My 100 favourite movies of all time

From October 2009, I counted down my 100 favourite movies on the Harrogate Advertiser website, with little blurbs and everything. Changes to the site mean the list has since lost its formatting, but the text is all still on there if you're interested, beginning here and concluding here.

The other day I decided to freshen up the list, throwing in 21 new entries. There's no Godfather, Detour, Cry Danger or In Bruges, but then space was tight.

My 100 favourite movies of all time

1. Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940) - pic above
2. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1943)
3. Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994)
4. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001)
5. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
6. Les enfants du paradis (Marcel Carne, 1945)
7. Diary for Timothy (Humphrey Jennings, 1945)
8. Cinema Paradiso: Director's Cut (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988/2002)
9. Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990)
10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Elia Kazan, 1945)

11. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
12. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
13. Stars in My Crown (Jacques Tourneur, 1950)
14. Blessed Event (Roy Del Ruth, 1932)
15. The Dead (John Huston, 1987)
16. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
17. Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960)
18. The Crowd (King Vidor, 1928)
19. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
20. Sherlock, Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)



21. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927) - pic above
22. How Green Was My Valley (John Ford, 1940)
23. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
24. The Long Day Closes (Terence Davies, 1992)
25. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1947)
26. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939)
27. My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991)
28. The Thin Man (W. S. Van Dyke II, 1934)
29. Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, 1942) - SHORT
30. Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, 2009)

31. Spare Time (Humphrey Jennings, 1939) - SHORT
32. A Canterbury Tale (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. 1944)
33. Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939)
34. A Thousand Clowns (Fred Coe, 1965)
35. The Snowman (Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T. Murakami, 1982) - SHORT
36. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
37. Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks, 1941)
38. Return to Oz (Walter Murch, 1985)
39. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
40. Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935)



41. Louisiana Story (Robert Flaherty, 1948) - pic above
42. In My Father’s Den (Brad McGann, 2004)
43. I Love You Again (W. S. Van Dyke II, 1940)
44. The Silent Village (Humphrey Jennings, 1943) - SHORT
45. Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961)
46. Le Doulos (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1963)
47. The Wind (Victor Sjostrom, 1928)
48. Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950)
49. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
50. The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992)

51. Les quatre cents coups (Francois Truffaut, 1959)
52. A Room with a View (James Ivory, 1986)
53. One False Move (Carl Franklin, 1992)
54. Becket (Peter Glenville, 1964)
55. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
56. Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, 1962)
57. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996)
58. The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970)
59. City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
60. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)



61. The Killer (John Woo, 1989) - pic above
62. A Star Is Born (Vincente Minnelli, 1954)
63. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
64. The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1984)
65. The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (Henry Hathaway, 1935)
66. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1988)
67. Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940)
68. Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941)
69. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
70. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

71. The Iceman Cometh (John Frankenheimer, 1973)
72. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
73. The Sorrow and the Pity (Marcel Ophuls, 1969)
74. Charlie Chan at the Olympics (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1937)
75. Kiss Me Kate (George Sidney, 1953)
76. Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck, 2006)
77. Pixote (Hector Babenco, 1981)
78. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
79. Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges, 1944)
80. Three Smart Girls (Henry Koster, 1936)



81. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955) - pic above
82. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
83. The General (Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 1926)
84. Naked (Mike Leigh, 1993)
85. Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947)
86. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
87. The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975)
88. Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970)
89. Born Yesterday (George Cukor, 1950)
90. Judge Priest (John Ford, 1934)

91. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
92. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)
93. Went the Day Well? (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1942)
94. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
95. Bugsy Malone (Alan Parker, 1976)
96. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
97. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
98. Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls, 1948)
99. Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)
100. Thank Your Lucky Stars (David Butler, 1943)

Goodness me, I really like films.

***

Some stats:

Decade-by-decade breakdown
1910s - 0
1920s - 5
1930s - 11
1940s - 27
1950s - 12
1960s - 11
1970s - 7
1980s - 11
1990s - 9
2000s - 7
2010s - 0

Most represented directors: John Ford (7), Humphrey Jennings (4), Ernst Lubitsch (3)
Number of foreign-language films: 10
Number of musicals: 8
Number of documentaries: 7
Number of films in which Humphrey Bogart plays himself and uses the phrase "movie fans": 1
Number of films starring Eddie Bracken: 1