Top 10 Movies of All Time (According to Sight & Sound)

[Impressions]

In 1952 Sight & Sound polled the world’s leading film critics to compile a list of the best films of all time. The magazine has repeated this poll every ten years, to show which films stand the test of time in the face of shifting critical opinion. In 1992 they added a poll of directors asking them for their personal choices.

2002 Results

1. Citizen Cane (Welles)

Dazzlingly inventive, technically breathtaking, Citizen Kane reinvented the way stories could be told in the cinema, and set a standard generations of film-makers have since aspired to. An absorbing account of a newspaper tycoon's rise to power, Orson Welles' debut film feels as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. And he was only 26 when he made it.

2. Vertigo (Hitchcock)

A gripping detective story or a delirious investigation into desire, grief and jealousy? Hitchcock had a genius for transforming genre pieces into vehicles for his own dark obsessions, and this 1958 masterpiece shows the director at his mesmerising best. And for James Stewart fans, it also boasts the star's most compelling performance.

3. La Règle du jeu (Renoir)

Tragedy and comedy effortlessly combine in Renoir's country house ensemble drama. A group of aristocrats gather for some rural relaxation, a shooting party is arranged, downstairs the servants bicker about a new employee, while all the time husbands, wives, mistresses and lovers sweetly deceive one another and swap declarations of love like name cards at a dinner party.

4. The Godfather and The Godfather part II (Coppola)

Few films have portrayed the US immigrant experience quite so vividly as Coppola's Godfather films, or exposed the contradictions of the American Dream quite so ruthlessly. And what a cast, formidable talent firing all cylinders: Brando, De Niro, Pacino, Keaton, Duvall, Caan. Now that's an offer you can't refuse.

5. Tokyo Story (Ozu)

A poignant story of family relations and loss, Ozu's subtle mood piece portrays the trip an elderly couple make to Tokyo to visit their grown-up children. The shooting style is elegantly minimal and formally reticent, and the film's devastating emotional impact is drawn as much from what is unsaid and unshown as from what is revealed.

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)

One of the most ambitious Hollywood movies ever made, 2001 crams into its two-hour plus running time a story that spans the prehistoric age to the beginning of the third millennium, and features some of the most hypnotically beautiful special effects work ever committed to film. After seeing this, you can never listen to Strauss' Blue Danube without thinking space crafts waltzing against starry backdrops.

7. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)

Eisenstein's recreation of a mutiny by sailors of the battleship Potemkin in 1905 works as daring formal experiment - which pushed the expressive potential of film editing to its limit - and rousing propaganda for the masses. The Odessa Steps sequence remains one of the most memorable set-pieces in cinema.

8. Sunrise (Murnau)

Wonderfully freefloating, gleefully confusing reality and fantasy, 8 1/2 provides a ringside seat into the ever active imaginative life of its director protagonist Guido, played by Fellini's on-screen alter-ego Marcello Mastroianni. The definitive film about film-making - as much about the agonies of the creative process as the ecstasies - it's no wonder the movie is so popular with directors.

9. 8 1/2 (Fellini)

Wonderfully freefloating, gleefully confusing reality and fantasy, 8 1/2 provides a ringside seat into the ever active imaginative life of its director protagonist Guido, played by Fellini's on-screen alter-ego Marcello Mastroianni. The definitive film about film-making - as much about the agonies of the creative process as the ecstasies - it's no wonder the movie is so popular with directors.

10. Singin' In the Rain (Kelly, Donen)

Impossible to watch without a smile on your face, this affectionate tribute to the glory days of Hollywood in the 1920s is pleasure distilled into 102 minutes. With Gene Kelly dance sequences that take your breath away and a great score by Brown and Freed, this is the film musical at its best.

[buddy love]

Those are some really fine films, however, I feel each of the directors (whose work I recognized) did at least one film better than those listed and heres the ones I would have chosen for those particular directors:

Orson Welles--S &S chose Citizen Kane, a truly great film, but I think "Touch of Evil" (1958) is even better.

Alfred Hitchcock--S&S selected "Vertigo", however, I feel "Psycho" (1960) is not only better, but more influencial.

Coppola--S&S jointly recognizes "The Godfather"parts one and two, however, I think "Appocalypse Now" (1979) is his greatest masterpiece.

Kubrick--S&S chooses "2001"--but "Dr. Strangelove" would top my list of Kubrick films.

Renoir__I prefer La Grande Illusion over La Regle du jeu.

Ozu--Tokyo Story is a truly great film, but in my book Late Autumn
(1961) is the standout.

Fellini--8 1/2 is fine but the best Fellini picture came a few years earlier--Nights of Cabiria (1959).

Now I don't know enough about the Eisenstein or Marnau films to make a judgement, so I will substitute two other directors--

Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night (1957)

Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" (1944) may be my choice for the best American Film of all time.

Finally, Singin' in The Rain (co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen) is a truly great film musical-comedy, but if I were to include a musical on this list it would be a Stanley Donen film starring the enchanting Audrey Hepburn and the ageless Fred Astaire and titled, "Funny Face" from 1957.

[Plata]

Originally posted by Classic is Better
In 1952 Sight & Sound polled the world’s leading film critics to compile a list of the best films of all time. The magazine has repeated this poll every ten years, to show which films stand the test of time in the face of shifting critical opinion. In 1992 they added a poll of directors asking them for their personal choices.

2002 Results

1. Citizen Cane (Welles)

Dazzlingly inventive, technically breathtaking, Citizen Kane reinvented the way stories could be told in the cinema, and set a standard generations of film-makers have since aspired to. An absorbing account of a newspaper tycoon's rise to power, Orson Welles' debut film feels as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. And he was only 26 when he made it.

Citizen Kane? Hah! I don't think so! I've seen that film and thought it was one of the worst films I've ever seen. So boring!

[Titania]

:: stares at list :: :: jaw drops ::

no gone with the wind????????

[*ShortCake*]

I agree Cara.. no Gone With The Wind?? tsk tsk tsk... and Moulin Rouge?? That was brilliant as well.. I havent really s seen any of Kubricks movies except for Eyes Wide Shut.. and that was really odd.. and i just didnt r eally care for it very much :X

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by Classic is Better
7. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)

Eisenstein's recreation of a mutiny by sailors of the battleship Potemkin in 1905 works as daring formal experiment - which pushed the expressive potential of film editing to its limit - and rousing propaganda for the masses. The Odessa Steps sequence remains one of the most memorable set-pieces in cinema.

That movie is the most God-awful thing ever put on film.

[Central Perk]

I have a list thats supposed to be the best American Films thats from this one Oscar book I have heres the list:

1. Citizen Kane
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather
4. Gone With The Wind
5. Lawrence Of Arabia
6. The Wizard Of Oz
7. The Graduate
8. On The Waterfront
9. Schindler's List
10. Singin' In The Rain
11. Its A Wonderful Life
12. Sunset Boulevard
13. The Bridge On The River Kwai
14. Some Like It Hot
15. Star Wars
16. All About Eve
17. The African Queen
18. Psycho
19. Chinatown
20. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
21. The Grapes Of Wrath
22. 2001: A Space Oddyssey
23. The Maltese Falcon
24. Raging Bull
25. E.T.
26. Dr. Strangelove
27. Bonnie And Clyde
28. Apocalypse Now
29. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
31. Annie Hall
32. The Godfather Part II
33. High Noon
34. To Kill A Mockingbird
35. It Happened One Night
36. Midnight Cowboy
37. The Best Years Of Our Lives
38. Double Indemnity
39. Doctor Zhivago
40. North By Northwest
41. West Side Story
42. Rear Window
43. King Kong
44. The Birth Of A Nation
45. A Streetcar Named Desire
46. A Clockwork Orange
47. Taxi Driver
48. Jaws
49. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
50. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
51. The Philadelphia Story
52. From Here To Eternity
53. Amadeus
54. All Quiet On The Western Front
55. The Sound Of Music
56. M*A*S*H
57. The Third Man
58. Fantasia
59. Rebel Without A Cause
60. Raiders Of The Lost Ark

there were actually 100 but I was too lazy to type the rest...

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by Dr. Frasier Crane
2. Casablanca
8. On The Waterfront

Eh, they were alright.

10. Singin' In The Rain

Good!

19. Chinatown
23. The Maltese Falcon
33. High Noon

Yicky. I didn't like these.

34. To Kill A Mockingbird
42. Rear Window

Good!

45. A Streetcar Named Desire

Weird movie.

59. Rebel Without A Cause

Good!

[Titania]

Originally posted by dawsongirl


Weird movie.

I love A Streetcar Named Desire!!

The Philadelphia Story...thats a great movie too.

And theres GWTW....yay!



2. Casablanca
4. Gone With The Wind
6. The Wizard Of Oz
7. The Graduate
10. Singin' In The Rain
11. Its A Wonderful Life
14. Some Like It Hot
17. The African Queen
25. E.T.
29. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
35. It Happened One Night
37. The Best Years Of Our Lives
39. Doctor Zhivago
41. West Side Story
42. Rear Window
45. A Streetcar Named Desire
51. The Philadelphia Story
52. From Here To Eternity
55. The Sound Of Music
58. Fantasia

those are all good movies...

[-*Forever*-]

*cough* Did The Exorcist ever happen to be mentioned? That was an awesome movie.