him falling for a dentist who workes in a prison...can't remember the name...that was fab

I know the film you mean - "Captives"

I've mentioned it on SF before now, saying that it's a must for female fans of Tim Roth! :cool: :thumbsup:

StarSparkle :)

It Happened Here (Gem of a film that took over 10 years to complete)
A Matter of Life and Death (Pressberger & Powell's masterpiece)
Withnail & I (So many quotable lines)

? (Forgot the name)

Think you'll have to give us more than that to go on...

I know the film you mean - "Captives"

I've mentioned it on SF before now, saying that it's a must for female fans of Tim Roth! :cool: :thumbsup:

StarSparkle :)

thank you:)

It's a fab film....gosh a few years old now...

Dead man's shoes was a really good film, little bit gory for my liking though!

I'm renting 28 Days Later, so hope it's good!