In his article on Howard Hawks in his Biographical Dictionary of the Cinema, David Thomson imagines himself on a sinking ship with the opportunity to save from oblivion the ten best films of all time. He muses on how most critics would react - one Welles, one Hitchcock, one Mizoguchi, one Renoir, etc. He claims that he would choose ten Hawks films, but he does have a few funny ideas. He's not keen on Ford and Capra for a start.
It's a game we all play, choosing the ten best, and can be a lot of fun. Taken seriously, the choice will avoid most of the selection criteria I am returning to here from time to time, and has many other factors to consider - script, acting, direction, camerawork, insight, overall artistry, etc.
But there several films which recur frequently on these 'official' lists and these are the films which we might feel we 'ought' to like. I've been having a look at how 'official', intellectual opinion has changed in Sight and Sound's ten-yearly best films poll of critics (and now film-makers). This is found at http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten
As a matter of interest, David Thomson contributed to this poll and, being serious, limited himself to one Hawks, His Girl Friday.
I'll concentrate on critics for the moment, although I've got my reservations about them. For example, critics (at least according to my prejudice) are too concerned with the script and the themes of a film rather than the the craft and the visual. The also have a tendency to be arty and pretentious. And rather too inclined to look for innovation or, conversely, trends and patterns. However.
The link leads to several articles on the polls, but these are my immediate thoughts:
The most consistent appearances in the top ten are Potemkin and La Regle du Jeu, featured every 10 years since 1952.
The most successful is Kane.
There are still two silent films there: Potemkin and Sunrise (Murnau). Greed and Intolerance have slipped.
The most recent is Godfather I and II (cheating her because they've added the votes for the two films together). Otherwise, the most recent would probably be 2001. I suppose it is understandable that we need time to allow the 'greatest' films to emerge from the stew of passing enthusiasm, not to mention rediscovery (this applies to Vertigo, Sunrise and Kane itself).
Surprises: Singin' in the Rain and the Searchers. I suppose I consider myself so resolutely middle-brow that I don't expect to find these serious-minded men and women choosing, a musical and a Western, two of my favourites.
Incidentally there are three Westerns in the top sixty or so, the other two being The Man who Shot Liberty Valance and Rio Bravo. Where the hell is The Wild Bunch? Moreover I can't find any other films by Ford or Hawks in the full list, which is strange. What about The Grapes of Wrath or To Have and Have Not?
Those that have fallen out of favour over the years include Chaplin, who was represented by both City Lights and The Gold Rush in 1952. Also, thank God, there are fewer arty films of the Antonioni, Bergman, Godard variety, but they are still bubbling under.
Japanese cinema is well-represented. Ozu's Tokyo Story is in the top ten and the old favourite Kurosawa is still high with Seven Samurai and Rashomon. Mizoguchi's Ugetsu is still highly regarded.
Time for some nominations (a few from each of these categories and my choice in bold):
Citizen Kane. It's like the Bible and Shakespeare on your desert island. It's the sine qua non of cinema.
Silent cinema: The General, Potemkin, Sunrise. I'd like to add Gance's Napoleon.
Asian: I'll have to stick with Kurosawa, because I haven't seen anything else. Seven Samurai. Perhaps Ray should be here too (not Nick, the other one).
European: obviously La Regle du Jeu. I notice, by the way, that Renoir's other masterpiece, La Grande Illusion is now down at 35. I'd better mention Fellini's 8 1/2, although I haven't seen it, not do I intend to. What kind of director puts his own name in the title of his film? There are a few French films I want to see, which appear on these polls, such as Le Jour se Leve and La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc. Le Salaire de la Peur
Art-house (same as above really): take your pick from any already mentioned, plus Bunuel. As a matter of fact I can't find Bunuel on the latest list. Perhaps people have finally twigged that all that time he was taking the piss. I'll pass on this.
Hollywood (classic): The Searchers, Some Like It Hot, Vertigo, 2001, Singin' in the Rain, My Darling Clementine, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, It's a Wonderful Life.
British: Lawrence of Arabia, The Third Man, and there ought to be a Powell and Pressburger film here. A Matter of Life and Death, possibly, or Black Narcissus.
Recent films: There aren't any in the poll. What, from the last 10 years will make it into the Hall of Fame? A Scorsese or Spielberg? Their best work is already more than 10 years old. Is Clint Eastwood's Letter from Iwo Jima going to put the seal on his incredible career?
My personal top ten of all-time greats:
Citizen Kane, plus
Potemkin
The Wild Bunch
The Searchers
Twelve o'clock High
The Scarlet Empress
Way Out West (Laurel & Hardy)
The General
Schindlers List
The Bride of Frankenstein
It's a Wonderful Life
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