Customer Reviews

100 Best Films of the Century

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4 star:		(1)
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I think this book is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to expand their cinematic knowledge. Norman carefully picks gems from several different genres and time periods giving the reader a good cross section of films to view. I discovered many great films that I would not have seen otherwise, i.e. Gregory's Girl.

For those who want to learn more about the art of film, Barry Norman's list of the 100 greatest films is the place to start. Unlike the lists from AFI and Roger Ebert, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed every film on Mr. Norman's list. There are certainly some I would like to see on there ("Vertigo," "The Philadelphia Story," the list could go on) but there aren't any on the list that I'd really like to take off.

All the classics are included--"Citizen Kane," "Casablanca," "The Godfather," "Singin' in the Rain"--as indeed they should be. But there are also all sorts of hidden gems (and unlike AFI, Mr. Norman had the sense to include foreign films). Some of the many wonderful films I discovered through the book that I might not have otherwise are "Pygmalion," "The Lady Vanishes," "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940) the Ealing comedies, "Z," and "My Darling Clementine," all of which are among my favorites.

I recommend this book to all who want a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of filmmaking, and to all lovers of film who want to discover some great movies. Highly recommended.

I am not a big Barry Norman fan. Not by a long shot and I'm glad he was sacked by the BBC. This book is just Norman all the way through: cold, objective and clearly someone who doesn't particularly like films very much. With the exception of Gregory's and perhaps Sleeper, all of them are the kind of films that critics love and appear on every critic's top 100 list: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Some Like It Hot, Unforgiven... They're all in there. What's more, Norman barely tells us why the are actually on his list and the entries themselves not insightful at all and just plain dull. Sure, he says ground breaking techniques, superb acting top notch script and genius directors, a film that others have copied since its release, but rarely says anything about their entertainment value or why he personally loves them so much. Worth a glance to big fans fans of cinema and Barry Norman fans (if such things exist), but little else.

Barry Norman was the BBC presenter of Film xxxx for many years and I always valued his opinion. This book which came out in the early 90's to coincide with 100 years of Cinema and is well worth getting.

Two pages are devoted to each film and Norman has some interesting things to say about all of them. The range of films is extremly diverse from "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) to "Chinatown" (1974) and all sorts in between. He purposely did not include any films made within 5 or 10 years of the publication of the book, as he believed that good films must have legs. I.e. they must stand the test of time. With the passing of another 15 years since its original publication this means that you will probably need to be over 30, or a film buff to read about what is now a list of 100 films that are all over 20 years old.

The first 60 pages of the book are devoted to 3 or 4 essays about the history of cinema. These make fascinating reading and you have to bare in mind that he was writing beofre DVD and downloads existed.

All film buffs will enjoy this book, if you can still get hold of a copy.

If you want to see some great movies but don't know where to start, Barry Norman's list is good!

Barry Norman is way rockin', dude! Find him in your stockin'! I LOVE this great gift, he is the best homee I ever done met!