Is there a more watched film out there than The Wizard of Oz? Or a more beloved film? It’s so good, in fact, that I think people forget how good it actually is. People seem to pass it off as mere children’s fare, but at the heart of the film is a truly funny script and an incredible score. The songs soar, with 'Over the Rainbow' being the undeniable best but 'The Merry Old Land of Oz' being a dark horse candidate. Upon re-watching the film (in preparation for appearing in the role of the Tin Man on stage), I was astounded by how tight and brilliant the film, script and performances all were. I think the performances of all involved deserve a much needed re-appreciation.
9. The Lost Weekend (Wilder, 1945)
The first, but no means last entry from Billy Wilder in this
series of rankings, but it’s an underrated one to start with. The sour and
bitter story of a chronic alcoholic portrayed astoundingly well by Ray Milland
in a brutal and desperate performance is the centre of this harrowing film. It has some of the finer horror moments of the decade, and I’m not speaking
metaphorically, I’m talking about genuine extended horror sequences that really
drive home the pain and anguish of our lead, Don Birnam. Jane Wyman offers a
much needed heart to this cruel film as Birnam’s perhaps final hope. We go with
Wilder, his co-writer Charles Brackett, and Milland on this harrowing journey
into the deepest recesses of a deeply troubled life.
8. Rebecca (Hitchcock, 1940)
The only Hitchcock film to win best picture is often looked upon as an oversight and, although the oversight is more than warranted when commenting on the other fare that more than deserved Oscar recognition, one mustn’t sleep on the brilliance of this 1940 adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s classic novel. Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine are both excellent, but Judith Anderson steals the show as the terrifying and unsettling Mrs Danvers. Hitchcock’s camera work is sturdy and super - as always - and the beautiful black and white cinematography brings home the dark nature of the novel, fulfilling Hitchcock’s stated intention with the choice. A more than worthy adaptation to a stellar novel that has never aged, nor has the film.
7. Gone with the Wind (Fleming, 1939)
Much has been made in recent times about the longest running
film to win Best Picture (at 2 minutes short of 4 hours). I have personally
never found much wrong with the politics of the film in it’s representation of
a historical period in time, moreso with the politics surrounding the film at
the time it was released. I choose instead now to focus on its epic nature
and its sheer brilliance. The poster once read “In new screen splendour...the
most magnificent movie ever!” and although I don’t think I can agree with the
comment in the scope of greatest films ever, I can certainly put it on this
list as a perfect representation of a period of filmmaking no longer present.
But the film succeeds in so much more than its large moments. It is, after all, the smallest moments that have stayed with us for so many years - the final
farewell of Rhett, Scarlett’s exclamation regarding starvation - but the film
undeniably succeeds in its largest moments as well, with the burning
of Atlanta remaining one of the finest theatrical sequences of its day and, indeed, of
all time.
6. Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
Our final Wilder entry for this ranking marks the peak of the 40s noir scene, beginning the erotic thriller without any sex, setting the screen aflame with sensuality without showing an inch of flesh, putting audiences of the edge of their seats without a single drop of blood shown, everything needed here is in the words and the eyes of MacMurray and Stanwyck. Stanwyck offering one of the finest performances of the decade with immense steel, paired with MacMurray offering us a dubiously moralled centre to a murky tale where we follow the villains. It certainly wasn’t the first film of this ilk, but it certainly set a different tone of quality moving forward.
5. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Huston, 1948)
It is Hollywood legend that Humphrey Bogart described his
character in this film to a critic while leaving a New York nightclub,
commenting “wait 'til you see me in my next picture, I play the worst shit you
ever saw” – and that he does. On the search for gold in Mexico we follow the
descent of Bogart’s Fred C. Dobb’s as he loses his grip on reality and his own
sanity in a desperate fight to retrieve the gold that he so desperately seeks.
Directed by the excellent John Huston (an Oscar win for the director), offering
intimacy and brutality, as well as adventure and an epic nature to the picture.
All this, whilst also starring Huston’s father, Walter Huston (in an Oscar winning role); the
film is an absolute classic of multiple genres and is worth a watch any day of
the week.
4. The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
A work of noir excellence, beautifully shot and directed by Carol Reed, from a masterful screenplay by Graham Greene, the film sours above its own simplicity and lands somewhere between masterpiece and pulp hit. Reuniting the duo of the old Mercury theatre days, with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles starring opposite each other as warring factions in a mystery that will ultimately consume both of them whole. Welles is devilish as always and has never been more charismatic and evil. Cotten brings a warm, yet wary centre to a film filled with double crosses, espionage and secrecy. By the time we view the painful final shot, we know simultaneously everything and nothing, but none of it matters as Alida Valli walks right past us and almost into our souls, caught there forever in our minds as the film haunts us long after it has ended.
3. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
Mr Bernstein comments in this - perhaps the greatest film
ever made on old age - stating that “it’s the only disease...that you don’t
look forward to being cured of”. Fortunately for this film, it is timeless and
is still as fresh and brilliant now as it ever has been. It seemingly will
never age. Although Welles was seen for many years as both a radical genius
and a huge failure time and time again, he is now seen in the right way; a vigorously talented man with such an apt skill for filmmaking
that he couldn’t not knock the ball out of the park on his first try. The film
is simply a triumph and a masterpiece, but anybody who reads, comments or
barely notices film criticism knows that all too well already.
2. It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
There is something to be said about a film that is viewed by millions, all more or less at the same time every year, leading to the same reaction over and over again; implicit joy, many tears and a new-found hope. I have no shame in admitting that I have been to the bottom of the well too and although to talk too personally would be to move away from the undeniable genius of the film, I can comment that the film quite literally saved my life. So perhaps this is a selfish choice, but I know deep down that many, many people have been affected and saved by this film just the same. To end on a highly hyperbolic note, if you don’t at least have one tear by the final reel, I very much doubt that there is a beating heart inside you at all. Or you just have a different taste in films...who knows, could be either.
1. Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
Above my bed hangs a beautiful canvas of the poster for Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca. In a previous post, I explained why I think that this is the greatest film ever made, over Citizen Kane. There now props up the inevitable question of why the film is only ranked an 18, if I do indeed think that it’s the greatest film ever made. Well, for me, I can compartmentalise quality and personal taste. For me there is similarly no question that West Side Story is the greatest musical of all time. Although it does enter my top five musicals of all time, it is still not my number one (that’ll have to be another article one week). But for now, there is no film more quotable, there is no more economic and efficient screenplay, there is no greatest closer scene (never mind closing line), there is simply no film like Casablanca. The love story of Rick and Ilsa will remain with me forever and will never fail to bring a tear to my eye. There are those who believe that older films are dull, boring and dated. I wish I had the funds and means to corral as many of these people as I could into one screening room and then show them Casablanca and then see where everybody stands by the time that Bogart starts talking about hills of beans.
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And so concludes Part 1 of this seven-week run of articles, ranking the greatest/my favourite films of the past 80 years or so. A fine period of film to start us off with, but the task of whittling down to ten got harder and harder as the run went on...
-Thomas Carruthers
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