1: Kind Hearts & Coronets - Louis (Dennis Price) warns Sibella (Joan Greenwood): "you are playing with fire" and she answers "well at least it warms me". A peerless script, cast and story. Clever people know that Denis Price in this film is better than Alec Guinness.

2: Local Hero - the final scene. Mac (Peter Riegert) returns to Texas a different man and makes a phone call - to the brilliant Mark Knopfler soundtrack - that shows his life finally has some meaning. You either get it, or you don't. It makes me want to cry.

3: All About Eve - the opening scene. Brilliant writing and bold directing sets up a riveting story, and we meet Addison DeWitt (George Sanders), the greatest anti-hero since, well, Louis Mazzini. The sort of film that makes me want to give up writing because I know I can never be this good.

4: Tootsie - the scene in which Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey tries to explain to his bewildered agent (Sydney Pollack) that he has been proposed to by a man who thinks he is a woman, that his girlfriend thinks he is gay and that the woman he loves thinks he is a lesbian. A masterpiece.

5: Dead of Night - the scene in which Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) is finally overtaken by his nightmare and is powerless to stop himself killing Dr. van Straaten. Genuinely creepy and unsettling. Very underrated acting too.

6: Black Narcissus - the scene in which Kathleen Byron flings open the door before trying to throw Deborah Kerr over the edge of the cliff. The expression on her face is so sensual and so ferocious it never fails to startle.

7: Romeo + Juliet - when Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the lovers first meet at the ball. For a teenager this film was simply astounding - I saw it three times in the cinema and it even made me read the play.

8: Carry on Up the Khyber - the dinner party scene. A riotous farce featuring a typically brilliant turn by Peter Butterworth as Brother Belcher and the matchless vulgarity of Joan Sims as Lady Ruff-Diamond. When a piece of stucco lands on her head during the bombardment she shrieks "I'm getting a little plastered".

9: Went the Day Well - the scene in which the post-mistress kills the German soldier with an axe - and is then herself bayoneted. This is the most shocking scene in a shocking film, made more so by Cavalcanti's camera angles and lighting.

10: Cabaret - the 'Money Makes the World Go Round' scene. There is an air of menace, but we are all too busy tapping our feet to the music to care. Anyone who thinks Moulin Rouge was a good musical has obviously never seen this film.

Editor's choice

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