The British Academy of Film and Television Arts started handing out golden masks in 1947, in those days awarding one to Best Film and one to Best British Film. They scrapped this daft distinction in 1968 and let homegrown product tough it out with Hollywood.
This year it was a Battle of the Atlantic between the fleet-footed "Billy Elliot" (British) and the armour-plated "Gladiator" (American - though made by a mostly British crew and directed by a man from South Shields). It being BAFTA, Jamie Bell beat Russell Crowe, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Hanks, and Michael Douglas for Best Actor - a ludicrous piece of over-sentimental patriotism. Bell was nifty as Billy Elliot but no match for these grown-ups.
BAFTA is not historically anti-American ("Goodfellas" and "Apocalypse Now" won masks in the years Oscar largely snubbed them) but there is an understandable tendency among Academy members to fly the flag, so well done for biting the bullet and honouring a whole parade of deserving Yanks: Julia Roberts for "Erin Brockovich", Benicio Del Toro for "Traffic", "Traffic" writer Steve Gaghan, "The Perfect Storm" 's special effects people, and Cameron Crowe for his splendid "Almost Famous" screenplay.
Most of these winners couldn't be bothered to turn up and it was astonishing that there were no filmed acceptances this year. (Without them, the Empire Awards would have been entirely star-free!) Perhaps it's a new rule. The distinctly un-televisual upshot was lots of notes on grubby pieces of paper ("Dear UK ..." started Benicio Del Toro's).
One highlight of the night was when host Stephen Fry, otherwise word-perfect, referred to Tom Hanks' role in "The Green Man" (he meant "The Green Mile"). Hanks took it on the chin: "I did some of my proudest work in The Green Man."
See video interviews of Hollywood's finest stars who attended the event.
See of the stars at this year's BAFTAs, , and .
Andrew Collins presents .
