Great English films can’t be measured scientifically because greatness is extremely subjective. The artistic greatness of films can never be rated or quantified, although critics, reviewers, and fans still make ten best lists, hundred best lists, all-time greatest lists, favorites lists, and awards lists.
Arguably, there is reasonable consensus by most film historians, critics and reviewers that these selections are among cinema’s most critically-acclaimed, significant “must-see” films (of predominantly Hollywood – American production). These 100 choices were limited to English-language, theatrically-distributed, narrative feature films. [That means foreign-language films, documentaries, TV movies and mini-series, and short films were not considered.] Emphasis in these selections is purposely directed toward earlier, more classic Hollywood/American films (and other English – language films) than more recent films, although some recent films (and British films) are included.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The African Queen (1951)
All About Eve (1950)
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
An American In Paris (1951)
Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Big Parade (1925)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
Blade Runner (1982)
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
Casablanca (1942)
Chinatown (1974)
Citizen Kane (1941)
City Lights (1931)
The Crowd (1928)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Duck Soup (1933)
E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Easy Rider (1969)
Fantasia (1940)
42nd Street (1933)
The General (1927)
The Godfather (1972) (tie)
The Godfather, Part II (1974) (tie)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Greed (1924)
High Noon (1952)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Intolerance (1916)
It Happened One Night (1934)
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
Jaws (1975)
King Kong (1933)
The Lady Eve (1941)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Modern Times (1936)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Nashville (1975)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Ninotchka (1939)
North By Northwest (1959)
Notorious (1946)
On The Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Out Of The Past (1947)
Paths of Glory (1957)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Psycho (1960)
The Quiet Man (1952)
Raging Bull (1980)
Rear Window (1954)
Rebecca (1940)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Red River (1948)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Schindler’s List (1993)
The Searchers (1956)
Shane (1953)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Stagecoach (1939)
A Star Is Born (1954)
Star Wars (1977) (tie)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Sunrise (1927)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Third Man (1949)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Top Hat (1935)
Touch Of Evil (1958)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Vertigo (1958)
West Side Story (1961)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
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