Sight and Sound Magazine just finished compiling votes from movie critics and directors, with results showing that experts selected Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo as the Greatest Film of All time, surpassing Citizen Kane, which was chosen in the same poll the last time it was taken ten years ago.

Here is the top 10 finalists with a brief description of the film and my opinion about it:

1. Vertigo

(1958, Alfred Hitchcock). A very complex film that wasn’t appreciated in its own time, but ever since has built its reputation as the greatest movie ever done. Hitchcock tells the story of Scotty, a retired detective who falls in love and becomes obsessed with the wife of one of his friends, who has asked him to follow her. Vertigo deserves to be in a top 10 list, and it certainly is in mine.

2. Citizen Kane 

(1939, Orson Wells). An almost perfect film about the media, manipulation, individual achievements and an unexplained death with a confusing hidden message. Like Vertigo, Kane also received mixed reviews and was not well understood when it was released. Today, it is a mandatory lesson in film school, and also holds up to the title of greatest film of all time if you would want to rate it over Vertigo.

3.Tokyo Story

(1953, Ozu Yasujiru). I have this film in my library but I haven’t seen it yet.

4.La Regle du jeu

(1938, Jean Renoir). A great film based prior World War II that explores the bourgeois life in France. The film is directed by Jean Renoir -son of the famous painter Auguste Renoir- and it’s by no means short of the quality of art his father produced.

5. Sunrise: A song for two humans

(1927, F.W. Murnau). I have this film in my library but I haven’t seen it yet.

6. 2001: A space oddysey

(1968, Stanley Kubrick). Arguably the most complex film in any “Greatest movies” list. An exploration of our past, present and future, using the most basic feelings of human nature portrayed by Kubrick’s vision.

7. The Searchers

(1955, John Ford). I may offend someone by saying this, but I differ on The Searchers being on the list. Although thematically different -but in the same genre- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is the better movie. The Searchers is strong and is definitely the best western ever made, but The Good, The Bad and The Ugly transcends in being much more than just a western.

8. Man with a movie camera

(1939, Dziga Vertov). I may offend even more people by saying this, but up until today I had never heard anything about this film. I will do whatever it takes to obtain it and watch it.

9. The Passion of Joan of Arc

(1927, Carl Dreyer). A true masterpiece of cinema. Its value has greatly increased after it was believed to be lost forever after a fire destroyed the master negative. Even after several attempts of reassembling it using outtakes, its director -Carl Dreyer- passed away believing it could never be recovered. Renee Falconetti gives the performance of a lifetime portraying the heroic french in her final days, being imprisoned, tortured and executed.

10. 8 1/2

(1963, Federico Fellini). Fellini’s masterpiece. A very emotional and capturing film, with amazing performances by Marcelo Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale. Visually stunning, compelling and philosophical, 8 1/2 stands on top of as a unique film. There is no waste of ink every time it is included in a top two list of greatest films ever made.

Sight and Sound also released a subset of the top 10, which was generated from votes casted only by directors:

1. Tokyo Story: mentioned above.

2 (tie) 2001: A space oddysey and Citizen Kane: mentioned above.

4. 8 1/2: mentioned above.

5. Taxi Driver

(1976, Martin Scorsese). There is so much to say about Taxi Driver, it is unfair to summarize it in a simple paragraph, so I will just say that it does deserve to be in a top 10 list, even if there are eleven films.

6. Apocalypse Now

(1979, Francis Ford Coppola). Apocalypse belongs to the quartet of elite Vietnam films: Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick), Platoon and The Deer Hunter. I honestly believe that Apocalypse and FMJ are in the same level, therefore choosing one over the other is unfair.

7 (tie) Vertigo and The Godfather

(1972, Francis Ford Coppola). I do not quite understand how can one have a top 10 list and not include (or vote for) The Godfather.

9. Mirror

(1975, Andrei Takorskiy). A stunning film that will stick in your mind forever. Expressive, artful, meaningful, tearful, personal: perhaps the most emotional film ever done.

10. Bicycle Thieves

(1948, Vittorio di Sica). I have this film in my library but I haven’t seen it yet. I intended to watch it with my Italian ex-girlfriend, but we broke up.

For those of you wondering, this is my list:

  • 8 1/2
  • 2001
  • Airplane!
  • Citizen Kane
  • Das Boot
  • Fantasia
  • Mirror
  • Persona
  • Pulp Fiction
  • Taxi Driver
  • The Godfather
  • The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
  • The Passion of Joan de Arc
  • Vertigo

You will notice two things: the first one is my addition of Walt Disney’s Fantasia (1940, Walt Disney), which is a movie that tells the story of our lives in such a subtle way, it has yet to be fully appreciated and treated the way it deserves. The second one is that my top 10 list is does not contain 10 films. I purposely do this, because I don’t really believe in 5’s, 10’s or 25’s lists. I just rate films in levels and those are the films I believe have the highest rank and are positioned in the highest league of film making and cinema.

Here is the source of the original poll:

So, what are your top 10 films?

HR