GOING TO THE MOVIES...

I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians. - Francis Ford Coppola

How often have you seen lists of “100 Best of …” whether it’s books, music albums, places to visit, great paintings, or movies? There is a whole series of books nowadays, of the ilk: “1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die”, and its companion “1001 Films You Must See Before you Die”. I guess it’s much easier to be inclusive when you are dealing with a large number of “greats”, but what about the best 10 of all time? Can you construct a list of the 10 greatest films of all time?

The problem of course is that great films can’t be measured scientifically because “greatness” is extremely subjective – “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” so to speak. Artistic merit of films (or other works of art for that matter) can never be rated or quantified, although critics, reviewers, and fans still make ten best lists, hundred best lists, all-time greatest lists, favourites lists, awards lists, and generate results of polls. The nationality and cultural background of the compiler of the “10 Best…” list will also play an extremely important role in his or her selection. The movie industry is also one that has been dominated for a very long time by Hollywood, and most lists tend to reflect this.

Over a long period of time, it has been found that the English-language films found here in this selection of Greatest Films repeatedly appear on all-time best film lists by critics and are often noted in the collective responses of film viewers. There is reasonable consensus by most film historians, critics and reviewers that these selections are among cinema's most critically-acclaimed, significant "must-see" films (of predominantly Hollywood-American production).

These choices were limited to English-language, theatrically-distributed, narrative feature films. And that means foreign-language films, documentaries, TV movies and mini-series, and short films were not considered. Emphasis in these selections is purposely directed toward earlier, more classic Hollywood/American films.

Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Ben Hur (1959)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Casablanca (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Fantasia (1940)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather - Part II (1974)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
North by Northwest (1959)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Psycho (1960)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Some Like it Hot (1959)
Star Wars (1977)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Third Man (1949)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Wuthering Heights (1939)

Now, if your tastes are a little more universal and cosmopolitan, you could include some non-English language films that are amongst the “greatest”:

8½ (1963)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)
L’ Avventura (1960)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Belle de Jour (1967)
La Belle et la Bête (1946)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Le Boucher (1969)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Cria Cuervos (1975)
Les Diaboliques (1954)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
La Double Vie de Veronique (1991)
Earth (1930)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
The Four Hundred Blows (1959)
Grand Illusion (1937)
Jules et Jim (1962)
Landscape in the Mist (1988)
Lola (1961)
M (1931)
Metropolis (1927)
Nosferatu (1922)
La Notte (1961)
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Playtime (1967)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Ran (1985)
Rashomon (1951)
La Regle du Jeu (1939)
Rocco e I Suoi Fratelli (1960)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
La Strada (1954)
Viridiana (1961)
The World of Apu (1959)

My lists may seem a little eclectic and I may have omitted what you would consider are amongst the “greatest”, however, as I said earlier, this is a subjective process. Besides, these films that I have listed above are ones that I have seen and have liked for one reason or another. What are some of your favourite films of all time that should be on my lists?