I decided to make the very brave and shameless decision, to reveal my favourite films of all time, in the vulgar and fashionable ‘list’ format. This is partly because I loath TV’s ‘countdown craze’, which bores me with clips, and presenters talking about clips, only to conclude  that somebody who’s opinion I never had any respect for in the first place has told me they think Avatar is the greatest movie of all time. I don’t expect anybody to agree with me – I’m doing this for myself, because I feel the need to be reminded of the films that matter, before I get weakened by the numbing, degrading, insulting, brainwashing, 3D and CGI remake and sequel riddled, shiny white teeth cinema world.

I must forgive cinema for producing few works of genius – after all, it’s very young. If I dare myself to question that which I love, I might say that cinema is not really a product of the pure artistic sense, but rather a savage abstraction of enhancing aesthetic enjoyment by piling up many other, older, wiser and solitary art forms which need nothing other than itself. There shouldn’t be any high expectations from cinema due to its fast paced, money making infancy, but then, it shouldn’t be ignored either, because within a century, I can name 100 titles which I regard as high works of art. That’s an average of 1 masterpiece a year! Not bad. But in context to the rest of the arts, such as music for example, I can name already 100 pieces of music by Beethoven alone, which I regard as important and genius works. However, out of my collection of 3000 DVDs, and many thousand more titles stored in my memory from a lifetime of film fascination, I can honestly say that there are only 100 or so great films I can mention which can make it in the list.

So, how does a list like this work? Well, it’s totally selfish, subjective and personal, and it’s also subject to experience and knowledge, which will inevitably have its limitations. So in a nutshell, these are the films which I have loved, the films which I have watched over and over again, the films which I have found inspirational, and the films which I recommend to friends and loved ones. To avoid a hierarchical system, the list is in order of the film’s release year.

I’m sure many cinema buffs will be shocked to find several seemingly obvious titles absent from my list. With a cheeky grin on my face, I am very pleased to confess, that there will be no Godfather, no Star Wars, no Saving Private Ryan, or any other such film. I am proud to have turned my back on Spielberg and Tarantino, and I am overjoyed that the French New Wave were granted no entry.

Written by Danny Hahn. 2011 ©

© 2011 NeoKitsch

Danny’s top 100 films of all time:

1920′s

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene 1920) - Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. (original title) 

Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (Fritz Lang 1922) - Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler – Ein Bild der Zeit (original title)

The Last Laugh (F. W. Murnau 1924) – Der letzte Mann (original title)

Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein 1925)

The General (Clyde Bruckman/Buster Keaton 1926)

The Manxman (Alfred Hitchcock 1929)

A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquith 1929)

Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock 1929)

1930′s

The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg 1930) - Der blaue Engel (original title)

City Lights (Charles Chaplin 1931)

M (Fritz Lang 1931)

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang 1933) - Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (original title)

Modern Times (Charles Chaplin 1936)

Angel (Ernst Lubitsch 1937)

Le Quai Des Brumes (Marcel Carné 1938)

The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock 1938)

Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch 1939)

The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir 1939) - La règle du jeu (original title)

Le Jour se Leve (Marcel Carne 1939)

1940′s

The Shop Around The Corner (Ernst Lubitsch 1940)

Fantasia (Walt Disney 1940)

Citizen Kane (Orson Welles 1941)

To Be Or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch 1942)

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz 1942)

Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock 1943)

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder 1944)

And Then There Were None (Rene Clair 1945)

Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carne 1945)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston 1948)

Rope (Alfred Hitchcock 1948)

Key Largo (John Huston 1948)

Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica 1948)

The Third Man (Carol Reed 1949)

Late Spring (Yasujirô Ozu 1949) - Banshun (original title)

1950′s

Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder 1950)

Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa 1950)

Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock 1951)

The Day The Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise 1951)

On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray 1952)

I Vitelloni (Federico Fellini 1953)

Thérèse Raquin (Marcel Carné 1953)

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock 1954)

Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock 1954)

La Strada (Federico Fellini 1954)

Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray 1954)

Three Men in the Snow (Kurt Hoffmann 1955) - Drei Männer im Schnee (original title)

The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse  1956)

12 Angry Men (Sydney Lumet 1957)

Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini 1957) - Le notti di Cabiria (original title)

Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman 1957) - Smultronstället (original title)

Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa 1957) - Kumonosu-jô (original title)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks 1958)

Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati 1958)

Touch of Evil (Orson Welles 1958)

Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock 1958)

It Happened in Broad Daylight (Ladislao Vajda 1958) - Es geschah am hellichten Tag (original title)

Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder 1959)

Room at the Top (Jack Clayton 1959)

1960′s

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock 1960)

La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini 1960)

The Apartment (Billy Wilder 1960)

Peeping Tom (Michael Powell 1960)

Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa 1961) - Yôjinbô (original title)

8 1/2 (Federico Fellini 1963)

Irma La Douce (Billy Wilder 1963)

Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman 1963) - Nattvardsgästerna (original title)

Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick 1964)

Night of the Iguana (John Huston 1964)

Zorba the Greek (Mihalis Kakogiannis 1964) - Alexis Zorbas (original title)

Play Time (Jacques Tati 1967)

Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone 1968)

The Producers (Mel Brooks 1968)

Shame (Ingmar Bergman 1968) - Skammen (original title)

Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky 1969)

1970′s

Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti 1971)

The Hospital (Arthur Hiller 1971)

Roma (Federico Fellini 1972)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel 1972) - Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (original title)

Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky 1972)

The Spirit of the Beehive (Víctor Erice 1973) - El espíritu de la colmena (original title)

Amarcord (Federico Fellini 1973)

Chinatown (Roman Polanski 1974)

The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser (Werner Herzog 1974) - Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (original title)

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (Milos Forman 1975)

The Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky 1975) - Zerkalo (original title)

Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick 1975)

High Anxiety (Mel Brooks 1977)

Being There (Hal Ashby 1979)

Woyzeck (Werner Herzog 1979)

The Tin Drum (Volker Schlöndorff 1979) - Die Blechtrommel (original title)

1980′s

The Shining (Stanley Kubrick 1980)

Blade Runner (Ridley Scott 1982)

Zelig (Woody Allen 1983)

Amadeus (Milos Forman 1984)

Brazil (Terry Gilliam 1985)

Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders 1987) - Der Himmel über Berlin (original title)

1990′s

Miller’s Crossing (Ethan Coen/Joel Coen 1990)

Ed Wood (Tim Burton 1994)

2000′s

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch 2001)

The Man Who Wasn’t There (Ethan Coen/Joel Coen 2001)

According to the list, the top 3 most popular film directors are:

1. Alfred Hitchcock (10 titles)

2. Federico Fellini (7 titles)

3. Billy Wilder (5 titles)

According to the list, the top 2 most popular decades are:

1. 1950′s (24 titles)

2. 1960′s (16 titles)

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