Ultimate Film: The UK's 100 Most Popular Films - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184457105X ISBN 13: 9781844571055

Publisher: British Film Institute, 2005

Synopsis

A lavishly-illustrated record of the UK's 100 most popular films, from 1 (Gone with the Wind) to 100 (The Matrix Reloaded). Each entry includes key credits, contemporary and current critical responses, memorable scenes and dialogue, and snippets from behind the camera.

About this title

About the Author

Ryan Gilbey is a writer and critic based in London. He was named the Independent/Sight and Sound Young Film Journalist of the Year in 1993 at the age of 22, won a Press Gazette award for his reviews at the New Statesman, where he was film critic from 2006 until 2023, and has written for the Guardian since 2002. He is the author of It Don't Worry Me: Nashville, Jaws, Star Wars and Beyond (2003) and It Used to Be Witches: Under the Spell of Queer Cinema (2025).

From the Back Cover

One of the most revealing snapshots of British cinema-going ever produced, The Ultimate Film is the definitive list of the all-time top 100 films based on UK cinema admissions. From the 1930s to the present, the chart shows the diverse tastes that come together to make up Britain's choice of film favourites. Is Harry Potter more popular than The Lord of the Rings? How does Bond compare with Bridget Jones? The Ultimate Film has the answers taking the reader from Carry on Nurse to A Clockwork Orange, South Pacific to Star Wars and Ben Hur all the way to Doctor Zhivago. Each film is looked at in turn. What did the critics think of it when it was released and, with the benefit of hindsight, were they right? Who were the stars and who directed the action? What happened behind the scenes? What other films were being lauded at the same time? What was happening in the country and the wider world that led the film to be made, and then made it so popular? Sure to provoke debate and discussion, this fascinating and lavishly illustrated book tells us much about our shared history, culture and attitudes and will undoubtedly rekindle memories and experiences as everyone will be able to point to their personal history, interwoven with some of these films. This is the first time a list has been compiled based on the films people have most wanted to see. Some of the results will come as a surprise and the list has much to tell us about how we once were, and how cinema going has played no small part in shaping our culture and helped make us the way we are today.

Edition details

• Publisher: British Film Institute
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184457105X
• ISBN 13: 9781844571055
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Gilbey Ryan