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Since 1952, the British Film Institute magazineSight & Sound has polled international critics for their "Top Ten" movies every ten years. In 1992, they asked film directors to also participate. Although S&S; uses the designation of 'top ten' rather than 'best ten' to take into account personal subjectivity vs. critical objectivity and changing impressions, I and a number of the participants in the recent survey believe that choosing merely 10 films from the vast array of creativity that cinema art has produced over its first hundred years is far too limiting. One might say, narrow choosing equals narrow-mindedness.
If the survey should be an adjunct toward the appreciation and preservation of the finest of international film art, then I believe it should be broadened to include the greatest number of films reasonably possible.
Perhaps 10 was a reasonable number in 1952. However, if one looks at the composite top 10 of directors and critics today, only 3 of the films were made before 1952. Thus today, it would seem that a minimum of a top 30 or 35 would be more reasonable.
Some critics and directors hinted at this or addressed it directly in the comments they added to their lists.
Right now, the S&S; list is the most authoritative and respected of 'best film polls' in the world. Taking all the films that received even one vote produces a list of 882 movies. Meanwhile, Cinemacom's own list currently features over 3000 films and aims toward an ultimate list of maybe 5,000.
Rather than being limited to 10, if S&S; were to request lists of 35-50 films from all the critics and directors, it would add greatly toward the appreciation of film art by producing a fairly rounded authoritative list of several thousand films that would be of lasting value to everyone. Actually, I think the participants should be free to name as few or as many films as they wish, with say, a maximum number of 50 for instance. Thus we might have lists of varying lengths, just as we had in 2002 where some named twoGodfathers or theThree Colours orApu trilogies as a single choice. One director had 13 selections and all were counted equally.
On a lighter side, back in 1952, if one were asked to name 10 films that they might contentedly live with on that proverbial desert island, they were faced with the prospect of carting along cans of 35mm prints weighing at least a thousand pounds, or maybe a 150 pounds of 16mm prints. We will assume the island had electric power generators, a 35mm carbon arc or 16mm projector and suitable screen. The advent of the video tape made it possible to carry the same number of films in a small hand bag, given that the island provided the TV and VCR. Now today, one can cart 20 DVDs in the same space that 10 VHS tapes occupy (or more than 50 DVDs if they are merely sleeved). Viewing would be on a large screen HDTV provided on the island, of course.
Like some critics said, if I were limited to 10 films, I would name movies that I thought deserved recognition, and leave off others that I believed would naturally be included by others.
Thus, a certain distortion creeps into the overall poll results.
For example, here is my personal top 50 films I currently love the most, Some of my choices may considered very whimsical. Certainly my taste is eclectic. I have a personal liking for the Western, so nearly 20% of my choices are Westerns. There is one 'vampire' film, because it is beautifully done and its theme transcends the genre to comment on the eternal existence of evil in this world. And there are a few science-fiction, but not2001. Loved the film the first time I saw it, then it became tedious. However, the majority of critics & directors disagree, & it is firmly in the Top 10.
A few polled critics offered lists featuring films which they believed deserved recognition and that no one else would mention, concerned that worthy films are being ignorned in the pressure to name only 10.
Isn't this sufficient argument against the limitation of naming only 10?
* = films that received one vote in current poll.
- = films that no critic or director voted for.
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc 1928 Citizen Kane 1941 * How Green Was My Valley 1941 The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 Casablanca 1942 Le Belle et la Béte 1946 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 - Key Largo 1948 The Third Man 1949 * High Noon 1952 Ikiru (To Live) 1952 Shane 1953 Rear Window 1954 - Kiss Me Deadly 1955 The Searchers 1956 - The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957 - 12 Angry Men 1957 Touch of Evil 1958 Vertigo 1958 - On the Beach 1959 Rio Bravo 1959 Psycho 1960 - Judgment at Nuremberg 1961 Jules et Jim 1961 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 * Ride the High Country (Guns in the Afternoon) 1962 8 1/2 1963 The Gospel According to St. Matthew 1964 Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo (Good, Bad & Ugly) 1966 C'era una Volta il West (Once Upon Time in West) 1969 The Wild Bunch 1969 Chinatown 1974 - L'Histoire d'Adèle H. (The Story of Adele H.) 1975 * Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 Star Wars 1977 Apocalypse Now 1979 - Nosferatu Phantom Der Nacht (... the Vampyre) 1979 - Somewhere in Time 1980 - Chariots of Fire 1981 Blade Runner 1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestial 1982 - Field of Dreams 1989 - Miller's Crossing 1990 - L.A. Story 1991 * Thelma & Louise 1991 Unforgiven 1992 * Groundhog Day 1993 Trois coleurs: Bleu, Blanc, Rouge 1993 - Memento 2001
Why combine? Many critics seem to lean more toward intellectually arousing films. Directors more toward movies that arouse in multiple ways. Critics make their livings from seeing and writing about films. Directors are too busy making films to have the time to see as many as the critics do. Looking at all the directors' selections, I find very few that I've never seen. The critics' lists feature far more films that I've never seen, a few I've never heard of before.
Thus, to me, combining the two lists produces a better-rounded selction.
Whereas Sight and Sound combined the first two Godfathers as a single entry, I have separated them according to the actual voting for each. For theApu andThree Colours trilogies, I have added the votes of all who voted for the trilogies to the votes for the individual films. Although the first two Godfathers were later cut into a work calledThe Godfather Saga, maybe one person mentioned it, so all these films exist as separate works.Star Wars received a fewvotes, but no one mentioned the other installments to that most widely known trilogy for good reason.
All the 882 films receiving three or more combined votes are currently included in the Cinemacom 3000. Eventually nearly all will be listed. There are at least a couple of films that got a single vote that I had previously rejected from our list, such asGrease andThe Pink Panther Strikes Again which I'll maybe sometime include out of respect to those who selected them. Fortunately, no one mentioned the recentTitanic, which is also not on the Cinemacom list, although the 1953Titanic and the superiorA Night to Remember are. Cinemacom will also not be including the Tex Avery cartoon or the British Airways advert. Although, both S&S; and Cinemacom list a few short live action films, I believe that seven minute cartoons are an art unto themselves, like adverts, and deserve surveying as a separte category.
Films receiving tie votes are listed chronologically. The two votes and single vote films have not been dated and are listed alphabetically. Votes received follow the director's name. For example: Total votes (7) = critics (3) + directors (4). Thedisparity between the votes of critics and directors is often interesting.
Citizen Kane
Vertigo
La Règle du Jeu
8 1/2
The Godfather
2001: A Space Odyssey
Tokyo Story The Godfather Part II
Seven Samurai
Rashomon
Battleship Potemkin Singin' in the Rain
Sunrise
The Searchers
Lawrence ofArabia
The Passion of Joan of Arc Bicycle Thieves La Dolce Vita
Touch of Evil L'Avventura À Bout de Souffle
Jules et Jim Dr. Strangelove Raging Bull
L'Atalante Sunset Boulevard Psycho
The General Pather Panchali Some Like It Hot Mirror Fanny and Alexander
City Lights La Grande Illusion Les Enfants du Paradis Andrei Roublev
The Seventh Seal The Apartment Au Hasard Balthazar TaxiDriver Apocalypse Now
Casablanca The Third Man Ugetsu Monogatari Le Mépris Chinatown
Metropolis Ivan the Terrible
Intolerance M Ordet WildStrawberries The 400 Blows
Modern Times The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums On the Waterfront La Strada North by Northwest Persona The Conformist Amarcord Barry Lyndon
Greed Napoléon The Gold Rush Man with a Movie Camera L'Age d'Or The Wizard of Oz The MagnificentAmbersons Rear Window Sweet Smell of Success Pickpocket Rio Bravo Last Year at Marienbad TheBattle of Algiers Once Upon a Time in theWest The Wild Bunch Nashville Blade Runner Pulp Fiction
Ikiru Voyage to Italy The Night of the Hunter The Leopard The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Viridiana Sansho Dayu A Clockwork Orange The Travelling Players Ran Dekalog A City of Sadness GoodFellas
Nosferatu SherlockJr. Gone with the Wind Stagecoach The Grapes of Wrath His GirlFriday The Lady Eve Double Indemnity It's a Wonderful Life A Matter of Life and Death My Darling Clementine Notorious Black Narcissus Letter from an Unknown Woman The Treasure of the Sierra Madre El Madamede... World of Apu Vivre sa Vie The Gospel According to St. Matthew Pierrot le Fou Chimes at Midnight 2 or 3Things I Know about Her McCabe & Mrs. Miller Don'tLook Now L'Argent Shoah Onceupon a Time in America BlueVelvet Three Colours: Blue Breaking the Waves
Un ChienAndalou Earth Duck Soup King Kong Alexander Nevsky A Canterbury Tale Brief Encounter Rome, Open City La Belle et la Bête RedRiver Late Spring All about Eve Los Olvidados UmbertoD. Floating Clouds A Man Escaped Throne of Blood The Music Room L'Eclisse To Kill a Mockingbird Gertrud Marnie A Blonde in Love Satyricon Tristana Criesand Whispers Solaris The Exorcist Jeanne Dielman... TheTime to Live and the Time to Die Crimes and Misdemeanors Close-up Three Colours: Red Three Colours: White All about My Mother Yi Yi: A One and a Two...
BrokenBlossoms The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari Trouble in Paradise Le Crime de Monsieur Lange The Great Dictator The Palm Beach Story Sullivan's Travels The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Meet Me in St. Louis To Have and Have Not The Best Years of Our Lives Paisà Monsieur Verdoux Outof the Past The Red Shoes Kind Hearts andCoronets The Life of Oharu Les Vacances de M. Hulot The Wages of Fear A Star Is Born Aparajito Written on the Wind TheBridge on the River Kwai Paths ofGlory Pyaasa Ashes and Diamonds Kaagaz ke Phool Rocco and His Brothers Spartacus The Exterminating Angel La Jetée Black God, White Devil Charulata The Rise to Power of Louis XIV Belle de jour Bonnie and Clyde Playtime Aguirre, Wrath of God The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Badlands La Maman et la Putain LaNuit Américaine Celine and Julie GoBoating The Conversation Fear Eats the Soul India Song Jaws OneFlew over the Cuckoo's Nest Salò Ai no corrida Providence Star Wars That Obscure Object ofDesire Days of Heaven In a Year with Thirteen Moons Stalker Berlin Alexanderplatz E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Brazil Do the Right Thing The Double Life of Véronique Unforgiven The Piano Chungking Express Throughthe Olive Trees A Taste of Cherry... Eternity and a Day The Wind Will Carry Us In the Mood for Love Spirited Away
Accattone The African Queen The Age of Innocence All That Heaven Allows An Autumn Afternoon And Life Goes On... Angel Annie Hall Atanarjuat The Fast Runner BabyDoll Bigger Than Life The Birth of a Nation Bob le flambeur Bride ofFrankenstein Bringing Up Baby Burnt by the Sun LesDames du Bois de Boulogne Day of Wrath Death in Venice LesDemoiselles de Rochefort The Devils Don't Look Back L'Enfance nue Europa F for Fake Le Fantômede la liberté Farewell My Concubine Fargo Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! La Femme d'à côté Fires Were Started GermanyYear Zero The Godfather, Part III The Good,the Bad and the Ugly Great Expectations La Haine TheHidden Fortress High and Low Hiroshima mon amour Hotel Terminus: Klaus Barbie, His Life and Times I vitelloni Ildeserto rosso Lacombe Lucien The Lady Vanishes Lancelot du Lac The Last Laugh The Last Picture Show Limelight Lola Love Me Tonight Ludwig Make Way for Tomorrow TheMaltese Falcon Masculin féminin Mean Streets Meghedhaka tara Miracle in Milan A Moment of Innocence My Neighbour Totoro 1900 Nanook of the North TheNavigator Network Nights of Cabiria October Odd Man Out Oedipus Rex Orlando Orphée Pakeezah Partie de campagne ThePassenger Pandora's Box Performance ThePuppetmaster La Région centrale The Remains of the Day Riff-Raff Rosemary's Baby The Round Up La RueCases-Nègres Sacrifice Salvatore Giuliano The ScarletEmpress Schindler's List Shadows Shane She Worea Yellow Ribbon The Shining Short Cuts Les Silences du palais Steamboat Bill, Jr. Still Life Strangers on a Train StrayDog Strike The Thief of Bagdad The Thing from Another World Time of the Gypsies TheTingler Tirez sur le pianiste To Be or Not to Be To Sleepwith Anger A Touch of Zen Topsy-Turvy Underground Les Vampires Vampyr VidasSecas Weekend Where Is My Friend's House? WhiteHeat The Wind A Woman under the Influence Xala
A.I. Artificial Intelligence Ace in the Hole TheAddiction Alice in the Cities All Quiet on the Western Front Alphaville Les Amants du Pont-Neuf America America AmericanGraffiti The American Soldier Amores perros An Angel at My Table Anatomy of a Murder And theShip Sails On Andaz Angels with Dirty Faces Antonia'sLine Antonio das Mortes The Apple Arabian Nights L'Argent Artists and Models Ashes of Time Awara The Awful Truth Back tothe Future Bad Day at Black Rock BaijuBawra Ballad of Little Jo Bande à part BartonFink Bashu, The Little Stranger Becky Sharp Behind the Green Door The Bellboy La Belle Noiseuse Berlin, Symphony of a City Besieged Beyond a Reasonable Doubt The BigHeat The Big Sleep The Birds Bitter Coffee Black HawkDown Blind Chance Block-Heads Blowup Blue Bogeyman Boom! Boy The Boy with Green Hair BoysDon't Cry Brainstorm Branded to Kill A BrighterSummer Day Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Brink of Life BroadwayDanny Rose Brother The Brothers Karamazov Butterflies and Flowers By the Bluest of Seas Cabeza devaca Cairo Station The Cameraman CaptainBlood Car Wash Careful Carmen Jones Carrie La Carrozza d'oro Casanova Casino Casque d'or CatPeople Cattle Queen of Montana Ceddo TheCelluloid Closet Central Station The Chelsea Girls Chunhyang El Cid Cinema Paradiso The Circus Claire's Knee Cleo from 5 to 7 CloseEncounters of the Third Kind Closely Observed Trains Clouds ofMay The Clowns Un Coeur en hiver Coffy Come andSee The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover Crowsand Sparrows Cul-de-Sac Culloden Daisies TheDamned Dangerous Liaisons Dawn of the Dead Day ofthe Beast Day of the Dead Daybreak Days of Eclipse Dazedand Confused The Dead Dead Man Dead Ringers Deathof the President Deep Throat The Deer Hunter Deliverance Dersu Uzala Detour Le Deuxième Souffle TheDevil and the Nun The Devil in Miss Jones Diaries, Notes & Sketches:Walden Diary of a Country Priest Distant Voices Still Lives Do YouRemember Dolly Bell? Drifting Clouds Dune Dushi Fengguang Dust Édouard et Caroline Eijanaika Éloge de l'amour The Emperor's Naked ArmyMarches On The Empress Yang Kwei-Fei The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser L'Enfant secret Europa '51 Exodus Eyes WideShut Eyes without a Face Faces The Fallen Idol Faust Ferocious Saint Lord of Gobi FerrisBueller's Day Off Fireman's Ball Fitzcarraldo Five Easy Pieces FiveFingers of Death Flaming Creatures Floating Life Floating Weeds Flowers ofShanghai Forever Amber Forrest Gump The Fountainhead FourNights of a Dreamer Francisca French Cancan From Saturday to Sunday Full Metal Jacket Gentleman Jim Gentlemen Prefer Blondes GetShorty The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Giant GionBayashi The Girl from Chicago God Told Me To Germany,Pale Mother Going My Way Gold Diggers of 1933 Goldfinger Good Morning, Boys! Le Goût des autres TheGraduate Grease The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner TheGreat Escape The Grissom Gang Groundhog Day Gummo Gunga Din Guys and Dolls Hana-Bi The Happiest Days of YourLife Happiness Happiness Happy Together Harold andMaude The Hawks and the Sparrows He Who Gets Slapped Heaven's Gate Heimat The Heiress Hellzapoppin' Hi DiddleDiddle High Noon The Highway The Hill Hitler: AFilm from Germany Holiday Hope and Glory A hora da estrela L'Horloger de Saint-Paul Hôtel du Nord Hour of the Furnaces Hour ofthe Wolf The House Is Black How Green Was My Valley Hue andCry Human Desire I Am Curious, Yellow I Walked with a Zombie IWas Born, But... I, the Executioner A idade maior If... Ilbidone Il general Della Rovere Il postino Imitation of Life In Cold Blood In Girum imus nocte et consumimur igni Inthe Company of Men Inferno Ingeborg Holm The Insect Woman ItHappened One Night Ivan the Terrible, Part II Ivan's Childhood J'accuse Jacob's Ladder Peel/Passionless/A Girl's Own Story JaneEyre Je, tu, il, elle Jerry Maguire Jeuxinterdits Jimmy Hollywood JLG/JLG Johnny Guitar Jour defête Le Jour se lève Journey to the Lost City Journeys from Berlin JuDou Juliet of the Spirits Jungle Fever Kadosh Kawachiyama shunso Kes Khalnayak The Kid The Killing of a Chinese Bookie KingLear The King of Comedy King Size Canary KingSolomon's Mines Kings of the Road The Knack... and How to Get It Komal Gandhar The Lady from Shanghai Lamerica The Land beyond theSunset Land of Silence and Darkness Laura Let'sScare Jessica to Death La ley de Herodes Liebelei A Life for a Life LightSleeper Listen to Britain Local Hero TheLodger Lolita Lolita Lone Star The Long Day's Dying Long Farewells Los Traidores Lost Highway Love Affair Love andDeath Love Streams Loving Couples The Lower Depths Lucía Ma nuit chez Maud Maciste all'inferno The Magnificent Seven Malcolm X Man Bites Dog Man by theShore The Man in the White Suit Man of the West Manhattan Manila by Night; City after Dark Markéta Lazarová MaryPoppins The Matrix The Mattei Affair Meantime Méditerranée Le Mélomane Memories ofUnderdevelopment Mercedes Meshes of theAfternoon Midnight Cowboy Mildred Pierce Minamata TheMisfits Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Miss Oyu Mononcle Mon père avait raison Monsoon Wedding MontyPython's Life of Brian Mother India The Mothering Heart Mouchette Moulin Rouge Mughal-e-Azam Mulholland Dr. MunaMoto My Apprenticeship My Brilliant Career MyLife as a Dog My Love Has Been Burning My Man Godfrey Mädchen in Uniforme Naked Dawn Night and the City NightCries - A Rural Tragedy Night of the Hunter Ninotchka No End No.12 [aka Heaven and Earth Magic] El norte Nostalgia Not Wanted La notte La notte di San Lorenzo Now,Voyager La Nuit du carrefour The Nun's Story OLucky Man! The Official Story Okraina The Old Actor Olympiad Berlin 1936 One, Two, Three Only Angels Have Wings OpeningNight The Opening of Misty Beethoven Opfergang TheOpposite of Sex The Organiser Our Daily Bread Our Hospitality OutOne The Outlaw Josey Wales Padre padrone TheParallax View Les Parapluies de Cherbourg Paris, Texas TheParty La Passion Pathfinder Pépé le Moko Perceval Peter Ibbetson The Philadelphia Story The PillowBook The Pink Panther Strikes Again A Place in the Sun LePlaisir The Player Poetic Justice A Pot Worth a MillionRyo The Producers Purab Aur Pachim The Purple Rose of Cairo Pursued Quadrophenia Que Viva Mexico! Quemada! TheQuiet Man The Quince Tree Sun Rachel, Rachel Raidersof the Lost Ark Rain Man Raining Stones Rally 'round the Flag,Boys! Random Harvest Rebecca The Reckless Moment RedPersimmon Red Sorghum Reds Repulsion Requiem for a Dream Reservoir Dogs Richard III Ride the High Country RioGrande Rocky Rolling Thunder Roma LaRonde Rope Rose Hobart La Roue TheRunner Russian Ark The Saga of Anatahan Salt of the Earth Le Samouraï Sans Soleil Sant Tukaram Sátántangó Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Sauve qui peut (la vie) Sawdust and Tinsel Scenes from a Marriage Scenes from under Childhood ScreenTests Secrets & Lies Senso The Servant Shadow ofa Doubt Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors Sholay The Shop around the Corner A Short Film about Killing TheSilence Sin of Nora Moran Snatch SomeCame Running Song of Exile Songs from the Second Floor TheSound of Music Sounds from the Mountains Spider The Spider'sStratagem The Spirit of the Beehive Spring in a Small Town TheStory of a Cheat The Story of Qiu Ju Straight Story Straits ofLove and Hate Stranger Than Paradise Straw Dogs Strawberry and Chocolate Street of Crocodiles Subete ga kurutteru Summer with Monika Superman Surprise, Surprise Suzaki Paradise Sweet Dreams The Sweet Hereafter Swing Time Sylvester 3:10 to Yuma Tabu TaipeiStory A Tale of Tales A Tale of the Wind The Talesof Hoffmann Ten The Ten Commandments TheTenant The Terminator Thelma & Louise There'sAlways Tomorrow They All Laughed They Live by Night They Were Expendable Thieves Like Us The Thin Blue Line The 39 Steps Thirty-two Short Films about Glenn Gould The Three Crowns of the Sailor ThreeKings Tih Minh A Time for Drunken Horses The TinDrum Titicut Follies To Live Tobacco Road TobyDammit Touki-Bouki Trainspotting The Tree of the WoodenClogs The Trial Triumph of the Will The Trouble withHarry Un(c)ut The Unseen Up the Junction Urga The Usual Suspects Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa Van Gogh Vengeance Is Mine Le Ventd'est The Verdict Vive l'Amour Wagon Master Waiting forGuffman War and Peace The War Game A Wedding in Galilee The Wedding March West Side Story When a Woman Ascends the Stairs When Harry Met Sally... When It Rains While the City Sleeps Whispering Pages Whistle down the Wind The White Nights Who'sSinging over There? William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet Wings of Desire WinterLight Without Anaesthetic Women on the Verge of a NervousBreakdown The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrowna Ya -Cuba Yeelen Yellow Earth Yol You Are Weighed but FoundLacking Young Mr. Lincoln Zéro de conduite Zvenigora
Another word on the British Film Institute. They are responsible for producing thebest TV series on film appreciation since Richard Schickel's memorableMen Who Madethe Movies in the mid-1970s: Martin Scorsese's intimate & astutePersonal JourneyThrough American Movies.
