Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Harmonia (A) on November 26, 2002 at 09:10:03

In Reply to: Forget Ebert posted by Victor Khomenko on November 26, 2002 at 07:01:56:

Careful what you ask for Victor, you might be surprised by the world's critics.

Sight&Sound 2002 Critic's Poll of Ten Greatest Films of All Time:

1. Citizen Kane (Welles) 46 votes
2. Vertigo (Hitchcock) 41
3. Rules of the Game (Renoir) 30
4. The Godfather I&II (Coppola) 23
5. Tokyo Story (Ozu) 22
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick) 21
7. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein), Sunrise (Murnau) 19
9. 8 1/2 (Fellini) 18
10. Singin' in the Rain (Donen, Kelly) 17

Just for comparison's sake: Same Poll in 1992

1. Citizen Kane
2. Rules of the Game
3. Tokyo Story
4. Vertigo
5. The Searchers
6. L'Atalante, Battleship Potemkin, Passion of Joan of Arc, Pather Panchali
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey

Notes: Rules of the Game has been in the top three since 1962, although it has never held the number one position. It was ranked tenth in 1952, so it's been on the poll for 50 years. (It's been my number one since the first time I saw it.) Battleship Potemkin has also been on the list for 50 years, with its highest ranking obtained in 1972 (third). Citizen Kane did not appear on the 1952 poll, but has held the number one slot since 1962, forty years, a record unlikely to be surpassed. Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc (another Harmonia fave) has been in the top ten three times, in 1952, 1972, and 1992.

L'Atalante's last appearance was in 1962, and Carne's only appearance was with La Jour se leve in 1952 (maybe it's time for Carne and Vigo revivals). Seven Samurai's only ranking was in 1982, when it was third. Bergman's only films to make the top ten were Wild Stawberries and Persona, both in 1972. Also in 1972, with the groundswell of Wellesiana fueled by Pauline Kael and others, Magnificent Ambersons was tied for number 8 with Keaton's The General, giving Welles two top ten positions. The only other director to achieve double ranking was Sergei Eisenstein, who tied himself in 1962 for sixth position with Potemkin and Ivan the Terrible, which also shared sixth with DeSica's Bicycle Thieves. (Coppola's Godfather epics I&II are considered a single entity.)

This year's poll is the first since 1952 with fewer than two Italian films in the top ten.

Chaplin last appeared in the poll in 1952, the year I was born, when City Lights and the Gold Rush tied for second (Bycicle Thieves was number one). He is the only British director besides Hitchcock and Lean to appear in any of the polls since 1952 - and of course, both Chaplin's and Hitchcock's top ten films were American productions. No British produced *and* helmed film since Lean's Brief Encounter, in 1952, has made the list since.

I've already said my piece on Ebert - he's a middlebrow, but much less dangerous than some. And I think it is perfectly OK to engage with a popcorn movie for pure pleasure. You just don't want to do it all the time.