My top ten, in order of their theatrical release year:
1) THE BIG PARADE (1925)
There are so many great silent films, I could have easily made my entire top ten list of them exclusively. For what it's worth though, this is one of the best ones. Director King Vidor helmed this epic (and heavily romanticized view) of the world at war in which an idle son of a rich businessman joins the army when the U.S.A. enters World War I. He's sent to France, where he becomes friends with working-class soldiers and falls in love with a Frenchwoman, but has to leave her to move to the frontline. Showcasing the art of the silent film at it's peak, The Big Parade is required viewing for any student of early Hollywood. Starring John Gilbert, one of the biggest stars of his day, the film also exists as a unique historical document, made in that relatively brief period of time between World War I and World War II. Depicting "the great war" without glorifying it or it's human costs, the film is considered by some to be the most successful film of the silent era, and was one of the greatest hits of the 1920s. It certainly influenced all other war films and historical epics to come after it.
2) RED DUST (1932)
The film that solidified the star status of a young Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, this romantic drama features searing performances from each. Directed by the great Victor Fleming (who would go on to do both The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind in 1939), the script sizzles with unrequited love and forbidden romance. It's got whip-smart dialogue, and audiences loved it. This entry on my list also perfectly exemplifies the Pre-Code era of Hollywood, indeed, viewers may be surprised at how much sexual tension boils just slightly under the surface of films from the early 30s. The owner of a rubber plantation in French Indochina (Gable) becomes involved with both a local call girl (Harlow) and the upper-crust wife of one of his new employees. Mary Astor plays the refined wife, her scene with Gable where the two get caught up in a monsoon and he rushes her through the dense jungle back to camp (magnificently realized almost entirely on the MGM backlot at the time) is one of the films best. Harlow's famous rain-barrel bath also captures the mood of the times in this Irving Thalberg-produced classic. Red Dust was remade spectacularly (though not as well) as the film Mogambo in 1953, in which an older Gable reprised his role, this time set in Africa, with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly filling in for Harlow and Astor.
3) FANTASIA (1940)
A game-changer in every sense of the term, Fantasia was the boldest experiment Walt Disney ever put together. "In a profession that has been an unending voyage of discovery in the realms of color, sound, and motion," wrote Walt in the film's original premiere program, "Fantasia represents our most exciting adventure. At last, we have found a way to use in our medium the great music of all times and the flood of new ideas which it inspires." This film pushed the boundaries of animation in ways that quite frankly, haven't been seen since, and stands atop my list as one of the most creative and ambitious projects ever committed to theaters. In my opinion, the final two sequences, Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria, are it's best. No one who's witnessed artist Bill Tytla's horrifying creation of the demon Chernobog will ever soon forget it, it may be the single greatest scene ever animated. The skill and technique on display, the experimentation with visual space and color, all forever associated with some of the greatest works of music... Fantasia is the near-total realization of the range of possibility within the cinematic medium.
4) DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
By having Double Indemnity on my top ten ten I kill more than a few proverbial birds with one stone: It allows me to include one of the finest examples of the film noir genre, it's a classic Los Angeles movie, and it's directed and co-written by one of the finest artists of his generation, the irreplaceable Billy Wilder. The fact that the other co-writer just so happens to be the famed vintage crime novelist Raymond Chandler only sweetens the deal, this is one of only a handful of his feature film screenplays, and arguably his best. Great writing like no other comes alive in a cast that's nearly without flaw as well. Fred MacMurray, a terribly underrated actor forever linked to those feel-good Disney features, is without equal as morally crooked insurance rep Walter Neff... that is until he meets the deadly Phyllis Dietrichson, played to perfection by Barbara Stanwyck. She convinces Neff to help her knock off her husband to collect the insurance money from his death, a scheme that's almost perfect, if it weren't for that pesky insurance investigator played (also deliciously against his type) by Edward G. Robinson. The chemistry and banter fly effortlessly between MacMurray and Stanwyck, and the tight direction from Wilder keeps viewers engaged all the way through this sordid tale that unravels perfectly in it's finale. Is it Wilder's best film? An argument can certainly be made for others, but Double Indemnity is easily among his top three if not his best, often imitated but never equaled by other films of the genre.
5) BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (LA BELLE ET LA BETE) (1946)
Considered by some to be the greatest fairy tale adaptation in all of cinema, Jean Cocteau's mesmerizing La Belle et la Bete is a wonder to behold, full of magical realism, impeccable production design, and heartbreaking performances. This French film was directed by a man born just a few years before the advent of cinema and who passed away only a few years after the dawn of the French New Wave. His works stand as a testimony to the more classical approach to the art form, and his version of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale is among his greatest works. Jean Marais pulls off a hat trick in the triple role of La Bete (the Beast), The Prince, and Avenant, the handsome young suitor who tries unsuccessfully to woo a young Belle (portrayed with steady grace by Josette Day). The make-up work on Marais as the Beast is particularly endearing, and the magical properties of his castle - statues with moving eyes, mysterious, floating, unattached hands that hold candelabras in place - enchant both young and old viewers alike. This is a film that slowly seduces you with it's slow undulating pace, and draws you into it's magical world through haunting imagery and methodical craftsmanship. Watching Day glide effortlessly towards the camera, (an effect achieved by pulling her across the floor on a concealed dolly), one is reminded of the power cinema has to ignite and fuel the imagination.
6) ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)
My all time favorite romantic comedy, and an absolute joy of a film. The recipe has all the right ingredients: a mostly unknown Audrey Hepburn in a role that would win her an Academy Award, the consummate gentleman Gregory Peck opposite her; behind the camera, the illustrious William Wyler directing and blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo writing, and shot entirely on location in Italy. It's the perfect storm of talent and grace, and it yields a timeless film of nostalgic romantic longing and subtle charm. A bored and sheltered princess (Hepburn) escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman (Peck) in Rome. He knows who she is, but never lets on as he enjoys accompanying her on her newfound freedom for a day of fun in the famed city, which has never looked better than when seen from the back of a scooter in beautiful black-and-white photography, and the naturalistic and seemingly off-the-cuff acting of a young Hepburn is a testament to her talent at such a young stage of her budding career. It's just a lovely film and I'm unashamedly a hopeless romantic, so I've always appreciated the purity of it. The ending is bittersweet as the spell must eventually be broken, after all, they come from two different worlds. But even if the nice guy doesn't always get the girl in the end, he doesn't finish last either. He treats her with the care of a true gentleman, and makes this holiday one worth taking.
7) THRONE OF BLOOD (KUMONOSU-JO) (1957)
Arguably one of the top five greatest directors of all time is Akira Kurosawa, and no list would be complete without at least one entry from him. Personally, he is my favorite filmmaker, and I adore his work. While other films of his are better known to some extent (1950's Rashomon and 1954's Seven Samurai being perhaps his best two), I've always loved Throne of Blood. Essentially the film transposes the plot of William Shakespeare's MacBeth to feudal Japan. When you think of the perfect storm assembled here: Shakespeare as inspiration, Kurosawa calling the shots, and the legendary Toshiro Mifune in the commanding lead role of Washizu, well it's no wonder the film is such a work of art, not just to Japanese cinema, but to the world. Unforgettable images of a ghostly witch at a spinning wheel deep within the forest, the samurai charging through fog and rain on horseback, and a Lady MacBeth for the ages (the brilliant Isuzu Yamada as Washizu's wife, Lady Asaji), Throne of Blood stands amongst the greatest works from an unparalleled master of cinema. Spoiler warning (unless you're familiar with MacBeth as you should be): Washizu's famous death scene, in which his own archers turn on him and shoot him full of arrows, was in fact performed with some real arrows, a choice made to help Mifune produce realistic facial expressions of fear. The arrows seen to impact the wooden walls to either side of him were not superimposed or faked by any special effects, but instead shot by choreographed archers. Crazy!
8) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
If I truly have to pick one film that stands above all others as my favorite film of all time, this is it. Lawrence of Arabia is utterly fascinating and timeless in a way that few films are. Following the successes and failures of an eccentric and controversial British military figure during his exploits in Arabia during World War 1, this is a masterclass of direction from Sir David Lean. Featuring a performance by Peter O'Toole that is second to none, the film's genius is its marriage of intimate portrait and big-screen epic. The on-location work has never made the desert look more beautiful, and the technical craftsmanship on display is aces all around. Shot on 65mm in the Super Panavision 70 process, and seen ideally projected as a 70mm print, you'll be hard pressed to find a better looking film out there. A tremendous cast joins the aforementioned O'Toole, among them Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, and - in his introduction to western audiences and given perhaps the greatest intro in any film ever - Omar Sharif. The score of Maurice Jarre is a character unto itself, and sweeps the audience to an emotional high point often aimed at, but seldom achieved, by other composers and films. It is, and remains, in my humble opinion, the most impressive film production ever attempted and realized in motion picture history.
9) HOOP DREAMS (1994)
In 1994, filmmaker Steve James undertook an ambitious project to follow two African-American students from the streets of Chicago through their 4-year high school basketball careers and chronicle their dream of becoming professional NBA players. Originally intended to be a 30-minute television program for PBS, it resulted in five years of filming and 250 hours of footage, edited down to a 171 minute film, Hoop Dreams, that is perhaps the greatest documentary ever made. Released to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, renowned critic Roger Ebert said "This is one of the best films about American life that I have ever seen," and later called it the best film of the decade. James follows both William Gates and Arthur Agee in their recruitment by a scout from St. Joseph, a predominantly white high school with an outstanding basketball program, whose alumni include NBA great Isiah Thomas. Injuries and academic struggles lead to a deeper inspection of a number of issues, including race, class, economic division, education, and values in contemporary America, and the film grows into something so much greater than simply two kids wanting to play basketball. After viewing, one feels like they've been run through the gamut of possible emotions, and it gives discerning audiences much to discuss and debate long after the credits have rolled. It's also just a darn good sports movie in it's own right, though as stated above, it quickly becomes so much more than that.
10) THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)
Bringing this list boldly to it's conclusion and launching us bravely into the next century of filmmaking is Terrence Malick's spiritual tour de force The Tree of Life. We've come a long way from 1925's The Big Parade. No list of mine would be complete without an entry from the enigmatic Malick, and this fairly recent offering of his joins much older works of cinema as one of my all time favorites. Told in a non-linear, almost stream-of-consciousness style, the film traces the story of a family living in Waco, Texas in the 1950s, and follows the eldest son through the loss of innocence and his struggles with his parents conflicting teachings. The mother, Mrs. O'Brien, (portrayed with love by a perfect Jessica Chastain), represents the way of grace, while the obstinate father, Mr. O'Brien, (also perfectly captured by a very calculating Brad Pitt), represents the way of nature. Worldviews collide, philosophies are discussed, viewers are even ushered back to the dawn of time itself in an effort to understand the deeply spiritual forces which are at work in and around us. An esoteric film that I feel cannot be completely embraced or understood by someone outside of a uniquely Christian worldview, the film speaks deeply to me on a level hardly approached by most cinema. Malick has always been a master of visual poetry, juxtaposing the fallenness of man (the way the world is) with the beauty of nature (the way we long for the world to be). He speaks to our deepest longings and desires and weaves an immaculately crafted work of art in the process. It's akin to visiting the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle of cinema.
Well, there you have it. My top ten favorite films, for what they are worth. Update your netflix queue accordingly, and happy viewing friends!
