|
sissymaidlola -> The AFI, the BFI and "The Third Man" (3/12/2005 8:37:45 PM)
|
"In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had 500 years of democracy and peace -- and what did that produce ? The cuckoo clock."
Spoken by Orson Welles as Harry Lime in The Third Man (Directed by Carol Reed).
The Third Man can lay claim to many movie awards and prestigious honors, but perhaps the movie's most bizarre honor is its #57 ranking on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 greatest American movies ever made.
What is so amazing about this feat is that it is a British made (i.e., produced and directed) movie. Apparently, a motion picture film now only needs to employ some American actors for it be considered to be American! When asked for its comment about this rather unusual situation, Mr. D. Rumsfeld, spokesman for the AFI, explained that the Americans have only placed the movie on the AFI list until the time comes that Britain can demostrate that it is a stable democracy. Mr. Rumsfeld went on to promise that once Britain has clearly established its capability for democratically elected self-government, America will, of course, immediately relinquish its claim to this movie, and sovereignty for it will be returned back to the British Film Institute.
In the mean time, the BFI have retaliated to the AFI's abduction of one of Britain's most popular movies by making the reciprocal announcement that any American produced movie written or directed by a Brit, or starring actors that are, or once were, U.K. citizens, are from this point forward to be considered British movies, and they will be added to the BFI's list of the top 100 greatest British motion pictures ever made. Accordingly, the following movies have been transferred from the AFI list to the BFI list:
Movies directed by Brits:
05. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)- David Lean
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) - David Lean
18. PSYCHO (1960) - Alfred Hitchcock
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) - David Lean
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) - Alfred Hitchcock (also stars Cary Grant)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954) - Alfred Hitchcock
61. VERTIGO (1958) - Alfred Hitchcock
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925) - Charlie Chaplin (who also wrote and starred in this movie)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931) - Charlie Chaplin (who also wrote, scored, edited, produced and starred in this movie)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936) - Charlie Chaplin (who also wrote, scored, produced and starred in this movie)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) - Carol Reed (also stars Trevor Howard, Richard Harris)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931) - James Whale (based on Mary Shelley's novel)
Movies whose sceenplays were based on plays or novels written by Brits:
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) - Arthur C. Clarke
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961) - William Shakespeare
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) - Anthony Burgess (also stars Malcolm McDowell, Patrick McNee et al)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939) - Emily Bronte
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964) - George Bernard Shaw (also stars Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Stanley Holloway, et al)
Movies where a starring role was played by a Brit:
04. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) - Vivien Leigh
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) - Peter Sellers
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) - Vivien Leigh
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) - Cary Grant
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) - Julie Andrews
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) - Anthony Hopkins
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) - Angela Lansbury
72. BEN-HUR (1959) - Jack Hawkins
82. GIANT (1956) - Elizabeth Taylor
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927) - Laurence Olivier
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) - Elizabeth Taylor
95. PULP FICTION (1994) - Tim Roth
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938) - Cary Grant
sissy maid lola
[image]local://upfiles/21203/7550AAD373274EA8911F0BC3852D002C.jpg[/image]
|
|
|
|
