Rings one of 10 best movies of all time
13 December 2001

LONDON: The Lord of the Rings is not even on public display, yet British newspaper The Sun today hailed it as one of 10 films that changed cinema history.

The first part of New Zealand director Peter Jackson's $NZ650 million trilogy was rated alongside the likes of Gone With the Wind by the tabloid, never one to back off voicing strong opinions.

“Everyone thought Harry Potter would be the biggest film of 2001, but critics are united in hailing Rings as the new champion,” The Sun's Tim Spanton wrote.

“Mind-boggling special effects, stunning sets that create a complete fictional world and author JRR Tolkien's gripping plot are combined in mould-breaking achievement for the cinema.”

Spanton hailed the first part of the trilogy as a once-in-a-generation epic that joined a handful of movies that have stood out like beacons.

The Lord of the Rings opens in Britain next Wednesday.

Spanton's list of all-time greats was (in chronological order):

The Birth of a Nation (1915); The Jazz Singer (1927); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937); Gone With the Wind (1939); Citizen Kane (1941); Pyscho (1960); 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968); The Godfather (1972); Star Wars (1977); The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001).<br><br><center><img src="http://feedback.blackisle.com/ubb/mad.gif“> <img src=”http://feedback.blackisle.com/ubb/mad.gif“> <img src=”http://feedback.blackisle.com/ubb/mad.gif“> <img src=”http://feedback.blackisle.com/ubb/mad.gif“> <img src=”http://feedback.blackisle.com/ubb/mad.gif"></cente