These are the films that, when I see that they are showing on TV, I experience a moment of joy.

*Made at Shepperton Studios, only ten minutes away from where I grew up (and where I found myself filming a few weeks into my first job). In the 'almost made it' section are THE TALK OF THE TOWN/MY FAIR LADY/THE APARTMENT/NORTH BY NORTHWEST^/LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP/THE RED SHOES/THE SEARCHERS/THE 39 STEPS/THE DAY OF THE JACKAL*/FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD*/WHAT'S UP, DOC?/WATERLOO/ROMAN HOLIDAY/KNIGHT AND DAY/NOTHING SACRED/THE GREAT ESCAPE~/ZULU/THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD/OUT OF AFRICA*#/THE THIRD MAN*/THE LADY VANISHES/THE FRENCH CONNECTION/BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID/THE GODFATHER/ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA/UNCLE BUCK/CLUELESS/FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF/LEON/FANTASIA/CHARLEY VARRICK/AVANTI/THE GUNS OF NAVARONE/GROUNDHOG DAY/GALAXY QUEST/THE BIG LEBOWSKI/THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES/BACHELOR MOTHER/SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS/TRADING PLACES/PRIZZI'S HONOR/THE MALTESE FALCON/THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING/GREAT EXPECTATIONS/BORN YESTERDAY/TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD/PATTON/WORKING GIRL/MASTER AND COMMMANDER/THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL/ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD/IN WHICH WE SERVE/THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS/INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE/MR BLANDINGS BUILD HIS DREAM HOUSE/A HARD DAY'S NIGHT/WAY OUT WEST/HOT FUZZ/THE CRUEL SEA/TOPSY TURVY/GENEVIEVE¨/JEREMIAH  JOHNSON/THE ITALIAN JOB/THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR/JEANNE DIELMAN 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE 1080 BRUXELLES***

#Maybe not a great film given the terrible miscasting of the lead, although Streep is wonderful; but it reminds me of my days in Africa, and I identify very strongly with Finch-Hatton's view of life and relationships.

^Every man has a physical type to whom they are instantly attracted on first sight (even if most lie to women and claim they don't). Eva Maria Saint was mine, clear blue eyes, good cheekbones,  and Kitchockian creamy blonde hair cf. Lombard/Dina Merrill/Inger Stevens/Grace Kelly/Julie 'Bathsheba' Christie/Gillian Anderson/Tea Leoni/Teri Garr/Sheryl Crow/Kylie/Mary Stuart Masterson/Diane Kruger/Siena Miller/Léa Seydoux/Alice Eve/Scarlett Johansson etc. (not that I've given this much thought).

~One of the last films to correctly use the word 'Germans' when talking about the enemy. We didn't declare war on the 'Nazis', we declared war on Germany. The 'Nazis' didn't surrender in 1945, Germany did. The 'Nazis' didn't do all those bad things secondary school children are taught about; the German state did (I wonder how many are told to read Daniel Goldhagen’s book, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust). We don't say the 'Communist Party' were our ally; we say the Soviet Union was (at least after their deal with Hitler fell apart). I blame Churchill for starting all this. I understand that nobody wants to be beastly about the Germans, but the German people voted Hitler into power, and then celebrated every victory over the enslaved peoples of Europe. "...for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

¤ Marc Norman got an Oscar for this, but not one word of his is spoken by the actors. This is what happens when writers are unionised.

¨Lovely Fifties atmosphere with two stalwarts, John Gregson and Kenny Moore, plus it reminds me of the mews house I owned in the 1980s (freehold no less, a very rare bird on the mighty Grosvenor Estate) in Eaton Terrace Mews just behind Eaton Square, where the young playboy opposite still used the old chauffeur's garage on the ground floor to park both his 1930s Bentley and his Ferrari Testarossa. 

I was a little surprised by the favourite director tally, Hitch winning with 4 appearances. 
3 appearances for
George Cukor, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, John Ford, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, John Huston, David Lean
2 appearances
Michael Curtiz, John Sturges, Francis Ford Coppola, Wes Anderson

*** just kidding!