Lots and lots of moments in these films I have vivid memories of and Shoah has as many as any of them.
― ryan, Friday, 20 January 2023 20:24 (one year ago) link
For what it's worth I saw Playtime in a theatre. When you're really disliking a film, that's a minus, not a plus.
― clemenza, Friday, 20 January 2023 20:27 (one year ago) link
only one of these featured the music of Public Enemy, so it's pretty easy
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 20 January 2023 20:33 (one year ago) link
xp lol ok. I was thinking the sets look great in the theatre but nevermind.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 20 January 2023 20:39 (one year ago) link
I really don't mean to disparage the film. I think it's meant for a temperament far from my own.
― clemenza, Friday, 20 January 2023 20:41 (one year ago) link
only one of these featured the music of Public Enemy
M was about a public enemy though
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 20 January 2023 20:43 (one year ago) link
I went with Playtime, but M is a close second.
(I've seen all of these but Shoah.)
― Cherish, Friday, 20 January 2023 23:53 (one year ago) link
voted for Taxi Driver, one of my favorite films of all time. It is totally surreal and seems to take place in a dream. the music is ravishing and seems out of time, and the cinematography is lurid and intoxicating
― Dan S, Saturday, 21 January 2023 01:27 (one year ago) link
Late Spring and Mirror would be my other choices. I'm drawn to 8 1/2 because it is my film mentor's favorite film, but I think La Dolce Vita and La Strada are my favorite Fellini films. I like Le Mépris more than À bout de souffle. Some Like It Hot still creeps me out
― Dan S, Saturday, 21 January 2023 01:45 (one year ago) link
and I'm still not sure what it is about The Night of the Hunter that warrants its placement in the top 40 films of all time.
― Dan S, Saturday, 21 January 2023 01:53 (one year ago) link
The only American film that approximates Poe and Gothic horror; it's a fable in the 19th century sense. It looks nothing like contemporaneous American film? Laughton + Agee + Gish + Mitchum is an (un) holy combination.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 January 2023 01:59 (one year ago) link
I’ve seen even fewer of these.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 21 January 2023 01:59 (one year ago) link
xp
ok, that makes some sense of it for me
― Dan S, Saturday, 21 January 2023 02:03 (one year ago) link
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings)
Which have you seen?
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 January 2023 02:08 (one year ago) link
Taxi Driver and Do The Right Thing.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 21 January 2023 02:13 (one year ago) link
Went M over Psycho
― symsymsym, Saturday, 21 January 2023 02:20 (one year ago) link
DAISIES every time
― pilk/pall revolting odors (wins), Friday, January 20, 2023 3:31 PM (yesterday)
^^^^ easy vote
― emil.y, Saturday, 21 January 2023 02:23 (one year ago) link
that is the only film on the list I haven't seen yet. I will watch it
― Dan S, Saturday, 21 January 2023 02:26 (one year ago) link
It’s choice
― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Saturday, 21 January 2023 03:04 (one year ago) link
is it me or is this list way better than the top 20?
Late Spring vs M is not a choice i would want to make irl
― Kieth Encounter (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 21 January 2023 08:10 (one year ago) link
If there was no Hitch I'd agree.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 21 January 2023 08:33 (one year ago) link
agree because you don't think he belongs this high on a list or because Psycho and Rear Window are certified bangers and legit choices for favourite here?
― Kieth Encounter (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 21 January 2023 08:41 (one year ago) link
l'atalante, because i have other fav ozu'swill take the opportunity to recommend reis & coredeiro's ana which i will reductively say is like what if mirror was good
― devvvine, Saturday, 21 January 2023 11:10 (one year ago) link
NV - Hitch doesn't belong this high. Vertigo is his only film I'd put in a top 40.
Psycho, Rear Window are bangers.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 21 January 2023 13:29 (one year ago) link
Daisies just ahead of M.
― Hello I'm shitty gatsworth (aldo), Saturday, 21 January 2023 13:44 (one year ago) link
Oooh. I predict varied results.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 January 2023 13:46 (one year ago) link
20-way tie
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Saturday, 21 January 2023 14:08 (one year ago) link
This one is much harder than the top 20. I don't think any of these winning would really annoy me, maybe Some Like It Hot, whose stature I've always been baffled by—it's not even close to Wilder's best film!
I haven't seen:
Au hasard Balthazar (Bresson, 1966)Shoah (Lanzmann, 1985)Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Sciamma, 2019)8 1/2 (Fellini, 1963)Mirror (Tarkovsky, 1975)City Lights (Chaplin, 1931)
I could vote for:
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)Playtime (Tati, 1967)The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)Daisies (Chytilová, 1966)L’Atalante (Vigo, 1934)Pather Panchali (Ray, 1955)M (Lang, 1931)
I probably shouldn't vote for Daisies as I only saw it for the first time very recently, but I loved it so much, so that.
― rob, Saturday, 21 January 2023 14:47 (one year ago) link
The top 6 here is pretty unbeatable (Shoah is the only one here I haven’t seen).
― Chris L, Saturday, 21 January 2023 15:23 (one year ago) link
Strongly considering:
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1927)Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)Playtime (Tati, 1967)Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989)Au hasard Balthazar (Bresson, 1966)The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)M (Lang, 1931)Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
Not in a million years:
Some Like It Hot (Wilder, 1959)8 1/2 (Fellini, 1963)
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Saturday, 21 January 2023 16:31 (one year ago) link
Which is to say, hard agree with Chris L on the top 6
― Dan S, Friday, January 20, 2023 5:53 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
I can tell you that night of the hunter was talked about in such hushed tones by my mom when I was growing up, like it was this absolutely diabolical nightmare of a film which never left her memory. Maybe bc she saw it in the theater when it was released (she would have been eight or nine.) it’s a truly surreal trip of a movie, real horror movie stuff for the era, I mean it’s wild how frightening Mitchum is considering how he’s usually such an avuncular presence, and his scariest moments here really make him the personified kind of terror that one can imagine children conjure up in their darkest dreams. And that shot of shelley winters’ body tied up in the car, hair billowing underwater, is still such a horrifying beautiful gut punch.
― omar little, Saturday, 21 January 2023 16:45 (one year ago) link
I'm finding it hard to remember very much of Some Like It Hot, apart from the immortal punchline. Pretty sure I'd enjoy it on rewatch.
― jmm, Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:02 (one year ago) link
It's alright.
I'm really torn. I knew 8 1/2 would catch some flak here (though maybe that speaks well of its chances in the poll) but I do love it and find it kind of affecting. Night of the Hunter is a strong contender, as is M -- both of which are just so singular and memorable to me.
― ryan, Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:05 (one year ago) link
M was the first seriously "old" movie I watched in my teen cinephile phase and it knocked my socks off. If anything I was used to more contemporary movies being far more static (in a certain sense) and less expressive. It felt so free in its tones and movements. Still does.
― ryan, Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:08 (one year ago) link
The whole creation of Night of the Hunter--James Agee script, Laughton's only film as a director, the participation of Stanley Cortez and Lillian Gish--also figures into its iconic strangeness.
― clemenza, Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:21 (one year ago) link
I'm pretty sure I watched it before I'd seen a single Laughton performance
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:22 (one year ago) link
It looks nothing like contemporaneous American film?
this is otm Alfred as is omar's hidden comment
― rob, Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:28 (one year ago) link
Mitchum's "chiiiiiiillldrennn...?" Is one of the most frightening line readings I've ever heard
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:37 (one year ago) link
Love several of these and it’s hard not to vote for Late Spring, but Daisies blew my mind both times I watched it. So I’m going with that.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:44 (one year ago) link
(One post for each time it blew my mind.)
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 21 January 2023 17:45 (one year ago) link
One for each of the twin priestesses of Mothra.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 January 2023 00:53 (one year ago) link
outside the top 40 - Barry Lyndon, Wanda, Fear Eats the Soul, News From Home, Le Mépris, Sans Soleil, La dolce vita, Daughters of the Dust, L’avventura, Sunset Blvd., A Brighter Summer Day, Blue Velvet, The Leopard, Madame de… etc. - are all amazing films, and some of them surpass the films on this list
― Dan S, Sunday, 22 January 2023 02:19 (one year ago) link
are all amazing films
That's indeed a list of major, major films ... and then also Blue Velvet
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Sunday, 22 January 2023 15:07 (one year ago) link
I have Night of the Hunter coming in the library.
Loving these threads btw. I've already bought three books on Jean Renoir since the last thread, lol.
― jmm, Sunday, 22 January 2023 16:26 (one year ago) link
Laughton considered casting Gary Cooper as Harry Powell, but Cooper did not accept the role as he thought it might be detrimental to his career.[24] John Carradine expressed interest in the role of the reverend,[25] as did Laurence Olivier, but his schedule was not free for two years.[26] Robert Mitchum was eager for the part of the preacher. When he auditioned, a moment that particularly impressed Charles Laughton was when Laughton described the character as "a diabolical shit," and Mitchum promptly answered "Present!"[24] Laughton liked Mitchum for the role partly due to his sexual persona, but Grubb was concerned about the character of the preacher being considered sexual. Laughton told him, "If you want to sell God, you have to be sexy.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 January 2023 16:32 (one year ago) link
jmm report back on your experience with it! that’s where my vote went.
― ryan, Sunday, 22 January 2023 17:43 (one year ago) link
my favs:
l'atalantebalthazarmcity lightspather panchali
voting for l'atalante, finally saw it last year, pure magic. the one of these that i used to be very impressed by but am now less enthusiastic about is playtime. the last half is still fuckin fire though.
― ꙮ (map), Sunday, 22 January 2023 19:47 (one year ago) link
watched l'atalante this afternoon, it is a small gem of a thing
― koogs, Sunday, 22 January 2023 19:48 (one year ago) link
well, I'm glad my lurker vote for playtime made the difference
― silverfish, Friday, 3 February 2023 13:49 (one year ago) link