THE
MOVIE LIST
The Best, Most Beloved and the Most Important
English Language Films of the 20th Century.
In Order.
Arranged by: Brad Bourland March 1, 2007.
Here is Part I of the list of the best, the most important, and the most beloved films of the Twentieth Century(English Language:1927-1999). In English, primarily, but not exclusively. There are no documentaries, no made-for-TV movies, no shorts, no music concerts or animated films, and no silent films. There are no collections, either. I am not in Any Way trying to disrespect these other types of films, in fact I am a Big Fan of say..New York Stories, Pinochio and the great silent films and great documentaries. Not to mention the incredible TV films through the decades. It really is this simple: I had to establish Some Limits on Content or I could not have ever completed this. There are however, some small exceptions to these rules. In certain cases, the film was too important to exclude for reasons of standing on ceremony. Even so, the overwhelming preponderance of these films are totally within the guidelines.
All the films have been evaluated on their condition at the time of release: many of these movies have been redone later and altered AFTER theatrical showing, but for the purposes of this list, what matters is the Original Release Form of the film.
They may be from any country, as long as the primary language for the targeted audience – is English. In the early stage of this compilation, I played with the idea of a multi-language list, but soon realized the scope was simply too great for me to handle. Cultures have different standards for evaluating and examining art, and different perceptual guidelines, too. I found all I could possibly wrestle with are the usually minute yet discernible differences that clearly do exist in cultural and artistic expressions amongst films made for my own personal language. It is primarily through language that we human beings communicate. It is not always a simple task to understand the full thrust or the fine nuances of what we hear others saying, EVEN if it is in our own language. Clearly, it is preposterous then to assume we perfectly understand translated communications. And without that absolute means of comprehending the full import and slant of dialogue in films, I knew it would be impossible to evaluate films made in a language other than English. I leave that project for others.
As to what motivated me in this: I really love great films. All kinds, all eras, all subjects; just as long as they are truly well made. And a great many are. Thousands. As I understand things, there are basically 4 means directors have at their disposal to move forward the momentum of a film: (1) THE CAMERA: What shots are chosen, what locations are used, the 360 degree motion of the camera, and crane and dolly and maybe even helicopter or track mounted placement of the lens, focus, and in/out motion (zoom). (2) Motion or Change within the camera frame. Whether characters are moving, speaking or doing some business within the frame. Also whether devices such as machines or animals or weather are going on inside the frame. Between the combination of (1) and (2), the visual should never be completely still, except for a specific effect. Something should practically always be MOVING. (3) SOUND: Whether it’s the dialogue, the music, normal background noises or special sound effects, or any combination of the above, the sound is vitally important. SILENCE should never happen, unless it’s by design, for specific effect. (4) EDITING: How long to linger on a scene, when to change shots, when to use straight dissolves and when to do something fancy, such as a wipe. We should never CAMP OUT on one frame too long, again, unless it is specifically for effect. When we carefully examine the film masterpieces and the great classics, we see these principles hard at work. It is no surprise to discover that a sizeable number of the highest rated films on this list were created by the greatest in their respective professions, and quite often the Best of the Best were made by a fortuitous confluence of historical giants- a quick example being the combined efforts of Orson Welles’ direction, Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles’ script, Gregg Toland’s cinematography, Bernard Hermann’s score, and the editing of Robert Wise in the making of “Citizen Kane”.
The Art of great Cinema is unique in human endeavor. An individual may create a master painting, novel, sculpture, mural, symphony or any other type of art. But it requires a large number of people, sometimes in the hundreds or possibly the thousands, working in close collaboration, to create a masterpiece of film. A truly great film can actually be a visual book in motion containing classic musical compositions; in addition it may contain within it’s screen time countless pieces of visual art, comparable to the finest paintings, coupled with fascinating conversations, and spectacular views from every corner of the world. It may even render to us great moral insight, or spiritual revelation or powerful, instructional social commentary; even WISDOM, BEAUTY and TRUTH. I think it fair to say that the development of the sound and motion picture represents a truly major milestone in human development. It is certain that we have as yet, barely scratched the surface of the possibilities this fairly new art form can render.
This list began as a personal project, a small list of what I, at that time believed to be the best 200-300 films ever made. I had started toying with it as far back as 1997, and in 2000 began to give it shape. However, I soon realized that I would need to take it out to at least 1000 films in order to do proper justice to all the best films. How naive I was early in this process! As you can see, this has become a list which I expect will exceed 9000 films when Part II is finished. It just began as a personal favorites movie list, but one which eventually became something else completely. It has taken over 6 years to complete. Because I had no idea how MANY great films (In English) had been made in the twentieth century. In the U.S., England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, and India - just to name a few countries. As to what compelled me to compile a “best movies” list in the first place: I was appalled at the old music that was being lost in the nineties, and was afraid great old movies would soon be forgotten as well; so I determined to gather up all the best old classics and list them before it was too late. This was in the early nineties, before the internet was so popular, and at a time when very few of the lesser known classics had been released on video. I’m very pleased to see how many of them have now been released on dvd and video; remember that as this list began to be born, this was NOT the case. And once the list had reached 1500+films, I realized it could conceivably still be useful in acquainting people to many forgotten films, which deserve to be remembered. At some point, it became clear I had to include the Modern Greats, in order to keep the quality of these older gems in proper perspective, so it became necessary to weave Old and New together, which represented the final stage of this list’s evolution. We now are at the Central Question! IN WHOSE OPINION ? Everyone has strong feelings with regard to the films they like and dislike. While it could be said that it’s all subjective and art is impossible to rank in terms of quality, it IS possible to say which films have been appreciated by fans and critics and the film industry the most. This is what I have attempted to do here.
This list is the product of over 1500 hours spent in 7 libraries in 3 states, and over 3000 working hours on dozens of computers. I had to examine, I would say over 100 different books on film; I certainly took into consideration what the critics have said about films. And I examined what the public has to say, in the on-line databases. There were numerous occasions where the FANS won out with their vigorous support for a critically panned film. What I strove for always, was FAIRNESS. I personally have spoken with hundreds of film fans concerning hundreds of movies, and during the course of compiling this list I have viewed thousands of films. I took Everything into consideration. Box Office, Nominations, Awards, Enduring Appeal, Professional Criticism, and the Opinion of the PEOPLE. While Awards, Nominations and Box Office are relevant, other factors must be considered: Technical innovation, originality, and artistic creativity play a role in determining a film’s true worth. I considered the professionals who make the films: Directors, Writers, Performers, Cinematographers, Composers, Set Designers and Art Directors, Editors, the Special Effects Creators, the Stunt Coordinators, the Sound Engineers and the many, many other roles in the creation of quality films. I need to stress again that this is not ratings for per- formances, but rather the entire package- the flow of the film and how well it all works Together. One fact I discovered, is that every critic (or fan)brings their own personal bias to The table, and sometimes unfairly. I went out of my way to exclude all such bias. Whatever the TYPE of film, whatever the CULTURAL CONTEXT of the film, ALL I cared about were TWO QUESTIONS: Would our CONSENSUS opinion (the film industry, critics and public alike)- say a given film was a Good Film, and did it deserve inclusion on this list? With absolutely NO regard for any TYPE of film having merit over another, I strove to determine if it was made with professionalism, and if it moved people. Murder Mysteries, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Tear-Jerkers, War Movies, Westerns, Comedies, Dramas, Shakespeare, Family Pictures, Horror, Adult Dramas, Teen Rage—whatever! I have noticed, when talking to people about films, that they tend to denigrate films that are of a type they don’t care for. For example, if they hate sci-fi, they will usually respond in the negative when asked about even the greatest sci-fi films. Or the same with people who don’t care for “silly” movies, or war movies that they have seen, if they hate that genre, period. What I’ve tried to accomplish is to look at ALL types of films with an unbiased eye concerning the type of film it is. All that matters is How Well it was made. Period. One other consideration was this: Sometimes the technical quality was less than grand for a given film, but, if the director achieved his primary goal: To frighten us, to make us laugh, or to entertain or maybe inspire us, slack was Given.
One thing is certain; no two people will ever agree on how to rank 73 years of great films. There will always be disagreement. Having admitted this, however, I DO believe it possible to assess weight and value to the great films of the 20th century, based on REAL factors. How the film is perceived today by the public and critics alike and how well it did when released; not only at the box office, but also with critics and how it was measured within the film industry itself: The truest standards to use for measuring film as art and entertainment is the response it received from within the industry. Directors judging direction, actors grading performances in films, etc. And since films are not only made to impress film students and drama professors, but to entertain the public, as well, we MUST give the feelings of the public a loud voice. No, the public is not always “right” about a film’s true worth; but one thing I have discovered while doing research for this list is that the public proves themselves wiser than the professionals, on occasion. When a given actor who is routinely panned by the majority of critics just KEEPS making films that are successful, MAYBE it is time to reevaluate. The same is true of directors the critics tend to dismiss. To get to the point: the public, the film industry and the critics all have useful and valuable opinions of films, and any reasonable roll call of great films MUST take into consideration the feelings of all three groups. And since this is an international list we must be careful to listen to what the people say of the country that the film was made by and probably FOR, - to assess it’s worth correctly. This I have tried my best to do, difficult as it proved to be. The same litmus test is useful for understanding how to rank films of any given GENRE. How can someone who hates “Silly” movies give useful information on the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello or Hope and Crosby ? Or someone who hates westerns help us to understand the worth of Anthony Mann’s career ? One thing I have done in preparation for this list is examine how the directors and performers feel about their own work. This proved to be very informative, but even then, not the final word. Directors and performers are human, after all, and certain projects they have completed will always be seen differently by critics, the industry, the public and themselves. In the final analysis, any honest ranking of films will be a SYNTHESIS of these sources of opinion. Another thing I need to point out: This is a ranking of FILMS. I am NOT attempting to rank performances, sets, scenes, or stories or music scores. There are many films we remember fondly because they have characters, scenes, music or plot points that move us. There are many films which do not necessarily live up to one or more of the performances that are in the film. By the same token, there have been a few films with average performances saved by cinematography, music and direction. So a films final grade needs to be it’s –Totality as a work of ART. With ALL factors being considered.
As for the relevant information concerning each film, here are the guidelines I have used: The country of origin, if other than the U.S., is the most practical. The year is the year the film was released in the country of origin. And the given director is the accredited director; however, there are instances where a second director is listed, IF, it is generally acknowledged that they had a directorial influence on the film. Two good examples of this situation would be Poltergeist and The Thing from Another World. While nearly everyone agrees that Steven Speilberg had a powerful hand in Poltergeist, no one has officially owned up to this, hence, only Tobe Hooper receives credit. On the other hand, in the case of The Thing (1951), Christian Nyby Did acknowledge Howard Hawks’ influence on that film, therefore the credit. There are still other situations of multiple directors, with credits given. One last point I want to touch on is: “It’s not as good as the book”. “It’s completely different than the book.” “It’s not as good as the original.” “It’s nothing like the original.” Or if it’s historical, “It’s not the TRUE story.” It DOESN’T MATTER ! Who cares ? Whatever the source material: If it was an idea scribbled on a napkin(it’s happened), if it is perfectly faithful to the book or stage production or comic book, or NOT; if it was made up on the fly as they went along, and believe it or not, that’s happened too, it just does NOT matter how it came into being. And a great truth few people outside the film industry realize is that practically every film being made is a reworked idea from somewhere or sometime. What matters is what we experience watching the film without recalling past history or outside connections We need to assess the film as is, on a stand alone basis, as a work of ART. I have tried very hard to take my feelings out of this process, and be a lens: To focus OUR best consensus opinion. I believe I have succeeded, but YOU will have to judge.
As for the issue of WHY the “7 star” rating system ? I am in No way trying to trump or sidestep the people who criticize films professionally. That is not my goal here. I’m merely trying to establish, for historical purposes, how we feel, collectively, about films of the 20th century. What I have done was approach rating films in a new way. Instead of being a work of criticism, please see this instead as a ROLL CALL of the greatest films. I set out to give each film the respect it deserves, according to consensus. One last thing I’d like to add. This was truly an impossible mission, I realize. What I would urge fair-minded people to do is, rather than look at this with an eye to denigrate my placements, please instead ask yourself this question: Generally speaking, do I have all the RIGHT films ?
And One More Thing about THE ORDER. Certainly, beyond the top 2000 or so films, anyone can see that it grows increasingly subjective. But, despite that fact, I DID in fact shoot always for fairness to everyone. Instead of becoming fixated on THE ORDER, which is what I’m afraid May Happen, I would hope instead that everyone can see it as it was Constructed. I LITERALLY had to arrange every single film BY: 1.) Director’s order. 2.) Lead Actor(s) order(s). 3.) By Genre. 4.) By Year. 5.) By Country. In simple terms, as you go down the list, starting at #1 and descending, you should come to films of - say 1939 in Proper Order. And you should see the films of Spielberg, Ford and Hitchcock – In Order. You should also notice that films of Hepburn, Hopkins, Kerr or Bogart are in a logical order(approximately). And War Films, Westerns and Crime Dramas should be in a logical Order, etc. Whatever the verdict, I believe fair minded people will be able to agree there are MANY GREAT FILMS HERE-and my hope is that whatever else may happen as a result of this work, it may lead to a process of DISCOVERY for the film loving public-of many great yet, in some cases, utterly forgotten films that deserve to be seen and appreciated. While these are not recommend- ations, per se; there are many new titles for filmgoers to investigate to discover if it is their TYPE of film. There is a great abundance of information available in books and on-line databases for nearly all films. Check them out for yourselves. It is my greatest wish, that movie lovers everywhere would use this list to discover superb films they might not have otherwise encountered. For those who would say there are glaring omissions, well I have done my best, and don’t forget: PART II will be published in 2008 and should include nearly all remaining films which seem to be forgotten from PART I.
So what Good is this list, ultimately ? It is my hope that if nothing else, it can be seen as a useful HISTORICAL document ; an ODE to great filmmaking. Great Direction, Great Acting, and Great Technical Work from the crews who work on films. A Big THANK YOU, to the people who make films, for all the Great Movie Magic ! With GREAT Appreciation !
I want to extend my deepest appreciation to some of the people who have helped me in the course of compiling this list. They are: my sister Amy Bourland, my niece Lacy Lindsey, and my friend James Cashion, all from Austin, Texas and my friend Rick Hart from Seattle, Washington. From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank each of you for your collaboration, advice and assistance.
P.S.- The films which have an asterisk (*) at the end of the title were too long to include in their entirety in one line. For the sake of brevity, I held it to one line per film. This is the third revision of this list, originally completed in 2004. I will finish by saying that this will be the FINAL installment of PART I. PART II Will be published in 2008).
Brad Bourland March 1, 2007
