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I found this to be an almost impossible task, but rather than shirk it, I decided to go with what I consider to be ten of the greatest films of all time. To me, great movies withstand time, and I believe that not only are all these movies still relevant and accessible to a modern audience, they are also all exemplary in their use of film grammar. Some admissions: 1) not being able to squeeze in Night Of The Hunter (1955) has perhaps caused me the most pain; 2) the poll’s rules made me drop Ivan The Terrible Part 2, with its extraordinary colour scenes; and 3) bypassing Citizen Kane for Touch Of Evil is arguably the one purely personal and idiosyncratic choice (though The Red Shoes is really my favourite film by Powell and Pressburger, Colonel Blimp is a film that only seems to get stronger with passing years – which is saying something). All of these films have size, scope and ambition, so, If nothing else, I believe a film student who’d only ever seen these ten would be duty-bound to make something interesting.