Vertigo named 'Greatest Film of All Time'

[Blackthorn]

I like all those pictures -- I count a good number of them as favorites -- but any all-time top ten that doesn't include Casablanca is easily discounted, if not dismissed.

My opinion, too. And Maltese Falcon.

I like Vertigo, but I can think of a score of movies that have more intricate plots, just as well written if not better.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Throw in Bare Knees and All American Co-Ed and I'll be there!!! lol

Why Johnny Downs didn't get a Best Actress nomination in 1943 is something I've never understood.

 

[herringbonekid]

Honestly, the only worth of a list like this is that some folks may make an effort to see these great older films that they'd probably never seek out on their own. (Even with a large consensus, what's the point of naming a "greatest" film? It's just a silly academic exercise.)

i think the list is interesting if only to see what the professional film community's favourite film is. i.e. the filmmaker's film.
most of the choices seem to be films that were formally innovative - films that advanced film language - (hence Citizen Kane being in first place for so long) but probably weren't crowd pleasers.

 

[Atomic Age]

I would choose Rear Window or North by Northwest before Vertigo. Vertigo, while being an interesting film, is flawed by its overly theatrical acting style.

Of the films listed, The Searchers is the only one I would include on a top ten list.

Doug

 

[DNO]

I'm glad to see The Searchers in the list. A seriously underrated film. (Oh, and Edward: Plan 9 is always worth sitting through just to bask in the glory of Dudley Manlove's sterling performance!)

 

[Touchofevil]

I would choose Rear Window or North by Northwest before Vertigo. Vertigo, while being an interesting film, is flawed by its overly theatrical acting style.

Of the films listed, The Searchers is the only one I would include on a top ten list.

Doug

You beat me to it, but I totally agree with you on Rear Window and North by Northwest over Vertigo.

 

[Touchofevil]

I'd love to see the decision making process. I think it's swings and roundabouts. Casablanca would probably top many lists, then there comes a tie when it becomes fashionable to dismiss it as a cliché, so people pick other things.... Cycle of life, n' aw...



Hey, you can't say I lack patience - I've sat through Plan 9 From Outer Space!

Of the two, I found Plan 9 easier to watch as it was so bad it was funny/entertaining. Not that I found it worthy of multiple complete viewings.

 

[scotrace]

For the better of Kubrick's films I'd recommend his less discussed work like The Killing, Paths of Glory, and Lolita. Let's throw Barry Lyndon in there too.

Those "greatest" lists are fun to read and cannot be taken too seriously.
Being a fan of Vertigo I won't complain about this list. Vertigo might be my favorite film by Hitchcock and performance by Stewart.

Barry Lyndon, indeed. Seldom seen or mentioned, but a really great film. Probably Kubrick's best. His worst is undoubtedly 2001. I've tried to get through it numerous times. It's just a bad movie, to me.

Eyes Wide Shut wasn't exactly wonderful, either.

The OP list looks like a "let's avoid the usual "Casablanca, et al, and name some films that will get people talking."

 

[Doctor Strange]

It's all so subjective: I've been a huge Kubrick fan since the mid-60s, but Barry Lyndon has always left me cold. Gorgeously photographed, but dramatically vacuous. In that genre, I much prefer the warmer and funnier Tom Jones.

It's worth remembering that the Sight and Sound poll is done by professional film critics and educators, and is really about determining the films that stand out as prime examples of the art that pointed to new directions and influenced later filmmakers. Popular classics like Casablanca, as entertaining as it is, are just not the kind of thing they're interested in. I think many of us here are so enamored of that film that we don't quite realize that it was considered just another near-B-picture in its day, and wasn't beloved until the Bogie cult of the 60s.

But as I said above, the only real use for this sort of list is to suggest what's worth seeing out of the zillions of old films out there. The significant changes in film technique represented by most of them are obscure to modern sensibilities unless you're already something a film scholar

 

[bond]

No mention of Abbas Kirostamis work. Iranian master in my opinion , some of the best films have come from Iranian directors in the last few decades alone.
Also i am very partial to Ozu and would give mention to Bergman as well.
Very subjective opinions though.

 

[Shangas]

North by Northwest is an awesome film. I love it. It's so mysterious and captivating.

 

[Angus Forbes]

Interestingly, nobody has mentioned Fellini's 8 1/2. I saw this a long time ago, and thought it was more or less trivial. Why would this creature be on the list?

 

[Angus Forbes]

One more thing about Vertigo. In my unschooled opinion, it is one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed. Take the scene in Ernie's restaurant, when Ferguson (James Stewart) sees Madeline Elster (Kim Novak) for the first time. Madeline, accompanied by Gavin Elster, is dressed for the opera, and her appearance is simply drop-dead magnificent. Hitchcock does essentially the same thing in Rear Window when he introduces Lisa Carol Freemont (Grace Kelly). She appears suddenly in full view, and is simply stunning. And then (back to Vertigo), the scene in the flower shop, the way that San Francisco is used as a backdrop, the Bay, the Jaguar, the museum, the redwoods, and on and on. Just a knockout, gorgeous piece visually.

 

[herringbonekid]

2001, though... serious case of Emperor's New Clothes. Some lovely cinematography and a great score, but it's at least an hour too long and deathly dull. I always did find Kubrick hit and miss.

Hm I like most of Kubrick's work but agree with Edward on 2001. I fell asleep. Sorry.

His worst is undoubtedly 2001. I've tried to get through it numerous times. It's just a bad movie, to me.

"You begin with an artifact left on earth four million years ago by extraterrestrial explorers who observed the behavior of the man-apes of the time and decided to influence their evolutionary progression. Then you have a second artifact buried deep on the lunar surface and programmed to signal word of man's first baby steps into the universe -- a kind of cosmic burglar alarm. And finally there's a third artifact placed in orbit around Jupiter and waiting for the time when man has reached the outer rim of his own solar system.

When the surviving astronaut, Bowman, ultimately reaches Jupiter, this artifact sweeps him into a force field or star gate that hurls him on a journey through inner and outer space and finally transports him to another part of the galaxy, where he's placed in a human zoo approximating a hospital terrestrial environment drawn out of his own dreams and imagination. In a timeless state, his life passes from middle age to senescence to death. He is reborn, an enhanced being, a star child, an angel, a superman, if you like, and returns to earth prepared for the next leap forward of man's evolutionary destiny.

That is what happens on the film's simplest level. Since an encounter with an advanced interstellar intelligence would be incomprehensible within our present earthbound frames of reference, reactions to it will have elements of philosophy and metaphysics that have nothing to do with the bare plot outline itself."

SK

 

[herringbonekid]

The other director who gives me those extremes is David Lynch... I adored Twin Peaks; also liked the film Firewalk With Me. Eraserhead bored me to tears.

Eraserhead is my favourite film without question. don't even get me started.
oddly enough and not that i'm a Kubrick devotee:

"Eraserhead was one of director Stanley Kubrick's favorite films. Before beginning production on The Shining, Kubrick screened Eraserhead for the cast to put them into the atmosphere he wanted to convey."


p.s. he didn't achieve the 'atmosphere'. no one has since.

 

[herringbonekid]

Interestingly, nobody has mentioned Fellini's 8 1/2. I saw this a long time ago, and thought it was more or less trivial. Why would this creature be on the list?

8 1/2 is a filmmaker's film; about a struggling director. beautifully shot and a constant reference point for a certain type of wide angle, high-key cinematography that has been ripped off repeatedly in commercials. if you look in the director's only poll (see link on first page) it's even higher than in the main poll at number 4.
it doesn't surprise me in the least that it would be a favourite among other film directors.

 

[herringbonekid]

No mention of Abbas Kirostamis work. Iranian master in my opinion , some of the best films have come from Iranian directors in the last few decades alone.
Also i am very partial to Ozu and would give mention to Bergman as well.
Very subjective opinions though.

the poll is 100 films long and i guarantee that at least one Bergman will be in there, but more likely three or four ('Fanny and Alexander' is in my top ten films of all time).
i would have also liked to have seen a Tarkovsky in the top ten too but i'm sure he's in the top 100.

 

[skyvue]

Popular classics like Casablanca, as entertaining as it is, are just not the kind of thing they're interested in. I think many of us here are so enamored of that film that we don't quite realize that it was considered just another near-B-picture in its day, and wasn't beloved until the Bogie cult of the 60s.

Can't agree with this characterization at all. Casablanca won the Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay Oscars and was nominated for Leading Actor, Supporting Actor, Black-and-White Cinematography, Editing, and Score. Three top-level wins, eight nominations. Sorry, but that's not an under-appreciated picture.

There was also a 1955 TV series based on the movie. And a (misquoted) line from it was the bit impressionists used to portray Bogart for years and years. If it had been all-but-forgotten movie, that wouldn't have been the case.

And it was, by no measure, a near-B picture. A B picture was filled with fading stars and hopeful up-and-comers and filmed on a small budget. That doesn't begin to describe Casablanca. Unless one views all Warner Bros.' releases of the era as near-Bs.

I do agree that the list is made up mostly of pictures that broke more new ground, that were "artier," if you will. And yes, a cult rose up around Bogart in the '60s. But Casablanca was an acclaimed and accomplished picture long before that.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Withdrawn. I forgot about the Oscars. I did recall that it was very successful. And of course, I've watched it countless times.

 

[Atomic Age]

It's all so subjective: I've been a huge Kubrick fan since the mid-60s, but Barry Lyndon has always left me cold. Gorgeously photographed, but dramatically vacuous. In that genre, I much prefer the warmer and funnier Tom Jones.

It's worth remembering that the Sight and Sound poll is done by professional film critics and educators, and is really about determining the films that stand out as prime examples of the art that pointed to new directions and influenced later filmmakers. Popular classics like Casablanca, as entertaining as it is, are just not the kind of thing they're interested in. I think many of us here are so enamored of that film that we don't quite realize that it was considered just another near-B-picture in its day, and wasn't beloved until the Bogie cult of the 60s.

Casblanca, yes was just another of the 52 films that Warners made every year, but with a budget of 1.2 million dollars, it could hardly be called a "B" Picture. And in fact it made almost 4 million in its original release, an huge hit and very well loved film in its own day.

You might also remember that it won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

Really not a little film that was only discovered in the 60's.

Doug