Movie London : Top Ten

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LondonNet’s Top 10 London Films

1 Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan, 1986, GB)- successfully combines the Little Londoner (in this case Bob Hoskins) with the Dark London themes to create one of the most powerful evocations of love found and lost in the modern cinema.

2 One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Wolfgang Reitherman/Hamilton Luske/Clyde Geronimi, 1960, US) – puppies-a-plenty as Disney mixes upper crust London cliché with superbly comic animation, a combo returned to with similar success for Mary Poppins.

3 Performance (Nicholas Roeg, Donald Cammell, 1970, GB) – Mick Jagger, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg combine to chillingly erotic effect in the best of the Swinging London films.

4 Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius, 1948, GB)- Definitive Ealing comedy in which Pimlico declares independence from Britain. Perhaps the best example of the Little Londoner on film.

5 Babylon (Franco Rosso, 1980, GB) – Reggae provides top musical atmosphere in this rare Black London film as DJ Brinsley Ford battles the police.

6 Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994, GB) – Posh, poncey pals escape downmarket London through marriage and death in one of the most annoying, if successful, British movies of all time.

7 The Threepenny Opera (GW Pabst, 1931, Ger) – Screen legend Lotte Lenya puts down a startling performance as a London whore in this luminescent reworking of Bertolt Brecht’s radical play.

8 Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950, GB) London goes Noir with minor villain Richard Widmark on the run through the city’s dark and dingy streets. Director Dassin was himself on the run, from McCarthy’s witch hunt, when he made the film.

9 Riff-Raff (Ken Loach, 1990, GB) – London as a cold city of transient workers scratching a living and searching for friendship. Stars Robert Carlyle of Full Monty fame.

10 The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle (Julian Temple, 1979, GB) ­ Sex Pistols celluloid epitaph pricks balloon of punk pomposity with unabashed glee.

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