A Cinema Canon for the Ages

[oscar jubis]

1939 is said to have been the best year in the history of film. I have been sharing my on-going, perrennially revised cannon for decades now, and I have organized it according to year of world release. In my opinion, the most prolific year as far as great cinema is...1959, 20 years later. Here's my

1959 TOP 11 (in alphabetical order)

-------THE 400 BLOWS (Truffaut)
-------ANATOMY OF A MURDER (Preminger)
-------FLOATING WEEDS (Ozu)
-------FRITZ LANG'S INDIAN EPIC (Lang)
-------HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (Resnais)
-------IMITATION OF LIFE (Sirk)
-------MOI, UN NOIR (Rouch)
-------NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Hitchcock)
-------PICKPOCKET (Bresson)
-------SOME LIKE IT HOT (Wilder)
-------THE WORLD OF APU (Ray)



But today I am adding to the list a film from 1939 and It's not The Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind but Ernst Lubitch's NINOTCHKA.

THE QUOTE BELOW BELONGS TO CHICAGO READER WRITER BEN SACHS. IT SAYS SOMETHING CRUCIAL ABOUT THE FILM'S ACHIEVEMENTS.

Incarnated by Greta Garbo in a performance directed by Ernst Lubitsch, the title character of Ninotchka is one of the great creations of satirical cinema. Garbo’s Soviet commissar at first seems like a caricature of the zealous revolutionary, as the filmmakers generate laughs from her humorlessness and rigid adherence to government protocol. But when Ninotchka falls in love with French count Leon d’Algout (Melvyn Douglas), something shifts in the characterization. One begins to see an erotic charge beneath her political fervor, a sensitivity behind her idealized worldview. And so, what had begun as a skeptical view of Communism on the filmmakers’ part transforms into one of respectful ambivalence.(Ben Sachs)

[cinemabon]

Disappointed you listed so few von Sternberg's works from the 1930's

Morocco (1930) which I liked better than Blue Angel
Dishonored (1931)
Shanghai Express (1932)
Blonde Venus (1932 - Hot Voodoo!)
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
The Devil is a Woman (1935)

All of them featured Marlene Dietrich, rumored to be having an affair with von Sternberg that lasted 11 years. I saw them all in 35mm at the Vagabond Theater in LA in the late 1970's. I fell hopelessly in love with Dietrich watching those films. I though Blue Angel ok but not nearly as polished or as enthralling as her Hollywood years.

[cinemabon]

Did you really leave out (so many) Lawrence of Arabia AND Bridge over the River Kwai (what David Lean did you mention?) along with Bergman's Cries and Whispers... Blow Up? Satyricon or Roma? L'Ventura? Which Kurosawa? Any by Wyler? Any by Michael Curtiz? Was Hitch your only memorable "great" director? And Marnie???? OMG! Over Frenzy? I guess I'm getting too old to see the error of my ways...

[oscar jubis]

I am sorry it took me so long to respond to your post. One thing to bear in mind is that some element of subjectivity factors into the decision to include or not to include a movie despite my efforts to be open-minded and inclusive. For reasons that may be irrelevant to others, some movies have more or less of an emotional and intellectual impact on me.

Did you really leave out (so many) Lawrence of Arabia AND Bridge over the River Kwai (what David Lean did you mention?)
I rewatched "Lawrence of Arabia" recently and I was mesmerized by the spectacle and the editing (the famous cut from Lawrence blowing a match to a rising sun is only one of many exciting shot juxtapositions). I am adding the film to the list. I always liked it a lot.

along with Bergman's Cries and Whispers...

I watched it as a teenager and have seen it repeatedly. I was once intrigued by it but not anymore. It's less than meets the eye, as far as I am concerned. I find a lot of Bergman's films insufferable. The two films he directed that I love are:
THE SEVENTH SEAL (Bergman) and
WILD STRAWBERRIES (Bergman)

Blow Up?
I don't love it as much as
L'AVVENTURA (Antonioni) and
L'ECLISSE (Antonioni)
but I plan to watch Blow Up again although I remember it very clearly, especially the amazing ending in that tennis court.

Satyricon or Roma?
Do you really like these movies? or are you including them because they are famous? I think Cabiria and 8 1/2 are vastly superior. I don't plan to rewatch any Fellini that was released after La Dolce Vita
L'Ventura? Of course

Which Kurosawa?
Rashomon and Ikiru but I plan to rewatch a lot of his movies and it depends on how they strike me. High and Low probably the one most likely to enter this canon.

Any by Wyler?
Yes, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (Wyler) and
1949. THE HEIRESS (Wyler)

Any by Michael Curtiz?
No

Was Hitch your only memorable "great" director? 'course NOT the only one

And Marnie???? OMG! Over Frenzy?
Oh, yes, Marnie keeps growing in my estimation. Don't be fooled by the outdated use of painted backdrops. It's an extremely thought-provoking, compelling film. Frenzy is merely entertaining.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm glad you decided to include LAWRENCE OF ARABIA but when I saw it I was in Arabic school and I was disappointed that it had only two bits of Arabic, "Hut hut hut" (which is hardly Arabic) and "Allahhu akbar!" But that was typical of the times and for very long. Now, that is corrected for the past several decades and western or Hollywood movies about Arabs have lots of Arabic in them. I assume you are familiar with the book by Jack Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (first published in 2006).

For me personally the two most important Akira Kurosawa films are RASHOMON and IKIRU, the first because it was the first Japanese film I think significantly distributed and known in this country, and IKIRU because it is the one that has most moved me, possibly more deeply moved me than any other film I've ever seen, so I routinely give it as my all-time favorite.

[cinemabon]

There's a reason why so many actors came to appreciate William Wyler, and why so many critics have changed their minds about him. Willie had an instinct about film and about realism when it came to acting. The reason he put actors through so many takes is because he wanted them to do it until he felt they weren't acting any longer but feeling the line, feeling the character, feeling the scene. He knew it when he saw it, when he heard it and not before. He couldn't explain the process to himself or to others. It came as instinct to him. That is why I admire his work and why so many in the industry came to realize his greatness as a director. His films were nominated for more Academy Awards for acting than any director in the history of film. I know it's easy to dismiss the Academy. They've shown rather shallowness through the years when it comes to their picks. However, the overall community has a vested interest in the promotion of film as both industry and artform. Yes, artform. There are artists in their membership. For years I've tried to extoll Wyler's vision as a progressive one. He nearly fired some of theater's/film's greatest actors because he felt their "stage acting" wouldn't work to help the film's narrative. Lawrence Olivier once said "Wyler taught me how to act in film." He was sincere when he said it.

There are many great directors in the history of film. We shouldn't dismiss them as being "too commercial" as that is an indication of snobbery.

[Chris Knipp]

That's the Zen of acting.

[oscar jubis]

There's a reason why so many actors came to appreciate William Wyler, and why so many critics have changed their minds about him. Willie had an instinct about film and about realism when it came to acting. The reason he put actors through so many takes is because he wanted them to do it until he felt they weren't acting any longer but feeling the line, feeling the character, feeling the scene. He knew it when he saw it, when he heard it and not before. He couldn't explain the process to himself or to others. It came as instinct to him. That is why I admire his work and why so many in the industry came to realize his greatness as a director. His films were nominated for more Academy Awards for acting than any director in the history of film. I know it's easy to dismiss the Academy. They've shown rather shallowness through the years when it comes to their picks. However, the overall community has a vested interest in the promotion of film as both industry and artform. Yes, artform. There are artists in their membership. For years I've tried to extoll Wyler's vision as a progressive one

The passage quoted below is from the most recent Wyler retrospective (at the Quad in NYC). I think that it may be of interest to you.

"In The American Cinema, Andrew Sarris grouped William Wyler in the dreaded “Less than Meets the Eye” category, alongside Huston, Wilder, and Lean as “directors with reputations in excess of inspirations.” And what a reputation Wyler has: this consummate perfectionist worked for nearly half a century, from the silent era to the dawn of the New Hollywood, earning the most-ever Best Director Oscar nominations with 12 (and three wins). His name has become virtually synonymous with Hollywood craftsmanship and prestige; Wyler made unapologetically big movies about big themes with big performances. But a closer look reveals countless grace notes between the crescendos, and shows Wyler to be an acute chronicler of mid-century American life. He had the range of an accomplished journeyman, but whatever the genre, he proved a fluid stylist of startling invention."

[oscar jubis]

Luis Buñuel's Mexican films are arguably THE most under-appreciated filmography by a major master of the art of cinema. ENSAYO DE UN CRIMEN was titled THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALDO DE LA CRUZ for release in English-speaking nations. I would have preferred that the original titled were simply translated to English because it is more relevant and meaningful. It means "Crime Rehearsal". This film is a serio-comic treatise on fetishism, impotence and obsession. It is a perfect showcase for the highly talented actor Ernesto Alonso who delivers a subtly powerful performance. In the 60s and 70s, Alonso became quite famous in Spanish-speaking countries for acting, producing and directing telenovelas.