Movie Watching Goals For the Rest of the Year… Redux

Since I put my hand on Andrew Sarris’ The American Cinema : Directors and Directions 1929-1968, my interest for completing a list I’ve been rambling about over and over here at the good old LMdC (short for Le Mot du Cinephiliaque), is TheyShoot Pictures Don’t They? 1000 Greatest Films of All Time is became my priority. To me and many others, Kevyn Knox for instance @The Most BeautifulFraud In The World, this is the ultimate cinephile’s reference.

The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films by They Shoot Pictures Don't They?

NEW The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films

The seventh edition of our 21st Century list is now online, and incorporates many of 2011's critics' ballots. Unsurprisingly, Terrence Malick's Tree of Life leads the 2011 bunch.  View

To Be or Not to Be (1941)

To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1941)
The more we discover about Ernst Lubitsch’s films the more we can understand the Hollywood Cinema of today. His films of the 1930’s and 1940’s are the cornerstone of filmmaking. His comedies of the pre and post Code are hilarious and intelligent. Just watch his very efficient Ninotchka, Design For Living, The Shop on the Corner, and Trouble in Paradise to discover his range of work. The quality of the scripts and the sober “mise en scène” of his films are particularly noticeable. François Truffaut, in his book Les films de ma vie, made a great homage to this master from Vienna.

To Be or Not to Be tells the story of a theatre troop in Warsaw who escapes from the Nazis by portraying Generals, Professors, and the Fuhrer of the Third Reich. This comedy plays on many levels, first there is the main couple of the troop. Him, , thinks that he is the greatest Warsaw Theatre actor and her, Carole Lombard in her final role before her tragic death, has a secret lover while her husband is on the stage doing his monologue. Slowly the story gets mixed up and every character is asked to perform in a way to distract the Nazis and escape from what could be a horrible denouement. Even if some elements of the script are unlikely the moments of laughter are memorable as for some performances and lines.

Plus, it clearly influenced Quentin Tarantino on the writing of his Inglourious Basterds script especially the setting of the story and how a little group of individuals could resist and trick the Nazis. But, don’t forget the other influences from Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen, Sergio Leone, the original Inglorious Bastards, and many other films.

What’s strongly important to remember about Lubitsch’s film is how his comedies are strongly structured and how they play on many levels of stories and humour. Like Chaplin’s Great Dictator, To Be or Not to Be is a comedy mocking Adolf Hitler and his party, but the two films take this persona and make it a subject of laughter and derision. They happen before the discovery of the Holocaust and the seriousness of the situation excluded any pretext to make comedies about it. Those films witness how Hitler was perceived outside of Germany, in To Be or Not to Be the menace it represented is easily passed by to help the course of the story. Even today films like these couldn’t be done because the subject is still sensible and comedies turned to lighter subject and aren’t as politicized as they were at the time of these two great masters.

It is refreshing to watch To Be or Not to Be because it brings a different light on the perception of Nazi Germany. As horrible as this era was, the fictional treatment of these events is intelligent and appealing. I highly recommend this dashing film.

October (1928)

 October (Sergei M. Eisenstein & Grigori Aleksandrov, 1928)

They Shoot Pictures Don't They? The 1000 Greatest Films #345

Of the many quests and lists I impose myself on watching many are unavoidable films. The first ever list I wanted to check'em all was Mediafilms masterpieces there were five Sergei M. Eisenstein films: Battleship Potemkin, October, Alexander Nevsky, Ivan The Terrible Part I &II. October is the last Eisenstein I needed to see.  Of the great filmmakers of all time the British institute of Cinema stated that D.W. Griffith is the supplier of the alphabet, Chaplin the humanism and Eisenstein the theoretical inventor of the media. This is partly true, Eisenstein, especially with October, presents his theories of montage, editing, and decoupage of a scene to demonstrate a narrative. This aspect, as rhythmed as it is, as some interesting facets mainly because in this propagandist film about the recreation of the Revolution of 1917, shot like a documentary, the "propos" embellishes and glorifies the Soviet Union and its rise.

On some level, the fast editing and multi angles of decoupage are giving a gripping pace that carries the film from the events told in a chronological narrative. Other than being a pamphlet to the grandeur of the Soviet Union, October is the shipping banner of Eisenstein's vision of filmmaking and storytelling. His many books on montage are the establishment of modern day Cinema and television. Just watch how many uncountable times the sequence of the steps of Odessa has been reshot and put into great works of Cinema. Anyhow, Eisenstein's approach has somewhat conquered the seventh art. If you watch a mainstream film you'll hardly see a take lasting more than 3 seconds and a scene is shot from sometimes up to ten different angles are used to cut and edit the scene. For example, the Bourne movies, as popular as they were, those modern day action movies from Doug Liman (the first) and Paul Greengrass (the last two) with shots lasting two and even a second, shot with multiple angles giving a fast and heart clenching rhythm. Eisenstein's films feel that fresh to my eyes as a TV like 24 where the decoupage and multiple frames are used to tell many levels of stories.

Altough, personally I'd never shot a scene like any of these people, Eisenstein's lessons are unavoidable and any cinephile, director, or Film Historian should study them. But I' m more on the side of Andrei Tarkovsky when he said in Sculpting in Time:  

"I am radically opposed to the way Eisenstein used the frame to codify intellectual formulae. My own method of conveying experience to the audience is quite different. Of course it has to be said that Eisenstein wasn't trying to convey his own experience to anyone, he wanted to put across ideas, purely and simply; but for me that sort of cinema is utterly inimical. Moreover Eisenstein's montage dictum, as I see it, contradicts the very basis of the unique process whereby a film affects an audience. It deprives the person watching of that prerogative of film, which has to do with what distinguishes its impact on his consciousness from that of literature or philosophy: namely the opportunity to live through what is happening on the screen as if it were his own life, to take over, as deeply personal and his own, the experience imprinted in time upon the screen, relating his own life to what is being shown."

For me filmmaking is substracting the camera from the mind of the viewer and the more sober and subtle the direction is the more it is mastered and successful. That's why when thinking about a film I'll always prefer long takes and slow zooms in/out even if the ballet of Martin Scorsese's masterpieces makes me dream of filmmaking, a great scene can be shot from only one point of view and with one effective tracking shot. Look at the scene in Citizen Kane where Kane goes into the journal and discuss with Cotten's character and many others, Toland's deep focus permits the action near the camera and some action in the back of the room. There is great interaction in that scene with few camera movements all in one effective shot. The viewer actually doesn't even realize that the camera is standing in an impossible place in the room. We'll get back to Citizen Kane soon but now let's conclude that Eisenstein's technique in October shows the possibilities of editing in these early days of a fresh new art even if today this is textbook filmmaking, it has its limits and restrictions.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951)


This Science fiction classic by Robert Wise the man who directed masterpiece noir films like The Set-Up, musicals like West Side Story (co-directed with Jerome Robbins) and The Sound of Music, horror films like The Haunting and who edited Citizen Kane, did a strong impressive film with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Shot in 1951, during the McCarthyist era, this film tells the coming of a stranger from outer space in a little town of America. The actual alien, in the form of a man is helped by a little boy to hide.

The alien has a message to deliver to planet Earth, stop the wars and unite all nations together to save planet Earth from its own annihilation. It may be bold that the film wants to tell the world to stop the Cold War and make peace. The visitor from outer space represents the terror of the communism. It recalls in Steven Spielberg’s War of the World the kid yelling are they terrorists? Both the rogue menace of their times: in the 1950’s the menace was coming from the communism inside America and in the 2000’s it was(is) terrorism, sometimes from inside the country. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a critic of the current witch hunt of the time. Robert Wise an inside filmmaker of Hollywood surely knew some of the show business people targeted and blacklisted in Hollywood. His film might have been some kind of gesture towards his contemporaries in support to them. Set in the Sci-fi genre, a film had a easier ground to tell a virulent message.

In the form, The Day the Earth Stood Still has a beautiful black and white picture as every other Robert Wise picture. However, the frames are classic but well shot and the subtle but strong “mise en scène” by Wise places this film amongst the greatest films of its time. The directing of a film doesn’t needs to be off the wall, a strong film like Lumet’s style or Polanski’s are almost absent like the best example: a Fordian picture. When you don’t think about where the filmmaker put his camera during the film it means that you are in the presence of a mastered subtle “mise en scène”. Unlike Hitchcock or Scorsese, a subtle directing gives a more realistic approach to a story and we don’t feel like we are at the movies. The Day the Earth Stood Still, is a Sci-fi film and the realistic approach could be absent but instead the way it was filmed makes it even more believable, it is also more efficient that way to believe that an alien actually landed on Earth. The same strategy as M. Night Shyamalan used in his slightly above average Signs.
The Day the Earth Stood Still influenced many Science fictions films to come and still stands as one of the best films in the genre. Even if it’s “propos” isn’t as actual as it was in 1951 it still deserves it’s recognition.

The Man Who Would Be King

The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975)

Entering in a John Huston film is always a challenge for because I tend to not like his films very much: The Maltese Falcon was ok but take Bogart apart and it's never the same movie. The Asphalt Jungle is in my opinion a better Noir than Maltese... As for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen, they are adventure movies that tend too much of crowd pleasers to my tastes. Moby Dick is probably my favorite of his films I've seen so far! Well, you would say I need to see The Misfits, Beat the Devil, The Dead, Wise Blood, Key Largo, Under the Volcano, etc. Probably, but for now I catched The Man Who Would Be King on a specialised movie channel and I surprisingly liked it.

India and those Arabian countries were gold mines to directors of the old generation(s), Fritz Lang, Jean Renoir, Louis Malle, Roberto Rossellini, and others I surely forgot. The Man Who... is the story of two adventurers British soldiers (Sean Connery and Michael Caine) who would be (Kings) rich, free, and on their own. They decide to travel to an almost inhospitable country to fight for a land and become kings. They learn that no white men have returned alive from that land. We they arrive there they form an army and decide to conquer to learn that they are on the path of the Greek almost god Alexander The Great. One of them is then considered as his son.

This epic story about the will to become great men, kings shows how the power can lead to greatness but also to excesses in every aspect. The presence of Connery is extraordinary and his character's evolution is well mastered with his ever growing taste for power.

The cinematography is interesting and the vast landscapes are filming really well as the close-ups of the stars and the natives actors. Without knowing the year the movie was made, 1975, I couldn't have guessed if it was in the 1960's 1970's or in the 1980's. It has an unperishable glow on it and some interiors reminded me of the firsts Indiana Jones in their lighting and presentation.

The two leads, Sean Connery and Michael Caine did an excellent job. Their pairing is interesting and also really British comedic. This is maybe one of the aspects I was the more surprised about, how the dialogues included lots of jokes between the two main characters and how it felt right in this genre that is wildly and boldly over serious.

With The Man Who Would Be King John Huston gain some points in my personnal Director rating. I probably have this negative approach to his films mainly because of François Truffaut who used to constantly bash Huston's films... After all, we all have our opinions on films and whether they are great or dull.

My journey through the 1000 Greatest Films of TSPDT

This is my journey through the 1000 greatest films of the website They Shoot Pictures Don't They?. This is a compilation of thousands of lists from critics, cinephiles and specialists of Cinema.
The 1000 Greatest films list is updated once a year in December.

Then I have 1000-491 = 509 films to watch!

491. Passion (Jean-Luc Godard, 1983) Pos.565
490. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) Pos.302
489. Madame de (Max Ophüls, 1953) Pos.85
488. Duel (Steven Spielberg, 1971) Pos.876
487. La marquise d’O (Eric Rohmer, 1978) Pos.839
486. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) Pos.717
485. Husbands (John Cassavetes, 1970) Pos.504
484. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971) Pos.270
483. To Be Or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1941) Pos.73
482. October (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1928) Pos.345
481. Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996) Pos.775
480. The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975) Pos.429
479. The Hustler (Robert Rossen, 1961) Pos.324
478. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995) Pos.505
477. Boogie Nights (P.T. Anderson, 1997) Pos.536
476. The American Friend (Wim Wenders, 1977) Pos.908
475. The Navigator (Buster Keaton & Donald Crisp, 1924) Pos.375
474. The Silence (Ingmar Bergman, 1963) Pos.452
473. Apur Sansar (Satyajit Ray, 1959) Pos.180
472. Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948) Pos.920
471. Le signe du lion (Eric Rohmer, 1959) Pos.936
470. La terra trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948) Pos.458
469. Aparajito (Satyajit Ray, 1956) Pos.295
468. They Were Expendable (John Ford, 1945) Pos.451
467. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949) Pos.437
466. L’amour l’après-midi (Eric Rohmer, 1972) Pos.972
465. Le genou de Claire (Eric Rohmer, 1970) Pos.385
464. El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1966) Pos.841
463. Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924) Pos.115
462. Bend of the River (Anthony Mann, 1952) Pos.912
461. La collectionneuse (Eric Rohmer, 1967) Pos.836
460. The Far Country (Anthony Mann, 1954) Pos.907
459. Éloge de l’amour (Jean-Luc Godard, 2001) Pos.974
458. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988) Pos.474
457. My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988) Pos.419
456. Aliens (James Cameron, 1986) Pos.303
455. King Kong (Meriam C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedasck, 1933) Pos.110
454. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) Pos.327
453. Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970) Pos.344
452. West Side Story (Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise, 1961) Pos.275
451. Le rayon vert (Eric Rohmer, 1986) Pos.679
450. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) Pos.327

449. Tout va bien (Jean-Luc Godard & Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1972) Pos.975
448. Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970) Pos.344

447. West Side Story (Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise, 1961) Pos.275

446. The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946) Pos.141

445. 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966) Pos.252

444. Masculin féminin (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966) Pos.443

443. Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, 1941) Pos.380
442. Le ballon rouge (Albert Lamorisse, 1956) Pos.432
441. Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962) Pos.125
440. Une femme est une femme (Jean-Luc Godard, 1961) Pos.840
439. Scenes From A Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
438. Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)
437. Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman, 1962) Pos.504
436. The Phantom of Liberty (Luis Bunuel, 1974) Pos.584
435. Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang, 1945) Pos.940
434. Viaggio in Italia (Roberto Rossellini, 1954) Pos.86
433. Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931) Pos.835
432. Requiem For A Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000) Pos.812
431. Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931) Pos.835
430. The Thief of Bagdad (Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan, 1940) Pos.335
429. Stromboli (Roberto Rossellini, 1950) Pos.520
428. I Know Where I'm Going! (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1945) Pos.400
427. Germany Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948) Pos.251
426. Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955) Pos.284
425. It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934) Pos.194
424. All the President's Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976) Pos.496
423. Zero de Conduite (Jean Vigo, 1933) Pos.247
422. Make Way For Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937) Pos.286
421. The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999) Pos.995
420. Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982) Pos.671
419. Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972) Pos.281
418. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) Pos.166
417. A Time to Love and A Time to Die (Douglas Sirk, 1958) Pos.986
416. Mothlight (Stan Brakhage, 1963) Pos.981
415. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Stanley Donen, 1954) Pos.954
414. Il gattopardo (Luchino Visconti, 1963) Pos.65
413. Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976) Pos.324
412. Salo: or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975) Pos.253
411. The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, 1960) Pos.707
410. La Ronde (Max Ophüls, 1950) Pos.636
409. The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg, 1934) Pos.299
408. Fantasia (Ben Sharpsteen, 1940) Pos.264
407. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972) Pos.85
406. Boudu sauvé des eaux (Jean Renoir, 1932) Pos.634
405. On The Town (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1949) Pos.515
404. Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941) Pos.128
403. Ma Nuit chez Maude (Eric Rohmer, 1969) Pos.282
402. Sansho Dayu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

Update jan. 2010.

----------------

395. La Nuit Américaine (François Truffaut, 1973)

394. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)

393. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)

392. Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982)

391. Mon oncle d'Amérique (Alain Resnais, 1980)

390. Z (Costa-Grava, 1969)

389. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)

388. Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1965)

387. Novecento (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1976)

386. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2002)

385. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)

384. Cidade de Deus (Fernando Meirelles, 2002)

383. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)

382. American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999)

381. Bande à part (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)

380. Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933)

379. Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1939)

378. Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932)

377. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)

376. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellmann, 1971)

375. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)

374. Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960)

373. Samson And Delilah (Cecil B. Demille, 1949)

372. Trouble In Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)

371. Hatari! (Howard Hawks, 1962)

370. Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)

369. Zemlya (Alesandr Dovzhenko, 1930)

368. The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927)

367. Man With The Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

366. Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)

365. Ivan The Terrible - Part II (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1946)

364. Ivan The Terrible - Part I (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1945)

363. How Green Was My Valley (John Ford, 1941)

362. Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)

361. Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961)

360. Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995)

359. The Pilgrim (Charles Chaplin, 1923)

358. Lucifer Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1973)

357. Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1964)

356. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)

355. The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1948)

354. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)

353. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)

352. Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957)

351. Le Million (René Clair, 1931)

350. Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (Jean Renoir, 1936)

349. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)

348. Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948)

347. Henry V (Laurence Olivier, 1944)

346. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)

345. Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)

344. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)

343. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1943)

342. Toni (Jean Renoir, 1935)

341. La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)

340. French Cancan (Jean Renoir, 1955)

339. I Vitelloni (Federico Fellini, 1953)

338. Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957)

337. The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

336. The Testament of Dr.Mabuse (Fritz Lang, 1933)

335. The River (Jean Renoir, 1951)

334. Las Hurdes (Luis Bunuel, 1933)

333. Le Voyage Dans la Lune (Georges Méliès, 1902)

332. Unsere Afrikareise (Peter Kubelka, 1966)

331. King-Size Canary (Tex Avery, 1947)

330. Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)

329. A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1954)

328. Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979)

327. The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953)

326. Blood Simple (Joel Coen, 1983)

325. Shane (George Stevens, 1953)

324. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)

323. East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1954)

322. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)

321. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)

320. Se7en (David Fincher, 1995)

319. Rebel Without A Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955)

318. Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)

317. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

316. Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 1993)

315. An American In Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)

314. Gone With The Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)

313. The Killer (John Woo, 1989)

312. Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

311. The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1982)

310. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939)

309. The Day The Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951)

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Mise à jour de décembre 2008! ! !

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289. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)

288. Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)

287. Black Narcissus (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1943)

286. Week-end (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

285. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)

284. New York, New York (Martin Scorsese, 1978)

283. Anatomy of A Murder (Otto Preminger, 195 )

282. Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)

281. Gertrud (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1964)

280. Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel, 1967)