Movie-makers name their classic films of the past 75 years

From The Times
September 3, 2008
Movie-makers name their classic films of the past 75 years

Film-makers and celebrities voted overwhelmingly for the classics when asked to pick a film to share with future generations, in a damning indictment of contemporary cinema. Of the 75 people polled by the British Film Institute (BFI), only nine chose movies from the past 20 years.

The director Ken Loach selected Jiri Menzel's Closely Observed Trains (1966), the Bond star Sir Roger Moore picked David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Stephen Frears, director of The Queen, chose Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949). The poll, Visions for the Future, was not a hunt for the celebrities' favourites, the BFI said, but a consideration of why film is important and what we would wish to say about ourselves and our society to future generations.

There are surprising omissions. Citizen Kane, often voted as the greatest film, was not on the list. There was also only one film - Empire of the Sun - by Steven Spielberg, even though he is regarded as one of the greatest modern film-makers, and only one by Loach - Kes. The Oscar-winning producer Lord Puttnam, chose one of his own films, Local Hero (1983).

Few picked a foreign-language film. The actress Cate Blanchett singled out Andrei Tarkovsky's dark science- fiction parable, Stalker (1979), while the French actress Juliette Binoche went for the Russian director's vision of the end of the world, The Sacrifice (1986). Jean Vigo's L'Atalante (1934), which has been described as arguably the best French film, was picked three times - by the writer-producer Lynda Myles and the directors Julien Temple and David Mackenzie.

Surprisingly, such recent foreign masterpieces as The Lives of Others (2006), about human behaviour under a dictatorship, was omitted, despite it being showered with awards and critical acclaim. Not many films received more than one nomination. A Matter of Life and Death (1946), in which David Niven plays a Second World War pilot who escapes death, was selected three times. The Third Man (1949), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and The Battle of Algiers (1966) each received two nominations. Other films included Never Take No for an Answer (1951), picked by the actor Sir Ben Kingsley as “a story of decency, love, persistence and faith - everything Europe so desperately needed then”.

The director Terence Davies chose Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - the Ealing studios classic with Alec Guinness in eight different roles - which he described as “utterly flawless”.

Coming to the defence of contemporary film-makers who have been overlooked in the poll, Amanda Nevill, director of the BFI, said that it was perhaps too early to judge their work.

Now the public is going to be asked the same question as part of a nationwide poll to mark the BFI's 75th anniversary. They can repeat one of the 75 original choices or nominate their own - explaining their reasons - by voting online at www.bfi.org.uk/75, in BFI venues (BFI Southbank, BFI Imax and Stephen Street, Central London) or at selected cinemas across Britain. Voting is open until September 30.

The highest-polling films will be announced next month and the top five shown at BFI Southbank from January, and then in regional venues.