Rank: 25
Release Year: 1931
Genre: Comedy
Plot
Summary: The Tramp falls in love with a blind flower girl, trying his
very best to help her.
What
Makes It Special: In addition to being a beautiful love story and very
funny, City Lights is just a plain wonderful cinematic experience. Charles
Chaplin’s The Tramp character is at his very best, most touching, and most
hysterically funny in what is possibly the auteur’s greatest achievement
(although, as you will see, I do have Modern
Times ranked slightly higher). The film transcends the limitations of
silent film (or perceived limitations, as some of cinema’s most artistically
compelling films were made during the silent era) resonating on a deeply
emotional level. It is an incredibly charming piece that pulls its audience in
and never lets them go all the way through its utterly brilliant ending. City
Lights is the gateway by which all other fantastic silent film comedies can be
accessed and appreciated. It is almost impossible not to be consumed, changed,
and illuminated by the film.
Rank: 24
Release Year: 1960
Genre: Horror/Mystery
Plot
Summary: Marion Crane just wants to escape her life in Phoenix. She
steals $40,000 from her place of work and goes on the run, checking into a
small motel along the road. The motel is operated by Norman Bates, a man who
appears to be dominated by his overbearing mother. Marion is almost home free until
Norman takes a special interest in her.
What
Makes It Special: Psycho is iconic for so many reasons and forever
changed horror cinema. Its score from composer Bernard Herrmann
alone is universally known today in addition to many of its famous scenes. It is
funny then that auteur Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous and successful film was
also one of his hardest to get made. The studios would not touch it, even after
he had just made the very successful North by
Northwest. Hitchcock had to fund the film himself and to save money he shot
it on Universal’s backlot with his Alfred Hitchcock
Presents television crew. The lack of money and time seems to have
invigorated Hitchcock, as it is one of his most innovative and aesthetically
interesting films of his later career (something true too of Frenzy).
Rank: 23
Release Year: 1936
Genre: Comedy
Plot
Summary: The Tramp desperately tries to survive the oppression of modern
industrial society. His only salvation comes in the form of a young homeless
woman he meets.
What
Makes It Special: Just above I called City Lights
Charles Chaplin’s (possibly) greatest achievement, so then why is Modern Times
ranked slightly higher? Well, Modern Times is equally as powerful emotionally
as City Lights; it is just as funny; and, the love story is touching as well.
What Modern Times has over all other Chaplin films are two things. First, it
features Chaplin’s most engaging comedy bits. Everything in the factory is
brilliant and I particularly love his scene on roller skates in the department
store. Second, Modern Times has a powerful social and political message, coming
out right in the middle of America’s Great Depression essentially as a plead
for help for the poor and unfortunate consumed, crushed, and spit out by the
industrial age. Chaplin was never one to shy away from making a social and/or
political statement – just look at films like The
Great Dictator or the ending of Monsieur Verdoux
(something that eventually led to him, in part, being deported from the United
States – J. Edgar Hoover just plain did not like him, thought he was a
communist, and went out of his way to tarnish and destroy him). Modern Times is
eternally hopefully in the face of the crippling economic depression and oppression
– that is its most American quality, to find hope and optimism for the future
even when by all rights there should not be any.
Rank: 22
Release Year: 1966
Genre: War Drama
Plot
Summary: The people of Algeria (and more specifically the people of its
capitol city Algiers) fight for their independence from the French government.
What
Makes It Special: With The Battle of Algiers Gillo Pontecorvo has made a
narrative film that feels like a historical documentary (though no documentary
footage is used in the film). It is so visceral, vibrant, and authentic that
the actors feel real; the violence feels horrifying; and, the call for independence
is palpable. Even more impressive is that the film does not take political
sides. The camera merely observes instead putting the burden of conviction on
the viewer. It is a one-of-a-kind film that has never been equaled in terms of
filmmakers recreating true events.
Rank: 21
Release Year: 1929
Genre: Montage
Plot
Summary: A cameraman travels around the city documenting urban life.
What
Makes It Special: Man with a Movie Camera is the most abstract of the
films on this list. It is not really a narrative film as there is no real
story; rather, the film is an exploration of life in the Soviet Union and the
creative possibilities of the movie camera. Dziga Vertov mostly made
documentaries, but with this film he wanted to probe the narrative power of
montage, yielding a film that is quite striking and profound. It is an art film
way ahead of its time.
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