By STAN JAMES

IN an ever-changing world, a list of "best" anything is subject to changes, especially in the film industry where hundreds of films are made each year and many released almost simultaneously around the world.

Hollywood now focuses on "event" movies which cost hundreds of millions of dollars and make hundreds of millions of dollars.

All lists of great films must take into account an imperative qualification: have they stood the test of time? In the accompanying alphabetical list of the 100 best films since the arrival of sound, there are several relatively recent productions. A punt has been made on their longevity: only time will tell.

These are films that have made a significant impression on the countless millions who have seen and enjoyed them. The films are from many countries that have been given a world release and accepted as the best by critics, buffs and the public. Others were landmarks that shaped our attitudes and entertainment expectations and influenced the film-making style.

Adam's Rib (1949): Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday.

The African Queen (1951): Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn.

All About Eve (1950): Bette Davis, Ann Baxter, George Sanders.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930): Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim.

Amadeus (1984): Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham.

An American in Paris (1951): Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant.

Apocalypse Now (1979): Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando.

Annie Hall (1977): Woody Allen, Diane Keaton.

Ashes and Diamonds (1958): Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzanowska.

Bad Day at Black Rock (1954): Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine.

The Band Wagon (1953): Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan.

Ben-Hur (1959): Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews.

Bicycle Thieves (1948): Roberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola.

The Blue Angel (1930): Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings.

Breaker Morant (1980): Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters.

Breathless (1960): Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg.

Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins.

Brief Encounter (1945): Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): Paul Newman, Robert Redford.

Casablanca (1942): Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid.

Chinatown (1974): Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston.

Citizen Kane (1941): Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane.

City Lights (1931): Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill.

Dances With Wolves (1990): Kevin Costner, Mary McDonald.

Dr Strangelove (1964): Peter Sellers, Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott.

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982): Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore.

Fargo (1996): Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi.

Forrest Gump (1994): Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Sally Field.

Frankenstein (1931): Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke.

The Full Monty (1997): Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy.

The French Connection (1971): Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider.

From Here to Eternity (1953): Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra.

Gandhi (1982): Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox.

Giant (1955): Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean.

The Godfather (1972): Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan.

The Godfather Part II (1974): Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall.

Gone With the Wind (1939): Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland.

Goodfellas (1990): Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta.

The Graduate (1967): Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross.

Great Expectations (1946): John Mills, Finlay Currie, Jean Simmons.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940): Henry Fonda, John Carradine, Jane Darwell.

High Noon (1952): Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Grace Kelly.

His Girl Friday (1941): Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy.

Jaws (1975): Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw.

King Kong (1933): Robert Armstrong, Fay Wray.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962): Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn.

La Dolce Vita (1960): Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee.

The Maltese Falcon (1941): Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet.

M*A*S*H (1970): Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland.

Midnight Cowboy (1969): Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman.

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939): James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935): Clark Gable, Charles Laughton.

My Fair Lady (1964): Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway.

A Night at the Opera (1935): Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx, Alan Jones.

North By Northwest (1959): Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason.

On the Waterfront (1954): Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975): Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher.

A Place in the Sun (1951): Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters.

Platoon (1986): Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe.

Psycho (1960): Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Martin Landau.

Pulp Fiction (1994): John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis.

The Quiet Man (1951): John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen.

Raging Bull (1980): Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies.

Rashomon (1951): Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Maasayuki Mori.

Rear Window (1954): James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr.

Rebecca (1941): Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson.

Rififi (1955): Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Magali Noel.

Schindler's List (1993): Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954): Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Russ Tamblyn.

The Seven Samurai (1954): Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba.

Shane (1951): Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur.

Shine (1996): Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor, Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Silence of the Lambs (1991): Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster.

Singin' in the Rain (1951): Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937): voices of Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille LaVerne.

Some Like it Hot (1959): Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis.

The Sound of Music (1965): Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker.

Spartacus (1960): Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov.

Stagecoach (1939): John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Andy Devine.

The Sting (1973): Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw.

Star Wars (1977): Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951): Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter.

Sunset Boulevard (1950): William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim.

Taxi Driver (1975): Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel.

The Third Man (1949): Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard.

Titanic (1997): Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane.

12 Angry Men (1957): Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1963): Gregory Peck, Mary Badham.

Tootsie (1982): Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Charles Durning.

Top Hat (1935): Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton.

True Grit (1969): John Wayne, Kim Darby, Robert Duvall.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Kier Dullea, Gary Lockwood.

Umberto D (1952): Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio.

Unforgiven (1992): Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman.

Wages of Fear (1952): Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Vera Clouzot.

Wild Strawberries (1957): Victor Sjostrom, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Anderson.

The Wizard of Oz (1939): Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley.

And here is Stan's top ten list:

1 Gone With the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming). A magnificent example of combined talents (many writers, four directors), brought together by David O. Selznick, with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh achieving screen immortality as Rhett and Scarlett in a sweeping spectacle. Oscars to Leigh, Hatty McDaniel (the first Afro-American winner), Fleming and best picture.

2 (1942, Michael Curtiz). Humphrey Bogart in his most-suited role as nightclub owner Rick Blane, in war-time Casablanca, whose old love (Ingrid Bergman) suddenly appears with her underground leader husband (Paul Henreid). Oscars for picture, director and screenplay.

3 (1941, Orson Welles). A highly original and ruthless analysis of the creation and destruction of a powerful newspaper magnate, using innovative cinema techniques, off-beat characters and a literate script, which won an Oscar for Welles and Herman Mankiewicz.

4 (1951, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen). The best musical ever, satirising silent movie star Kelly who, with Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, turns a silent movie into a musical smash hit and saves the studio, singing and dancing marvellous songs in dynamic routines.

5 (1993, Steven Spielberg). Based on Thomas Kenneally's book, one of the most potent and moving dramas of the past decade with a tremendous performance from Liam Neeson, as the German businessman responsible for saving 1000 Jews from death in World War II. Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley give involving performances.

6 (1962, David Lean). A sweeping, impressive epic covering the enigmatic adventurer T.E. Lawrence's life with the Arabs, with Peter O'Toole becoming a star in his first big role. Grand support from Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jose Ferrer and Omar Sharif. Oscars including best picture, director, cinematography and music.

7 (1959, Billy Wilder). Sharp, brilliant and outrageous comedy, with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis masquerading as women in an all-girl band, with Marilyn Monroe vocalising, to escape gangsters after witnessing a gangland massacre.

8 (1972, Francis Ford Coppola). Mafia corruption and its ruthless construction shown with dynamic visual style through the Corleone family, with powerful performances from Marlon Brando (an Oscar he refused), Al Pacino and James Caan. Oscar for best picture.

9 (1951, John Huston). Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn created an endearing chemistry of abrasion, as boozy riverboat captain Charlie and deceptively prim missionary's sister Rose, flee Germans in Central Africa in World War I. Their mutual dislike grows into one of the screen's great loves.

10 (1950, Billy Wilder). Extraordinary, bizarre melodrama, with William Holden as a scriptwriter down on his luck who hitches his hopes to fading, unstable, wealthy, silent-screen star (Gloria Swanson) and loses his way.

Source: The Courier Mail