100 Best movies of all time - well according to the French that is

[Troubled]

Last Updated: 2:09AM GMT 21 Nov 2008


The list, compiled by French cinema magazine Les Cahiers du Cinema, features German, Spanish, Italian and Russian films, but not one made in Britain.
American productions dominate the list, and French films are also well-represented.
There are several mentions for Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin but only for the movies that the two British-born masters made in Hollywood, the Independent reports.
The closest the British cinema industry comes to a mention is the 17th (equal) place given to 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was partly made with British money and the help of British technicians.
Not one British director, from David Lean to Ken Loach or Peter Greenaway, gets a nod.
The list was compiled from the choices of 76 French film directors, critics and industry executives. All 100 movies will be shown, not in list order, at a cinema in the fifth arrondissement of Paris from yesterday until July.
The French jury named Citizen Kane by Orson Welles (1941) the best film. Eleven French-made films appear in the top 20, alongside Singin' in the Rain (1952) and two celebrated westerns, The Searchers (1956) by John Ford and Rio Bravo (1959) by Howard Hawks.
The editor of Les Cahiers du Cinema, Jean-Michel Frodon, told the paper that the absence of British-made movies was "striking" but not deliberate.
"It does not reflect an anti-British bias. It is simply the result of the individual choices of 76 people in the French industry. Each was asked to name their 100 best films and this was the result. Yes, it is surprising, maybe, that there is no Lawrence of Arabia, or no film by Ken Loach or Stephen Frears (The Queen). But there are many other national film industries which are also missing. There are no Brazilian films, for instance."
The Top 20
From Les Cahiers du Cinema:
1. Citizen Kane, 1941, Orson Welles
2= The Night of the Hunter, 1955, Charles Laughton
2= The Rules of the Game, 1939 (La Règle du jeu), Jean Renoir
4. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 1927, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
5. L'Atalante, 1934, Jean Vigo
6. M, 1931, Fritz Lang
7. Singin' in the Rain, 1952, Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
8. Vertigo, 1958, Alfred Hitchcock
9= Children of Paradise, 1945 (Les Enfants du Paradis), Marcel Carné
9= The Searchers, 1956, John Ford
9= Greed, 1924, Erich von Stroheim
12= Rio Bravo, 1959, Howard Hawkes
12= To Be or Not to Be, 1942, Ernst Lubitsch
14. Tokyo Story, 1953, Yasujiro Ozu 15 Contempt, (Le Mépris) 1963, Jean-Luc Godard
16= Tales of Ugetsu, 1953, Kenji Mizoguchi
16= City Lights, 1931, Charlie Chaplin
16= The General, 1927, Buster Keaton
16= Nosferatu the Vampire, 1922, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
16= The Music Room, 1958, Satyajit Ray




British lose out in French list of best films of all time - Telegraph

[ChiangMai noon]

unsurprisingly pretentious.

[kingwilly]

have a red for encouraging the ladyboy lover

[AntRobertson]

I've been a bit wary of the French taste in film ever since they gave Sharon Stone that top award for acting.

[ChiangMai noon]

I'm not going to click on the full list but the most recent movie in that top 20 was 50 years ago.

what a pile of stinking pretentious onion smelling poop.

[Texpat]

Two words: Jerry Lewis.

[melvbot]

If anyone takes any notice of a top 100 by the French they need a whipping. They have less knowledge on what makes a decent movie than a cat does about bricklaying.

Ive sat through 5 French films in my time (supposedly quality French films) and they were some of the worst Ive endured.

[Travelmate]

Two words: Jerry Lewis.

Stallone?

[Butterfly]

Quite a nice list actually,

for those who do not know, Godart is the editor of that magazine, it's a movie literature magazine for academics, not your average glossy movie fan magazine

so that explains why most of those movies are old, they are classic, and they are usually used as references in academic circle,

[Butterfly]

they gave Sharon Stone that top award for acting.

that was for that movie where she was spreading her legs, who wouldn't give her the top award for that kind of acting ?

[kingwilly]

Le dinner cons - very funny movie!

[melvbot]

A lot of French films are seen as arty more than entertaining, if youre French and can pick up a camera you can have a go because TV companies have to invest in films by law. They have to give cash out to some twat who thinks hes making "art"

[Butterfly]

^ maybe Scampy has a chance to make it big there, he should move to France

[melvbot]

As long as he passes himself off as French he'll be ok, just knock on a TV stations door with his camera, a beret, black and white stripey shirt and theyll have to give him some cash

[bkkmadness]

^^ He owns an unoccupied house in France already so there's no problem with accommodation.

Alternatively I'm sure your family would happily give a room to an aspiring film maker for a few months BF.