Fell From Top Ten To Not Mentioned At All

Following on from Mark Kermode's appraisal of Jim McBride's Breathless (1983), perhaps the most rebellious contribution I can think of is that one time a movie critic voted for Carry On Up The Kyber in the B.F.I's Top 100 British Films list. It's the British equivalent of that time in Apocalypse Now (1979) Col. Kurtz came to the bonkers understanding when he was processing how the Vietcong hacking off the arms off inoculated children, was not only an act of defiance, but also a level of genius. I don't know about any mutilations, but any professional critic nominating a Carry On film and it making it on to a best British Films list, deserves a salute from me.

Scanning through the aforementioned list, along with other versions produced last year, by both Empire and Time Out, there's a bunch of utter shite any non-poncey movie lover could do without. However, what's interesting about these more recent lists, is they open the floodgates for more genre movies. They might be somewhat tokenistic to a degree, since they appear to be ranked very low and are there for the sake of filler. Meanwhile, the usual rogue's gallery of luvvy directors dominate these lists with multiple movies from their respective filmographies. Props to whoever voted for Theatre Of Blood (1973), though. Coincidentally, it's a film that pokes fun at the poetic demise of critics. Personally consider that as Vincent Price's greatest ever film.

This got me thinking, perhaps it's worth the time to make a Dada Debaser list of the 100 Best British Films. Examining the other lists, the criteria to qualify seemed to muddy the waters with a number of irregularities, e.g. co-production by a non-British studio. Googling took me to some government web document of guildlines, but here's the gist of what I got out of it (search notes, you're a life saviour):

• A setting in the UK or a focus on British people abroad. 
• A predominantly British cast. 
  
• A storyline about some aspect of British life — past, present or future — or notably by, or based on a work by, a British author.  
• The nationalities of scriptwriter, producer, director and, perhaps especially, the ‘investment’ seem less obviously significant.

That sounds like a fair guide to follow when coming up with worthy nominations.

From the three lists, I managed to tick through around 20-25 films I would agree with - at least at this very early stage. That might make the creation of a monumental list like this daunting to some, but it's certainly a worthy challenge. Get to put my money where my mouth is, and all that. Will keep working on this and get it finished and posted later this year. Word to Sidney Ruff-Diamond.

"Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin the scene
With a gangsta lean, wooh"