MC Yearly Consensus - 1950

[Eleven]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the thread is locked, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before a mod locks the thread.

You may begin now.

IMDB power search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[jesse]

01) Cronaca di un amore (Story of a Love Affair) (Antonioni)
02 )In a Lonely Place (Ray)
03) Gun Crazy (Lewis)
04) Outrage (Lupino)
05) The Men (Zinnemann)

Alt: Guernica (Resnais)

Least favorite: The Asphalt Jungle (Huston)

[Philosophe_rouge]

Very tough year...

1. Sunset Blvd.
2. Gun Crazy
3. Night and the City
4. The Flowers of St. Francis
5. In a Lonely Place

All About Eve and Gone to Earth just miss my list.

[Philosophe_rouge]

01) Cronaca di un amore (Story of a Love Affair) (Antonioni)
02 )In a Lonely Place (Ray)
03) Gun Crazy (Lewis)
04) Outrage (Lupino)
05) The Men (Zinnemann)

Alt: Guernica (Resnais)

Least favorite: The Asphalt Jungle (Huston)
The Asphalt Jungle is also my least favourite of the year, alongside Cinderella.. one of my least favourite Disney films.

[Eleven]

1. Rashomon
2. Sunset Blvd.
3. Los Olvidados
4. Rabbit of Seville
5. Gun Crazy

HM: In a Lonely Place and The Flowers of St. Francis.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I'm going to squeeze in Gun Crazy, and possibly Winchester '73 before I put up my list.

[Watashi]

1. Rashomon
2. Sunset Blvd.
3. Rabbit of Seville
4. All About Eve
5. In a Lonely Place

[Russ]

1. Sunset Blvd.
2. All About Eve
4. Rabbit of Seville
4. No Way Out
5. Rabbit's Moon

[Ezee E]

1. Sunset Blvd
2. Rashomon
3. Cinderella
4. In a Lonely Place
5. Gun Crazy

[Spinal]

1. Los Olvidados
2. Sunset Blvd.
3. All About Eve
4. Orpheus
5. Rashomon
-----------------
6. Un chant d'amour

[Sycophant]

1. Rashomon
2. The Asphalt Jungle
3. Stage Fright
4. Harvey

[Yxklyx]

1. The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston)
2. Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis)
3, Side Street (Anthony Mann)
4. Night and the City (Jules Dassin)
5. Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder)

[koji]

1. Sunset Boulevard (Wilder)
2. Rashomon (Korosawa)
3. All About Eve (Joseph Mankiewicz)
4. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)
5. Night and the City (Jules Dassin) –
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
6. The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston)
7. Side Street (Mann)
8. The Baron of Arizona (Fuller)
9. Where the Sidewalk Ends (Preminger)
10. Harvey (Henry Kustor)

I wish Los Olvidados would come out on DVD.

[Grouchy]

1. Los Olvidados
2. In a Lonely Place
3. Rashomon
4. The Asphalt Jungle
5. Sunset Blvd.

[ledfloyd]

1. Sunset Blvd.
2. Rashomon
3. Rabbit of Seville
4. Harvey
5. Born Yesterday

i have some pretty big misses in this year. i'm thinking there has to be a damn good reason i haven't seen in a lonely place. i also need to see night and the city and all about eve.

[Mr. Valentine]

1. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)
2. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa)
3. The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston)
4. Harvey (Henry Koster)
5. Cinderella (Various)

[Boner M]

Holy moly, this was a great year.

1. In a Lonely Place
2. Los Olvidados
3. Gun Crazy
4. Rashomon
5. Sunset Blvd.

___________

6. All About Eve
7. Winchester '73
8. The Flowers of St. Francis
9. Harvey
10. Rabbit's Moon

[Boner M]

Lots of rabbits this year.

[dreamdead]

Damn, looks like I should see Harvey before posting here. And it stars Jimmy Stewart. Happy fortune!

[soitgoes...]

1. Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel)
2. Rabbit of Seville (Chuck Jones)
3. Rashômon (Akira Kurosawa)
4. Panic in the Streets (Elia Kazan)
5. Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder)

[mindstream]

1. Los Olvidados
2. Sunset Blvd.
3. Orpheus
4. Night and the City
5. In a Lonely Place

Runner-up: Rabbit's Moon. Haven't seen it for a long time, yet I have fond memories of it.

[Derek]

1. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder)
2. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)
3. Stromboli (Roberto Rossellini)
4. Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel)
5. Born to be Bad (Nicholas Ray)
_____________________________

6. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa)
7. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
8. Rabbit of Seville (Chuck Jones)
9. Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann)
10. Stage Fright (Alfred Hitchcock)

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Los Olvidados
2. Sunset Boulevard
3. Rashomon
4. The Asphalt Jungle
5. The Gunfighter

[Rowland]

1. Los Olvidados
2. Sunset Boulevard
3. Rashomon
4. Winchester '73

[Llopin]

1. Rashomon
2. Los Olvidados
3. The Munekata Sisters
4. Harvey
5. Scandal

[Bosco B Thug]

1. Sunset Blvd.
2. In a Lonely Place
3. Los Olvidados
4. Rashomon

[jesse]

5. Born to be Bad (Nicholas Ray) I was totally hoping this was gonna show up on your list since I really can't muster up much enthusiasm for it myself (though I think I'd like it a lot if I saw it again).

But somehow it makes me glad to know that you like it. If that makes any sense at all. :)

[Spinal]

Glad to see the Los Olvidados votes start kicking in.

[Derek]

I was totally hoping this was gonna show up on your list since I really can't muster up much enthusiasm for it myself (though I think I'd like it a lot if I saw it again).

But somehow it makes me glad to know that you like it. If that makes any sense at all. :)

Yeah, I love everything about this film for reasons I'm not entirely sure of myself. Obviously part of it has to do with the pairing of Joan Fontaine, one of my biggest cinematic crushes, and Robert Ryan, quite possibly my favorite actor period, but I also think Ray's contribution is too often overlooked. The film is so full of tension and energy that I was giddy as a school girl both times I've watched it. I think Jaime put it best when he said the film is like sipping really good whiskey for 90 minutes. I'm drunk on its charm.

And yes, I know what you mean by the second part. For some people, I'm glad when they love certain films that I'm not overly excited by. In most cases, they're films I think I'd like more if I revisited them or others that I wish I could love more, but can't for one reason or another.

[dreamdead]

Glad to see the Los Olvidados votes start kicking in.

This one's available on youtube, isn't it? I'll start digging, if so...

[jesse]

This one's available on youtube, isn't it? I'll start digging, if so... I just can't bring myself to watch a full-length feature film that way...

[origami_mustache]

1. Rashomon
2. Sunset Blvd.
3. No Way Out
4. Rabbit's Moon
5. Cinderella

[Eleven]

Five Fun Facts for '50:

* The Korean War begins with an attack made by North Korean forces across the 38th parallel dividing North and South Korea.

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/4296/38thparallelmz8.jpg

* Ingrid Bergman has a son out of wedlock with director Roberto Rossellini, causing a scandal in the US and denunciation on the Senate floor. The two would marry later in the year.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/3450/rossellinisay1.jpg

* L. Ron Hubbard publishes Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5479/dianeticsil6.jpg

* Pope Pius XII issues the encyclical Humani Generis, condemning ideologies which threaten Roman Catholic faith but allowing that evolution does not necessarily conflict with Christianity.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/8352/piuszd9.jpg

* The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven US newspapers.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/3875/charliebrownfu0.jpg

[Spinal]

Love that early Charlie Brown!

[Eleven]

Love that early Charlie Brown!

Peanuts: Delivering the most angst per panel since 1950.

[Spinal]

Top Songs of 1950:

1. "The Fat Man" - Fats Domino
2. "Please Send Me Someone To Love" - Percy Mayfield
3. "Teardrops From My Eyes" - Ruth Brown
4. "Mona Lisa" - Nat 'King' Cole
5. "Tennessee Waltz" - Patti Page
6. "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" - Hank Williams
7. "Mardi Gras In New Orleans" - Professor Longhair
8. "I'm Movin' On" - Hank Snow
9. "Rollin' Stone" - Muddy Waters
10. "Double Crossing Blues" - Johnny Otis (Little Esther & the Robins)

source: digitaldreamdoor.com

[soitgoes...]

Glad to see the Los Olvidados votes start kicking in.
Top 10 all-time for me. I'll be stoked if it lands in the Top 5 for 1950 here.

[Spinal]

Top 10 all-time for me.

Me too.

[Yum-Yum]

1. Sunset Blvd.
2. All About Eve
3. In a Lonely Place
4. Gun Crazy
5. The Damned Don't Cry

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. Rashomon
3. All About Eve
4. In a Lonely Place
5. Les Enfants Terribles

[monolith94]

1. Gun Crazy
2. Orpheus
3. The Flowers of St. Francis
4. Summer Stock
5. D.O.A.
Honorable mention: The Asphalt Jungle

[Eleven]

TV debuts:
What's My Line
Your Show of Shows
Truth or Consequences
The Jack Benny Show
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

Film-related 1950 births:
Tsui Hark
John Hughes
Julie Walters
Neil Jordan
William H. Macy
Brad Dourif
William Hurt
Bud Cort
Bill Murray
John Sayles
Takeshi Kaga
John Candy
Leonard Maltin

1950 deaths:
George Orwell
Sid Grauman
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Al Jolson
George Bernard Shaw

[jesse]

Top Songs of 1950:

3. "Teardrops From My Eyes" - Ruth Brown Such a good song.

[Raiders]

1. In a Lonely Place
2. Stromboli
3. Winchester '73
4. Los Olvidados
5. Story of a Love Affair

[Melville]

That's one of my favorite early Peanuts strips. Awesome.

1. In a Lonely Place
2. All About Eve
3. Gun Crazy
4. Sunset Blvd.
5. Side Street

[Yxklyx]

That's one of my favorite early Peanuts strips. Awesome.

1. In a Lonely Place
2. All About Eve
3. Gun Crazy
4. Sunset Blvd.
5. Side Street

Need to see more Side Street love. That finale in the empty streets of Manhattan is unforgettable.

[Robby P]

1. Winchester '73
2. The Asphalt Jungle
3. Sunset Boulevard
4. In a Lonely Place
5. Cinderella

[Philosophe_rouge]

I heart the Jack Benny Show

[Eleven]

The 15 Top Grossing Films of 1950:

1. Cinderella
2. King Solomon's Mines
3. Annie Get Your Gun
4. Cheaper by the Dozen
5. Born Yesterday
6. Father of the Bride
7. Broken Arrow
8. At War with the Army
9. All About Eve
10. The Flame and the Arrow
11. Frances
12. Kim
13. Three Little Words
14. (tie) Duchess of Idaho
14. (tie) Fancy Pants

boxofficereport.com (http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1950.shtml)

[Eleven]

Still lookin' for lists. You only need at least a Top 3 to be included.

[dreamdead]

Glad I've finally seen Harvey. Wish there was time for Rossellini's Stromboli, but alas...

1. Sunset Blvd.
2. In a Lonely Place
3. All About Eve
4. Rashomon
5. Harvey

[Duncan]

1. Los Olvidados
2. Rashomon
3. Sunset Blvd.
4. Rabbit of Seville

[Kurosawa Fan]

Still lookin' for lists. You only need at least a Top 3 to be included.

I got Gun Crazy in the mail today and will watch it tomorrow night. I'll post my five after that, if that's okay.

[Eleven]

I got Gun Crazy in the mail today and will watch it tomorrow night. I'll post my five after that, if that's okay.

No problem.

[Raiders]

I got Gun Crazy in the mail today and will watch it tomorrow night. I'll post my five after that, if that's okay.

But, that's from 1949.

EDIT: I fucking hate imdb. Since when the shit is that from 1950???

:frustrated:

[Eleven]

But, that's from 1949.

EDIT: I fucking hate imdb. Since when the shit is that from 1950???

:frustrated:

Adjust that shit accordingly, if you wanna.

[Raiders]

Adjust that shit accordingly, if you wanna.

Nah, I'll keep mine the same. Looking through the thread, it has gotten plenty of support.

[Yxklyx]

But, that's from 1949.

EDIT: I fucking hate imdb. Since when the shit is that from 1950???

:frustrated:

They changed it recently - happens every now and then.

[Eleven]

I'll give until late tomorrow afternoon, say 5 Eastern, or if KFan posts soon, I'll start immediately. His ballot could conceivably shake up the bottom half of the list.

[Winston*]

1. Los Olvidados
2. Sunset Boulevard
3. In a Lonely Place
4. All About Eve
5. Rashomon

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. Rashomon
2. Rabbit's Moon
3. Los Olvidados
4. Sunset Boulevard
5. Gun Crazy

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. In a Lonely Place
2. Gun Crazy
3. Rashomon
4. All About Eve
5. Sunset Blvd.

[Eleven]

Excellent. Results tomorrow.

[Yxklyx]

Excellent. Results tomorrow.

Isn't that a bit too fast? How about leaving until the weekend is over for those who only read this forum then?

[Eleven]

Isn't that a bit too fast? How about leaving until the weekend is over for those who only read this forum then?

Oh, I suppose. But when there's a news report about the massive wave of suicides over the expected Second Coming of Consensus Results that never happened, it won't be on my head!

[monolith94]

Gee, I was really hoping for the results sooner. Who doesn't read matchcut over the weekend?

[Qrazy]

Gun Crazy is receiving more love than it deserves.

Panic in the Streets is more deserving.

Flowers of St. Francis?
Orpheus?
Asphalt Jungle?

[Eleven]

Gee, I was really hoping for the results sooner. Who doesn't read matchcut over the weekend?

We'll see, it depends on my schedule in the next few days.


Gun Crazy is receiving more love than it deserves.

Panic in the Streets is more deserving.

Flowers of St. Francis?
Orpheus?
Asphalt Jungle?

Um...then vote for them.

[Ezee E]

Asphalt Jungle is no Gun Crazy.

That's just... cr--absurd to think.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Asphalt Jungle is no Gun Crazy.

That's just... cr--absurd to think.
And Panic in the Streets isn't half as good as Asphalt, and I don't like Asphalt...

[Yxklyx]

Oh, I suppose. But when there's a news report about the massive wave of suicides over the expected Second Coming of Consensus Results that never happened, it won't be on my head!

7 or 8 days sounds like a good time frame to keep these threads up - especially for the early years when we lack in votes. IMHO.

[Spinal]

7 or 8 days sounds like a good time frame to keep these threads up - especially for the early years when we lack in votes. IMHO.

I would prefer 6 or 7 rather than 7 or 8. If a thread goes up on a Saturday for example, then it should be wrapping up on the next Friday.

[bac0n]

the three films of that year that I've seen:

1 Rashomon
2 Cinderella
3 Harvey

[Eleven]

Voting over. Tallying everything up.

[Qrazy]

And Panic in the Streets isn't half as good as Asphalt, and I don't like Asphalt...

Both are significantly more formally competent than Gun Crazy.

[Raiders]

Both are significantly more formally competent than Gun Crazy.

Heh. No.

[Qrazy]

Heh. No.

Heh, you fail at cinema.

[Eleven]

Results!

And Gun Crazy is awesome, end of discussion.

[Eleven]

#10

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1407/cinderellafp7.jpg

Cinderella

Directors: Clyde Geronomi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske.

When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq, and from her Fairy Godmother.

Nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival, and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The first fully-developed, feature-length film the studio released after wartime cutbacks forced them to release several "package films,” like Melody Time and Fun and Fancy Free. The transformation of Cinderella's torn dress to that of the white ball gown was considered to be Walt Disney's favorite piece of animation.

“When those little mice bust a gut trying to drag that key up hundreds of stairs in order to free Cinderella, I don't care how many Kubrick pictures you've seen, it's still exciting.” -- Roger Ebert

[Eleven]

#9

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/1061/harveydq8.jpg

Harvey

Director: Henry Koster

Country: USA

Middle-aged, amiably eccentric Elwood P. Dowd has an unusual best friend – an invisible, six-foot, three-and-a-half-inch tall rabbit named Harvey. Comic misadventures ensue when Elwood’s sister attempts to commit him to an institution, but his geniality begins to win over those around him.

Despite earning an Oscar nomination, James Stewart never really liked his performance as Elwood; he thought that he had played Elwood as too innocent and sweet, and preferred to have more of an edge in his performance. At the suggestion of James Stewart, the director changed many shots to make them wider so that "Harvey" would be in the frame.

“The film's messages of individuality and living life without fear are valuable lessons. If our hero wasn't an alcoholic living within his imagination instead of in reality they'd have a bit more weight. Drunk and clueless is no way to go through life; however, Stewart certainly makes it look awfully appealing.” -- Lisa Skrzyniarz, Crazy for Cinema

[Eleven]

#8

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3159/rabbitofsevillevq6.jpg

Rabbit of Seville

Director: Chuck Jones

Country: USA

This parody of “The Barber of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro,” features Bugs Bunny being chased by Elmer Fudd into the Hollywood Bowl, whereupon Bugs tricks Elmer into participating in a break-neck operatic production of their chase accompanied by musical arrangements including movements from those operas.

The "Barber of Seville" poster that appears at the start of the film features three names: Eduardo Selzeri, Michele Maltese and Carlo Jonzi, which are Italianized versions of the names of the producer (Eddie Selzer), writer (Michael Maltese) and director (Chuck Jones) of the film. In one shot of the scene where Bugs massages Elmer's head in time to the piano melody, his hands are drawn with five digits instead of the usual four to match the hand of a piano player.

“In the world of cartoon music, the sounds are normally written to accompany gestures. Indeed, such aural miming practice had become so predictable that even in the early days of the cartoon sound track it was denigrated as ‘Mickey Mousing.’ But in The Rabbit of Seville…the process works in reverse: Jones discovers Bugs and Elmer, complete with their characteristic gestures, as already present in Rossini's music.” -- Richard Freedman

[Eleven]

#7

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/949/asphaltnp3.jpg

The Asphalt Jungle

Director: John Huston

Country: USA

“Doc” Riedenschneider, legendary crime “brain” just out of prison, has a brilliant plan for a million-dollar burglary. To pull it off, he recruits safecracker Louis, driver Gus, financial backer Emmerich, and strong-arm man Dix Handley. At first the plan goes like clockwork, but little accidents accumulate and each partner proves to have his own fatal weakness.

Won Best Actor (Sam Jaffe) at the Venice Film Festival and Best Director from the National Board of Review. The movie open shows a dismal city skyline, that of Cincinnati, OH and was shot from The Public Landing on the banks of the Ohio River. Film debuts of Strother Martin and Jack Warden.

“Huston concentrates mostly on the film's performances, but like The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, he uses space, shadow and a very clever mise-en-scene to physically illustrate the film's themes. Scene after scene, we feel the actors closed-in and trapped, almost crushed by the very frame itself.” -- Jeffrey M. Anderson

[Eleven]

#6

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/4386/allabouteveno7.jpg

All About Eve

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Country: USA

Ambitious aspiring actress Eve Harrington insinuates herself into the lives of temperamental Broadway star Margo Channing and her caustic circle of theater friends.

Won 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Writing, and Supporting Actor. In 1970 the story was adapted into a Broadway musical called "Applause" and in 1973 a made-for-TV movie. Lauren Bacall played Margo Channing. When Bacall left the show, the actress who took over the role was Anne Baxter, who had played the role of Eve in the film.

“With such brittle and venomous dialogue it is tempting to see a ‘noir-ish’ fatalism at work here and, indeed, the chief rival of All About Eve at the Academy Awards in 1950 was Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard. Both films are about ageing divas and unrequited love, and yet, All About Eve maintains the possibility of romance, even if disguised behind a witty layer of disenchantment with the human race.” -- Caroline Blinder, Electric Sheep Magazine

[Eleven]

#5

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9153/guncrazyud1.jpg

Gun Crazy

Director: Joseph H. Lewis

Country: USA

Gun-obsessed Bart and dominating sharpshooter Annie get married, and she finds the life financially displeasing. The trigger-happy lovers then go on an erotically violent robbery spree.

Director Lewis said in an interview, “I told John, ‘Your cock's never been so hard,’ and I told Peggy, ‘You're a female dog in heat, and you want him. But don't let him have it in a hurry. Keep him waiting.’ That's exactly how I talked to them and I turned them loose. I didn't have to give them more directions.” The bank heist sequence was shot entirely in one long take in Montrose, California, with no one besides the principal actors and people inside the bank alerted to the operation.

“The film's original title, Deadly Is The Female, could apply to any number of code-flouting noirs, but Cummins deserves the title: Her lusty cries for action are a clarion call that Dall can't resist, even though he knows they'll lead him to damnation.” -- Scott Tobias

[Eleven]

#4

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/206/olvidadosxq8.jpg

Los Olvidados

Director: Luis Buñuel

Country: Mexico

A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent and crime-filled life in the festering slums of Mexico City, and the morals of young Pedro are gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.

Won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. When it was released in Mexico in 1950, its theatrical commercial run only lasted for three days due to the enraged reactions from the press, government, and upper and middle class audiences. The film unfolds in exactly 365 shots.

“The movie provides no basis for reformist optimism, although, in his brilliant dream sequence, Buñuel attributes a Freudian unconscious to the wretched of the earth: This is his humanism.” -- J. Hoberman

[Eleven]

#3

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/2695/lonelyyf2.jpg

In a Lonely Place

Director: Nicholas Ray

Country: USA

Screenwriter Dixon Steele is the prime suspect in the murder of a hat-check girl he met the night before, but a lovely neighbor provides an alibi. His macabre sense of humor and belligerence when angered threatens to violently undue their ensuing relationship.

Time Magazine, which gave the film a negative review upon its initial release, called it one of the 100 best films of all time in their 2005 list. The apartment complex in which Dixon and Laurel live in was a replica of Nicholas Ray's own residence when he first moved to Hollywood. The working title for this movie was "Behind the Mask."

“Not unlike Albert Camus' The Stranger, Nicholas Ray's remarkable In a Lonely Place represents the purest of existentialist primers…Dixon understands the existential ideal that every decision has a cause and effect, yet he refuses to change his ways in order to dodge suspicion. The tragedy of the film becomes Dixon's dogged honesty to the self.” -- Ed Gonzalez

[Raiders]

I'm assuming Wilder and Kurosawa own the top two spots. Good list, though the absence of Mann's great western and inclusion of Disney's lame Cinderella is rather disheartening.

[Eleven]

#2

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1042/rashomonfi7.jpg

Rashomon

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Country: Japan

In ancient Japan, a woman is raped and her husband killed. The film gives us four viewpoints of the incident - one for each defendant - each revealing a little more detail. Which version, if any, is the real truth about what happened?

The film won a Golden Lion Award at the 1951 Venice Film Festival, and is widely credited to have introduced both Kurosawa and Japanese cinema to Western audiences. During shooting, the cast approached Kurosawa en masse with the script and asked him, "What does it mean?" The answer Kurosawa gave at that time and also in his biography is that Rashomon is a reflection of life, and life does not always have clear meanings.

“Shooting directly into the sun to make the camera lens flare, probing the filaments of shadows in glade and clearing, rendering dense thickets as poetic metaphors for the laws of desire and karma that entrap human beings, and, above all, fashioning sensuous and hypnotic camera movements across the uneven forest floor—Kurosawa created in Rashomon the most flamboyant and insistently visual film that anyone had seen in decades.” -- Stephen Prince

[Eleven]

#1

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6594/sunsethh1.jpg

Sunset Boulevard

Director: Billy Wilder

Country: USA

A flat tire brings small-time screenwriter Joe Gillis to the mansion of aging silent film star Norman Desmond. Seeing a way to cure writer’s block and make a name for himself, he agrees to write her comeback vehicle, but the madness of faded stardom threatens their very lives in typical melodramatic Tinseltown fashion.

Received Oscar nominations in all four acting categories and won in none. The role of Norma Desmond was initially offered to Mae West, Mary Pickford, and Pola Negri before being accepted by Gloria Swanson. The writers feared that Hollywood would react unfavorably to such a damning portrait of the film industry, and so the film was code named “A Can of Beans” while in production.

“Here was an Industry vision of the Industry's fake-life boneyard, wherein the meta-world of movies—already so notorious for corrupting the hopes and sensibilities of moviegoers—also condemns its godlings to an empty afterlife.” -- Michael Atkinson

[Eleven]

1. Sunset Boulevard (108)
2. Rashomon (90.5)
3. In a Lonely Place (71.5)
4. Los Olvidados (64.5)
5. Gun Crazy (38)
6. All About Eve (35)
7. The Asphalt Jungle (22.5)
8. Rabbit of Seville (20.5)
9. Harvey (18)
10. Cinderella (15)

Almost there:
Night and the City 12
Winchester ’73 11.5
Orpheus 10.5
Rabbit’s Moon 9.5

Stats:
Of 34 ballots, only 7 were missing Sunset Boulevard.
8 films were listed only in the #5 spot on only one ballot each (thereby only earning 2.5 points).

[Spinal]

Orpheus really deserves to be on that list. It's very good.

[Derek]

Orpheus really deserves to be on that list. It's very good.

Fuckin' IMDb. That's two films they (and subsequently I) had listed as 1949 that they changed to 1950. How exactly does this happen when they go by the earliest screening? Did the '49 screenings they previously thought happened in fact never exist?

:frustrated:

[Spinal]

Maybe Cocteau will fare better in 1930.

[Raiders]

Orpheus really deserves to be on that list. It's very good.

I really wanted to support it, but it fell just outside my top five, and I couldn't find one of those included I felt comfortable leaving out.

[Spinal]

I really wanted to support it, but it fell just outside my top five, and I couldn't find one of those included I felt comfortable leaving out.

Fair enough.

By the way, as we cycle through, the 1920's will alternate with the 2000's. So after 1930, we will have the latest part of the 20's and then go directly to 1999. We will also be doing the 2000's from earliest to latest, so the next time through the cycle (after 1939), we will do 2001.

Also, check the 1960 thread if you want to weigh in on how the 1920's should be organized. Currently, the Antoine/monolith method holds a slight lead over the Raiders method and a disturbing amount of people are lining up to punch me.

[Yxklyx]

Fuckin' IMDb. That's two films they (and subsequently I) had listed as 1949 that they changed to 1950. How exactly does this happen when they go by the earliest screening? Did the '49 screenings they previously thought happened in fact never exist?

:frustrated:

The information is supplied by users isn't it? Like wikipedia - but they moderate. So, if someone had better information and they supplied it that gets put in. What is probably happening is that when an early movie is put on the page they have no idea what the release date is so they use the copyright year which is usually the year before - then later someone gets the information and they update it.

[Yxklyx]

Only 2 movies in my top ten are in this top ten.

[Spinal]

Gun Crazy

Director Lewis said in an interview, “I told John, ‘Your cock's never been so hard,’ and I told Peggy, ‘You're a female dog in heat, and you want him. But don't let him have it in a hurry. Keep him waiting.’ That's exactly how I talked to them and I turned them loose. I didn't have to give them more directions.”

It must be difficult to play 'in heat' and 'hard-to-get' simultaneously.

[Grouchy]

It must be difficult to play 'in heat' and 'hard-to-get' simultaneously.
Heh. Not if you're a woman it ain't.

[MadMan]

I'm assuming Wilder and Kurosawa own the top two spots. Good list, though the absence of Mann's great western and inclusion of Disney's lame Cinderella is rather disheartening.Had I seen more films from 1950 Winchester '73 would have received a vote from me (not that it would have mattered but still). And I'm glad to see someone else thinks that Cinderella isn't a good film.