This will hopefully be the first in a series of polls of the greatest (according to I, self-appointed arbiter of cinematic excellence!) films of the last 80 years, divided into each decade...

Exciting!

CHOOSE FIVE (5)!!!!!

----------------------

Films of the 1940s
Films of the 1950s
Films of the 1960s
Films of the 1970s
Films of the 1980s
Films of the 1990s
Films of the 2000s

Bringing Up Baby
City Lights
My Man Godfrey
A Night At The Opera
The 39 Steps

I haven't seen as many of these films as I should have.

Stagecoach and 4 others

Ditto (about 40%). Same with the 40s and probably the 50s as well.

The Bride of Frankenstein
M
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Stagecoach
The 39 Steps

i had 5 and then noticed that there were 25 others i want to put on my list. there's about 10 i haven't seen.

definitely l'age d'or if only for the toilet shot
freaks
a night at the opera (i prefer the studio-ized marx bros films)
the 39 steps
stagecoach

Thank you, Bikkie!

Would have voted for Alexander Nevsky (1938, Sergei Eisenstein) five (5) times, had this been possible.

My favourite film.

Moskva stait!

alexander nevski blew me away too when i first saw it. a fantastic action/propaganda/historical blockbuster - so many fantastic shots. (and what a score!)


thinking about it, my favourite film of the 1930s is sons of the desert

Robin Hood
Duck Soup
Little Caesar
Snow White
Stagecoach

If was included I'd have gone for Way Out West.

The Wizard of Oz, Freaks, Modern Times, A Star is Born (prefer Judy's version, though). :)

Me too.
You only voted for four (4). :(

Have you never seen L'Atalante or Zero de conduite? :o

I can't believe I didn't include any Laurel and Hardy films. :ohdear:

Is Gone With The Wind actually any good, or is it just an overrated weepie aimed at sad old grannies?

I do not watch foreign fillums. :)

Why not?

"Screen shot" from "Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey" (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932), "featuring" the wonderful wonderful wonderful Sybille Schmitz.

You two guys upthread might be interested to know that Fassbinder's magnificent DSDVF was based on her life.

Over-rated weepie, I think. :unsure:

I've never seen it and doubt I ever will...

There's no Lubitsch here! :( Unforgiveable!

Ninotchka (1939)
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
Angel (1937)
The Merry Widow (1934)
La veuve joyeuse (1934)
Design for Living (1933)
If I Had a Million (1932) (segment 'The Clerk')
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Une heure près de toi (1932)
One Hour with You (1932)
Broken Lullaby (1932) aka The Man I Killed
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
Galas de la Paramount (1930) (sequence director)
Monte Carlo (1930)
Paramount on Parade (1930)
The Vagabond King (1930)

If I want to read I'll buy a comic.

:ohdear: :ohdear: :ohdear:

I know nothing about Lubitsch, but I know he was one of the greatest of them all and at least one of those should be on the list (I guess Ninotchka is the best of his 30s films?).

Of his 1940s films, I know of three: The Shop Around the Corner, To Be Or Not To Be, and Heaven Can Wait.
To be Or Not To Be will definitely go in; I haven't seen the other two...

to be or not to be would be my numero uno for the 40s

Probably King Kong then, mainly for the special effects.

:o

That's bullshit. You've praised at least two Truffaut films on here before. And you've obviously seen a few Fassbinder films.

Jean Vigo was one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
His Dad was the Spanish/Catalan militant anarchist (no idea. anyone?), Miguel Almereyda -- who was murdered in prison, when Vigo was 12 years old.
He died of TB at the age of 28, but he made one feature length movie (L'Atalante - which is one of the most beautiful films ever) and three short films. Zero de conduite influenced 400 Blows and If... a surreal film set in a boarding school, it's full of rebellion and anarchy.
I think you'd love his films and him, but I dunno with you. :P

Is there much shagging?

No. Watch a porno first.

Oh, was that done by special effects?

It's a Gift - WC Fields

I think it had its place but hasn't aged very well. My partner's daughter wanted to see it but we only managed to get half way through as it was pretty unbearable. I never liked Vivien Leigh too much and her character, although admirable in some respects, is quite loathsome in others. I wouldn't bother.

I voted for L'Atalante, Bringing Up Baby, Duck Soup, Freaks, M, 39 Steps, Wizard Of Oz, and Zero de conduite...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgpHfQpYxl4

"The Fatal Glass Of Beer" W C Fields

My uncle Ichabod said to me, speaking of the city:- "it ain't a place for women son, but pretty men go there."

A Chump at Oxford just creeps into the forties BK. ;)

Rules of the Game

...although Kong must have been a great bloke

So Duckpin, did you see a lot of these when they came out?

that verges on cruelty[and accuracy]

My Little Chickadee is my favorite W.C. Fields

I could have voted for 25 of these, it's quite my favourite decade for film. I actually own all 39 films listed.

Other suggestions -

Hog Wild 1930
A Nous la Liberte 1931
Frankenstein 1931
Laughing Gravy 1931
Helpmates 1932
Love Me Tonight 1932
The Music Box 1932
Sign of the Cross 1932
Dirty Work 1933
The Mystery of the Wax Museum 1933
The Private Life of Henry VIII 1932
David Copperfield 1934
Sons of the Desert 1934
Les Miserables 1935
Mutiny on the Bounty 1935
Top Hat 1935
Night Mail 1936
Rembrandt 1936
Show Boat 1936
Way Out West 1937
Lost Horizon 1937
Angels with Dirty Faces 1938
Blockheads 1938
Pygmalion 1938
Destry Rides Again 1939
Dodge City 1939
Goodbye Mr Chips 1939
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939
The Roaring Twenties 1939

This is jolly good.

1928 (so misses out by a couple of years) but this is FANTASTIC!!

since it's recommendations time:

the testament of dr mabuse (1933)



great action packed thriller, with lots of very spooky scenes. according to legend, this is the film that got Fritz Lang tossed out of Germany. the crazy mabuse's ravings being a bit too close to hitler's.