Channel 4 Ultimate Film thing

I watched about 67.3% of the Channel 4 list of ultimate films, based on bums on seats rather than inflated box office figures. This was something that should have been done a long time ago, to settle all the arguments, but I'm afraid they needed to make one more adjustment for fairness.

The top 3 films, for example, were all famously not available to watch on TV for many, many years after they were made. So, if you wanted to see Gone With the Wind, The Sound of Music, or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves you had to see them in a cinema. Same goes for most classic Disney films and many of the James Bond series (I saw Dr No and Thunderball in a Scottish cinema around 10 years after they were first released).

In other words, the list should have been adjusted for seat inflation as well as ticket price inflation. Perhaps fairer to count bums on seats in the first 12 months, though of course that does nothing to recognise longevity and enduring appeal, both of which can be massaged by not allowing other outlets like TV, video, and DVD, to have the film.

All a bit meaningless really, though it was fascinating (if a little predictable) to see all those 40s films starring Dame Anna Neagle in the top 50. Because they were just forgettable fluff really, but incredibly popular in wartime and post-war Britain, obviously just what we needed. And it explains to the under 60s just why she was made a Dame in the first place.