Sir Alec Guiness's Top Films
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 ? August 5, 2000) was an Oscar-winning English actor who became one of the most versatile and best-loved performers of his generation. Of all the actors, he has the highest percentage of acting in films on my Top 100. He was initially mainly associated with the Ealing comedies, and particularly for playing eight different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit.He won the Academy Award as Best Actor in 1957 for his role in Bridge on the River Kwai. He was nominated again in 1958 for his screenplay adapted from Joyce Cary's novel The Horse's Mouth. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting actor for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977. He also received an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievements in 1980.
He was appointed CBE in 1955, and was knighted in 1959. He became a Companion of Honour in 1994 at the age of 80.
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| smith44's Rating | My Rating | |
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| 1 |
Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949, Unrated)
Best Of The British. Ranked as an all time greatest British film. Alec Guinness stars as a remarkable 8 characters, in this black comedy of a young man's startling rise to the top of his family tree, by means of murder. Terribly British, terribly black, terribly funny and terribly brilliant. A masterpeice of comedy and remarkable story. Winner of my Top Ealing Comedy. Winner of my Best Revenge Films. |
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| 2 |
The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957, PG)
It may not look it but this is a Dark World War II drama. The Matter Of Principal. With the famous bridge that embodies the absurdities of war. Guiness seals himself as one of the greatest British actors. One of the best war films made. |
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| 3 |
The Lavender Hill Mob 1951, Unrated)
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| 4 |
Great Expectations 1947, Unrated)
The one and only Great Expectations movie all the rest do not live up to the book. |
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| 5 |
Lawrence of Arabia 1962, PG)
From T. E. Lawrence's memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the Majestic adventure and character drama - the epic story of T. E. Lawrence played to perfection by Peter O'Toole. The cinematography is unequaled by anything I have seen. Winner of my Best of the British Films. |
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| 6 |
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope 1977, PG)
"Along time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." The first of an epic space opera franchise and a fictional universe by writer/director George Lucas that has expanded and evolved since 1977 to become a worldwide pop culture phenomenon that has no rival. The beginning of the series to end all series, a film that may not be about history but certainly maked history. Spawining two sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, a prequel trilogy and an Expanded Star Wars Universe that virtually created a lifestyle brand. A worldwide epic that has had a irreversible impact on not just the Sci-Fi genre but on films in general. One of the main reasons the film is so great is that despite being about a "galaxy far away", set in a "along time ago", the characters, themes and story are firmly rooted in old hollywood. In the iconic scene where Luke Skywalker looks longfully to the hrizion (with two suns) he could be Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz, or James Dean, the scene of the lightsaber duel between the wise Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Guinness) and the ultimate villain, the black-garbed sinister Lord Darth Vader (voice of Jones), could be a scene from a medieval swashbuckler epic. The whole film is filled with allusions to the past despite being filled with aliens and galactic battle ships, a quasi-Western film about a battle as old as time between good (the rebel forces) and evil (the Imperial Galactic Empire). Star Wars is an ultimate spectacular space adventure that combines the old and the new: from a desert farm to Jabba the Hutt; the big and the small: from the epic battle between the Rebels and Empire to a simple coming of age story; and good verses evil. Truly one of the greatest sagas ever told and one of the greatest films ever put to screen. "May the force be with you." Winner of my Greatest Film Scores. |
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| 7 |
The Ladykillers 1955, Unrated)
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| 8 |
The Man in the White Suit 1951, Unrated)
Another great Ealing Comedy, with the star of the studio, Alec Guiness always teriffic in the productions. Not as great as previoious ealing productions, such as Kind Hearts and Coronets, but still a must see, for British comedy and Ealing fans. |
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| 9 |
Doctor Zhivago 1965, PG-13)
From Pasternak's sweeping epic novel, set in the World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution It's strenght lies in it's portraal of the realities of life in Russia after the 1917 Communist Revolution. The most memorable thing of all is the romantic score. |
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| 10 |
The Fall of the Roman Empire 1964, Unrated)
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