Rank: 45
Release Year: 1975
Genre: Period Drama
Plot
Summary: Barry Lyndon is an Irish rogue, who leads a grand life after
winning the heart of a rich widow, assuming the position of her dead husband in
18th Century aristocracy.
What
Makes It Special: Barry Lyndon is beautifully staged and shot by Stanley
Kubrick and his cinematographer John Alcott. The
use of candle light (and other sources of natural light) is phenomenal,
creating such an elegant stylistic aesthetic look (like a series of Baroque
paintings) while also giving this almost tall tale a feel of realism. It is a
film known for its beauty, but sometimes belittled as being cold and slow. It
does require dedication in its viewer, but the depth of its narrative and
genuine charm of its aesthetic are well worth its viewing.
Rank: 44
Release Year: 1934
Genre: Romance/Drama
Plot
Summary: Juliette marries a river barge captain Jean and joins him on
his ship; however, life on the barge is not all it has cracked up to be. The
couple stops in Paris where Juliette, overcome with boredom, leaves to enjoy
the city. Jean is enraged and leaves the city without her. Apart, the two
realize how much they love each other, but is it too late?
What
Makes It Special: Jean Vigo’s only theatrically released film (he died
shortly after its completion), L’Atalante, is a tale about relationships that
seems to find a depth of intimacy not often found in cinema. It speaks to us viewers
on an incredibly relatable level, as Jean and Juliette’s relationship resembles
the same experiences of our relationships and their feelings, hopes, dreams,
doubts, and fears are ours as well. The film has poetic realism to it. L’Atalante
is a simple film, a simple narrative, but Vigo finds the beauty in the
simplicity of basic love, passion, frustration, and everything else that comes
in a meaningful relationship between two people.
Rank: 43
Release Year: 1943
Genre: War/Romance Drama
Plot
Summary: Clive Candy has just returned to England from the Boer War when
he is alerted to a former associate from his time in Africa spreading what he perceives
as lies about the English, galvanizing the German people against the English.
Even though he is told to stand down, Candy’s pride gets the best of him and he
heads off to Germany to put this man in his place. Of course, the bullheaded Candy
causes an incident which can only be remedied by engaging in a duel with a
German officer (Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff). Both men are injured in the
struggle and are sent to the same hospital to recover. At the hospital, they
become close friends and fall in love with the same woman. The film tracks
their friendship over the course of their lives, as well as Candy always
searching for the woman of his dreams.
What
Makes It Special: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is a cinematic
marvel – one that is usually forgotten when canonized lists of the best films
are put together. It is an immense work of emotional depth, aesthetic beauty,
and philosophical understanding. It is a war film that is about good versus
evil –the decay of humanity in the hands of fanatics in power, who must be
stopped and defeated at any cost. The film was released in 1943 by the Archers
as England was in the grip of war with Nazi Germany (having suffered years of
bombing raids), the severity of the evils perpetrated by the Nazi party only
just beginning to become fully clear. The film is also about the world changing
– the old world dying and the new world born in its place. Clive Candy is a
relic of a age that has now passed, and yet he is holding onto the past as hard
as he can.
Rank: 42
Release Year: 1963
Genre: Period/War Drama
Plot
Summary: The 1860s was a time of revolutionary social upheaval in Sicily.
The Prince of Salina, a well-respected noble aristocrat of unquestionable
integrity, strives to overcome the changing times, keeping his family and class
intact.
What
Makes It Special: The Leopard is yet another beautifully shot and
designed period drama. It is also another film about a man struggling as the
world he knows changes around him, leaving him and everything he hold dear
behind. The production design is marvelous, with stunning costumes and sets. But
on top of its beauty, the film also has an extraordinary dramatic depth and
insight. The Prince of Salina fights for his place in the world but slowly must
accept his own mortality. It is quite profound. The Leopard is also a film
quoted by Francis
Ford Coppola, Michael
Cimino, and Martin
Scorsese as being vital and influential to their own filmmaking.
Rank: 41
Release Year: 1946
Genre: War/Romance Drama
Plot
Summary: Peter Carter is a pilot returning from a bombing mission over
Germany. The rest of his crew is either dead or has bailed out. His plane is on
fire and is going down, but he does not have a parachute. In his last moments,
he contacts an RAF communication tower and speaks to a young American woman
named June. They have a connection. Peter bails out, only to awaken the next
morning still alive. He has a rendezvous with June and the two fall in love;
however, he was meant to die and an angel comes to Earth to retrieve him. Peter
appeals his death and must now return to Heaven and plead his case to remain on
Earth.
What
Makes It Special: A Matter of Life and Death is a fantastically engrossing
drama. The opening scene is among the greatest scenes in cinema history. The use
of both black & white and Technicolor photography creates a splendid dichotomy
between Heaven and Earth. Like all of the Archers’ films of the 1940s, it is
aesthetically magnificent as well as dramatically, philosophically, and emotionally
compelling. Sadly, it is a film that mostly forgotten and unseen.
Available on: DVD
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