Below is the list I sent to Edward Copeland for the Foreign Film poll, which is now completed (The results can be viewed here.). Surprise, surprise, three of my top five come from the thirties and two from the forties. It's a bias I know, but whenever I think of any list of great movies I tend to weigh the earlier efforts heavier because of a belief that they were setting standards and inventing the rules, not following them. For instance, when Fritz Lang made M sound film had just recently come into existance. Cameras were much more restricted in their movements than they were at the height of the silent period, actors barely understood the difference between silent pantomime and theatrical overreaching and foley (incidental sounds, ambient sounds, etc.) was in its infancy. And yet Lang managed to create an extraordinary film, using sound, light, shadow and motion to great effect throughout. Something like Wings of Desire, made much later (which is why it's number 25), achieved great things in those areas too, but could do so without battling technology at the same time.
There were other movies I dropped from the initial list. I did not rank Day for Night this time around. I felt unsure about it in the first place and included it mainly for the sake of nostalgia but when I saw the results of the nominating committee I realized there were other films I had "forgotten" about that should have made my list over Day for Night, like Rome: Open City and Sansho the Bailiff. I had no idea until I looked at the results of the nominating committee that I had left off Rome: Open City or Sansho the Bailiff. I have even written about Rome: Open City on this very site so I am glad I got a chance to correct the
omission of such an incredible film.
And then there were a couple I did not see until very recently such as Contempt and Hiroshima Mon Amour. I could not see all of the films on the list that I had not yet seen but I did see several in the last few weeks and found these two to be outstanding.
As for the ranking to be quite honest it's a little muddy after number ten. I had a hard enough time as it was putting these in any order but for the first ten I felt confident of my selections and their order. After that it was all a little random with any film easily changes places with another depending on mood, time of day or what have you.
These are the 25 I submitted and next to their title on the right is their final ranking on the poll.
1. M - 3
3. Bicycle Thief - 5
4. Grand Illusion - 7
5. Rome, Open City - 78
6. Battle of Algiers - 9
7. Belle de Jour - 32
8. Breathless - 21
9. Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - 36
10. Rules of the Game - 1
11. Wild Strawberries - 30
12. Amarcord - 69
13. Aguirre, the Wrath of God - 8
14. Beauty and the Beast - 35
15. Hiroshima , Mon Amour - 71
16. Playtime - 23
17. Tokyo Story - 12
18. Viridiana - 85
19. Au hasard Balthazar - 24
20. Sansho the Bailiff - 46
21. L'Avventura - 29
22. Contempt - 20
23. Ikuru - 14
24. The Conformist - 18
25. Wings of Desire - 41
