This is part of a series of top ten lists from the years before I started this blog. Entries are listed below in no particular order. Enjoy.
Angel Face - One of my favorite Otto Preminger films is this melodramatic film noir that casts a young Jean Simmons as a girl who might be capable of murder, and Robert Mitchum as the man who is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. There's a refreshing realism to the film, from the presence of minorities to the detailed court proceedings to the multifaceted characters. Our villain is also very much a victim, and the ostensibly good characters do things that would be considered despicable in a less nuanced film.
The Bad and the Beautiful - A cynical Hollywood story that pairs nicely with "Citizen Kane" and "Sunset Boulevard," starring Kirk Douglas in one of his most despicable roles - an unethical studio mogul. The unhappy characters are just close enough to real life industry players to be intriguing, and their ugly experiences in the moviemaking business are just honest enough to ring true. The performances are good, with Douglas and Lana Turner as the seething standouts, playing out a love story that goes sour.
Beauties of the Night - One of the later films from French fantasist Rene Clair examines the dilemma of a man, played by Gerard Phillippe, who prefers his dreams to reality. It's a playful, madcap, silly film that orchestrates raucous spectacle and action with great skill and energy. Clair juggles multiple realities before sending them crashing into each other in a joyously wild final chase sequence that feels decades before its time - or maybe like a loving throwback to the earliest days of silent comedy.
Forbidden Games - Two children witness wartime horrors and deal with it by being children - playing games, indulging in fantasies, and putting their own selfish desires above everything else. And Rene Clement captures the terrible poignancy in this, following the pair as they bury dead animals and steal crosses to put on their graves. They are happy together, in a situation where we would expect them to be miserable, and can we be surprised that they would take steps to preserve their happiness?
High Noon - Gary Cooper never struck me as a particularly compelling leading man, but this is the role he was born to play in the film that is tailor made for his particular strengths. Though celebrated as an action and suspense film, as well as a beloved western, I think of "High Noon" as a morality play. A good man must do the right thing in spite of overwhelming odds and little incentive beyond his own code of ethics. The slow build to the famous ending showdown is one of the best ever captured on film.
Ikiru - Kurosawa may be best known for his samurai, but some of his greatest work was done telling contemporary stories. "Ikiru" takes place in mundane settings, with very ordinary characters, but is one of the most profound and life-affirming films ever made. Takashi Shimura, in a career defining performance, plays a low-level bureaucrat who grapples with his mortality, and then seizes his chance to make a real difference in the world. It's subtle, funny, heartbreaking, and the very definition of a classic.
The Importance of Being Earnest - One of the ultimate comedies of manners, that derives its humor from poking fun at the kabuki-like rituals of formality observed by polite British society. The film, and the Oscar Wilde play it was based on, have only grown more effective over time as the Victorian mannerisms of the characters come off as increasingly absurd. The cast is a joy, but it's Dame Edith Evans' delivery of the handbag line that surely must be counted as one of the greatest moments in cinematic history.
The Life of Oharu - A noble woman is disgraced, and discovers that she has very far to fall in society, as chronicled in one of the best Kenji Mizoguchi films. Through the unfortunate life of the title character, the film examines the pettiness and hypocrisies of both the highborn and the low, from the nobles to the nuns and everyone in between. Oharu, played by Kinuyo Tanaka, is my favorite of Mizoguchi's tragic women because she yearns so stubbornly for what she desires, heedless of propriety, to the very end.
Singin' in the Rain - When I think of Gene Kelly, I immediately think of him singing and dancing in the iconic "Singin' in the Rain" number. For me, it's not only representative of the best of the musical genre, but the best of Hollywood filmmaking, period. "Singin' in the Rain" shouldn't have been a classic. It was a jukebox musical based on preexisting songs, a product of the MGM assembly line, and had all sorts of chaos behind the scenes. But I watch Gene Kelly dance, and I'm swept off my feet in an instant.
Umberto D. - An elderly man has to grapple with the indignities of age and obsolescence in "Umberto D.," a socially conscious melodrama from Vittorio De Sica that urges us to feel some compassion for those living on the margins. What makes Umberto so compelling is his stubborn pride - the shame of poverty nearly drives him to suicide, but his duty to look after his dog keeps him from the brink. Set in post-war Italy, De Sica also gives us a critical look at the state of his country as it attempts to rebuild.
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