PRINCETON, NJ Restaurant Dining Guide Announcement

This five-week series highlights films on the British Film Institute's Top 10 list. The Jan. 3 feature is "The 39 Steps." Tea and cookies will be served.

The British Film Institute conducted a survey in 1999 asking influential people from the world of British film and television to produce a list of the greatest 100 British films of the 20th century that were all "culturally British." Tea and cookies will be served starting at 2:45 pm during this afternoon film series. The schedule is as follows: 

Jan. 3: "The 39 Steps" (1939, 1 hour 26 minutes) This spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the 1915 novel "The Thirty-Nine Steps" by John Buchan, recounts the story of a man in London who tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.

Jan. 10: "Great Expectations" (1946, 1 hour, 58 minutes) Directed by David Lean the script, based on a slimmed-down version of Dickens' epic 1861 novel, recounts the story of a humble orphan boy in 1810s Kent who is given the opportunity to go to London and become a gentleman, with the help of an unknown benefactor.

Jan. 17: "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949, 1 hour, 46 minutes) In this black comedy directed by Robert Hamer a distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.

Jan. 24: "Kes" (1969, 1 hour, 50 minutes) Directed by Ken Loach and based on the 1968 novel "A Kestrel for a Knave" by Barry Hines, this film follows the story of Billy, who comes from a dysfunctional working-class family. Billy struggles at school and home, but discovers his own private means of fulfilment when he adopts a fledgling kestrel and proceeds to train it in the art of falconry.

Jan. 31: "The Third Man" (1949, 1 hour, 44 minutes)  A classic film noir directed by Carol Reed. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centers on American Holly Martins who arrives in the city to accept a job with his friend Harry Lime, only to learn that Lime has died. Martins decides to stay in Vienna and investigate the suspicious death.