According to the U.K. Guardian, President Barack Obama, upon leaving Great Britain, gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown a very special present, a box set of 25 classic American films (see above), which the Guardian snarkily describes as “a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks.”

Well, maybe to a non-film buff. But to a cinephile like myself this looks like a pretty good selection. Two Fords. A couple Hitchcocks. A little Chaplin. A little Keaton. 2001. The Wizard of Oz. What’s not to like?

Now if the situation were reversed – if I were Barack Obama and somebody gave me a box set containing Gone With the Wind – I might conceivably be offended, because I consider that film to be a little, you know … racist. However, I don’t see that the Prime Minister has anything to complain about. Unless he already has all these films.

What did the Prime Minister give the President? An “ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.”

Via Wonkette.