As Australia mourns the passing of Bud Tingwell - who has, indeed, been granted a state funeral next Wednesday - let us cast our minds back to the 1953 war drama "The Desert Rats", in which Tingwell played a minor role. Field Marshall Rommel was played in the same film by James Mason. Today, May 15, is the 100th anniversary of his birth.

What better excuse, then, to list my Top 10 James Mason movies, in chronological order. He's been in some beauties:

1. The Seventh Veil (1945)
2. Odd Man Out (1947)
3. Caught (1949)
4. The Reckless Moment (1949)
5. The Desert Fox (1951) as Rommel, reprised in The Desert Rats (1953)
6. Five Fingers (1952)
7. Julius Caesar (1953) as Brutus
8. A Star Is Born (1954)
9. Lolita (1962)
10. Age Of Consent (1969)

Pick of the lot? "Odd Man Out" for sure.