REVEALED-THE ILX TOP 75 FILMS OF THE 1950s

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Save a movie palace, yo.

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75. Rabbit of Seville
Chuck Jones, 1950
POINTS: 44
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“i prefer rabbit of seville bcz bugs in drag = HOTT”

-garth s (mark s) from T/S - Rabbit of Seville v. What's Opera, Doc (aka "Kill the Wabbit")

BONUS FEATURE:

Jeez, kinda low, no?

Oops, I'll send comments as soon as I can find them... or just post them.

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73 A. Aparajito
Satyajit Ray, 1956
POINTS: 45
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS?

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73 B. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
Chuck Jones, 1953
POINTS: 45
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS?

BONUS FEATURE

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72. Orpheus
Jean Cocteau, 1950
POINTS: 46
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS?

Aparajito: Jeez, kinda low, no?

This is why, much as I love Looney Tunes, I didn't vote for any. Apples and oranges.

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70 A. Harvey
Henry Koster, 1950
POINTS: 48
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“if i had to pick what i was doing with my reality, i'd definitely choose drunk with bunny.” & “if harvey is corny then 99% of movies from that era are corny, bro (which is pretty well true but i don't think you should be using this in a derogatory way). harvey is an incredibly funny movie and his performance in it is terrific.”

- the schef (adam schefter ha ha)

“But... but... Harvey is brilliant. And Stewart in it is wonderful!”

-James Morrison

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70 B. High Society
Charles Walters, 1956
POINTS: 48
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Now I'm trying to watch High Society, but am basically skipping around to the musical numbers…Which make it well worth it, especially when they play "Now You Has Jazz" and Der Bingle introduces all the cats in Satchmo's band by name.”

-The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L)

saw Orpheus again a couple weeks ago; a tad goofy, with the Underworld motorcyclists and all, but better than Les Enfants Terrible (dir Melville).

xpost Depends on if your a Chuck Jones man or a Frank Tashlin woman.

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69. I’m All Right Jack
John Boulting, 1959
POINTS: 50
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“What about 'I'm Alright Jack'? Excellent film and Sellers is superb in it.”

-DavidM

“Apart from his Kubrick films, Sellars is at his best as a comic actor in the Boulting bros. comedies 'Heavens Above!' and 'I'm All Right Jack'. They're screened annually on channel 4. Perhaps too provincial for some tastes, though, but i love them.”

-pete s

“'I'm All Right Jack' definitely one of his greatest performances, and a real late-'50s time capsule to boot. Marvellous.”

-retort pouch

BONUS FEATURE

I've never seen all of Harvey or HiSoc, and ain't burnin' to.

yay Jack.

(O Tabulator, you can slow down a little if it's practical)

I'm All Right Jack is great but only when Sellers is on-screen, really. Oh, and the title song.

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67 A. The Asphalt Jungle
John Huston, 1950
POINTS: 53
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS?

BONUS FEATURE

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67 B. Lola Montès
Max Ophüls, 1955
POINTS: 53
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Easily one of the greatest films about the cult of celebrity and the (literal) media circus ever made. Before Paris and Britney and Lilo and whoever, there was Lola. Not only did Ophüls go out with a great movie, he ended it with one of the greatest closing shots of all time too.”

- The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

Asphalt Jungle is fine, except for all the sentimental horseshit noted by Manny Farber.

Thought about Lola M but couldn't quite justify putting a second Ophuls on, when it's so much more chilly than my first. (And Martine Carol is kind of a blank slate.) Haven't seen the new restoration though.

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66. Kiss Me Kate
George Sidney, 1953
POINTS: 53
VOTES: 2
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“Cock lust in 3-D! And a proscenium so screechingly camp that not even the preposterous Howard Keel can shout it down.”

- Kevin John Bozelka

BONUS FEATURE

except for Ann Miller's scenes, better w/out 3D.

There better be some actual great musicals above this one.

I think James Whitmore is the only non-animated actor with 2 films so far.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0926235/

It is a great musical, hooker. Waaaay better than High Snoozeiety.

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65. Othello/ The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice
Orson Welles, 1952
POINTS: 54
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Despite the crazily stretched production history, as visually grand as any of Welles' post-Hollywood films. MacLiammoir's hissy Iago is perfected deviousness.”

-Dr. Morbius

O Tabulator, you can slow down a little if it's practical

No, don't slow down! This is breathtaking. And I'm LOVING the Bonus Features!!!!! You rock HARD, Farner/Grisso/McCain!!!

Also, how did I’m All Right Jack garner two votes but three comments?

Kim's had the Othello DVD (1999 and I think OOP?), so good luck.

I think the comments are from ILX in general.

Ah ok.

Yeah, I know I didn't send any comments in, but I'm hoping a random snipe of mine from elsewhere on ILX makes its way in somehow ... that is if a film I voted on/saw ever shows up in this countdown.

Just for the record, I wasn't the one who voted Kiss Me Kate as the number one greatest film of the 1950s.

haha, i didn't even notice that wrinkle!

I was.

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64. Johnny Guitar
Nicholas Ray, 1954
POINTS: 56
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

" Starring Joan Crawford in Red, Mercedes McCambridge in White (with a voice scarier than the one she provided for The Devil in The Exorcist), and, oh yeah, Sterling Hayden as the title character. "

-Kevin John Bozelka

“johnny guitar worked for me, weirdly enough”

― s1utsky from:Movies to play to seduce a date.

“Mercedes McCambridge also GRATE in 'Johnny Guitar' - hot cowgirl action!”

― Andrew L

BONUS FEATURE

I might have voted for "High Society", I can't remember. I love it, anyway.

I would've considered JG if any of the rest of it was in this ballpark:

Johnny: How many men have you forgotten?
Vienna: As many women as you've remembered.
Johnny: Don't go away.
Vienna: I haven't moved.
Johnny: Tell me something nice.
Vienna: Sure, what do you want to hear?
Johnny: Lie to me. Tell me all these years you've waited. Tell me.
Vienna: [without feeling] All those years I've waited.
Johnny: Tell me you'd a-died if I hadn't come back.
Vienna: [without feeling] I woulda died if you hadn't come back.
Johnny: Tell me you still love me like I love you.
Vienna: [without feeling] I still love you like you love me.
Johnny: [bitterly] Thanks. Thanks a lot.

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63. Ivan The Terrible, Part II
Sergei M. Eisenstein & M. Filimonova, 1958
POINTS: 63
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“well arguably the second "Ivan" film is a critique of Stalin. the whole film is about the paranoia that comes with power, and the death meted out as a result--it makes Ivan into a simultaneously grotesque and tragic figure. anyway the "Ivan" films are the strangest films you will ever see, I'm confident. no way can they be reduced to either Stalinist paen *or* or Stalinist critique.”

― amateurist

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62. Europa ‘51
Roberto Rossellini, 1952
POINTS: 64
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“WIth Rossellini's Flowers of St. Francis, one of the most serious treatments of Christianity by a great filmmaker.”

-Dr. Morbius

BONUS FEATURE

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61. Elevator To The Gallows/ Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Louis Malle, 1958
POINTS: 64
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

“elevator to the gallows is pretty fun. moreau's performance is great, and i love the guy who plays the german tourist.”

― a spectator bird

“I would like to put in a mention for Louis Malles "Lift To The Scaffold" - less interesting stylistically than the efforts of many of his peers, but an incredibly vivid and evocative atmosphere. “

― Nordicskillz

"I saw this by myself in rep and then had dinner w/my dad & sister afterwards. Our conversation was dominated by me recounting the whole film to them blow by blow. I rarely do that, but the thing was so absorbing and well crafted. I also vividly recall many of the male viewers at the screening gasping at the first sight of the tourist's gullwing Mercedes."

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

Whoa, slow down, are you going to reveal them all today? I've only seen one of these and would like to read comments.

Wow, Elevator to the Gallows sounds nowhere near as good as Lift to the Scaffold. The UK/US divide hadn't occurred to me before.

(x-post)

...and that'll be it for today. I'll be back w/60-46 tomorrow.

not that it matters, but I think a film that got 64 (2) should be ahead of one that got 64 (3). I think the Village Voice called it the Passion Index.

Grrr. I want them all today!

Anyhoo, glad to see Joan Crawford make an appearance, prolly her only one here. That exchange you quote is indeed eternal, Morbs. But my fave is:

Emma: I'm going to kill you.
Vienna: I know. If I don't kill you first.

It's all in the delivery.

JC didn't like this one, btw: "I should have had my head examined. No excuse for a picture being this bad or for me making it." Roy Newquist, Conversations with Joan Crawford (New York: Berkley Books, 1980), 106.

I was a bit harsh calling High Society a snooze. But "skipping around to the musical numbers" really captures the fate of this film as well as soooo many others. The curse of the genre picture.

I was, for the record, one of the two voting for Ivan, Pt. 2, though I'm sort of feeling guilty about it now considering it was filmed in the '40s, et al.

A lot of the films from 1950 were filmed in the 40s too ;-)

I rescind my ballot.

(Figured it wouldn't be a film poll results thread without me saying that.)

Yeah I would've voted for Ivan the Terrible but felt schizy about including it as a 1950s film.

"Asphalt Jungle" and "Lola Montes" both way too low, I'd say. I don't mind the sentimental stuff in "Asphalt Jungle" - you'll find it in every other Cagney or Robinson flick, I took it as gangster movie convention (though not noir convention, I admit.) Though to be honest I'm not even 100% certain on which parts we're talking about - not the ending, I hope? Or the speech by the police inspector? Cuz that's my all-time fave example of a director using code restrictions to his advantage.

"Lola Montes" could be seen as a bit...overripe, in a way, but I think it's a masterpiece of sorts.

I don't necessairly skip to the songs in "High Society" but I'll admit I watch it more like an old-skool TV special than a movie per se.

Very curious about that Eisenstein!

"Lift To The Scaffold" probably the most archetypal noir not made in the USA? I don't like all of it cos I can't stand Jeanne Moureau, but it is pretty impressively dark and feverish. Love the scene with the german tourists.

xp: Yes, the horsey face-licking included! Cagney-Robinson sentiment was pulpy; a lot of Huston's in AJ is artsy-fartsy.

I rescind my ballot.

I accuse my parents.

O no! Now the big break.

Don't remember anything about Othello; do remember "Yes, you're next/You're so next" from "Rabbit of Seville."

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60. Smiles of A Summer Night
Ingmar Bergman, 1955
POINTS: 65
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Smiles of a Summer Night is one of the best sex comedies.”

― Dr Morbius

“I don't get the "humorlessness" complaint either. While not a laff riot, Smiles of A Summer Night is a great Lubitsch-style comedy.”

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

BONUS FEATURE

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59. Le Amiche/The Girlfriends
Michelangelo Antonioni, 1955
POINTS: 67
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“A female spin on "I Vitelloni" (or better still, Sex and the City relocated to 50s Turin), Le Amiche is one of those movies that probably would be better regarded if it had been made by someone else. Not quite addressing the darker impulses that would fuel his most famous work (although he was getting there—remember, Il Grido has just 3 years away, and closer thematically to this film than you would think), the film is a terrifically bittersweet melodrama, easily the equal (or the better) to anything else the genre had to offer at the time.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

blaming Alfred for low Smiles position

word. thx for this.

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58. Imitation of Life
Douglas Sirk, 1959
POINTS: 67
VOTES: 2
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“My point is that there is no way audiences could mistake "Imitation of Life" for anything but a film about race (among other things). The current film studies cant about Sirk being subversive has never convinced me. His best films are sincere, beautifully-crafted liberal melodramas. If I knew how to italicize "liberal" I would. And I'm not using it as an epithet.”

― Amateurist

“As perfect a capitalist product as has ever been created in the USA, delivering contradictory pleasures sometimes within a single shot. Classical Hollywood never topped it.”

― Kevin John Bozelka

“wow, that moment when Susan Kohner sassily talks all Butterfly McQueen to Lana Turner in Imitation really rules. But God, any scenes w/ John Gavin or Sandra Dee...”

― Dr Morbius

“last time i watched imitation of life i had like three glasses of whiskey and could barely see the screen at the end through the TEARZ :(“

― impudent harlot

BONUS FEATURE

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57. Roman Holiday
William Wyler, 1953
POINTS: 68
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I don't really get Audrey Hepburn either and I've seen lots of her films, but she is super-charming in Roman Holiday. it's the only movie I've really liked her in.”

― horseshoe

BONUS FEATURE

ick

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56. Diabolique
Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955
POINTS: 68
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“do it, paul meurisse. just fucking do it, you bad-ass.”

― poortheatre

BONUS FEATURE

lol "dry yr palms"

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55. Pickup On South Street
Samuel Fuller, 1953
POINTS: 70
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“only seen pickup on south street but he [Richard Widmark] was pretty amazing in that ... RIP”

― n/a

“I've seen Pickup on South Street a few times, a few weeks ago most recently, one of those films who's charms grow on you, and you like it more the more you think about it. I was underwhelmed the first time I saw it, perhaps expecting more intensity after seeing the Naked Kiss and Shock Corridor. The scene where the spy beats the girl is still one of the more brutal things on film...”

― Dan Selzer

“Poor Thelma Ritter.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

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54. Invasion of The Body Snatchers
Don Siegel, 1956
POINTS: 71
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

"There's a reason the original keeps getting remade every ten years, with endlessly compelling results no matter how trashy (the latest) orbrilliant (the '70s one): This is our most potent-ever allegory of soulless conformism, might-makes-right complacency, and defensive contentment fending off the genuine pursuit of happiness. Communists and anti-communists, corporate men and drug heads--everyone should take a second look at this and make sure they aren't identifying with the wrong side. I still meet pod people in real life, and still worry I'm becoming one."

― Pete Scholtes

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

BONUS FEATURE

Be back in a bit. Hunting for comments.

3 out of 15? what do you ppl like?

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53. Un Chant D’Amour
Jean Genet, 1950
POINTS: 72
VOTES: 2
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Tosses the bouquet and swings the dick with the best of them.”

― Dr Morbius

“Are any even as satisfying as gay movies of porny qualities? I mean, sure, there's Un Chant d'amour and Pink Narcissus, but what else?”

― Eric H.

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52. Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder, 1959
POINTS: 72
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

Some Like It Hot: Classic, Dud or Something Inbetween?

BONUS FEATURE

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51. The African Queen
John Huston, 1951
POINTS: 73
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

"Romancing the Stone was an acknowledgement of what Raiders of the Lost Ark was missing: a credible or compelling romantic relationship at its center. Compared to Raiders, this adventure of whites in Africa pitting missionary and entrepreneur against Nazis seems mild as action and questionable as history, but somehow far more richly entertaining just by being a love story that gets Katherine Hepburn in wet clothes."

― Pete Scholtes

BONUS FEATURE

I kinda thought Some Like It Hot wd be the only pure comedy on the list, just bcz of disposable comedy-adventures like The African Queen.

and see Eric, you are not the anti-barometer re Genet erotica or Rossellini.

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50. Shane
George Stevens, 1953
POINTS: 75
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Jack Palance is so fucking awesome in Shane.”

― Alex in SF

“I was just now explaining Shane to someone who only knew him for City Slickers.”

― Ned Raggett

“Yeah, "Pick up the gun" is my favourite Palance quote too (anyone see Bill Hicks' "Revelations" when he compares that moment in Shane to the U.S. arming little nations, then attacking them because "See! He had a gun!"?)”

― shorty

BONUS FEATURE

a western for ppl who don't like westerns.

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49. Plan 9 From Outer Space
Edward D. Wood Jr., 1959
POINTS: 78
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

ALL OF YOU ON EARTH ARE IDIOTS!

BONUS FEATURE

xpost OK, this list is starting to get really bad.

How is Imitation of Life THAT low?!

+ I think Un Chant D’Amour was something like #2 on my list.

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48. Rebel Without A Cause
Nicholas Ray, 1955
POINTS: 78
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“belle and sebastien are sal mineo in rebel w/o a cause”

― Fritz Wollner From If bands were characters from movies

BONUS FEATURE

luv me some Diabolique (damn I shoulda voted in this thing)

Plan 9 < Glen or Glenda?

I was going to vote but never got around to ordering my list, but I specifically excluded Plan 9 because I felt it didn't belogn on the list. Certainly not above Some like it Hot

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47. La Strada
Federico Fellini, 1954
POINTS: 80
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“There are films that quietly tell a story (La Strada, for instance) without feeling the need to 'show us what were really are,' or to lampoon the hypocrisy of modern life. Those are the ones I prefer.”

― andy --

“La Strada - I want to go back in time and impregnate Giulietta Masina.”

― Jeff-PTTL

There's a strain of Right Directors/Wrong Films goin on...

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46. Night and The City
Jules Dassin, 1950
POINTS: 81
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

RIP Jules Dassin

RIP Richard Widmark

BONUS FEATURE

...and that's it for today. Stay tuned for 45-31 tomorrow.

Thank God there are still 45 slots left!

yeah, where will Bridge on the River Kwai turn up?

You'd be surprised...

oh I hope so.

#1. Seven Samurai

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"Madness!"

My takes:

I hated La Strada, but that was 18 years ago. I felt trapped in the movie, and couldn't figure out why anyone (the characters, the audience) wouldn't want to get out. Anyone want to rhapsodize?

Shane felt a little canned, its vision of the kid a little cute ("Shane! Shane!"), but I know Western fans love it, and it has some exciting fights and romantic tension. I'd probably watch it again.

Rebel Without a Cause is Beautiful, and I'll keep going back to it (Invasion didn't make my Top 20 either), but its overt sociology is silly. I don't know when the first realistic depiction of American parents and teens hit a screen (maybe the American Family doc on PBS in the '70s?), but this one is laughable enough to throw me out of the film, no matter how good Dead is.

Imitation of Life is great, but it's all sacrifice, tragedy, and pain, where All That Heaven Allows involves a rebellion, which is so much more poignant. I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven.

I loved Night and the City, but didn't remember it well enough. The first wrestling noir?

I also loved Ed Wood, but couldn't sit through Plan 9.

Ha, I meant Dean, not Dead.

Shane ... I know Western fans love it

hmmm, not cineaste western fans. It's by GEORGE STEVENS, for God's sake. Big fans of it should get an enforced Boetticher/ Mann oater marathon.

(not only are those 2 not gonna show up on this list, we're gonna get High Noon too, right?)

Rebel Without a Cause is a melodrama; what's silly about it is just as silly in Imitation of Life.

Sal Mineo in Rebel is rather proto-Emo. Its kind of odd that Emo kids never picked up on the mismatched socks.

I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven.

The rest of this unfinished sentence sure as hell better not be something along the lines of "works better than either."

(x-post)

On the same tip, was there ever a confirmation that Natalie Wood lost her virginity to Nick Ray?

if i had voted i likely would have gone with 'on dangerous ground' for #1, but i didn't

I saw that recently. I liked it, but felt it came off like two halves of better movies that got glued together.

I heard rumor that Ray had Dean, Wood, Mineo.

I watched Ray's Bitter Victory again last night. Like a lot, but Curt Jurgens' character is too transparently craven, and Burton baldly enunciates the theme several times.

without the divide it would never have worked

It's pretty packed for 80 minutes. No waste at all.

"I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven." = I think that's why you find the combination in Far from Heaven.

I LOVE melodrama, but do you really think teens in the '50s were suffering from too LITTLE parental authority? The whole weak-father trope in Rebel Without a Cause is the thing I find laughable. Maybe that's just one part of the film, but the structure truly feels like a cautionary tale, where Imitation of Life isn't quite so neat. I didn't vote for either film, though...

Gawd what a depressing run of films!

Plan 9 < Glen or Glenda?

OTM. And Morbs waaaaaaaaaaay OTM about Shane. You just KNOW High Noon and Seven Samurai are coming up. But please spare us Kwai.

P.S. For the record, I placed Imitation of Life at number one.

P.P.S. James Dead. Ouch.

It's pretty packed for 80 minutes.

The UK version of Bitter Victory, which finally got put out on disc, is 103 minutes. So there is some waste, and like in Strangers on a Train much of it is named Ruth Roman.

Have to admit I found Imitation Of Life irritating, despite its many charms. Just couldn't feel for the main characters like I did in All That Heaven Allows

Shane eased me into Westerns, and not just because of that wonderfully ambiguous ending. There are themes in that film that are actually in a lot of westerns, but when I was younger, I had never noticed them before in other ones. I know it's about as cliché as "hey let us compare John Ford/John Wayne westerns through three decades", but it's still a good stepping stone into what is now one of my favourite genres. I seem to remember Ebert's Great Movies entry being pretty good: Shane

As hokey as Rebel is, there is something about James Dean that is so captivating that I can forgive it. I much prefer his performance in Giant, however, so that should be where the James Dean recognition should go.

Roman Holiday is still great, but I love Audrey and Gregory.

Wish Smiles of a Summer Night was higher. The moment where the statue lever is hit and the bed moves into the other room is simply perfection.

Also, Elevator the Gallows is overrated.

everything in Giant except Dean is pretty mediocre to terrible!

"I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven." = I think that's why you find the combination in Far from Heaven.

OK, I can accept that (even though I'm pretty sure I actually hate Far From Heaven in retrospect).

ha - Liz is actually in character for once!

I never understood Lola Montes and Johnny Guitar's reputations. And wtf High Society?!

Which is why it is the real testament to Dean's abilities! Watching Rebel, you can understand why his early death meant the loss of an icon. Watching Giant, you can see that the real tragedy is the loss of a really good actor. Dude made a 3-hour slog really quite enjoyable to watch.

xpost, btw

I always felt Johnny Guitar's reputation had more to do with the crowing on of the Cahiers set than anything. Only saw the movie once, years ago, and don't really remember it though.

Raise your hands if you voted for Shane, fuckos.

Lots of Orpheus doesn't scan, but appropriating totalitarian chic for a conception of the afterlife as chilling as David Byrne's has a lot of resonance. Maria Casares and her black rubber gloves is my idea of an enforcer.

blaming Alfred for low Smiles position

???

I voted for Shane. And I'm not ashamed!

xp: cuz you didn't vote, right

(of a Summer Night)

xxpost We'll be ashamed for you, Gukbe.

j/k j/k much love!!! (although ask whoever buys you gifts for the Boetticher box for whatever holiday you celebrate...I know I'm doing that!)

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45. The Day The Earth Stood Still
Robert Wise, 1951
POINTS: 82
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“really enjoyed The Day the Earth Stood Still at the Paramount the other night. It was a double feature with Forbidden Planet, but I didn't stay for that. The actual Earth standing still part was pointless, but the main alien guy was captivating.”

― Kenan Hebert

BONUS FEATURE

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44. Shadows
John Cassavetes, 1959
POINTS: 83
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“And thus began a life of sin - Hollywood's not Cassavetes'.”

- Kevin John Bozelka

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42 A. Diary of A Country Priest
Robert Bresson, 1951
POINTS: 87
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“actually, I just found a reference where Pauline is quoted as saying "Diary of a Country Priest is one of the most profound emotional experiences in the history of the cinema."
if that's correct, I say she nailed it, and proves she was capable of real insight occasionally when she wasn't being lazy and switched on auto-schtick”

― timmy tannin

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42 B. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Howard Hawks, 1953
POINTS: 87
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

“I do (predictably) think Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the greatest films ever made.”

― Eric H.

“Rosenbaum called this a “capitalist Potemkin” and he's right! Where Eisenstein's editing offered a filmic correlation to dialectical materialism, the remarkable final track in to the Dorothy-Lorelei coalition exemplifies capitalism's repetition compulsion. And give it up for George Winslow who should have won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as lecherous piggy in the making Henry Spofford III.”

- Kevin John Bozelka

BONUS FEATURE

Now that's a tie if I've ever seen one!

Cassavetes did (a little) better later.
I went for different Hawks & Bresson. (those 2 films tying is amusing, haha xpost)

at least Day the Earth Stood Still finished ahead of Plan 9.

It was a double feature with Forbidden Planet, but I didn't stay for that.

KENAN = DEAD TO ME

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40 A. Madame de.../The Earrings of Madame de…
Max Ophüls, 1953
POINTS: 94
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“The peak of Max's dolly. As knowing and sad as it gets.”

-Dr. Morbius

“The dance sequence pretty much defines cinematic magic.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

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40 B. On The Beach
Stanley Kramer, 1959
POINTS: 94
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Kinda corny at times, but (sadly) still not out of date.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

we will have to screen the Bresson-Hawks double feature at the ILX Cinematheque.

OK, that last one is a really WTF tie.

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39. On The Waterfront
Elia Kazan, 1954
POINTS: 96
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I don't care if it's too heavyhanded and politically suspect, it's the fulcrum of American film acting, and to diminish its importance is churlish. "You turned out very nice."”

--Dr. Morbius

“Nothing great about On the Waterfront excuses its director's naming names before HUAC, any more than his actions condemn the movie, which feeds on the experience without becoming an allegory for it. Those who would compare gangsters to the Communist Party USA imperil their own credibility rather than the movie's (and many argue Elia Kazan did both). For me, On the Waterfront is about what it's about: gangsters and dockworkers. Terry Malloy's painfully birthed realization that informing isn't betrayal if what you're informing on betrayed you a long time ago could use a re-airing in the "stop snitching" era, as corporations and governments behave like street-corner muscle and vice versa. His final walk is heroic no matter what haters say: It's about owning your place in a community even when power and peers have turned on you.”

― Pete Scholtes

BONUS FEATURE

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37 A. Bob le Flambeur
Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956
POINTS: 99
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Yay for Melville. A very nice print of Bob le flambeur played last year at a local rep--what a pleasure to see on the big screen.”

― slutsky

“Bob le flambeur - Nouvelle Vague before Nouvelle Vague (and a charming crime story, to boot!); still distinctly French (of course), but also has a tiny bit of Italian sensibility to it. Not perfect, but very close.”

― Girolamo Savonarola

“The first time I saw this, I stood up and cheered at the ending. I was at home at the time.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

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37 B. What’s Opera Doc?
Chuck Jones, 1957
POINTS: 99
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Do people dare to diss "What's Opera Doc"? Especially here, where we spend way too much time trying to obliterate the line between high and low culture, a line which Chuck Jones erased in the Fifties? And that's not even considering the editing or the light effects.”

― B:Rad

“I actually had no idea What's Opera, Doc and Rabbit of Seville were different cartoons, they blur together as one classic.”

― Pete Scholtes

BONUS FEATURE

I can only assume everyone hedged their bets on "Duck Amuck."

After watching What's Opera, Doc? again:

There's obviously something profoundly American about a Bronx Brer
Rabbit in drag reclining on a galloping fat horse to seduce a hunter
with a speech impediment, but I'm laughing too hard to parse it.

Bugs is BROOKLYN imho

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36. Forbidden Planet
Fred M. Wilcox, 1956
POINTS: 100
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Forbidden Planet, best movie of the '50s.”

― DavidM

“I love Forbidden Planet and its crypto Lovecraftianism.”

― The Real Dirty Vicar

BONUS FEATURE

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35. Throne of Blood
Akira Kurosawa, 1957
POINTS: 101
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“re: Throne of Blood, I don't think I've seen a better Shakespeare film.”

― poortheatre

“I love Throne of Blood. Not as much as Ran, maybe, but the austerity -- severity, even -- of the filmmaking perfectly suits the story.”

― gypsy mothra

“i finally saw throne of blood recently and it is indeed pretty damn incredible. parts of it (the witch scene, the ending) actually improve on the original. #2 on my shakespeare fillum list (after chimes), easily.”

― J.D.

BONUS FEATURE

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34. Nights of Cabiria
Federico Fellini, 1957
POINTS: 102
VOTES: 5
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“the scene at the end of nights of cabiria where masina is walking down the street while the kids are playing music and she gradually cheers up. that scene kills me.”

― dave k

“Still my favorite. Giulietta Masina was an angel. That’s all I have to say about this.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

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33. Ordet
Carl Theodor Dreyer (uncredited), 1955
POINTS: 105
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“i just would like to say that "ordet" is such a stone-cold masterpiece and its brilliant. its slow, but so worth it.”

― todd swiss

“I'm perplexed as to why anyone would view Ordet as filmed theater. Just the scene where Johannes enters and lights candles early in the film is so steeped in camera movement and off-screen presence.”

― Eric H.

“I agree that Ordet (1955) is a stone-cold masterpiece. It does exactly what you expect but totally defies all expectations. I don't think any other film comes as close to wearing the label "miraculous".”

― The Narwhal

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32. Wages of Fear
Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953
POINTS: 107
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS?

A fine gay film.

OK, who voted for On the Beach (which isn't even a good Chris Rea song)?

LOL. I'm sooooo not attending its double feature with Earrings.

French gangster flicks is an area where I still have so much to see!

I dislike The Day The Earth Stood Still Great robot, nice ship, but the thurst of the movie is so juvenile. Forbbiden Planet much better - clever and sometimes scary plot, impeccable set design, AMAZING soundtrack, Dr.Morbius is the perfect conflicted villain of the piece and it pretty much invented Star Trek too.

Much love for Shadows, Madame De... and Throne Of Blood.

OK, who voted for On the Beach (which isn't even a good Chris Rea song)?

I voted for it and Madame de...

So screw you and yr mother.

OK, who voted for On the Beach (which isn't even a good Chris Rea song)?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, November 13, 2008 5:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

I did (had it down on #5), and with no regrets whatsoever. The nuclear apocalypse is a theme I thoroughly enjoy in both books and movies. I don't care if it's corny - because yeah, it kinda is - I still think it's a beautiful and disturbing movie you can get thoroughly lost in, even today. (which can most definitely not be said about Chris Rea.)

It's just difficult to believe anything's at stake when Stanley Kramer is directing Gregory Peck.

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30 A. A Man Escaped/ Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut
Robert Bresson, 1956
POINTS: 110
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“ Bresson does his usual thing and 'something else' just as well here, which is what makes a masterpiece.”

― Dr Morbius

BONUS FEATURE

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30 B. Ace In The Hole/The Big Carnival
Billy Wilder, 1951
POINTS: 110
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I will admit that it's got the most eloquent shot of Wilder's career: that great slow dolly of the open train disgorging all these scurrying curiosity seekrs.”

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

“it's a great movie, seems to be one of his greatest, more consistently dark than his other films, which sometimes have a saggy middle ground, a soft white underbelly. It always seems to me that he went out of his way to disown his flops, instead of waiting for them to be rediscovered.”

― k/l (Ken L)

“Ace in the Hole is the bleakest movie I've ever seen. Not a single likeable character. Even the trapped miner was a spineless buffoon.
Loved it”.

― Dan Selzer

BONUS FEATURE

Peck is a case study for the effects of exposure to nuclear radiation.

That's it for today. I'll try to do 29-16 tomorrow.

The Day The Earth Stood Still is admittedly a kids' film; just a better one than Shane.

Waaaaaaaay better results today.

“I do (predictably) think Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the greatest films ever made.”

― Eric H.

Eric H. bringing the science! I bow to you, sir.

if GORT had starred in Shane instead of Alan Ladd...

Pete, as a disliker of On The Waterfront, I was moved by your powerful piece of writing. Maybe I'd be 100% convinced if Abe Polonsky had won a lifetime achievement Oscar. And Wanda hadn't cast even more doubt on Kazan.

And in the "ouch" category:

On the Beach
Capsule by Dave Kehr
From the Chicago Reader

Stanley Kramer issues the final warning to Mankind, in a tiresome, talky 1959 film set in the shrunken aftermath of World War III. Nineteen fifty-nine was also the year of North by Northwest, Imitation of Life, Rio Bravo, Some Came Running, Anatomy of a Murder, and The Horse Soldiers--so guess which picture topped all the ten-best lists? You'd have to see it to believe it, but I'm not sure I'd put anybody through that.

How'd Horse Soldiers slide in there? (Full disclosure: haven seen said Ford film.)

Some Ford freaks swear by it; others (e.g., myself) do not.

I saw it recently; it's good, esp the interplay of Wayne and Holden.

Speaking of Some Came Running, there better be a Minnelli or two coming up on this list.

Oh shit! I totally forgot to vote for The Cobweb! But I voted for another Minnelli.

none of the melos, but one musical & one comedy here.

Me-One musical, one weeper.

“ Bresson does his usual thing and 'something else' just as well here, which is what makes a masterpiece.”

― Dr Morbius

I'm not sure I want to know what this means.

What it means is I haven't seen the film in about 6 years.

ie, it isn't as dull as Pickpocket.

Just don't go kicking the ass and I'll refrain from bringing up the Dardennes.

Tabulator ocupado?

I was going to say ...

so did The Big Knife get any votes?

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29. Sweet Smell of Success
Alexander Mackendrick, 1957
POINTS: 113
VOTES: 4
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“"Sweet Smell of Success" is indeed magnificent; abrasive Scot (Mackendrick) meets abrasive New Yorker and the partnership is incendiary. Best role I know of for Tony Curtis, and one amongst many for the great Burt Lancaster.”

― Tom May

“because more than probably ANY other variety of "journalism," celeb gossip depends on maintaining a relationship with publicists, watch one sweet smell of success”

― say it with blood diamonds (a_p)

“Sweet Smell of Success (gritty bleak film noir about a Winchell-esque columnist, but the real star is the late-50s NYC night life of shady jazz clubs and criminal underworlds. unusual for the time, this was filmed on-location in NYC and not in a Hollywood soundstage)”

― Gator Magoon (Chris Barrus)

Been busy.

I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.

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28. In A Lonely Place
Nicholas Ray, 1950
POINTS: 113
VOTES: 7
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“My friend said: "Like Bogart always is, only a real person."”

--Dr. Morbius

BONUS FEATURE

I saw In a Lonely Place again recently. Bogart and Grahame still great, but I noticed how cheap it looked and how mangy some of the writing was; it's an excellent B movie.

so, no On the Beach

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27. 12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet, 1957
POINTS: 115
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“haha i can still remember watching 12 angry men in 8th grade social studies and hearing a bunch of girls yell "it's piglet!!" at the screen.”

― J.D.

“And, as far as the latest Armond kerfuffle goes, I have to say that Lumet's 12 Angry Men feels a lot more like great television than great film. But I don't really want to examine that empirically, either.”

― Eric H.

BONUS FEATURE

Gotta go fish for comments. Be back soon.

Rex Reed is hacking way too much of this poll

lol, I guess I stand by my 12AM comment.

?

He means he's telling Armond to shove his criticism of 12 AM.

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26. Pickpocket
Robert Bresson, 1959
POINTS: 117
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I just rescreened Pickpocket and came close to weeping.”

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

xpost True ... though at the same time, I didn't exactly mean it as the most glowing of endorsements.

oh, you didn't have to do that.

(xpost)

I stopped using "rescreened" when I got bored of seeing my name in the "Posts Very Much In Character" thread.

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25. Strangers On A Train
Alfred Hitchcock, 1951
POINTS: 117
VOTES: 6
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“"Strangers on a Train" is fantastic. So many great images: Bruno at the Jefferson Memorial, in the audience at the tennis match, the glasses' reflection scene...”

― Joe

“i like strangers on a train but the way hitch films that murder scene creeps me the fuck out.”

― J.D.

“Robert Walker is the best evil homosexual EVER. One of my favorite movie villains.”

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan)

BONUS FEATURE

made too soon to do Highsmith's plot. That hurt it.

(ie, it's groovy til Guy DOESN'T do his murder)

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24. Ugetsu/ Ugetsu monogatari
Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953
POINTS: 118
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

It seems that Mizoguchi has for some reason been forgotten from the list of great directors, which is a real pity, so I gotta go for the 62 or 72 list for still including Ugetsu.

― Tuomas

“I'm as upset as anyone that Ugetsu has been phased out of the top 10 out of the past few decades since it is, to my tastes, far greater than anything Kurosawa has done; perhaps my favorite film as of now”

― Vichitravirya_XI

BONUS FEATURE

This is definitely the "we now return to our regularly scheduled program" kicking in now. About time.

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23. Bonjour Tristesse
Otto Preminger, 1958
POINTS: 126
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Jean Seberg's perfect summer starts to slip away from her as Preminger's ever-gliding camera picks up every shard culminating in the devastating final shot.”

― Kevin John Bozelka

“Preminger's (and Seberg's... and Kerr's?) peak.”

--Dr. Morbius

“/Jean Seberg. //OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG.Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. //OMG./

“Jean Seberg, does one need anymore reasons to love this movie to death? She turns a crap novel and a mediocre movie into a diamond sight for sore eyes.

“Jean Seberg, my sweet Angel of Death. “

--Le Bateau Ivre

BONUS FEATURE

yes, good streak. I bet almost time for another stinker!

Seberg wd've been 70 yesterday, I think.

God, what a movie! Not Preminger's best but damn close.

Here's a comment I missed on Sweet Smell from Pete:

Sweet Smell of Success
The Wire begins here: This is the first non-noir I can think of to
relish in its street knowledge of a hidden urban world. It's wiseass,
streetwise, but maybe too wised up--I don't quite get the racial
cracks about the cop, for starters. But Sweet Smell obviously loves
its real New York locations and musical nightlife, and I love the
idea, whether true or made-up, that a right-wing tabloid entertainment
columnist could be powerful enough to hold court in his own section of
a restaurant, and that he could tar a jazz musician with the shocking,
shocking slander of Communist association and reefer smoking. But
mostly I love Tony Curtis, who would have given a little heart and
jolt to La Dolce Vita.

time for a cartoon break methinks.

I'm still sort of stuck on Advise and Consent as the best of the Premingers I've seen, but the man made as many movies as Hitchcock nearly, so that will probably never be a definitive statement.

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22. The Searchers
John Ford, 1956
POINTS: 127
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I have, in fact, used the first 20-25 minutes of The Searchers (up to the funeral) to teach the art and science of visual storytelling to would-be critics. I'm not a Fordophile in the sense that I've seen all of his work, but I watch The Searchers over and over again--corny, un p.c. bits and all--and get something new out of it every time. “

― Lee G

BONUS FEATURE

I'm guessing the two Fords I voted for aint finishing above this.

holy crap, that's low!

xp

some folx have no use at all for Wayne/Ford.

That IS low!

for a film w/ all the slapstick with Jeffrey Hunter? (tho God, he's beautiful)

jeez, i assumed it would make top ten no sweat.

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21. All About Eve
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950
POINTS: 129
VOTES: 6
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Patricia White in Uninvited: “It is one thing to love and emulate Bette Davis; it is another thing entirely to succumb to the charms of Barbara Bates” (213).”

--klb

“All About Eve is a strange one, because by rights it should be too literary, too stagey, too much of its period, too in-jokey and not cinematic enough for me. But I've sat through it twice in the last few months and been totally engrossed each time, even though I've seen it often enough to hear the dialogue before the actors say it.”

― frankiemachine

“I give Eve the edge for its gallery of performances (no one's praised Celeste Holm much; she plays the tricky part of the goody-goody backstabbing best friend with vinegary wit)”

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

BONUS FEATURE

I didn't vote for AAE (although I do like it). I would just like to say that I prefer Ms. Davis' milkshake line to Daniel Day Lewis'.

I prefer Ms. Davis' every line to every line of dialogue ever read by any other actor in any other movie.

(There, that's my blurb for that one.)

so gay, u is! give me George Sanders' tongue.

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20. Hiroshima mon Amour
Alain Resnais, 1959
POINTS: 129
VOTES: 5
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

To paraphrase Barthes “what's terrible about narrative is that it makes the monstrous viable.”

― Kevin John Bozelka

hiroshima mon amour: c/d?

I was going to say, the exception to my assertation above would be Faye Dunaway's every line in Mommie Dearest and Edith Massey's every line in Desperate Living.

All About Eve is like oxygen to me. Take it away and I die. Huff too much of it and it makes me high. I've seen it about 50, 60 times and I could watch it right now and then again immediately afterward.

Btw, that's my comment quoting from Uninvited which, repeating myself for the billionth time, features THE best analysis of the film I've ever read (particularly because it addresses how the film compels so many of us to keep watching the thing).

give me George Sanders' tongue.

Morbs, don't get randy.

If anyone was wondering, hiroshima's #1 broke the points tie w/Eve.

I was going to say, the exception to my assertation above would be Faye Dunaway's every line in Mommie Dearest and Edith Massey's every line in Desperate Living.

I think I found husband #2.

KJB & EH: butterfies in heat

Top 20 locks?

Touch of Evil
Kiss Me Deadly
NxNW
Rear Window

flies, not fries

xp

The last time I saw AAE, I didn't even mind Hugh Marlowe so much.

Morbs: Crustmeister in seclusion

if there is a Vertigo backlash, you will all pay.

The last time I saw All About Eve I didn't even mind the hair that fluttered in the gate for two seconds.

I love it when your hair flutters in the gate, Miss Caswell.

A dull cliche!

mudflinger

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19. Rio Bravo
Howard Hawks, 1959
POINTS: 134
VOTES: 7
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“Wayne and Dickinson's scenes are a great sex comedy by themselves.”

--Dr. Morbius

“Thank you, Fred Zinnemann!”

― Kevin John Bozelka

"Wayne, Dino, Hawks, Angie, WALTER FUCKING BRENNAN! What's not to love?"

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

"When I'm getting serious about a girl, I show her Rio Bravo and she better fucking like it." - Quentin Tarantino
― Justyn Dillingham

BONUS FEATURE

The best line(s)* in All About Eve comes IMMEDIATELY AFTER the most famous line. A crisp two dollar bill to whoever gets it.

Hint: It's a GENIUS back and forth.

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18. Paths of Glory
Stanley Kubrick, 1957
POINTS: 135
VOTES: 6
#1s:0

COMMENTS:

"Now you got the edge on him."

--Dr. Morbius

BONUS FEATURE

Kevin darling!

well those 2 butch entries put a stop to THAT

Pretty much. I still haven't finished Rio Bravo.

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17. Ikiru
Akira Kurosawa, 1952
POINTS: 140
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I enjoyed this film. The bit where they are cutting from one department to another was great. Very sad film, yet quite heart-warming at the same time. The wake dragged a little, and I loved the way all the guys from the office vowed to change, but by the next day they were the same as usual.”

― jel

“Ikiru - very nice, kind of shows kurosawa's limitations tho. the 'poetry' is a bit blunt, but that's also part of its charm
i suppose.”

― ryan

“this is awesome. a very strangely constructed film. structured almost like a dialectical argument. very moving.”

― amateur!!st

BONUS FEATURE

sorry, guys, but Ikiru's only inspired a couple of decent naps.

It'd be nice if that were the only Kurosawa in the top 20, but there are at least two more, aren't there?

well those 2 butch entries put a stop to THAT

Hey I voted for Rio Bravo! It's the greatest thing Fred Zinnemann ever did in his life.

Rio Bravo was my number one. I love how it manages to give showcases to all of its stars without hurting the plot whatsoever.

In A Lonely Place my number two - yeah some of the writing's corny, and the soundtrack is a bit intrusive as well. But apart from Bogart and Grahame, I value the gorgeous shots of the main character's house and the hills (one of the great LA movies, deffo) and...it's sort've lame to hold up taboo breaking as a reason to like a movie, but I do like how absolutley ruthless the movie is in making you love Bogart without giving you any confidence at all that he is not a psychopath and possible murderer (when the resolution comes, of course, it doesn't matter anymore.) One of the most comvincing anti-heroes ever.

I think the german stuff in Hiroshima Mon Amour is quite powerful but overall I'm not too keen on all those scenes of Riva walking around being pensive. Definitley didn't make me want to check out Duras. There's a latter (and ok, more conventional, who cares) Resnais that I really love, though - On Connait La Chanson.

Love Paths Of Glory, too.

Hey I voted for Rio Bravo! It's the greatest thing Fred Zinnemann ever did in his lif

HOWARD HAWKS, YOU INFIDEL

Wasn't Hawk's decision to film Rio Bravo as an answer to High Noon loaded with a pretty nasty political subtext? At any rate, Rio Bravo's the better movie, sure, but High Noon has its charms. Tex Ritter, for one.

xpost Alfred I think Kevin was zinging the Zinneman.

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16. Kiss Me Deadly
Robert Aldrich, 1955
POINTS: 153
VOTES: 6
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“”Now listen, Mike. Listen carefully. I'm going to pronounce a few words. They're harmless words. Just a bunch of letters scrambled together. But their meaning is very important. Try to understand what they mean….””

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

“When the devil takes your soul from the back of your head, he also takes the suitcase from Kiss Me Deadly.”

― Dr Morbius

Will Hitchcock pull a top-10 hat trick?

And that's it for today. I'll drop 15-1 on Super Tuesday the 18th.

Daniel, I don't want Zinnemann's name anywhere near Hawk's (except when discussing "From Here to Eternity").

Why would anyone vote for anything even conceptually connected with Zinnemann?

Katy Jurado is the best thing in High Noon.

yes, Zinnemann was an ideal candidate to sanitize Eternity.

The Sundowners is worth a glance.

Julia and The Member of the Wedding are well-acted.

(esp by V Redgrave and Ethel Waters)

BORING! Back to All About Eve territory"

Fave (campy) line from Mommie Dearest: "Tear down that bitch of a bearing wall and put a window where it (godlike emphasis) OUGHT to be!"

Fave Edith line from Desperate Living: Haven't seen it in years but "Rob my safety deposit box" off the top of my head." Mink Stole has the best lines in this, though.

so this is gaythread now?

I'm wondering if there'll be many foreign films in top 15, you xenophobes.

Um, I voted for Hiroshima Mon Amour, cookie! But Hollywood owned the 1950s.

WE HAVE OFFICIALLY FORCED OUT AN AGGRIEVED MAJORITY.

Lovin' the caps today, Soto!

So gays wish it was still the 1950s? Who knew?

um, wha?

Cinematically speaking, et al.

Or maybe gays just like poles.

What??? Are you okay, EH?

I'm not the one who reckoned this poll was being owned by the gays, is what I'm saying.

Ah ok.

The best line(s)* in All About Eve comes IMMEDIATELY AFTER the most famous line.

someone sez something after "bumpy night"?

Yeah, some party goer says "have I introduced you to, et al."

Funniest line of the whole movie, one that Bette wisely doesn't sell, is the one in the car about a woman not being a woman without a husband, but is instead a book full of clippings.

We should all make a compact to watch the films only 1 person voted for.

I should make a compact to watch all the films I voted for.

Tsk tsk...not knowing our All About Eve inside and out. And Eric, even if she did sell that line, the music from the radio (or "radio") would've given the ruse away. So would "slow curtain."

Remind me of the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke.

That occurs before "bumpy night" but is genius quite the same although I've used "some snowy night, in front of the fire" on COUNTLESS occasions.

Actually, I was responding to your last post, Kev.

I distinctly remember crossing you off my guest list, what are you doing here?

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But that's only the first part....

MARGO
(to Addison)
I distinctly remember striking your
name from the guest list. What are
you doing here?

ADDISON
Dear Margo. You were an
unforgettable Peter Pan - you must
play it again, soon.

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/All-About-Eve.html

I knew it had something to do with Peter Pan! But I was afraid I'd confused it for a similar line in The Big Sleep.

BILL
I can't believe you're making this
up - it sounds like something out
of an old Clyde Fitch play...

MARGO
Clyde Fitch, thought you may not
think so, was well before my time!

BILL
(laughs)
I've always denied the legend that
you were in 'Our American Cousin'
the night Lincoln was shot...

MARGO
I don't think that's funny!

$2 for Eric!!!!!!!!!

shouldn't that be a $3 for me?

Ikiru is the hardest I have ever cried at a movie ever

Tsk tsk...not knowing our All About Eve inside and out.

Yeah; I like baseball, too.

Is Kiss Me Kate really the only MGM musical to make the list so far?! Perverse.

Yeah; I like baseball, too.

Who doesn't?

Short takes FWIW:

In a Lonely Place: Love the club scenes and Los Angeles night scenes, but didn't quite get caught up the first time. Maybe I just don't buy that murderousness and emotional violence come from the same place.

12 Angry Men: It's painful waiting for the plot points to clock in on third look (and doesn't Henry Fonda have his jury-swaying strategy planned out from the start?). But edifying righteousness and a good setup go a long way. I really do believe a lot of tough-on-crime types are punishing children or themselves.

Ugetsu: Fell asleep at the theater both times I tried to appreciate this, so I'm tempted to wonder why tragic drear is so exalted, but I know I'm missing something Japanese see.

Strangers on a Train: Lesser Hitchcock for me, with a less interesting psycho, but love anything to do with the train and the fair.

The Searchers: I found its classically composed look and racism pretty plain and uninvolving the first time, but I know I'll watch it again someday.

Paths of Glory: Probably my 23nd favorite film here, mostly for the ending.

Kiss Me Deadly: The answering machine recording was on my voicemail for years, and there are many great scenes--22nd favorite. I guess I just wish the hero were less of an asshole.

Maybe I just don't buy that murderousness and emotional violence come from the same place.

I think it's more that the former can come from the latter (pretty difficult to discuss this w/o spoiling the movie)

I've not seen Kiss Me Deadly, but surely the hero cannot be more of an asshole than Hammer is in the novels?

I likes me the antiheroes.

Let's do this.

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15. Wild Strawberries
Ingmar Bergman, 1957
POINTS: 159
VOTES: 6
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“The reason "Wild Strawberries" works with the heavy-handed symbolism (while "Seventh Seal" does not) is that it balances it with nostalgia and humanism. The symbolism is also much more visceral & less blatant (although it could be argued that the "clock with no hands" is on par with "playing chess with death" in the cheese factor--but at the same time, it's a dream sequence in "Wild Strawberries", so maybe it's a bit more justifiable.”

― jay blanchard

“yeah, on paper that dream sequence in "wild strawberries" shouldn't work, but i've seen the film three or four times and i always want to leap out of my seat at the creaking sound of the tilted carriage. and the blinding sunlight is truly eerie. it's too visceral to roll your eyes and say "oh A symbolizes B and C symbolizes D, we get it". …i've never known quite what to make of the bickering couple in "wild strawberries". their appearance is unexpected, unsettling, and over quickly.”

― a spectator bird

“I'm weird like this, but I thought Wild Strawberries was a lot more funny than Smiles of a Summer Night (which, pace me and screwball, didn't make me laugh at all).”

― Eric H.

BONUS FEATURE

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14. The 400 Blows
François Truffaut, 1959
POINTS: 162
VOTES: 7
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“The least overthunk juvenile hero in film.”

--Dr. Morbius

“I remember only the groovy vibe soundtrack--playing in my head right now--and the feeling I got that I was watching a new film language invent itself as it went--not just the jump cuts, but the eye-level empathy with children.”

-- Peter S. Scholtes

“the end of 400 blows gives me chills every time.”

― cutty

“Really captures the feeling of being in a family where you’re either at each other’s throats trying to kill each other or busy being best friends—with little or no middle ground. I always thought it was funny that for such a (supposed) monster, Doinel’s mom was still kinda hot.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

the four hundred blows

BONUS FEATURE

tsk tsk, equating Smiles of a Summer Night w/screwball!

Maybe we'll get a foreign/Hitchcock onslaught here?

I'm still trying to figure out why Leaud was a totally uninteresting adult actor.

he ha a great scene in What Time Is It There?

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13. Tokyo Story
Yasujiro Ozu, 1953
POINTS: 163
VOTES: 6
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Child abuse is one of the great movie subjects. But is there another great movie about parent abuse?”

-- Peter S. Scholtes

“Ozu's tokyo story is being shown daily at the NFT till next thursday. I caught it yesterday and it was some of the most moving cinema I've ever seen.”

― Julio Desouza

“Tokyo Story affected me deeply, possibly more than any other movie I've seen. There's a culture gap between my parents and I - I was born in the states, they were not - and they often adhere to their ways and expectations. When they are unreasonable to me, I sometimes just laugh at them. This seems cruel and mean (and yes, it is), but to be fair, you need to hear what they sometimes say. For example, right before I left for college, my father told me that I should break up with my girlfriend so I could concentrate on my studies. This is just one example out of many.

“My father is about to retire, and I've noticed a bit of regret within him - that maybe he could've been a better father. Seeing Tokyo Story a few years ago really made it clear to me that no matter how justified I might have felt, whenever I went against their advice or wishes, I usually acted like a jerk. In the film, the mother dies, thinking that her children are disrespectful, selfish brats. It didn't really hit me before, with that much clarity, just how utterly horrible that would be. I think about the movie all the time; I really do. Whenever my father sternly says to me, "You need to get married," instead of laughing, I now just listen, patiently.”

― Anisette,

“I think one of the great things about "Tokyo Story" and indeed many Ozu films is how, as in Renoir's great films, each character has their reasons for acting and feeling as they do, even if certain actions might be unforgivable. The dialogue between the youngest daughter and Setsuko Hara toward the end of the film crystallizes this, and in fact offers the audience two distinct perspectives from which to judge the action: the daughter's fury at the insensitivity of her brothers and sisters, and Noriko's greater sympathy for all parties (a feeling which is made all the more poignant by her breakdown in front of her father in law, where she confesses to selfishness and of not thinking of her late husband every day--in light of this confession one could think that her attentiveness to her in laws is a way of trying to forgive herself).

“For one thing one of the ostensibly least sympathetic characters, the younger son who works in Osaka...I found myself identifying with him very much. His frustration with the funeral rites, his refusal (unspoken but it's clear) to wear the traditional funereal garb, his distractedness...but as is clear from the dialogue with his coworker, his genuine concern for his parents which he just isn't able to make manifest before it's too late.”

― amateur!st

BONUS FEATURE

my favorite thing in Ozu films is Chishu Ryu's habit of giving a noncommital, or dismissive, or accepting "Mmmmmmmmmm" in reply to another character. (It always sounds the same.)

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12. Rashomon
Akira Kurosawa, 1950
POINTS: 166
VOTES: 7
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Rashomon is an extraordinarily beautiful film with terrific acting and vitally with what I think was an entirely original central idea in movies. And its rain hasn't been bettered since. I love it. Whether the directors who put it in their top ten would say anything similar I have no idea - I'm just a fan.”

― Martin Skidmore

“"Rashomon"! Featuring Toshiro Mifune giving the most over-the-top performance I've ever seen that actually works as acting.”

― Douglas

BONUS FEATURE

wow, any Americans besides Welles & Hitch in remaining 11?

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11. All That Heaven Allows
Douglas Sirk, 1955
POINTS: 178
VOTES: 7
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“Gawd let Sirk have one unironic masterpiece!”

― Kevin John Bozelka

“All That Heaven Allows is perfect as is, and funnier than every screwball ever made.”

― Eric H.

“When those kids buy her that TV set, man oh man.”

― Dr Morbius

BONUS FEATURE

Yay for collecting my greatest hits w.r.t screwball!

But that Heaven just missed the top 10 = :(

oh, yeah.

If All That Heaven... had ended with the TV scene, it woulda been perfect.

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10. Touch of Evil
Orson Welles, 1958
POINTS: 180
VOTES: 8
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

Touch of Evil

BONUS FEATURE

xp: oh, don't speak the heresy that the last 10 minutes are unintentionally funny...

I put ToE 36th, and I'm glad it's not higher than this.

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9. Duck Amuck
Chuck Jones, 1953
POINTS: 184
VOTES: 5
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“The most terrifying film ever made.”

-kjb

“Alltime greatest God performance is Bugs Bunny in "Duck Amuck."”

― Oilyrags

BONUS FEATURE

"A close-up, you idiot! A CLOSE-UP!!!"

Daffy Duck > Apu trilogy

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8. North By Northwest
Alfred Hitchcock, 1959
POINTS: 194
VOTES: 8
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“There's so much that's fun or funny in North by Northwest: the
auction, the drunk scene at the police station, the
caught-with-a-knife assassination (pure slapstick), the
making-love-with-clothes-on. But what makes it work is Cary Grant
never once suggesting that being taken out of his comfort zone is fun, adventurous, liberating, exciting, or otherwise a natural extension of his professional abilities. He seems irritated, shaken, and finally scared and determined, which grounds his gentlemanliness in reality, and makes the chase on a plainly fake Mount Rushmore nail-biting.”

-Peter S. Scholtes

“you can't have too much of the score from 'north by northwest'.”

― That one guy that quit

BONUS FEATURE

(actually my fav LT is probably Bugs' showbiz retro, What's Up Doc? not the Bogdanovich)

xp

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7. The Seventh Seal
Ingmar Bergman, 1957
POINTS: 220
VOTES: 8
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“A corpse "most eloquent."”

--Dr. Morbius

“There's something about Death that makes him so compelling; how he appears as 'just' another human being. Death being one of us, someone like us. Like me.

“It still scares the shit out of me, everytime Death appears. Seemingly not unlike all of us, but in the end nothing more than a cheater. Death is a cheater. Like me. Like us all.”

--Le Bateau Ivre

“I love when he uses his morbidity or broodingness as a set up for a punch line--in Wild Strawberries (the kids having a fist fight over whether God is dead) and especially Seventh Seal (Mary responding to Joseph's recounting of the Dance of Death with an amused "Oh you and your visions"). Also, throughout Smiles of a Summer Night.

And OTM about his creation of a consistent world. When I first got into Bergman I gobbled down maybe a dozen of his movies in a month, and it got so whenever I'd see one of his regular actors it'd be like seeing an old friend.

RIP, maybe my all-time fave.”

― Martin Van Burne

BONUS FEATURE

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6. Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder, 1950
POINTS: 232
VOTES: 10
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“What can I say? There really is none higher.”

--Le Bateau Ivre

“Norma Desmond is a not-exactly-fictional character that could have been created by no one but Gloria Swanson, but it's still not a biography of Gloria Swanson; it's a performance. Her greatest. Her caricature of herself is one of the bravest things ever put on film, and sometimes one of the funniest. And to boot, the movie surrounding her is also great.”

―kenan

“Sunset is the most fun vampire film of its era.”

― Dr Morbius

BONUS FEATURE

ludicrously overrated by da gayz

Rear Window and Vertigo better both be higher than NxNW.

Love that you've got a blurb there, Morbs.

that Nancy Olsen character, ugh

xxp

If NxNW is the biggest top 10 bummer, this poll will have turned out pretty good.

lol, it's "screwball," right?

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5. Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa, 1954
POINTS: 239
VOTES: 8
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“A new translation of the subtitles vindicates the dialogue, I think,
and the dream still sweeps me up. I can't think of a moment in three hours where I'm not wanting to crunch popcorn, yet how many other movies this exciting are so completely opened up to outdoor atmosphere, beauty, and sound? The charged magic of the woods is my childhood link between A Midsummer Night's Dream at the outdoor American Players Theater and Star Wars , while those climactic fights to the death in the mud and bright rain are their own gripping cinema. Few Westerns managed as much kinetic action and gentle heroism, and I can't remember a moment from The Magnificent Seven, the Seven Samurai
remake.”

--Peter S. Scholtes

“I'm for the Seven Samurai, mainly because the peasants are so hardcore in it. Once they get the robust leadership of the Samurai they turn into killing machines, dishing out tasty bamboo tipped death to the evil bandits.“

― DV

BONUS FEATURE

^another Eric bummer?

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4. Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock, 1954
POINTS: 240
VOTES: 10
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“How to catch a voyeur, by Grace Kelly.”

--Dr. Morbius

“The first time I saw this as a kid, the cityscape seemed too
artificial, its whiteness striking, and its '50s attitudes towards
marriage and Manhattan high society alien--plus the plot template had been imitated so much already. But learning to love Rear Window is a process of coming to appreciate limits, of learning to see your backyard as a community. I love its longing look at New York, its use of piano as source music from the nearby apartment with giant windows and cocktail parties, its street sounds in the distance, and its creation of a little world to explore from your chair. It's a great New York movie in spite of itself, and it's partly about why cities are desirable. None of which would mean squat if it didn't isolate film's basic appeal in an often humorous dramatic situation, with the kick that your voyeurism might suddenly turn on you, the lights coming up on somebody stepping off the screen to strangle you and throw you out into the lobby.”

--Peter S. Scholtes

Rear Window: Great Hitchcock or Greatest Hitchcock?

BONUS FEATURE

The only flaw in Rear Window: that awful jangly bracelet Grace wears.

Naw, I never committed myself to sitting through 7S.

NxNW as screwball ... makes sense.

Lemme guess, it's your favorite in this top 10 thus far, right Morbs?

Three left!

xxp: oh, the other things you've sat through!

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3. Singin’ In The Rain
Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952
POINTS: 249
VOTES: 9
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Singin' in the Rain is a little mean toward its villainess (though it helps that Jean Hagen actually dubbed Debbie Reynolds in most scenes rather than the other way around), and the sexual chemistry between Gene Kelly and Reynolds evaporates the moment they stop bickering and she admits she's impressed (enter Cyd Charisse). But pretty much everything else about this greatest-ever musical stands up and does back flips before its head explodes.”

--Peter S. Scholtes

“Postmodernism avant la lettre (or après if you believe Lawrence Grossberg). “

― Kevin John Bozelka

“when I saw this at the Castro, at Cyd's pressed slide down Gene's calf at 2:15 my date audibly gasped, grabbed my wrist and then crossed her legs”

― Milton Parker

Singin' in the Rain

BONUS FEATURE

*sigh*

xp: I had Rear Window higher than 7S or NxNW

My blurb for Rear Window from that thread, fwiw:

Not only is Rear Window maybe the best Hitchcock, it's also one of those rare movies that are, while you're in the act of watching them, clearly the best movie ever made.

I'm guessing Fires on the Plain is not in the top 2. (also one of those rare movies)

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2. Night of The Hunter
Charles Laughton & Robert Mitchum (uncredited), 1955
POINTS: 318
VOTES: 11
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“The terrible, horrible capacity for evil in us all.”

― Kevin John Bozelka

“A lot of this film reminds me of what old movies and children's books were to me when I was little, reading Angus and Sam the Minuteman and watching Frankenstein, The Wizard of Oz, or The Red Balloon: stories that were completely possessing dreams, vivid and unreal, that could turn nightmare at any moment. The music, ravishing black-and-white imagery, surreal "outdoor" sets, and lost children on a journey belong to the '40s or earlier in my mind. But the attitude is subversive modern horror: Bill Sikes of Oliver Twist has become a smart noir sadist disguised in the garb of so many Depression-era preacher heroes. Children see through him but adults are taken, charmed, or cowed. The way the film deals with sexuality is also shockingly frank and clear-eyed. This is a film about truths where only the presentation is fanciful, which might be why it was a flop.”

--Peter S. Scholtes

“Cinema straight out of the Anthology of American Folk Music. This is one of those weird films that by all means shouldn’t hit like it does. All the comedy stuff (the Rev bouncing into town in his jalopy, the executioner dialogue) and the yuletide cheer at the end seem out of place, but it DOES NOT MATTER. There is darkness on the face of this earth, or better still:

“Ah, little lad, you're staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil?”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

"night of the hunter"

BONUS FEATURE

My sources tell me it's Picnic.

xpost

I'm fine with all of the top 4!

wow, I didn't know this was that overrated.

I didn't know you were that much an arrogant asshole.

you ALWAYS say that.

I'd be fine with Hunter as best First Film.

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1. Vertigo
Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
POINTS: 358
VOTES: 11
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“Maybe the greatest dream film ever, hence laughed at by the prosaic. "The gentleman certainly knows what he wants."”

--Dr. Morbius

“Like Rear Window, Vertigo isolates an aspect of why movies work and turns it into a story. Just hearing the soundtrack at a Halloween party recently* brought it all back: that old sinking feeling of falling in love with a wishful fiction, one you imagine exists for you--and in a sense does, at least when it comes to movies, not real-life projections, since an actress wouldn't perform for you without your ticket stub or rental receipt. Then I watched Mad Men on DVD, and noticed the Vertigo bite of the opening, which makes perfect sense, since the heroes of this '50s-as-sanity-squeezing-nightmare are as wrapped up in what feminism and the counterculture had to destroy as Jimmy Stewarts delusion was. He's basically going off a cliff after
a girl in an ad, and the girl goes off the cliff trying to be the ad.

*Coincidentally, I dressed as Alfred Hitchcock, with my date as Tippy Hedren from The Birds.”

--Peter S. Scholtes

“Casting Stewart against type was one of the best things in Vertigo. It makes his descent towards the end all the more affecting, because you don't expect Jimmy Stewart to go that low.”

― Tuomas

“To paraphrase William Carlos Williams, the pure products of America may go crazy, but that ain’t nothin' compared to what they do to the ones they love.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

“I wish movies still looked like Vertigo.”

― milo z

“the last shot of "vertigo" is one of the pinnacles of the cinema, and not a word is spoken”

― amateur!st

BONUS FEATURE

Well. I wish Rear Window had traded places.

since Vertigo was my #1, I guess this is the most meaningful vote I have ever cast!

Deciding between Rear Window and Vertigo is the very definition of splitting hairs. I'm glad they're both above NxNW.

Night/Hunter is the best first film in that it feels like its the first film ever. The level of invention and lack of baggage in debt to other movies is practically unparalleled that late in the game.

drowning Shelley Winters done in Place in the Sun (j/k)

Yeah, and silhouette of villain done in Nosferatu, et al, blah blah, still an uncontestable masterpiece.

I mean if you seriously like screwball that much, remove your own eyes immediately, they are obviously of no use to you.

Night/Hunter is the best first film in that it feels like its the first film ever

wow, otm.

did Brando & Clift really make their names by appearing in such insignificant films? (not that I voted for any but the one btwn em that is ranked)

I DON'T like screwball as much as you pretend, I thought that was part of our mutual-caricature shtick.

Don't you think I was exaggerating too?

Loving and respecting Mad Men even more now that I've seen the last episode of Season One, which is like a Sirk film storyboarded by Kubrick.

My blurb for All That Heaven Allows FWIW:

Emo feminism in the strong, subtle, sure hands of a great male director, though maybe it's the uncommonly empathetic female performance at the center that gets me. Sirk's best, I think.

Damn, I had Sansho the Bailiff at #1 and it didn't even make the list. Is the title that off-putting? At least Rio Bravo beat The Searchers.

Having fun imagining Morbs' reaction to Sirk being described as emo.

xxxp: well, sure!

I don't even relate to the meaning of "emo," it came along when my interest in music was waning.

anyway, this was my list -- after the first 20-25 don't hold me to any of it, esp the order:

Vertigo
The Earrings of Madame de...
A Man Escaped
Fires on the Plain
The Tragedy of Othello
World of Apu
The 400 Blows
Un Chant d'Amour
Europa '51
Rear Window

The Seventh Seal
Ugetsu
Paths of Glory
Bonjour Tristesse
Father of the Bride
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Seven Samurai
Rio Bravo
Ikiru
A Star Is Born

In a Lonely Place
The Tarnished Angels
Seven Men from Now
North by Northwest
Kiss Me Deadly
The Sun Shines Bright
I'm All Right Jack
The Wages of Fear
Aparajito
Smiles of a Summer Night

On the Waterfront
All About Eve
Gigi
Some Like It Hot
Ashes and Diamonds
Touch of Evil
The Quiet Man
Son of Paleface
Nights of Cabiria
Mon Oncle

Bubbling under (for my conscience):

The Flowers of St. Francis
What's Opera, Doc?
Touchez pas au Grisbi
All That Heaven Allows
Los Olvidados
Ivan the Terrible, Part 2
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T
Rashomon
Written on the Wind
Attack
Summertime
Umberto D.
Wild Strawberries
Strangers on a Train

xpost -- That said, I'm sort of on board with the rest of that blurb, Pete. The thing that really gets me in the famed TV sequence isn't the irony and campy signpost symbolism of the blocking/reflections, but rather the way Wyman underplays her disappointment in herself and her children. She lets the snob daughter do the open weeping while she stretches out her temples and seemingly can't even be roused to raise her voice. She's been totally crushed from within.

OK, Morbs, Father of the Bridge xplain plz.

so my takeaway agenda: Ichikawa, Satyajit Ray, Judy Garland, Spencer Tracy, Boetticher, Bunuel.

I mean, I'm an auteurist too and all, but even I recognize Carrie and Dressed to Kill as among De Palma's best films.

have you seen it? I see that I wrote to Grisso "The warmest portrait of the American family engine and its limitations."

The thing that really gets me in the famed TV sequence isn't the irony and campy signpost symbolism of the blocking/reflections, but rather the way Wyman underplays her disappointment in herself and her children.

Although I'm reluctant to resort to biographical criticism, swap Ronnie Reagan for the husband, and Maureen and Michael for the children, and you've got Morning in America.

xp: also, Liz at her peak beauty, around 18.

xpost Haha!

I've frequently caught pieces of it flipping past TCM, but nothing captured my interest, especially not Liz at her peak beauty.

or, if you choose Dave Kehr's perspective: "There is a strange undercurrent of discontent and despair to many of the situation comedies of the 50s; this ostensibly lighthearted film about Spencer Tracy's Kafkaesque attempts to bring off his daughter's wedding is one of the bleakest films of a bleak decade....Minnelli drops all pretense of comedy for a climactic nightmare sequence that conjures up the ghost of Dr. Caligari."

(if that doesn't get you to see it, nothing will)

ILX doesn't appear to like comedies much more than Oscar does. How many besides Some Like It Hot in the 75? (no musicals pls)

The cartoons?

well, that's a whole separate argument...

Live action: Smiles, I'm All Right Jack, Roman holiday (romcom), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (too musical?), Nights of Cabiria (funny-sad), uh...

The Ladykillers was bubbling under (2 votes/38 points)

well, that's a whole separate argument...

Not when they're consistently much funnier than the feature-length, live-action comedies.

Good to see Duck Amuck again: My favorite LOL moment is him pushing away "The End." Wouldn't we all?

anyhoo, thank you for your efforts, C. Grisso/McCain. I don't know what the "base" is for a '40s poll (six of us?).

but Eric, it IS usually easier to make a funny 6-minute film than a 90-minute one.

Then more directors should take the hint and make richly funny 6-minute films instead of fitfully amusing 90-minute ones.

I would obviously not take part in a '40s poll. Don't think I've seen many masterpieces from that decade.

xp: like Guy Maddin?

Exactly. (Though My Winnipeg was very well sustained ... if not a comedy.)

Morbs, you're failing: no Apatow-Rogen jokes in days!

xpost: Also easier to be timeless with animation, maybe, or easier to be subversive/radical without freaking out your funders...

I've had ppl I dragged to Jerry's Nutty Professor tell me that's not a comedy either.

Alfred, I've moved on.

Nutty Professor is many other things in addition to being a comedy, which helps it through the rough spots.

I don't equate comedy with laughs, especially with someone as strange as Lewis (or Keaton or Tati).

There are five Preston Sturges masterpieces in the '40s!

The '40s will be easier than you think...

I don't equate comedy with laughs either, but if that's all they're trying to get and they fail well over half the time and there's no formal qualities to fall back on and I'm not inherently impressed by the sophisticated presentation of the foibles of hetero communications, well ...

My '40s ballot would be about half Val Lewtons, one-third Orson Welles and Hitchcock, and the rest a-g.

oh, and Hellzapoppin’ (which is to say, a-g)

30-40% is a high rate for even a laughs-only comedy. like Hellzapoppin?

xp

(its formal qualities are open to the question of intention)

for Hollywood, I think I prefer the '40s to the 50s!

xpost -- but it has formal qualities, which Leo McCarey movies do not

Comedy in the thirties >> comedy in the forties.

Buñuel was one of the few good directors making comedies in the fifties (no one saw'em, though).

xp: grooooannn, that's madness whether you like his formal qualities or not ... you've seen Duck Soup, yes?

also about 80 of McCarey's films are comedy shorts starring the likes of Laurel & Hardy, which would populate my '20s ballot.

xp: grooooannn, that's madness whether you like his formal qualities or not ... you've seen Duck Soup, yes?

I even like some of his movies. Make Way for Tomorrow is a masterpiece without any particular formal qualities.

“McCarey understands people better perhaps than anyone else in Hollywood.” - Jean Renoir

Sure, but how does that defend his lack of mise-en-scene?

(OK, maybe mise-en-scene isn't the word I'm looking for here.)

yeah, "lack" is a bit strong. His films have an aura (as do Lubitsch's, perhaps moreso) that isn't engineered in ways familiar to us from subsequent filmmakers. But they work, so they must've done it right.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my love for Make Way for Tomorrow challenges everything I thought I loved about cinema, and I'm grateful for that, but do not find anything remotely approaching Tomomrrow's great whatsit in any of McCarey's other films, and won't stress about it.

(Unfortunatly, I haven't seen a Lubitsch film that works for me in that way yet.)

I have never understood exactly what mise en scène is anyway; it changes from critic to critic. So I say fuck it, give me the arithmetical beauty of a streetful of ppl tearing each other's pants off.

So I say fuck it, give me the arithmetical beauty of a roomful of tap dancers reenacting the Sierpinski triangle.

Thank you for spurring me to rent All About Eve, which has many laughs out loud...

Yes, I laugh or at least exhale through my nose about 40 percent of the time during All About Eve.

it's obv a great, kickass script. But what are Mankiewicz's formal qualities?

also, pony up the individual ballots.

My sources tell me it's Picnic.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, November 18, 2008 5:33 PM

ha ha!

I was sad Picnic didn't make it. I love the DVD artifacts on this scene. The image compression reveals the Holden-in-blackface:

my #1 was El: This Strange Passion, oh well

it's obv a great, kickass script. But what are Mankiewicz's formal qualities?

You know my point is that, in the absence of formal qualities, it all boils down to "I like this/I don't like this" for me. And screwballs almost always fall under the latter.

it's obv a great, kickass script. But what are Mankiewicz's formal qualities?

The ones he learned from Billy Wilder?

well, I think Sunset Blvd has more memorable visual perks than Eve, but prefer the latter (cuz that cast would eat Nancy Olsen like sherbet).

Nancy Olsen, graduate of the Betty Crocker School of Dramatic Arts.

Yeah, what an unnecessary Oscar nomination hers was.

knowing that she got one, wow!

I used to be jaymc.

Olson didn't win.

anyone read Sam Stagg's All About All About Eve? Lots of dishy anecdotes. When told years later that Anne Baxter regretted promoting herself as Best Actress instead of Supporting Actress, Davis says, "Yeah, she should have."

C. Grisso, I applaud you for organising this and making such an effort of it!

Time to come clean, my top ten:

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. The Seventh Seal
3. Bonjour Tristesse
4. La Strada
5. On The Beach
6. Ascenseur Pour l'Echafaud
7. Rear Window
8. 12 Angry Men
9. Roman Holiday
10. Le Amiche/The Girlfriends

Only thing that really fascinates and surprises me is the inclusion of all the Looney Tunes cartoons. Is this purely an American (cultural) phenomenom? I mean, I like cartoons as much as the next guy, but seeing Duck Amuck in the top ten really raised my eyebrows. I think I've got a lot of catching up to do :)

did Bette say anything nice about a female peer, ever?

I thought "Duck Amuck" was one of those flicks the French had to discover before we did.

so E, did you really not vote for any Tashlin films?

(btw, Road to Utopia with Hope/Crosby is at least as funny as any Looney Tunes, and is sorta structured like one; might be in my '40s Top 20)

did Bette say anything nice about a female peer, ever?

Actually, she became great friends with Thelma Ritter (a huge Dickens fan, apparently) and Baxter. Celeste Holm she detested.

My imaginary ballot:

El
All About Eve
Anatomy of a Murder
The Earrings of Madame De...
Imitation of Life
Rear Window
Early Spring
Touch of Evil
Smiles of a Summer Night
I Vitelloni

hay gays i think i forgot to submit my ballot, although i found it on my hard drive:

Vertigo
Night and the City
A Man Escaped
Sunset Blvd
Singin' in the Rain
In a Lonely Place
Rear Window
Orpheus
Nights of Cabiria
Pickpocket

Kiss Me Deadly
Gun Crazy
The Wrong Man
Strangers on a Train
Sansho the Bailiff
Ivan the Terrible, Part 2
Bob le flambeur
Imitation of Life
Night of the Hunter
Touch of Evil

Umberto D.
Some like it Hot
The Man in the White Suit
The 400 Blows
The Killing
12 Angry Men
Diabolique
Wages of Fear
The River
The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Lavender Hill Mob
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Night and Fog

(i'm happy with the results, obv)

I thought "Duck Amuck" was one of those flicks the French had to discover before we did.

― Eric H., Tuesday, November 18, 2008 7:42 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

Maybe, but I ain't French, you see.

I'm just saying it wasn't an American thing first.

Well, aside from being made and appreciated by people in general in America.

(Jerry Lewis onstage interview w/ Bogdanovich here this weekend)

1. Rear Window
2. Vertigo
3. Seven Samurai
4. North by Northwest
5. The Night of the Hunter
6. What's Opera, Doc?
7. Singin' in the Rain
8. The African Queen
9. All That Heaven Allows
10. On the Waterfront
11. Anatomy of a Murder
12. Born Yesterday
13. The Red Balloon
14. The 400 Blows
15. Sweet Smell of Success
16. The Men
17. A Night to Remember
18. A Face in the Crowd
19. War of the Worlds
20. Tokyo Story

Leftover blurbs:

A Face in the Crowd
Why are there so few good movies about TV? A Face in the Crowd might
be the best that isn't about the news (though My Favorite Year has a
place in my heart). As a warning, it can be hard to take: The movie's
fear of homespun Southern charisma turning Trojan horse for business
fascism is easily dispelled recalling the awkward handshake between
Elvis and Nixon. But this rise-and-fall story is more compelling and
sensual than any biopic that followed its blueprint, because director
Elia Kazan isn't afraid to get inside the carnality and fun of being
dark, hysterical Andy Griffith--the baton-twirling scene remains the
kind of classic that shows just how tame the imitators are.

The Red Balloon
It seems like a dream to me now, or something that actually happened.
Also a great children's book using photos from the film.

War of the Worlds
I actually love the Spielberg remake, which adds evocations of 9/11
and plausible pessimism about crowd panic and strangers. But the '50s
sci-fi classic has its own distinctly creepy look, sound, and logic,
especially the arcs of sparks shot out by the alien ships, who
represent everything you don't know--the bomb, the Russians, the
future--coming to destroy everything you do.

Anatomy of a Murder
One difference between the early '40s and late '50s is the span of
American history between Dooley Wilson and Humphrey Bogart in
Casablanca and Duke Ellington and James Stewart in Anatomy of a
Murder. Where Bogart grumpily tolerates the black help until he needs
the music like a drink, Jimmy Stewart sits in with genius, and no hint
of white authority (though notice none of the black musicians object).
Hepness has become an entryway into the real world where African
Americans live--and the fact that they live there makes it more real
onscreen. It also brings us to a fresh sexual suggestiveness and
frankness, a nonjudgmental view of alcoholism, and the recognition
that courts of law are a lot like courts of tennis or basketball, and
that this is their beauty. The Upper Peninsula locations,
lake-vacation atmosphere, wall-to-wall Ellington, crackling dialogue,
easy structure, and ironic looks of George C. Scott make this my
all-time favorite courtroom drama.

Born Yesterday
It took a long time for me to like William Holden in this or any other
movie, but I appreciate him more now, maybe because I see how
personalities like his are needed in the real world: The teacher, with
his condescending smile and false humility, can sometimes straighten
us out. And while I wish it were clearer that Judy Holliday had
something to teach him in return, I love how lispy and casually dreamy
she gets when acknowledging her ignorance, as if noticing the world
and giving a shit held appeal for her as some new card game to master.

The Men
I remember nothing except Brando being powerfully sensual even in a
wheelchair, and his rebellion among men in an institution being as
exciting as the one in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

A Night to Remember
The Titanic is earth now, and we're all going down. But none of the
more recent environmental disaster movies are a better metaphor than
this founding horror film about community, which is far more surreal
and convincing than the James Cameron epic weeper if only because
Titanic's FX gloss, length, and suspenseful romantic subplot get in
the way of its basic situation, with all its dread and injustice.

Having just re-watched The Red Balloon for the first time since childhood, I'd yank that outta there for Body Snatchers. Obv there are tons of movies in the Top 75 I haven't seen...

I also have a big soft spot for Creature from the Black Lagoon, which I saw in 3-D. The music is awesome. The sequels are hilariously bad though.

forgot to vote on this one! my top two would've been vertigo and duck amuck, so i'm reasonably happy.

I want to thank the law offices of Farner, Grisso, & McCain for a fantastic poll! Seriously, great work!

My ballot:

1. Imitation of Life – As perfect a capitalist product as has ever been created in the USA, delivering contradictory pleasures sometimes within a single shot. Classical Hollywood never topped it.

2. Angel Face – Preminger’s unblinking eyes make sure we’ll want to scratch out our own.

3. Night of The Hunter – The terrible, horrible capacity for evil in us all.

4. Duck Amuck – The most terrifying film ever made.

5. The Long Gray Line - The greatest of Ford’s living, breathing organisms. More movingly than anything in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, the Christmas scene demonstrates community formation through history making. If you can make it through these five minutes without bawling, then you need to take a break from ILX.

6. The End – I felt so incredibly alone at the end (get it?) of this.

7. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – Rosenbaum called this a “capitalist Potemkin” and he’s right! Where Eisenstein’s editing offered a filmic correlation to dialectical materialism, the remarkable final track in to the Dorothy-Lorelei coalition exemplifies capitalism’s repetition compulsion. And give it up for George Winslow who should have won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as lecherous piggy in the making Henry Spofford III.

8. Singin’ In The Rain – Postmodernism avant la lettre (or après if you believe Lawrence Grossberg).

9. Female on the Beach – The cost of nothing. Joan Crawford’s greatest film.

10. All About Eve – Patricia White in Uninvited: “It is one thing to love and emulate Bette Davis; it is another thing entirely to succumb to the charms of Barbara Bates” (213).

11. Track of the Cat – William H. Clothier’s colorless color photography makes this the one classical Hollywood film you could say you’ve seen without actually seeing. But that’s to ignore one of the most miserable family melodramas pinned to celluloid and Robert Mitchum’s quintessential inhabitation of the surly breadwinning male.

12. Harriet Craig – A prequel of sorts to Female on the Beach which means the ending is a happy one.

13. Wagon Master – Another Ford organism, his favorite among his westerns and mine too. In just 86 minutes, the film feels as if it always has been and always will be.

14. Rio Bravo – Thank you, Fred Zinnemann!

15. Torch Song - A fine documentary about Joan Crawford which just so happens to feature the greatest line in motion picture history: “Lobster Newburg and coffee.”

16. Bonjour Tristesse – Jean Seberg’s perfect summer starts to slip away from her as Preminger’s ever-gliding camera picks up every shard culminating in the devastating final shot.

17. Bend of the River – During the winter of 2000, all three of our immediate surrounding neighbors bitched at us for shoveling snow near their property. And then suddenly I couldn’t get this western out of my head. There is still Manifest Destiny in America even if the space to conquer is just a six-foot stretch of alleyway.

18. All That Heaven Allows – Gawd let Sirk have one unironic masterpiece!

19. Queen Bee – Joan Crawford’s Eva is not the villain here (well, not the only villain).

20. Shadows – And thus began a life of sin – Hollywood’s not Cassavetes’.

21. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman – A world where God himself is chaos. Eurotrash dance amongst the ruins of their civilization as pianos sink into the sand and headless statues pay witness to cars dropping in the ocean. Love, the mad, underappreciated Albert Lewin.

22. The Other Woman – Hugo Haas gets reflexive which is sort of like saying a mirror gets reflexive.

23. Hiroshima Mon Amour – To paraphrase Barthes “what’s terrible about narrative is that it makes the monstrous viable.”

24. Awaara – Charlie Chaplin – the Raj Kapoor of Hollywood.

25. Beat The Devil – As with Minnelli’s The Pirate (1948), I’m not sure we’ve caught up with this film yet.

26. Eaux d'artifice – The fire in water.

27. Edge of Hell – Just when you thought Hugo Haas couldn’t get any more bathetic, in walks Flip The Dog.

28. Kiss Me Kate – Cock lust in 3-D! And a proscenium so screechingly camp that not even the preposterous Howard Keel can shout it down.

29. A Movie – If the USA had a movie trailer.

30. Susan Slept Here – Frank Tashlin’s most sustained bit of lunacy. And narrated by an Oscar!

31. Johnny Guitar – Starring Joan Crawford in Red, Mercedes McCambridge in White (with a voice scarier than the one she provided for The Devil in The Exorcist), and, oh yeah, Sterling Hayden as the title character.

32. Strange Fascination – Hugo Haas at his most self-lacerating, quite literally at one point.

33. Father of The Bride – Along with Minnelli’s even more frightening The Long, Long Trailer (which I forgot to nominate), this film is the reason why we cannot determine genre by audience reaction alone.

34. Glen or Glenda? – The ultimate in ineptness as avant-garde serendipity.

35. Murder by Contract – Alternate title: Death by Life (at least if you live in a capitalist economy). Also, I love films you can snap along to.

36. Nightcats – Out of focus shots of kitties fuck with our concepts of figure and ground.

37. It Should Happen To You – I watched this immediately after Stalker. Where Tarkovsky’s film seemed like a command from on high, Cukor punches his film full of holes so we can worm our own way in and out of it, a perfect model of democracy in the belly of the Hollywood beast.

38. Pickup – Hugo Haas at his sleaziest which took some doing. Keep a Wet Nap nearby.

39. Mother India – India, where they manage to make a film in which characters spontaneously burst into songs about despair and poverty. And then it becomes one of the most popular things in the universe.

40. Ruby Gentry – Marvel as Jennifer Jones takes out her revenge on the earth…like actual dirt. From King Vidor in his high delirious period.

Singin' in the Rain is a little mean toward its villainess (though it helps that Jean Hagen actually dubbed Debbie Reynolds in most scenes rather than the other way around)

This isn't true. Hagen only dubbed the lines (actually, I think it's only one line) that Kathy was rerecording for Lina. Betty Noyes dubbed Reynolds' singing.

Fun fact: Kim Fowley's dad, Douglas, plays the harried director.

Right you are about Jean Hagen, though I think you'll forgive my confusion:

'If the subject of movie dubbing is confusing to some trying to connect who is who, then what about the strange set-up connected with the classic MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain (1952)? This merry mix-up of real life dubbing was addressed in Ray Hagen’s article on Jean Hagen in Film Fan Monthly (December 1968): "In the film, Debbie Reynolds has been hired to re-dub Hagen’s dialogue and songs in the latter’s first talking picture. We see the process being done in a shot of Reynolds ... matching her dialogue to Hagen’s and synchronizing it while watching a scene from the film. But the voice that is used to replace Hagen’s shrill, piercing one is not Reynolds’ but Hagen’s own quite lovely natural voice—meaning that Jean Hagen dubs Debbie Reynolds’ dubbing Jean Hagen! To further confuse matters, the voice we hear as Hagen mimes "Would You?", supposedly supplied by Reynolds, is that of yet a third girl ... [Betty Royce]". Confusing? Well, there’s more. Although Debbie sang in the movie, notably the title tune (dubbing Hagen!), Debbie herself is dubbed again by Betty Royce in her duet with Gene Kelly "You Are My Lucky Star."

'Like Debbie Reynolds, other actresses or singers who were quite able to sing their own songs were still dubbed. One reason was money; if a studio had a music track but the vocalist who recorded it was unable to film, they just got someone else to lip sync the song on the screen.'

http://www.classicimages.com/past_issues/view/?x=/1998/november98/idibthee.html

So that is Reynolds singing "Singin' in the Rain"...

.. or Gene!

Yes, that's Reynolds on the title tune. And I've heard both Betty Noyes and Betty Royce but I believe the former is the correct name.

Yes, Betty Noyes!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0637529/

I'm sorry to perpetrate two errors in one thread!

I mean perpetuate. I'll go soak my head.

I mean, I'm an auteurist too and all, but even I recognize Carrie and Dressed to Kill as among De Palma's best films.

I don't think I'm an auteurist, and Femme Fatale is head and shoulders above those two. (The second half of DtK is kind of appalling.)

I'm an incorrigible auteurist and I think Femme Fatale is his best film.

xpost Oh pshaw, Pete. And again, I really loved your blurbs.

You'd really have to be an auteurist to like Femme Fatale. No two ways about that in my opinion.

or a Rebecca Romijn-Stamos fan.

Actually I have no clue what the argument is about. Just filling in the blanks.

Watched Vertigo for the first time last night, thanks to this poll. And I loved it, well done ILX.

Mission Accomplished

The latest Cahiers all-time list puts our #2 ahead of our #1. (also, no Brit films in their top 100)

http://www.cahiersducinema.com/article1337.html

This was maybe the best reveal thread. Or just the gayest.

Everyone's in character and it just works.

Really enjoyed reading this thread...

Still love that Morbs, one of ILX's two foremost anti-gay marriage advocates, is so in love with Father of the Bride.

nothing disconnective there -- I love Paris Is Burning and am still pretty dragphobic.

(also, FoB is pretty ambivalent at best about marriage)

(ie, Vincente Minnelli would've only favored gay marriage to Judy Garland)

Yep, '50s still a dark period in American history.

We were all in tip-top form here.

Tracy has a nightmare in FoB! you should watch it. xp

Kevin thread's late-innings MVP

Kevin was hilarious.

I look for any opportunity to revive my Wilder beef with Morbs.

Oh look, even he likes that movie that got turned into a Steve Martin Short movie.

33. Father of The Bride – Along with Minnelli’s even more frightening The Long, Long Trailer (which I forgot to nominate), this film is the reason why we cannot determine genre by audience reaction alone.

I still can't sit through Shane, On the Beach, Rebel Without a Cause.

Peck is a case study for the effects of exposure to nuclear radiation.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, November 13, 2008 12:49 PM

3 Kurosawas in the top 20 seems to me the poll's biggest overreaction. On the whole, these film poll results were ILX's best.

I still can't sit through Rebel Without a Cause.

^not gay

Well, no, I commit homosexual acts.

Wish I'd been posting regularly then. My top 5 would be Sweet Smell of Success, On the Waterfront, The 400 Blows, The Apu Trilogy, and Paths of Glory; after that, Rear Window, Night of the Hunter, The Killing, maybe The Ten Commandments (absurd, I know), and something else--A Face in the Crowd and The Harder They Fall come to mind. Mostly predictable stuff.

I missed the first 20 minutes or so, but watched most of The Browning Version (Asquith, 1951) last night...surprisingly intense! Redgrave was great, and I really wanted to push Crocker-Harris' wife into traffic. Sort of an English Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Wish I'd been posting regularly then. My top 5 would be Sweet Smell of Success, On the Waterfront, The 400 Blows, The Apu Trilogy, and Paths of Glory; after that, Rear Window, Night of the Hunter, The Killing, maybe The Ten Commandments (absurd, I know), and something else--A Face in the Crowd and The Harder They Fall come to mind. Mostly predictable stuff.

― clemenza, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 9:48 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post

You didn't vote? I thought you had, but the email records are long gone so I have no proof. I do know you came out for the 60s one (and IIRC posted on the thread too).

I didn't start posting regularly till April 2009, so I missed this by a few months. Depending upon how it was scored, I might have moved Night of the Hunter into first.

A call to re-evaluate Stanley Kramer and On the Beach

http://filmint.nu/?p=5264

(i've never seen more than a few minutes of it btw)

anyone ever seen this novelization?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet#Novelization

SUMMARY (17years late)

75. Rabbit of Seville (Chuck Jones, 1950) POINTS: 44 VOTES: 2
73 A. Aparajito (Satyajit Ray, 1956) POINTS: 45 VOTES: 2
73 B. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (Chuck Jones, 1953) POINTS: 45 VOTES: 2
72. Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950) POINTS: 46 VOTES: 2
70 A. Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950) POINTS: 48 VOTES: 2
70 B. High Society (Charles Walters, 1956) POINTS: 48 VOTES: 2
69. I’m All Right Jack (John Boulting, 1959) POINTS: 50 VOTES: 2
67 A. The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950) POINTS: 53 VOTES: 2
67 B. Lola Montès (Max Ophüls, 1955) POINTS: 53 VOTES: 2
66. Kiss Me Kate (George Sidney, 1953) POINTS: 53 VOTES: 2 #1s: 1
65. Othello/ The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (Orson Welles, 1952) POINTS: 54 VOTES: 2
64. Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954) POINTS: 56 VOTES: 4
63. Ivan The Terrible, Part II (Sergei M. Eisenstein & M. Filimonova, 1958) POINTS: 63 VOTES: 2
62. Europa ‘51 (Roberto Rossellini, 1952) POINTS: 64 VOTES: 2
61. Elevator To The Gallows/ Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Louis Malle, 1958) POINTS: 64 VOTES: 3
60. Smiles of A Summer Night (Ingmar Bergman, 1955) POINTS: 65 VOTES: 3
59. Le Amiche/The Girlfriends (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1955) POINTS: 67 VOTES: 2
58. Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959) POINTS: 67 VOTES: 2 #1s: 1
57. Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953) POINTS: 68 VOTES: 2
56. Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955) POINTS: 68 VOTES: 3
55. Pickup On South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953) POINTS: 70 VOTES: 4
54. Invasion of The Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956) POINTS: 71 VOTES: 3
53. Un Chant D’Amour (Jean Genet, 1950) POINTS: 72 VOTES: 2
52. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) POINTS: 72 VOTES: 5
51. The African Queen (John Huston, 1951) POINTS: 73 VOTES: 3
50. Shane (George Stevens, 1953) POINTS: 75VOTES: 3
49. Plan 9 From Outer Space (Edward D. Wood Jr., 1959) POINTS: 78 VOTES: 3
48. Rebel Without A Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) POINTS: 78 VOTES: 5
47. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954) POINTS: 80 VOTES: 3
46. Night and The City (Jules Dassin, 1950) POINTS: 81 VOTES: 3
45. The Day The Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951) POINTS: 82 VOTES: 3
44. Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1959) POINTS: 83 VOTES: 3
42 A. Diary of A Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951) POINTS: 87 VOTES: 3
42 B. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953) POINTS: 87 VOTES: 3
40 A. Madame de.../The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophüls, 1953) POINTS: 94 VOTES: 4
40 B. On The Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959) POINTS: 94 VOTES: 4
39. On The Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954) POINTS: 96 VOTES: 5
37 A. Bob le Flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956) POINTS: 99 VOTES: 5
37 B. What’s Opera Doc? (Chuck Jones, 1957) POINTS: 99 VOTES: 5
36. Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956) POINTS: 100 VOTES: 4
35. Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957) POINTS: 101 VOTES: 5
34. Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957) POINTS: 102 VOTES: 5 #1s: 1
33. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer (uncredited), 1955) POINTS: 105 VOTES: 3
32. Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) POINTS: 107 VOTES: 4
30 A. A Man Escaped/ Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (Robert Bresson, 1956) POINTS: 110 VOTES: 4
30 B. Ace In The Hole/The Big Carnival (Billy Wilder, 1951) POINTS: 110 VOTES: 4
29. Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957) POINTS: 113 VOTES: 4 #1s: 1
28. In A Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950) POINTS: 113 VOTES: 7
27. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) POINTS: 115 VOTES: 4
26. Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959) POINTS: 117 VOTES: 5
25. Strangers On A Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951) POINTS: 117 VOTES: 6
24. Ugetsu/ Ugetsu monogatari (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953) POINTS: 118 VOTES: 5
23. Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958) POINTS: 126 VOTES: 5
22. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956) POINTS: 127 VOTES: 5
21. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) POINTS: 129 VOTES: 6
20. Hiroshima mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) POINTS: 129 VOTES: 5 #1s: 1
19. Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959) POINTS: 134 VOTES: 7 #1s: 1
18. Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957) POINTS: 135 VOTES: 6
17. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952) POINTS: 140 VOTES: 5
16. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) POINTS: 153 VOTES: 6
15. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957) POINTS: 159 VOTES: 6

14. The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959) POINTS: 162 VOTES: 7
13. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) POINTS: 163 VOTES: 6
12. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) POINTS: 166 VOTES: 7
11. All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955) POINTS: 178 VOTES: 7 #1s: 1
10. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) POINTS: 180 VOTES: 8 #1s: 1
9. Duck Amuck (Chuck Jones, 1953) POINTS: 184 VOTES: 5 #1s: 1
8. North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) POINTS: 194 VOTES: 8
7. The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957) POINTS: 220
VOTES: 8 #1s: 1
6. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) POINTS: 232 VOTES: 10 #1s: 1
5. The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) POINTS: 239 VOTES: 8
4. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) POINTS: 240 VOTES: 10 #1s: 1
3. Singin’ In The Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952) POINTS: 249 VOTES: 9
2. Night of The Hunter
(Charles Laughton & Robert Mitchum (uncredited), 1955) POINTS: 318 VOTES: 11
1. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) POINTS: 358 VOTES: 11 #1s: 1