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The Greatest Films of All Time issue

Once a decade the magazine asks critics to select the best films ever made. Explore the results in a special edition.

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Features and reviews

From the Sight and Sound archive

Darkest hour: the first ever film of a solar eclipse

Ahead of the solar eclipse on 12 August, we shed some light on a pioneering film from 1900 which is believed to be the earliest surviving astronomical film. In this piece from our August 2019 issue, Bryony Dixon explores its backstory and how early cinema mixed science, entertainment and magic.

By Bryony Dixon

Darkest hour: the first ever film of a solar eclipse
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Events

The cast of Alan Parker’s beloved musical comedy reunite at BFI Southbank to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bugsy Malone, the much-loved gangster spoof that put an all-child cast in the middle of a custard-filled turf war.

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Watch archive collections

The BFI National Archive has one of the most important film and TV collections in the world. Choose from a selection of 11,000 titles that cover 120 years of British life, and the history and art of film.

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