Recently the American Film Institute (AFI) released its updated "100 Greatest Movies List," started in 1997. It is a standard lists of greats, rarely reaching beyond the safe bet. By contrast, the list that started it all is much more interesting.
In 1952, as film was cementing its reputation as a truly respected art form worldwide, Sight and
Sound Magazine published its first international polling of critics and directors as to what were the greatest films ever made. The magazine began in 1932 and in 1934 came under the management of the British Film Institute which runs it to this day. The lists have been released in ten year cycles (1952, 1962, etc) and mimicking this, the AFI also releases its list every 10 years, starting in 1997. On Sight and Sound's first list The Bicycle Thief was ranked number one. Then, in 1957, Citizen Kane finally got international release and for every poll thereafter has been number one. Starting with the list in 1992 the Sight and Sound poll has broken up its choices between directors' picks and critics' picks. As such, obvious trends can be recognized that separate that considered great by those in the industry and that considered great by those who comment from the outside. Before further discussion, a quick look at the last poll's (2002) picks.Critics' Choices:
1. Citizen Kane (Welles)
2. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
3. La Régle du jeu (Renoir)
4. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
5. Tokyo Story (Ozu)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
7. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)
8. Sunrise (Murnau)
9. 8 1/2 (Fellini)
10. Singin' in the Rain (Kelly, Donen)
Directors' Choices:
1. Citizen Kane (Welles)
2. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
3. 8 1/2 (Fellini)
4. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean)
5. Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick)
6. Bicycle Thieves (De Sica)
7. Raging Bull (Scorsese)
8. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
9. La Régle du jeu (Renoir)
10. (tie) Rashomon (Kurosawa)
10. (tie) Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
At first glance, the similarities stick out. Half of the movies appear on both: Citizen Kane, The Godfather films, Vertigo, 8 1/2, Le Regle de Jeu (The Rules of the Game). These five (six because of the Godfathers lumped together) are of course some of the biggest ever. It's not too surprising that they are on both. But when one looks at the entirety of the critics' list weighed against the entirety of the directors' list they become two very different lists indeed. To be finally ranked on either list requires at least five votes. So even if Lawrence of Arabia didn't make the critics' top ten, it did still get ranked, if much further down, at number forty-five. There are only two films that made it all the way into the top ten on one list and were completely unranked by the other, and they're both on the Directors' List: Dr. Strangelove and Raging Bull. They both received votes on the critics' poll just not enough to be ranked (2 for Dr. Strangelove (Alexander Walker and Andrew Worsdale) and three for Raging Bull (Peter Bradshaw, Michael Dwyer and Roger Ebert)).
A longer list of films ranked by one but not the other reveals more. Here are the films that got enough votes to rank on one list but not enough to rank on the other:
Directors' List:
Once upon a Time in the West (Leone)
Sweet Smell of Success (Mackendrick)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Huston)
Critics' List:
L'Atalante (Vigo)
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Mizoguchi)
Ivan the Terrible (Eisenstein)
Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov)
The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (Ophuls)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford)
The Travelling Players (Angelopoulos)
Two or Three Things I Know about Her (Godard)
Now we have two truly different lists. The average filmgoer would probably recognize quite a few on the directors' list that didn't make the critics' list. For instance, Dr. Strangelove, Raging Bull, Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment, Apocalypse Now, Casablanca, Chinatown, On the Waterfront, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Wizard of Oz would be instantly recognizable titles to even the most cinematically deprived filmgoer, and even if they aren't too familiar with Once Upon a Time in the West, Amarcord or The Sweet Smell of Success they've probably heard of them, especially Once Upon a Time in the West. But the critics' list would probably leave the average filmgoer scratching their head: L'Atalante, Au hasard Balthazar, Le Mépris, Pather Panchali, The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, Ivan the Terrible, Man with a Movie Camera, Ugetsu Monogatari, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Ordet, Pierrot le fou, Sansho Dayu, The Travelling Players and Two or Three Things I Know about Her. Sure there are recognizable ones here too (Rio Bravo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Blade Runner and so on) and obviously anyone reading a cinema site like this one probably knows all of these films but for the most part one could pigeonhole these two lists as "accessible" and "esoteric."
PART TWO: BREAKING DOWN THE DIFFERENCES
There are many possible reasons for the gaping differences. Directors, personally associated with the rigors of production, tend to appreciate craftsmanship over artistry. Knowing how difficult it is to be the ringleader of a production gives them an appreciation for crisp editing, tight performances, a polished look and a strong narrative. Dr. Strangelove, Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment, Casablanca, Chinatown, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Wizard of Oz all meet these criteria superbly.
The critics, on the other hand, are personally associated with the rigors of having to see every 
goddamn film released week in and week out, becoming overly acquainted with cliche and stereotype, and thus tend to take notice when a film doesn't necessarily give them exactly what they were expecting. Not dealing with the day to day rigors of production, they can appreciate more fully the philosophical side of film, tending to give higher marks to films that tell a story outside the mainstream. There are many perfect examples of this on their list but perhaps the best two would be Au hasard Balthazar and Ordet with the first being a French film about Marie, a simple farm girl and her beloved donkey Balthazar, who become separated but lead eerily parallel lives as they suffer abuse from every order of humanity and the second, a Danish film concerning two families, one of which has a son who thinks he's Jesus and performs miracles thusly that helps quell the rift between the two. I probably don't need to tell you that no one who voted for The Wizard of Oz had either one of those movies on their list.
Another reason for the difference would again be directly associated with their respective professions. Being in the industry, and spending months at a time working on a film only to finish and begin pre-production on another doesn't leave most directors with the leisure to see as many films as your average critic. As a result, they see most of their competition in recent release and those films that have been historically noted as standouts. Critics are paid to watch any and all films and have the time to take them all in. One of the odd quirks of this seems to be that at times they purposely ignore the historically noted films lest they be thought of as unimaginative. In his submission to the Sight and Sound poll, well-respected film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum added the comment: "I've included a serial, an unfinished trilogy and two shorts, but assume it's no longer necessary to mention Chaplin, Godard, Hitchcock, Ozu, Renoir or Welles." And so he doesn't. And this coming from a noted Welles scholar and an ardent Godard supporter. And yet he leaves all traces of their films from his list. Of course, if everyone starts leaving them off then it will become necessary to mention them again because they won't be recognized anymore so the whole logic behind the comment appears to be dubious at best.
At the opposite end of that spectrum is what I would call "Manny Farber Syndrome" for the critics and "Noble Subject Syndrome" for the directors. Here's where both the critic and director switch places.
The critic decides he wants to add a little punch to his list that the beloved French donkey just isn't providing so he goes for the rough and tumble "B" movie made by the auteur director that gives his list more of a "common man" feel. Excellent examples would be Rio Bravo, Blade Runner and (on Jonathan Rosenbaum's list) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Two of those are by Howard Hawks, a great director and longtime favorite of Farber.
The director, suffering from "Noble Subject Syndrome," loves Citizen Kane and Vertigo but wants to add some social commentary prestige to his list by adding an epic tale of great seriousness like Lawrence of Arabia, The Best Years of Our Lives or On The Waterfront.
Cases could be made for both, I suppose, but the "Manny Farber Syndrome" is probably preferable. At least there, one is looking for artistry in the mundane which is probably more "noble" than acknowledging "artistry" shoved in your face. But I could be wrong.
PART THREE: AND THE WINNER IS...
So who comes out on top with the list? The directors or the critics? If we combine the totals the answer is clear: It's the critics. The combined total of both lists with their votes counted together gives us this top 25 (actually 26 due to several ties):
1. Citizen Kane
2. Vertigo
3. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
4. La Régle du jeu
5. 8 1/2
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Tokyo Story
8. Seven Samurai
9. Rashomon
10. Singin' in the Rain
10. Battleship Potemkin
12. Sunrise
13. The Searchers
14. Lawrence of Arabia
15. Bicycle Thief
15. La dolce vita
15. The Passion of Joan of Arc
18. L'avventura
18. Breathless
18. Touch of Evil
21. Raging Bull
21. Dr. Strangelove
21. Jules et Jim
24. Psycho
24. L'Atalante
24. Sunset Boulevard
Citizen Kane is number one on both lists so obviously it's number one overall. Vertigo is number two on the critics list and (in a three-way tie) is number six on the director's list but ends up number two overall. Then there's Le Regle de Jeu, number three on the critics list and all the way down to number nine on the directors list but combined it is number four. As for the Godfather films they are four on the critics list and two on the directors placing them at three overall, an even split. Three of the critics top ten films, 2001, Tokyo Story and Singin' in the Rain aren't even in the directors top ten yet make into the combined top ten. Only one critics top ten choice does not make the combined top ten: Sunrise, and just barely, coming in one vote behind the tied Singin' in the Rain and Rashomon. On the other hand three directors picks don't make it: Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Strangelove and Raging Bull coming in at places fourteen and twenty-one (tied) respectively.
So why do the critics picks dominate the list? The obvious answer is numbers. There are 145 critics voting to 108 directors voting. The Sight and Sound poll started out a prestigious selection by informed, educated critics and the B.F.I. would probably like to keep it that way so they will continue to tip the scales in the direction of the critics by keeping their numbers higher. But those numbers will mean nothing if there is no consensus among the critics. There is a much higher number of films selected by the critics than the directors and even in the ranked films (5 votes or more) the critics come up with 60 different titles to the directors 50. As digital technology gets us closer to realizing the dream of seeing any movie you want at any time you want more and more film buffs will see more and more films and as they become the next wave of critics and historians any consensus they had will become more and more disjointed. But the directors? Their consensus probably won't change much. I've often told people that the most uninformed people on film and theatre are often those involved in film and theatre. When I was regularly involved in the theatre I would often get into discussions with fellow actors about great 
performances. They would to a man come up with names like Olivier and Brando and by rote list performances like Hamlet or On the Waterfront. It's not that these aren't great actors or great performances, they certainly are, it's that if you asked them about Walter Huston in Dodsworth or Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo or god forbid, someone who's name they didn't even recognize like Roger Livesey in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp they didn't know what in the hell you were talking about. I was constantly amazed at their knowledge of only the biggest actors in the biggest movies. And in discussions of films themselves just think Best Picture winners and that's about all you need to know. So while the critics list will probably continue to expand to include more and more great undiscovered films the directors list will probably stick with Citizen Kane, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, 8 1/2, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Strangelove, Bicycle Thief, Raging Bull, Vertigo, La Régle du jeu, Rashomon, Seven Samurai for a long time coming. They know these films and believe in respecting the pantheon.
PART FOUR: THE PROBLEM OF SELECTION
One way around the problem of too many big movies shutting out too many small movies is to expand the submissions to 25 or 50 from each director and critic. That way movies like Citizen Kane and The Godfather will still get the recognition they richly deserve but other smaller films will build more of a consensus. When a critic or director is faced with dropping one of the pantheon so they can get another great, less recognized film on the list most will probably go with the big one. Given only ten spaces the Godard fan might drop Le Mépris in favor of Breathless to insure that Godard is represented. The Welles fan might drop Magnificent Ambersons in favor of Citizen Kane and so on. But given 25 choices, or even 50 (!), Jonathan Rosenbaum can still "mention Chaplin, Godard, Hitchcock, Ozu, Renoir or Welles" and have room left over for Playtime and Last Year at Marienbad. Give critics and directors the freedom to come up with their own top 25 or 50 and, who knows, a new pantheon may emerge. It's five years until the next list, maybe it can happen.
PART FIVE: CONCLUSION
The appeal of the Sight and Sound poll for the novice film buff is that is gives one a quick, concise
overview of film history, from all countries, from all eras. The results have changed dramatically over the years. In 1972 there were only three American films in the top ten: Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons and The General, with only Citizen Kane (at no. 1) breaking into the top seven. Now the entire top three are American made (or four since, despite their being lumped together, The Godfather I & II are obviously two distinct films). The Magnificent Ambersons remained on the list until 1992 when directors became involved in the selections as well. Battleship Potemkin, a vital film in cinematic history, has been in the top seven on the critics list since the poll's inception in 1952 but has yet to crack the directors top ten dropping it to ten overall, its lowest mark ever.
With the popularity of the A.F.I. top 100 lists the Sight and Sound poll is more necessary than ever to give a novice a real sense of diversity in film. Since the A.F.I. covers only American films it isolates all of film history to one country. This wouldn't present a problem if it were not so popular or perhaps the Sight and Sound poll were more well known. But that is not the case.
The Sight and Sound poll will continue to offer the best selection of great movies to the movie enthusiast. An expanded submission for the critics and directors would make the list even more authoritative. More critics and directors will be willing to include smaller, lesser known works along side the giants, confident in the knowledge that they will all be recognized. We will still revel in the Kanes and Vertigos of the movie world but also make room for the George Minafers, delusional Danish men who think they're Jesus and beloved French donkeys.
