BFI's Top 100 British Films

An American pulp writer arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend's involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with his Czech girlfriend.

Brief Encounter is a classic from British director David Lean about two people who fall in love yet face the fact that they are already married and can never be together.

Lawrence of Arabia is the classic film from David Lean starring Peter O’Toole and based on the autobiography from Thomas Edward Lawrence who during the first World War was on assignment by the British Empire in Arabia. The film would become a cult classic and is known today as a masterpiece.

The 39 Steps is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpieces. A romantic thriller that revolves around a Canadian tourist visiting London who gets caught in the middle of a murder plot that has police and the secret service after him. A classic Hitchcock of romance mixed with adventure and picturesque scenes.

A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.

Louis Mazzini's mother belongs to the aristocratic family D'Ascoyne, but she ran away with an opera singer. Therefore, she and Louis were rejected by the D'Ascoynes. Once adult, Louis decides to avenges his mother and him, by becoming the next Duke of the family. Murdering every potential successor is clearly the safest way to achieve his goal.

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

Don’t Look Now is a thriller starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as a married couple who tragically loose their daughter and thereafter are confronted with only mysterious occurrences.

A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.

"Choose life." Trainspotting is a Scottish cult film from the 1990’s about a group of junkies and their perspective on life. The film was the most commercially successful British film of the 20th century.

A classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson , the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

In this allegorical story, a revolution lead by pupil Mick Travis takes place at an old established private school in England.

Meet "The Unholy Five"...The Most Befuddled Set of Assorted Thugs That Ever Fouled Up a Million Dollar Bank Robbery!!

A rebellious, hard-living factory worker juggles relationships with two women, one of whom is married to another man but pregnant with his child.

Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.

Michael Caine is Jack Carter, a small-time hood working in London. When word reaches him of his brothers death, he travels to Newcastle to attend the fulneral. Refusing to accept the police report of suicide, Carter seeks out his brother's friends and acquaintances to learn who murdered his sibling and why.

A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers.

Based on one the most popular historical plays by Shakespeare and made in order to boost moral of British troops during WW2, this movie is about English king Henry V and his military campaign in France in 1415.

Based on the true story of British athletes preparing for and competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture.

When a young airman miraculously survives bailing out of his aeroplane without a parachute, he falls in love with an American radio operator. But the officials in the other world realise their mistake, and despatch an angel to collect him.

Harold, a prosperous English gangster, is about to close a lucrative new deal when bombs start showing up in very inconvenient places. A mysterious syndicate is trying to muscle in on his action, and Harold wants to know who they are. He finds out soon enough, and bloody mayhem ensues.

A decadent London aristocrat hires a man-servant to attend to his needs. However, the balance of power starts to shift...

Four Weddings And A Funeral is a British comedy about a British Man named Charles and an American Woman named Carrie who go through numerous weddings before they determine if they are right for one another.

Based on a true story. The name of the real ship, that sunk Feb 5 1941 - during WWII - was S/S Politician. Having left Liverpool two days earlier, heading for Jamaica, it sank outside Eriskay, The Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in bad weather, containing 250,000 bottles of whisky. The locals gathered as many bottles as they could, before the proper a...

Sheffield, England. Gaz, a jobless steelworker in need of quick cash persuades his mates to bare it all in a one-night-only strip show.

Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds ...

Doctor Zhivago is the filmed adapation of the Russian novel by Boris Pasternak from director David Lean that was an international success and today deemed a classic. Omar Sharif and Julie Kristie play two protagonists who in fact love each other yet because of their current situation cannot find a way be together.

A brilliant parody from the British comedy group Monty Python about the history of Jesus. A Terry Jones directed film from 1979 that has since gained cult status.

Two 'resting' actors living in a squalid Camden Flat - and living off a diet of booze and pills - take a trip to a country house (belonging to Withnail’s uncle) to 'rejuvenate'. Faced with bad weather, altercations with the locals, and the unexpected arrival (and advances) of Uncle Monty, the pairs wits and friendship are tested...

A teenager falls hard for the female soccer player who has replaced him on the team and attempts to pursue her.

Outnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift. Based on a true story.

British film based on the novel of the same name by John Braine. The novel was adapted by Neil Paterson with uncredited work by Mordecai Richler. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by James Woolf and John Woolf.

The film tells the story of a young man who leads a promiscuous lifestyle until several life reversals make him rethink his purposes and goals in life.

Director Richard Attenborough tells with this epic, and elaborate produced film, the story of freedom and peace fighter Gandhi, the Indian who helped give Indians their independence. The film was nominated in eleven categories at the Academy Awards, winning eight in total.

The Lady Vanishes is a crime thriller from Alfred Hitchcock from 1938 about a train ride in which mysterious events take place.

Charlies' got a 'Job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one of friends has attempted a high risk job in Italy, right under the nose of the Mafia. Charlies friend doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'Job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of jaguars and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal the Gold and escape.

An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a thick-ya out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an agin...

A Fish Called Wanda is the successful criminal comedy from 1988 about a diamond advocate who is attempting to steal a collection of diamonds yet troubles arise when they realize that they are not the only ones after the diamonds.

Roxanne drives her mother crazy. Maurice never speaks to his niece. Cynthia has a shock for her family. Monica can't talk to her husband. Hortense has never met her mother.

The mysterious scientist Dr. No sabotages the American space program from his secret base in Jamaica. The Secret Service sends it’s best agent after this him. Dr. No is the first film of legendary James Bond series starring Sean Connery in the role of a British super agent.

Nicholas Hytner’s much awarded 1994 drama, based on Alan Bennett's West End play. George III's erratic behaviour leads to a plot in Parliament to have him declared insane and removed from the throne.

A Man for All Seasons is the filmed version of the life of Thomas More. An English man comes to Sir Thomas More to ask if he can divorce his wife since King Henry VIII has made it illegal. Sir Tomas More stands up in opposition to the King even though he knows he’s risking his own life. An award winning film from 1966.

based on the novel of the same name by Rumer Godden. It is a psychological drama about the emotional tensions within a convent of nuns in an isolated Himalayan valley

General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been ...

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill ...

Naive Stanley Windrush looks for a career in a family business. Much to his dismay, he finds work at a munitions factory where he has to start from the bottom, while both the management and the labor union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

In underworld terms Chas Devlin (James Fox) is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner (Mick Jagger) is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide--and the impact is both exotic and explosive.

A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.

A young Pakistani Briton manages a rundown laundrette with his lover while dealing with tension in his family, the local Pakistani community, and a persistent mob of skinheads.