Diary – 24 May 2003

Channel 4 outdid itself in ignorance with the dumb, grandiosely titled The 100 Greatest Film Stars of All Time. We tuned in eagerly, expecting to see a cross-section of legendary stars from the 1920s to the present day in fabulous movie clips, and what did we get? Several dozen ‘talking heads’ purporting to be movie ‘experts’, interspersed with extremely truncated footage of some surprising stars, accompanied by scurrilous and unnecessary gossip. Granted, many of the heads did know of what they spoke. Nicholas Hytner and other directors, producers and actors were erudite and interesting, but the editors of magazines such as Jack and Hot Dog, not to mention the assorted ‘stylists’, hairdressers and gossip columnists, were achingly dull, not to mention rude, and included one aptly named columnist called Lycia Naff. One of the lowest points was when one Mark Gernard, whose epithet was ‘critic and broadcaster’, referred to the superb director Roberto Rossellini as a ‘greasy Italian’. There are certain parts of Brooklyn I suggest you do not visit, Mr Gernard. These snaggle-toothed nonentities were bad enough, but we were appalled by the actual list. I was astonished that people such as River Phoenix, Dennis Hopper, John Cusack, Winona Ryder, Harvey Keitel and Angelina Jolie were included. Although all are excellent actors, some of them are, as yet, unproven as long-distance runners in the movie-star stakes, and others are usually supporting actors. For a dedicated film buff like myself, the omissions were truly horrendous. Where were the greats of silent movies: Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks and Clara Bow? Did the ‘experts’ who compiled the list simply think that no star was worth their salt before talkies began? Or perhaps, even more sadly, they had never heard of them. Only Charlie Chaplin made the cut, and that was probably because a biopic of him was made recently.