MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL 'GREATEST BRITISH FILM'

Irreverent comedy MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL has surprisingly triumphed in a new comprehensive poll of the greatest British films of all time.

The 1975 movie beat STANLEY KUBRICK's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE into second place, with SIR DAVID LEAN's critically acclaimed LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI featuring lower down in the top ten, along with another Monty Python film THE LIFE OF BRIAN.

More recent films such as TRAINSPOTTING, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and last year's (03) LOVE ACTUALLY also made the top ten, in the poll organised by internet retailer AMAZON.CO.UK and leading film reference website IMDB.COM.

Amazon's product manager MARK WALKER comments, "This survey demonstrates the eclectic nature of British films. I think the biggest surprise is the presence of two Monty Python films in the top ten.

"These films lead a strong field from the genre of The Great British Comedy - accompanied in the top 20 by recent films such as Love Actually, THE FULL MONTY and FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL."

The full Top Twenty is as follows:

2. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)

3. TRAINSPOTTING (1996)

4. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)

5. THE THIRD MAN (1949)

6. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998)

7. MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN (1979)

8. THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI (1957)

9. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)

10. LOVE ACTUALLY (2003)

11. GOLDFINGER (1964)

12. FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (1994)

13. THE FULL MONTY (1997)

14. ELIZABETH (1998)

15. THE ITALIAN JOB (1969)

16. THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996)

17. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)

18. GHANDI (1982)

19. CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981)

20. WITHNAIL + I (1987)

(CPT/PR/KTW)