The French vote on the 100 best films of all time

[Malickfan]

And piss off the Brits in the process.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3493346/British-lose-out-in-French-list-of-best-films-of-all-time.html

And here's the complete list.

Citizen Kane - Orson Welles

The Night of the Hunter - Charles Laughton

The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu) - Jean Renoir

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (L'Aurore) - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau

L'Atalante - Jean Vigo

M - Fritz Lang

Singin' in the Rain - Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly

Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock

Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) - Marcel Carné

The Searchers - John Ford

Greed - Erich von Stroheim

Rio Bravo - Howard Hawkes

To Be or Not to Be - Ernst Lubitsch

Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu

Contempt (Le Mépris) - Jean-Luc Godard

Tales of Ugetsu (Ugetsu monogatari) - Kenji Mizoguchi

City Lights - Charlie Chaplin

The General - Buster Keaton

Nosferatu the Vampire - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau

The Music Room - Satyajit Ray

Freaks - Tod Browning

Johnny Guitar - Nicholas Ray

The Mother and the Whore (La Maman et la Putain) - Jean Eustache

The Great Dictator - Charlie Chaplin

The Leopard (Le Guépard) - Luchino Visconti

Hiroshima, My Love - Alain Resnais

The Box of Pandora (Loulou) - Georg Wilhelm Pabst

North by Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock

Pickpocket - Robert Bresson

Golden Helmet (Casque d'or) - Jacques Becker

The Barefoot Contessa - Joseph Mankiewitz

Moonfleet - Fritz Lang

Diamond Earrings (Madame de…) - Max Ophüls

Pleasure - Max Ophüls

The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino

The Adventure - Michelangelo Antonioni

Battleship Potemkin - Sergei M. Eisenstein

Notorious - Alfred Hitchcock

Ivan the Terrible - Sergei M. Eisenstein

The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola

Touch of Evil - Orson Welles

The Wind - Victor Sjöström

2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick

Fanny and Alexander - Ingmar Bergman

The Crowd - King Vidor

8 1/2 - Federico Fellini

La Jetée - Chris Marker

Pierrot le Fou - Jean-Luc Godard

Confessions of a Cheat (Le Roman d'un tricheur) - Sacha Guitry

Amarcord - Federico Fellini

Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) - Jean Cocteau

Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder

Some Came Running - Vincente Minnelli

Gertrud - Carl Theodor Dreyer

King Kong - Ernst Shoedsack & Merian J. Cooper

Laura - Otto Preminger

The Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa

The 400 Blows - François Truffaut

La Dolce Vita - Federico Fellini

The Dead - John Huston

Trouble in Paradise - Ernst Lubitsch

It's a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra

Monsieur Verdoux - Charlie Chaplin

The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer

À bout de souffle - Jean-Luc Godard

Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola

Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick

La Grande Illusion - Jean Renoir

Intolerance - David Wark Griffith

A Day in the Country (Partie de campagne) - Jean Renoir

Playtime - Jacques Tati

Rome, Open City - Roberto Rossellini

Livia (Senso) - Luchino Visconti

Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin

Van Gogh - Maurice Pialat

An Affair to Remember - Leo McCarey

Andrei Rublev - Andrei Tarkovsky

The Scarlet Empress - Joseph von Sternberg

Sansho the Bailiff - Kenji Mizoguchi

Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar

The Party - Blake Edwards

Tabu - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau

The Bandwagon - Vincente Minnelli

A Star Is Born - George Cukor

Mr. Hulot's Holiday - Jacques Tati

America, America - Elia Kazan

El - Luis Buñuel

Kiss Me Deadly - Robert Aldrich

Once Upon a Time in America - Sergio Leone

Daybreak (Le Jour se lève) - Marcel Carné

Letter from an Unknown Woman - Max Ophüls

Lola - Jacques Demy

Manhattan - Woody Allen

Mulholland Dr. - David Lynch

My Night at Maud's (Ma nuit chez Maud) - Eric Rohmer

Night and Fog (Nuit et Brouillard) - Alain Resnais

The Gold Rush - Charlie Chaplin

Scarface - Howard Hawks

Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio de Sica

Napoléon - Abel Gance

[Raiders]

I remember The Barefoot Contessa also making Rosenbaum's alternate top 100 list a few years back. I didn't care for it at all when I saw it some years ago. Maybe I ought to re-visit it.

[Malickfan]

I just don't know how you could omit Lawrence of Arabia or The Third Man.

[Grouchy]

I remember The Barefoot Contessa also making Rosenbaum's alternate top 100 list a few years back. I didn't care for it at all when I saw it some years ago. Maybe I ought to re-visit it.
I don't get that either. I also saw it some years ago. I thought it was cheap, overlong melodrama.

I love this list for the most part, though. Some very unusual choices, like Rio Bravo or The Party. Like the guy in the article says, there are no Brazilian films either, so what's the big fuss about? Just a coincidence.

[Ezee E]

Not enough modern.

I like the Once Upon A Time In America inclusion at least.

[Amnesiac]

I really gotta' see Night of The Hunter.

[Ezee E]

I really gotta' see Night of The Hunter.
Do so.

[Boner M]

Pretty good stuff. Dig seeing Van Gogh as the sole 90's choice.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It is odd to see not a single film from David Lean or the Ealing studios. I'd also be inclined to question the exclusion of Merchant Ivory and Hammer, seeing as both produced superlative examples of their respective genres - but I know they never get love from "esteemed" critical circles.

I also question any list that puts Vertigo at the top of Hitchcock's canon. It's a good film (and the last third is great), but it's probably my sixth or seventh favorite Hitchcock.

[Mysterious Dude]

No Scorsese or Spielberg, either. But hey, it's a list. I like lists that have some distinction.

I have heard that the French like Rio Bravo a lot. I wonder if Westerns seem really exotic to Europeans. Like the way samurai and kung fu films appeal to (some) Americans.

[Bosco B Thug]

I also question any list that puts Vertigo at the top of Hitchcock's canon. It's a good film (and the last third is great), but it's probably my sixth or seventh favorite Hitchcock. You must question a lot of lists, then. :P I've alway seen Vertigo as being regarded most often as his greatest artistic work.

I personally approve of the Hitchcocks they chose, even over Psycho and Rear Window. (They're just missing The Birds, is all, though that's a big "all.")


No Scorsese or Spielberg, either. But hey, it's a list. I like lists that have some distinction.

I have heard that the French like Rio Bravo a lot. I wonder if Westerns seem really exotic to Europeans. Like the way samurai and kung fu films appeal to (some) Americans. Haha yeah, that wouldn't seem too far-fetched to assume.

[number8]

Could be. I'm Asian and I grew up adoring Westerns more than kung fu movies.

[Boner M]

I have heard that the French like Rio Bravo a lot. I wonder if Westerns seem really exotic to Europeans. Like the way samurai and kung fu films appeal to (some) Americans.
I don't think it's so much a matter of exoticism; the Cahiers crowd were the ones that kinda pioneered the branch of auteurism that championed Hollywood genre films suffused with their creator's formal sensibilities and personal concerns, which Rio Bravo is sorta the apothesis of I guess.

[Derek]

Who cares about the British, really? Compared to the national cinemas of the US, Japan, France, Russia, Germany, Italy and probably a handful of other countries, they barely register on the radar screen.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Who cares about the British, really? Compared to the national cinemas of the US, Japan, France, Russia, Germany, Italy and probably a handful of other countries, they barely register on the radar screen.
Omitting Michael Powell off any list like this should be a criminal offense. Otherwise... I'm mostly going to agree.


I like the list, maybe because it's so much like my own. I have a lot of canonical films, but I also lean towards those genre/auteur films LIKE Rio Bravo, which is on my own favourites. The Party being included is a big WTF though.

[Robby P]

I really like Johnny Guitar and all, but the French seem to have a bizarre obsession with it.

[Derek]

Omitting Michael Powell off any list like this should be a criminal offense. Otherwise... I'm mostly going to agree.

I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Black Narcissus or even Peeping Tom on a list like this, but criminal's a bit harsh. :)


I like the list, maybe because it's so much like my own. I have a lot of canonical films, but I also lean towards those genre/auteur films LIKE Rio Bravo, which is on my own favourites. The Party being included is a big WTF though.

What ever happened to your top 100 thread? Or did you finish and I didn't notice?


I really like Johnny Guitar and all, but the French seem to have a bizarre obsession with it.

That's because it and Nicholas Ray are awesome.

[Qrazy]

I really need to see America, America already.

[Benny Profane]

There are some great films made after 1970.

[Qrazy]

Out of what I've seen IMO these aren't deserving of a top 100, perhaps a top 500.

Rio Bravo - Howard Hawks
Golden Helmet (Casque d'or) - Jacques Becker
Laura - Otto Preminger
The Dead - John Huston
A Day in the Country (Partie de campagne) - Jean Renoir
Tabu - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
Kiss Me Deadly - Robert Aldrich

All of these directors have better films more worthy of inclusion. For Becker Le Trou ought to make the cut. For Huston The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Fat City, etc. If they need to include a third Murnau Faust is better than Tabu. I don't care that much for Johnny Guitar either. Rear Window, Strangers on a Train or another Hitch probably ought to make the cut over North by Northwest as well.

[Morris Schæffer]

Where is Die Hard?! Oh zies french piepol arrr fou!

[balmakboor]

Ehh, I pretty much stopped reading after Sunrise. My rating of it: 1st Act A+, 2nd Act C-, 3rd Act A = a B overall. Not good enough for a top 100.

But then things like The Deer Hunter and It's a Wonderful Life perked me up again.

Monsieur Verdoux over Modern Times? That's peculiar. At least they got City Lights and The Great Dictator where they belong.

And yes, any of a number of Michael Powell films would've been most welcome. Also left off inexcusably are Fassbinder and Herzog.

Out of what I've seen though, I can't complain about much here being included. As usual, it is mostly the exclusions that upset me. But, of course, the list only has 100 slots. What can you do?

[Philosophe_rouge]

I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Black Narcissus or even Peeping Tom on a list like this, but criminal's a bit harsh. :)



What ever happened to your top 100 thread? Or did you finish and I didn't notice?



That's because it and Nicholas Ray are awesome.
I wouldn't put either of those, a good 4-5 Powell films are better. I'm a total fangirl though, easily my favourite filmmaker, if that at least in part defends my desire for Cahiers blood.

I gave up on it! I don't think I can pick it up where I left off at this point because it's changed quite a bit. Next time I try something so ambitious, I think I should try and work on the write-ups beforehand, if only because I won't get stuck and see a whole bunch of new films that are awesome.

[Robby P]

That's because it and Nicholas Ray are awesome.

No argument here on either count, but it just seems like such an obscure choice for the 23rd greatest movie of all-time. I mean, how many Americans have even seen Johnny Guitar? Is it even on DVD yet?

[Ezee E]

No argument here on either count, but it just seems like such an obscure choice for the 23rd greatest movie of all-time. I mean, how many Americans have even seen Johnny Guitar? Is it even on DVD yet?
No. :(

[Derek]

I wouldn't put either of those, a good 4-5 Powell films are better. I'm a total fangirl though, easily my favourite filmmaker, if that at least in part defends my desire for Cahiers blood.

I don't need to go on about my general indifference to P&P, but the mere fact that they made a film as awesome as Black Narcissus will always have me questioning my response to their other films. It's that good. I also really like The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, but it's still a pretty distant second.


I gave up on it! I don't think I can pick it up where I left off at this point because it's changed quite a bit. Next time I try something so ambitious, I think I should try and work on the write-ups beforehand, if only because I won't get stuck and see a whole bunch of new films that are awesome.

I hear ya and that's always the danger of any project like that. It's a shame because I really enjoyed reading your reviews, but as long as you keep your blog going like it's been, I'm happy.


No argument here on either count, but it just seems like such an obscure choice for the 23rd greatest movie of all-time. I mean, how many Americans have even seen Johnny Guitar? Is it even on DVD yet?

Wasn't Rules of the Game unavailable on VHS or DVD, at least in the US, until Criterion released it in 2004? Point being, the greatness of a film isn't always comparable to its availability. Also, like Boner said, Cahiers critics were famous for celebrating overlooked and undervalued American films and filmmakers, so the fact that they praise Johnny Guitar so much is very much in line with their MO. #23 does seem high, but picks like that give the list a personality completely lacking in similar ones like AFI's.

[Malickfan]

Wasn't Rules of the Game unavailable on VHS or DVD, at least in the US, until Criterion released it in 2004?

Janus had it out on VHS before 2000 I believe. I owned it at least by 1999-2000.

[Raiders]

Johnny Guitar is/was on DVD in Europe in Region 2 and/or PAL format. And though no longer in print (like all VHS tapes), it was released in the US on VHS. There's tons of copies available on amazon.

[Derek]

Janus had it out on VHS before 2000 I believe. I owned it at least by 1999-2000.

Forest through the trees, my friend. I also saw Rules of the Game before the Criterion edition came out, but it wasn't exactly widely available. The point was that there were/are other great films that were difficult to obtain and it often has little to do with the quality of the actual film.

[Malickfan]

I got it at Borders. They had a pretty good foreign section. I just remember at that time thinking about how daunting it would be to replace my vhs collection with dvd.

[Derek]

I got it at Borders. They had a pretty good foreign section. I just remember at that time thinking about how daunting it would be to replace my vhs collection with dvd.

Ok, since you're being purposefully obtuse, hows about we replace Rules of the Game with Killer of Sheep, k?

[Malickfan]

Hey, don't blame me for having a good foreign section where I lived...in IOWA!

Yeah, Killer of Sheep...I know what you're saying.

[Derek]

Hey, don't blame me for having a good foreign section where I lived...in IOWA!

Heh, I'm not! I just know that the VHS was out of print and pretty expensive when Criterion released the DVD.


Yeah, Killer of Sheep...I know what you're saying.

Thank you. I thought it was fairly basic point. :)

[Spinal]

Feisty wombat.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I don't need to go on about my general indifference to P&P, but the mere fact that they made a film as awesome as Black Narcissus will always have me questioning my response to their other films. It's that good. I also really like The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, but it's still a pretty distant second.
Fair enough, I prefer Blimp to Narcissus, but I think most of their 40s output is on the same level. The quality is all high, I don't find it strange that anyone would prefer one over another.



I hear ya and that's always the danger of any project like that. It's a shame because I really enjoyed reading your reviews, but as long as you keep your blog going like it's been, I'm happy.
I do this all the time, I'm planning a few things right now, but don't plan on getting them started before I've done most of the work. I'll definetely keep up blogging, it gives me something productive to do when I have free time.