Introduction
I have been making a lot of lists
lately. With less time to write, lists are an easy way for me to talk about
cinema. And yet, I seem to be tackling huge projects under the guise of
creating a list. This time I will attempt to detail the greatest directors of
cinema history, broken into three twenty-five director categories: The
Beginnings of Cinema and Shaping the Narrative Language of Film, The Rise of the
Auteur and Experimentation and The Modern Director (A.K.A. Blockbusters or
Small Indies). Multiple directors fit in more than one of these categories, but
I tried to put each director in the era they were most prolific in or developed
their style in. I hope you enjoy the list and feel free to engage me in debate.
List is in alphabetical order.
Part I – The Beginnings of
Cinema and Shaping the Narrative Language of Film
Luis Buñuel
Style/system: Spanish;
worked in Spain, Mexico and France; avant-garde surrealism
Active: 1929-1977
Key films to see: Un
Chien Andalou, Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel, Belle de Jour, and The
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Charles Chaplin
Style/system: British;
worked in Hollywood; silent era comedies, sociopolitical commentaries
Active: 1914-1967
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Style/system: French;
worked in France; wonderfully tense thrillers
Active: 1931-1967
Key films to see: Le
Corbeau: The Raven, Quai des Orgevres, The Wages of Fear, Diabolique, and The
Truth
Vittorio De Sica
Style/system: Italian;
worked in Italy; neorealism as a response to the devastation in Italy both
culturally and economically after WWII
Active: 1940-1974
Key films to see: Shoeshine,
Bicycle Thieves, Miracle in Milan, Umberto D., and Two Women
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Style/system: Danish;
worked in Denmark and France; a master of silent cinema and the close-up, he
made both surreal and stark films
Active: 1919-1964
Victor Fleming
Style/system: American;
worked in Hollywood; grand, vibrant epics
Active: 1919-1948
Key films to see: Captains
Courageous, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
John Ford
Style/system: America;
worked in Hollywood; westerns with John Wayne
Active: 1917-1966
Key films to see: Stagecoach,
The Grapes of Wrath, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot LibertyValance
D.W. Griffith
Style/system: American;
worked in Hollywood; pioneer of feature film style and struture
Active: 1908-1931
Key films to see: The
Birth of a Nation, Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages, and Broken
Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
Howard Hawks
Style/system: American;
worked in Hollywood; master of all genres from gangster films to screwball
comedies, westerns to film noir
Active: 1926-1970
Key films to see: Bringing
Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, Red River, and Rio Bravo
Style/system: British;
worked in England and Hollywood; the master of suspense, maybe the greatest
director of all
Active: 1922-1976
Elia Kazan
Style/system: Greek;
worked on Broadway and in Hollywood; an actor’s director with an eye for new
talent
Active: 1937-1976
Key films to see: Gentleman’s
Agreement, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, and A
Face in the Crowd
Buster Keaton
Style/system: American;
worked in Hollywood; silent era slapstick comedies
Active: 1917-1965
Key films to see: Our
Hospitality, Sherlock Jr., The General, The Cameraman, and Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Akira Kurosawa
Style/system: Japanese;
worked in Japan; samurai epics, greatly influencing filmmakers of the 1960s and
1970s
Active: 1941-1993
Fritz Lang
Style/system: German-Austrian;
worked in Germany and Hollywood; the master of darkness, expressionism
Active: 1919-1960
Key films to see: Dr.
Mabuse: The Gambler, Metropolis, M, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, and The Big
Heat
Style/system: British;
worked in England; grand epics and visceral literary adaptations, the epitome
of the caricature of ‘the director’
Active: 1941-1984
Key films to see: Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago
Georges Méliès
Style/system: French;
worked in France; a pioneer of cinema, special effects and the narrative
language of film
Active: 1896-1913
Key films to see: A Trip
to the Moon and The Voyage Across the Impossible
F.W. Murnau
Style/system: German;
worked in Germany; Expressionist silent film
Active: 1919-1931
Yasujirô Ozu
Style/system: Japanese;
worked in Japan; films about relationships between spouses, family, and the
generations, a very static camera and 90 or 180 degree cuts
Active: 1927-1962
Key films to see: Late
Spring, Early Summer, Tokyo Story, Floating Weeds, and An Autumn Afternoon
Michael Powel & Emeric Pressburger (the Archers)
Style/system: British and
Hungarian; worked in England; grand films going against the grain of British
polite society, often war films as many were made during WWII, beautifully
designed, shot and structured, their use of Technicolor is unmatched
Active: 1939-1972
Key films to see: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Canterbury Tale, A Matter of Life and Death,
Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes
Jean Renoir
Style/system: French;
worked in France and Hollywood; poetic realism and satire
Active: 1924-1962
Key films to see: Boudu
Saved from Drowning, La Grande Illusion, La Bete Humaine, The Rules of the Game, and The River
King Vidor
Style/system: American;
worked in Hollywood; highly ambitious camera work at the height of cinema’s
aesthetic and stylistic craftsmanship during the silent era
Active: 1913-1959
Key films to see: The Big
Parade, The Crowd, Show People, The Patsy, and (the Kansas scenes of) The
Wizard of Oz
Orson Welles
Style/system: American;
worked on Broadway and in Hollywood; innovator, revolutionizing film aesthetics
in the sound era
Active: 1934-1985
Key films to see: Citizen
Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil, and F for Fake
Billy Wilder
Style/system: Austrian;
worked in Germany and Hollywood (like many, fleeing the Nazis); a leader of
Hollywood’s Golden Age (1950s), versatile, equally deft at comedy, film-noir
and drama
Active: 1934-1981
Key films to see: Double
Indemnity, Sunset Blvd., Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, and The
Apartment
Style/system: German;
worked in Hollywood; Hollywood’s most bankable director and maybe its most
acclaimed with three Best Picture winners
Active: 1925-1970
Key films to see: Mrs.Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, Roman Holiday, The Big Country, and
Ben-Hur
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