All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 war film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander.It is considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I, and was named #54 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies. In June 2008, AFI revealed its 10 Top 10—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. All Quiet on the Western Front was acknowledged as the seventh best film in the epic genre. In 1990, this film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director
The Battleship Potemkin, sometimes called The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm. It presents a dramatised version of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against their oppressive officers of the Tsarist regime.
The Battleship Potemkin has been called one of the most influential propaganda films of all time, and was named the greatest film of all time at the World's Fair at Brussels, Belgium, in 1958.
The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on the novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and William Holden.
In 1997, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Academy Awards
The Bridge on the River Kwai won seven Oscars
Best Picture — Sam Spiegel
Best Director — David Lean
Best Actor — Alec Guinness
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium — Michael Wilson, Carl Foreman, Pierre Boulle
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Film — Malcolm Arnold
Best Film Editing — Peter Taylor
Best Cinematography — Jack Hildyard
It was nominated for
Best Actor in a Supporting Role — Sessue Hayakawa
BAFTA Awards
Winner of 3 BAFTA Awards
Best British Film — David Lean, Sam Spiegel
Best Film from any Source — David Lean, Sam Spiegel
Best British Actor — Alec Guinness
Golden Globe Awards
Winner of 3 Golden Globes
Best Motion Picture — Drama — David Lean, Sam Spiegel
Best Director — David Lean
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama — Alec Guinness
Recipient of one nomination
Best Supporting Actor — Sessue Hayakawa
Other awards
New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Film
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (David Lean, Assistants: Gus Agosti & Ted Sturgis)
New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Director (David Lean)
New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actor (Alec Guinness)
Other nominations
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture (Sessue Hayakawa)
Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album, Dramatic Picture Score or Original Cast (Malcolm Arnold)
Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the mores of British suburban life, centering on a housewife for whom real love (as opposed to the polite arrangement of her marriage) was an unexpectedly "violent" thing. The film stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. The screenplay is by Noël Coward, and is based on his 1936 one-act play Still Life. The soundtrack prominently features the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, played by Eileen Joyce.
The film shared the 1946 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Celia Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1947 awards. In 1999 Brief Encounter came second in a British Film Institute poll of the top 100 British films. In 2004, the magazine Total Film named it the 44th greatest British film of all time. Derek Malcolm included the film in his 2000 column The Century of Films.
Bonnie and Clyde is a 1967 American crime film about Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the bank robbers who operated in the central United States during the Great Depression. The film was directed by Arthur Penn, and stars Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow and Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker. The screenplay was written by David Newman and Robert Benton, with Robert Towne and Beatty providing uncredited contributions to the script.
Bonnie and Clyde is considered a landmark film, and is regarded as one of the first films of the New Hollywood era, in that it broke many taboos and was popular with the younger generation. Its success motivated other filmmakers to be more forward about presenting sex and violence in their films.
Bonnie and Clyde received Academy Awards for "Best Supporting Actress" (Estelle Parsons) and "Best Cinematography" (Burnett Guffey), and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Academy Awards
Estelle Parsons won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Blanche Barrow, Clyde's sister-in-law, and Burnett Guffey won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
The film was also nominated for:
Best Picture
Best Director - Arthur Penn
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen - David Newman and Robert Benton
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Warren Beatty
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Faye Dunaway
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Michael J. Pollard
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Gene Hackman
Best Costume Design - Theadora Van Runkle
Others
In 1992, Bonnie and Clyde was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
American Film Institute recognition In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Bonnie and Clyde was acknowledged as the fifth best in the gangster film genre.[12]
1998 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - #27
2001 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills - #13
2002 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions - #65
2003 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker - Villain #32
2005 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
"We rob banks." - #41
2007 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #42
2008 - AFI's 10 Top 10 - #5 gangster film
Brighton Rock is a 1947 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by Graham Greene. The film is considered one of the most successful British films noir. In the United States, the film was released under the title Young Scarface.
Centering on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
Graham Greene and Terence Rattigan wrote the screenplay for the 1947 film adaptation, produced and directed by John and Roy Boulting, with assistant director Gerald Mitchell. The film starred Richard Attenborough as Pinkie (reprising his breakthrough West End creation of the character some three years prior), Carol Marsh as Rose, William Hartnell as Dallow, and Hermione Baddeley as Ida. The climax of the film takes place at the Palace Pier, which differs from the novel, the end of which takes place in the nearby town of Peacehaven.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film that tells the story of bank robbers Butch Cassidy (played by Paul Newman) and his partner The Sundance Kid (played by Robert Redford), based loosely on historical fact.
The film was directed by George Roy Hill and produced at 20th Century Fox by John Foreman from a screenplay by William Goldman. The music score was by Burt Bacharach with song lyrics by Hal David. Along with Newman and Redford, the film stars Katharine Ross as Etta Place, and features Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Jeff Corey, Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Ted Cassidy, Kenneth Mars and Donnelly Rhodes.
At the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970 the film won Oscars in four of the seven categories within which it had been nominated, including awards for its screenplay and cinematography. At the 24th British Academy Film Awards, the film received nine awards including Best Film.
Years later, the film has been recognized on a half dozen of the American Film Institute's AFI 100 Years... series lists, including both editions of the "100 Years... 100 Movies" lists; it has been part of the United States National Film Registry since 2003.
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one character, love and virtue. He must choose between his love for a woman and helping her and her Resistance leader husband escape from the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.
Although it was an A-list movie, with established stars and first-rate writers—Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch received credit for the screenplay—no one involved with its production expected Casablanca to be anything out of the ordinary; it was just one of dozens of pictures being churned out by Hollywood every year. The film was a solid, if unspectacular, success in its initial run, rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier. Yet, despite a changing assortment of screenwriters frantically adapting an unstaged play and barely keeping ahead of production, and Bogart attempting his first romantic lead role, Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its characters, dialogue, and music have become iconic, and Casablanca has grown in popularity to the point that it now consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films of all time.
Casablanca won three Oscars:
Academy Award for Best Picture – Warner Bros. (Hal B. Wallis, producer)
Academy Award for Best Director – Michael Curtiz
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay – Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch
It was also nominated for another five Oscars:
Academy Award for Best Actor – Humphrey Bogart
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Claude Rains
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, black-and-white – Arthur Edeson
Academy Award for Film Editing – Owen Marks
Academy Award for Original Music Score – Max Steiner
In 1989, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 2005 it was also named one of the 100 greatest films of the last 80 years by Time.com (the selected films were not ranked).
In 2006, the Writers Guild of America voted the screenplay of Casablanca the best of all time in its list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays.
Awards
1998 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - #2
2001 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills - #37
2002 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions - #1
2003 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
Rick Blaine, hero #4
2004 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
"As Time Goes By" #2
2005 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes - #5, 20, 28, 32, 43, 67
2006 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers - #32
2007 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #3
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso is a 1988 Italian film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. It was internationally released as Cinema Paradiso in France, Spain, the UK and the U.S.
It was originally released in Italy at 155 minutes but poor box office performance in its native country led to it being shortened to 123 minutes for international release. It was an instant success. This international version won the Special Jury Prize at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and the 1989 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. In 2002, the director's cut 173-minute version was released (known in the U.S. as Cinema Paradiso: The New Version).
It stars Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret, Leopoldo Trieste, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano and Salvatore Cascio. It was produced by Franco Cristaldi and Giovanna Romagnoli, and the music was by Ennio Morricone along with his son Andrea Morricone.
Told in flashback, it tells the story of the return to his native Sicilian village of a successful film director Salvatore for the funeral of his old friend Alfredo, who was the projectionist at the local "Cinema Paradiso". Ultimately, Alfredo serves as a wise father figure to his young friend who only wishes the best to see him succeed, even if it means breaking his heart in the process.
The film intertwines sentimentality with comedy, and nostalgia with pragmatics. It explores issues of youth, coming of age, and reflections (in adulthood) about the past. The imagery in each scene can be said to reflect Salvatore's idealised memories about his childhood. Cinema Paradiso is also a celebration of films; as a projectionist, young Salvatore (a.k.a Totò) develops the passion for films that shapes his life path in adulthood.
David Copperfield (1935)
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (usually shortened to David Copperfield) is a 1935 film based upon the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield. Although quite a few characters and incidents from the novel were omitted - notably David's time at Salem House boarding school - the spirit of the book and the period were captured well.
The film was adapted by Hugh Walpole, Howard Estabrook and Lenore J. Coffee from the Dickens novel, and directed by George Cukor.
Genevieve is a 1953 British film directed by Henry Cornelius and starring John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth More and Kay Kendall as two couples in a car race. The musical score was composed and performed by Larry Adler (harmonica player) with dance numbers by Eric Rogers.
The film won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay (William Rose) and Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American drama romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel of the same name and directed by Victor Fleming (Fleming replaced George Cukor). The epic film, set in the American South in and around the time of the Civil War, stars Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, and Olivia de Havilland, and tells a story of the Civil War and its aftermath from a white Southern viewpoint.
It received ten Academy Awards, a record that stood for twenty years In the American Film Institute's inaugural Top 100 American Films of All Time list of 1998, it was ranked number four, although in the 2007 10th Anniversary edition of that list, it was dropped two places, to number six. In June 2008, AFI revealed its 10 top 10 — the best ten films in ten American film genres—after polling over 1,500 persons from the creative community. Gone with the Wind was acknowledged as the fourth best film in the Epic genre. It has sold more tickets in the U.S. than any other film in history, and is considered a prototype of a Hollywood blockbuster. Today, it is considered one of the greatest and most popular films of all time and one of the most enduring symbols of the golden age of Hollywood. Gone with the Wind remains the highest-ticket selling film of all time in North America and the UK.
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols, based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay is by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as the hotel clerk. The film tells the story of Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman), a recent university graduate with no well-defined aim in life, who is seduced by an older woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), and he then proceeds to fall in love with her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross).
In 1996, The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It ranked as the seventh greatest film of all time on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, and placed #18 on the list of highest-grossing films in the United States and Canada, adjusted for inflation.
Kes is a 1969 British film from director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The film is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave written by the Barnsley born author Barry Hines in 1968. The film is ranked seventh in the British Film Institute's Top Ten (British) Films.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - Crystal Globe
1971: Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award - Best British Screenplay
1971: British Academy Film Awards
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Colin Welland)
Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (David Bradley)
Psycho is an American 1960 suspense/thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano. It is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch, which was in turn inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein.
The film depicts the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who is in hiding at a motel after embezzling from her employer, and the motel's owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), and the aftermath of their encounter.
It initially received mixed reviews, but outstanding box office returns prompted a re-review which was overwhelmingly positive and led to four Academy Award nominations. Today, the movie is considered one of Hitchcock's best films and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics. The film spawned two sequels, a prequel, a remake, and an unsuccessful television spin-off.
1998: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - #18
2001: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills - #1
2003: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
Villains - #2: Norman Bates
2005: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
#56: "A boy's best friend is his mother."
2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #4
2007: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #14
Schindler's List is a 1993 American drama film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.
The film was a box office success and recipient of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards. In 2007, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked the film eighth on its list of the 100 best American films of all time (up one position from its 9th place listing on the 1998 list
The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard.
The screenplay was written by novelist Graham Greene. Greene's novella of the same name, written in preparation for writing the screenplay, was published in 1950.
Anton Karas wrote the now-iconic zither score that topped the charts in 1950.
The Third Man won the 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Award for Best Film, and an Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography in 1950.
The Third Man won the 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Award for Best Film, and an Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography in 1950.
American Film Institute recognition
2001 100 Years…100 Thrills 75
2003 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains 37 (villain: Harry Lime)
2008 10 Top 10 5 (mystery film)
2003 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains 37 (villain: Harry Lime)
2008 10 Top 10 5 (mystery film)
In 1999, the British Film Institute selected The Third Man as the best British film of the 20th century; five years later, the magazine Total Film ranked it fourth.
The film also placed 57th on the American Film Institute's list of top American films, "100 Years...100 Movies" in 1998, though the film's only American connection was its executive co-producer, David O. Selznick; the other two, Sir Alexander Korda and Carol Reed, were British.
In June 2008, the AFI revealed its "10 Top 10"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community.
The Third Man was acknowledged as the fifth best film in the mystery genre.
all time; it was the only film in the top five made prior to 1970.
Henry Cotten & Orson Welles in The Third Man
The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the British author (and future Governor General of Canada) John Buchan, first published in 1915 by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous habit of getting himself out of sticky situations.
The 1935 black and white version was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starred Robert Donat as Hannay and Madeleine Carroll as the woman he meets on the train. It is regarded by film critics as the superior version. This was the first Hitchcock film based upon the idea of an "innocent man on the run," such as Saboteur and North by Northwest. Scholars of his movies regard this film as one of his best variations upon this particular theme. In 1999 it came 4th in a BFI poll of British films and in 2004 Total Film named it the 21st greatest British movie of all time.
The 1935 black and white version was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starred Robert Donat as Hannay and Madeleine Carroll as the woman he meets on the train. It is regarded by film critics as the superior version. This was the first Hitchcock film based upon the idea of an "innocent man on the run," such as Saboteur and North by Northwest. Scholars of his movies regard this film as one of his best variations upon this particular theme. In 1999 it came 4th in a BFI poll of British films and in 2004 Total Film named it the 21st greatest British movie of all time.
The Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T.E.B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton and starring Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway and Sid James as gold thieves. The title refers to Lavender Hill, a street in Battersea, a district of South London, in the postcode area SW11, near to Clapham Junction railway station.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. Guinness was nominated for the award of Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel (through his British company, Horizon Pictures), from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. (Lean and Spiegel had recently completed the acclaimed film The Bridge on the River Kwai.) The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films in the history of cinema. The dramatic score by Maurice Jarre and the Super Panavision 70 cinematography by Freddie Young are also highly acclaimed.
The film depicts Lawrence's experiences in Arabia during World War I, in particular his attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. Its themes include Lawrence's emotional struggles with violence in war (especially the conflicts between Arab tribes and the slaughter of the Turkish army), his personal identity, and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and its army, and his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes.
The film was nominated for ten Oscars at the 35th Academy Awards, and won seven, including Best Picture.
The film was nominated for ten Oscars at the 35th Academy Awards, and won seven, including Best Picture.
Lawrence of Arabia won seven Academy Awards:
Academy Award for Best Picture — Sam Spiegel
Academy Award for Best Director — David Lean
Academy Award for Best Art Direction — John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni
Academy Award for Best Cinematography — Freddie Young
Academy Award for Original Music Score — Maurice Jarre
Academy Award for Film Editing — Ann V. Coates
Academy Award for Sound — John Cox
Academy Award for Best Director — David Lean
Academy Award for Best Art Direction — John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni
Academy Award for Best Cinematography — Freddie Young
Academy Award for Original Music Score — Maurice Jarre
Academy Award for Film Editing — Ann V. Coates
Academy Award for Sound — John Cox
It was nominated for three:
Academy Award for Best Actor — Peter O'Toole
Academy Award BAFTA Award for Best British Actor — Peter O'Toole
BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay — Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson
Academy Award for Best Actor — Peter O'Toole
Academy Award BAFTA Award for Best British Actor — Peter O'Toole
BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay — Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson
It was nominated for
BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor — Anthony Quinn
Golden Globe Awards
Lawrence of Arabia won five Golden Globe Awards:
Best Motion Picture — Drama — David Lean, Sam Spiegel
Best Director of a Motion Picture — David Lean
Best Supporting Actor — Omar Sharif my Award for Best Supporting Actor — Omar Sharif
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson
BAFTA Awards
BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor — Anthony Quinn
Golden Globe Awards
Lawrence of Arabia won five Golden Globe Awards:
Best Motion Picture — Drama — David Lean, Sam Spiegel
Best Director of a Motion Picture — David Lean
Best Supporting Actor — Omar Sharif my Award for Best Supporting Actor — Omar Sharif
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson
BAFTA Awards
Lawrence of Arabia won four BAFTA Awards
BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source — Sam Spiegel, David Lean
BAFTA Award for Best British Film — Sam Spiegel, David Lean
Most Promising Newcomer — Male — Omar Sharif
Best Cinematography, Color — Freddie Young
BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source — Sam Spiegel, David Lean
BAFTA Award for Best British Film — Sam Spiegel, David Lean
Most Promising Newcomer — Male — Omar Sharif
Best Cinematography, Color — Freddie Young
Other awards
Directors Guild of America
Outstanding Directorial Achievement — David Lean
David di Donatello Awards
Best Foreign Film — Sam Spiegel
British Society of Cinematographers
Best Cinematography Award — Freddie Young
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
Best Director Foreign Film — David Lean
Kinema Junpo Awards
Best Foreign Language Film — David Lean
National Board of Review
Best Director — David Lean
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Best British Dramatic Screenplay — Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson
Directors Guild of America
Outstanding Directorial Achievement — David Lean
David di Donatello Awards
Best Foreign Film — Sam Spiegel
British Society of Cinematographers
Best Cinematography Award — Freddie Young
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
Best Director Foreign Film — David Lean
Kinema Junpo Awards
Best Foreign Language Film — David Lean
National Board of Review
Best Director — David Lean
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Best British Dramatic Screenplay — Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson
American Film Institute recognition
1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #5
2001 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills # 23
2003 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
T.E. Lawrence, hero #10
2005 AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #3
2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #30
2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #7
2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 — #1 Epic film
1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #5
2001 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills # 23
2003 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
T.E. Lawrence, hero #10
2005 AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #3
2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #30
2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #7
2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 — #1 Epic film
Peter O'Toole As Lawrence of Arabia
Lost Horizon is a 1937 film directed by Frank Capra starring Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt and Sam Jaffe. It tells the story of a group of travelers who find a utopian society in the Himalaya Mountains. The film is based upon the James Hilton novel of the same name and was adapted by Sidney Buchman (uncredited) and Robert Riskin. The Streamline Modern sets were designed by Stephen Goosson.
Artistically, Lost Horizon evokes many of the themes associated with Capra as an auteur but is somewhat darker and at times, cynical, as with much of his early work.
Awards
Best Art Direction - Stephen Goosson
Film Editing - Gene Havlick and Gene Milford
Nominations
Best Picture - Frank Capra
Best Supporting Actor - H. B. Warner
Best Assistant Director - Charles C. Coleman
Original Music Score - Score by Dimitri Tiomkin, but the nomination was for the head of the department, Morris Stoloff
Best Sound, Recording - John P. Livadary
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Written and directed by John Huston, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale client, Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut, and Peter Lorre. The film was Huston's directorial debut and was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Best Art Direction - Stephen Goosson
Film Editing - Gene Havlick and Gene Milford
Nominations
Best Picture - Frank Capra
Best Supporting Actor - H. B. Warner
Best Assistant Director - Charles C. Coleman
Original Music Score - Score by Dimitri Tiomkin, but the nomination was for the head of the department, Morris Stoloff
Best Sound, Recording - John P. Livadary
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Written and directed by John Huston, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale client, Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut, and Peter Lorre. The film was Huston's directorial debut and was nominated for three Academy Awards.
The story concerns a San Francisco private detective's dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers who compete to obtain a fabulous jewel-encrusted statuette of a falcon.
The Maltese Falcon has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by Roger Ebert,[1] and Entertainment Weekly,[2] and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain, the first major work on film noir, as the first film of that genre.[3]
The film premiered on October 3, 1941 in New York City and in 1989 was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry
Oliver Twist (1948) is the second of David Lean's two film adaptations of Charles Dickens novels. Following the success of his 1946 version of Great Expectations, Lean re-assembled much of the same team for his next film, including producers Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan, cinematographer Guy Green, designer John Bryan and editor Jack Harris. Lean's then-wife, Kay Walsh, who had collaborated on the screenplay for Great Expectations, played the role of Nancy.
Rebecca (1940) is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project, and his first film produced under his contract with David O. Selznick. The film's screenplay was an adaptation by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood from Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan's adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, and was produced by Selznick.
It stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as his late wife's housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.
The film is a gothic tale about the lingering memory of the title character, which still affects Maxim, his new bride, and Mrs. Danvers long after her death.
The film won two Academy Awards, including Best Picture out of a total 11 nominations. Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson were all Oscar nominated for their respective roles.
1940 Academy Awards wins
Best Picture - Selznick International Pictures - David O. Selznick.
Best Cinematography, Black and White - George Barnes.
1940 Academy Award nominations
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Laurence Olivier.
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Joan Fontaine.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Judith Anderson.
Best Director - Alfred Hitchcock.
Art Direction, Black and White - Lyle R. Wheeler.
Special Effects - Jack Cosgrove, Arthur Johns.
Best Film Editing - Hal C. Kern.
Best Music, Original Score - Franz Waxman.
Best Writing, Screenplay - Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison.
Stagecoach is a 1939 western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox.
The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory.
Although Ford had made many westerns in the silent film era, he had never directed a sound western. Between 1929 - 1939, he directed films of almost every other genre, including Wee Willie Winkie (1937) starring Shirley Temple
Stagecoach was to be his first sound western and the first of many that Ford made on location in Monument Valley, in the American southwest on the Arizona-Utah border, many of which also starred John Wayne.
Awards and honors
Winner
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Mitchell)
New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Director (John Ford)
Nominated
Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Directing (John Ford)
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Alexander Toluboff)
Academy Award for Best Cinematography-Black-and-White (Bert Glennon)
Academy Award for Film Editing (Otho Lovering & Dorothy Spencer)
Others
John Ford won the 1939 New York Film Critics Award as Best Director. Other critics gave the film uniformly glowing reviews.
In 1995, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.
In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten Top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Stagecoach was acknowledged as the ninth best film in the western genre.
West Side Story is a 1961 American film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, which itself was adapted from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.
It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and it was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C., in Super Panavision 70.
The action was filmed largely in Los Angeles on sets designed by Boris Leven, although the film's opening sequence was shot on the streets of New York City, mainly in the area where the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts campus of Fordham University now stands.
Jerome Robbins, who had directed the stage version, was responsible for planning and directing all music and dance sequences in the film, as well as all the fight scenes. When approximately 60% of principal photography was complete, the producers became concerned that the production was over-budget and Robbins was fired. His final contribution before leaving the film was to write the staging for the rumble.
The film was released on October 18, 1961 through United Artists. It received praise from critics and the public, and became the second highest grossing film of the year in the United States.
The film won ten Academy Awards in its eleven nominated categories, including Best Picture, as well as a special award for Robbins. The film holds the distinction of being the musical film with the most Academy Award wins (10 wins), including Best Picture.
The soundtrack album made more money than any other album before it.
Awards and honors
The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1997.
The film holds the distinction of being the only musical film with the most Academy Award wins (10 wins), including Best Picture.
Wins
Academy Award for Best Picture – Robert Wise, producer
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – George Chakiris
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Set Decoration, Color) – Victor A. Gangelin and Boris Leven
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Color) – Daniel L. Fapp
Academy Award for Costume Design (Color) – Irene Sharaff
Academy Award for Directing – Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
Academy Award for Film Editing – Thomas Stanford
Academy Award for Original Music Score of a Musical Picture – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin
Academy Award for Sound – Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD), and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)
Nominations
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium – Ernest Lehman
Others
Academy Award for Brilliant Achievements in the Art of Choreography on Film – Jerome Robbins
American Film Institute recognition
1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #41
2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #3
2004 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
"Somewhere" #20
"America" #35
"Tonight" #59
2006 AFI's 100 Years of Musicals #2
2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #51
Whisky Galore! (released in the US as Tight Little Island) was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky. The plot deals with the attempts of Scottish islanders to take advantage of an unexpected windfall, despite opposition from British authorities.
It starred Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gordon Jackson. This was Alexander Mackendrick's directorial debut.
Mackenzie also wrote a sequel, Rockets Galore!, which was filmed by the Rank Organisation in 1957. An attempt was made to produce a remake of the film between 2004 and 2006.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical-fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
The film stars Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Grapewin, Clara Blandick, and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins.
The film follows farm girl Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) who lives on a Kansas farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but dreams of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." After being struck unconscious during a tornado by a window which has come loose from its frame, Dorothy dreams that she, her dog Toto, and the farmhouse are transported to the magical Land of Oz. There, the Good Witch of the North, Glinda (Billie Burke), advises Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz, who can return her to Kansas. During her journey, she meets a Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), a Tin Man (Jack Haley), and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), who join her, hoping to receive what they lack themselves (a brain, a heart, and courage, respectively). All of this is done while also trying to avoid the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) and her attempt to get her sister's ruby slippers from Dorothy, who received them from Glinda.
Initially, The Wizard of Oz was not considered a commercial success in relation to its enormous budget, although it made a small profit and received largely favorable reviews. The impact it had upon release was reportedly responsible for the release of two other fantasy films in Technicolor the following year - The Blue Bird and The Thief of Bagdad. The songs from The Wizard of Oz became widely popular, with "Over the Rainbow" receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the film itself garnering several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
The Wizard of Oz was an annual television tradition in the United States, and through these showings, it has become one of the most famous films ever made. It is still shown on television, though more often now than simply once a year. The film received much more attention after its annual television screenings were so warmly embraced and has since become one of the most beloved films of all time.
The Library of Congress names The Wizard of Oz as the most-watched film in history. It is often ranked among the top ten best movies of all-time in various critics' and popular polls, and it has provided many indelible quotes to the American cultural consciousness. Its signature song, "Over the Rainbow," sung by Judy Garland, has been voted the greatest movie song of all time by the American Film Institute.
Awards and honors
According to The Observer, the film has the greatest soundtrack of all time. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards upon its release, including Best Picture and Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It lost the award in the Best Picture category to Gone with the Wind (another MGM release), but won in the category of Best Song (Over The Rainbow) and Academy Award for Best Original Music Score. Although the Best Song award went to E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, the Best Original Score Award went to, not the songwriters, but Herbert Stothart, who composed the background score. Judy Garland received a special Academy Juvenile Award that year, for "Best Performances by a Juvenile" (this meant that the award was also for her role in the film version of Babes in Arms). The Wizard of Oz did not receive an Oscar for its now-famous special effects - that award went to the 1939 film version of The Rains Came, for its monsoon sequence. Additional nominations were for Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning for Art Direction and to Hal Rosson for Cinematography (color).
In current reviews, The Wizard of Oz is still praised by critics.
On the films Rotten Tomatoes listing, 100% of critics give the film positive reviews, based on 65 reviews.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten American films in ten genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The Wizard of Oz was acknowledged as the best film in the fantasy genre.
American Film Institute recognition
1998 AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies #6
2001 AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills #43
2003 AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains:
Wicked Witch of the West, villain #4
2004 AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs:
"Over the Rainbow" #1
"Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," #82
2005, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes:
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" #4
"There's no place like home" #23
"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too" #99
2006 AFI's 100 Years of Musicals #3
2006 AFI's 100 Years…100 Cheers #26
2007 AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #10
2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 #1 Fantasy film
Other noted honors
1999 Rolling Stone's 100 Maverick Movies ranked #20.
1999 Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Films ranked #32.
2000 The Village Voice's 100 Best Films of the 20th Century ranked #14.
2002 Sight & Sound's Greatest Film Poll of Directors ranked #41
2005 Total Film's 100 Greatest Films #83.
2007 Total Film's 23 Weirdest Films ranked #1.
As you read through the lists of 3* and 4* films you become aware that certain directors/producers regularly gain the Three and Four Star accolades. Examples which spring to mind include Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Sergei Eisenstein, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, Noel Coward, James Whale, John Huston, Steven Spielberg, John Ford, Billy Wilder, and Stanley Kubrick, Ealing Comedies & Universal Horror Films (Dracula, Frankenstein black & white versions)
In many cases they each have their own kind of specialism.
David Lean specialises in vast open spaces, large casts etc – Lawrence of Arabia, Ghandi, and Bridge on the River Kwai.
John Ford – Westerns
James Whale - 1930’s horror films
I sincerely hope that this list of "classics" has stirred some happy film going memories.
Tomorrow I will be looking at another genre.
The Maltese Falcon has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by Roger Ebert,[1] and Entertainment Weekly,[2] and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain, the first major work on film noir, as the first film of that genre.[3]
The film premiered on October 3, 1941 in New York City and in 1989 was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry
Oliver Twist (1948) is the second of David Lean's two film adaptations of Charles Dickens novels. Following the success of his 1946 version of Great Expectations, Lean re-assembled much of the same team for his next film, including producers Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan, cinematographer Guy Green, designer John Bryan and editor Jack Harris. Lean's then-wife, Kay Walsh, who had collaborated on the screenplay for Great Expectations, played the role of Nancy.
Rebecca (1940) is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project, and his first film produced under his contract with David O. Selznick. The film's screenplay was an adaptation by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood from Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan's adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, and was produced by Selznick.
It stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as his late wife's housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.
The film is a gothic tale about the lingering memory of the title character, which still affects Maxim, his new bride, and Mrs. Danvers long after her death.
The film won two Academy Awards, including Best Picture out of a total 11 nominations. Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson were all Oscar nominated for their respective roles.
1940 Academy Awards wins
Best Picture - Selznick International Pictures - David O. Selznick.
Best Cinematography, Black and White - George Barnes.
1940 Academy Award nominations
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Laurence Olivier.
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Joan Fontaine.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Judith Anderson.
Best Director - Alfred Hitchcock.
Art Direction, Black and White - Lyle R. Wheeler.
Special Effects - Jack Cosgrove, Arthur Johns.
Best Film Editing - Hal C. Kern.
Best Music, Original Score - Franz Waxman.
Best Writing, Screenplay - Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison.
Stagecoach is a 1939 western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox.
The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory.
Although Ford had made many westerns in the silent film era, he had never directed a sound western. Between 1929 - 1939, he directed films of almost every other genre, including Wee Willie Winkie (1937) starring Shirley Temple
Stagecoach was to be his first sound western and the first of many that Ford made on location in Monument Valley, in the American southwest on the Arizona-Utah border, many of which also starred John Wayne.
Awards and honors
Winner
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Mitchell)
New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Director (John Ford)
Nominated
Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Directing (John Ford)
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Alexander Toluboff)
Academy Award for Best Cinematography-Black-and-White (Bert Glennon)
Academy Award for Film Editing (Otho Lovering & Dorothy Spencer)
Others
John Ford won the 1939 New York Film Critics Award as Best Director. Other critics gave the film uniformly glowing reviews.
In 1995, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.
In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten Top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Stagecoach was acknowledged as the ninth best film in the western genre.
West Side Story is a 1961 American film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, which itself was adapted from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.
It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and it was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C., in Super Panavision 70.
The action was filmed largely in Los Angeles on sets designed by Boris Leven, although the film's opening sequence was shot on the streets of New York City, mainly in the area where the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts campus of Fordham University now stands.
Jerome Robbins, who had directed the stage version, was responsible for planning and directing all music and dance sequences in the film, as well as all the fight scenes. When approximately 60% of principal photography was complete, the producers became concerned that the production was over-budget and Robbins was fired. His final contribution before leaving the film was to write the staging for the rumble.
The film was released on October 18, 1961 through United Artists. It received praise from critics and the public, and became the second highest grossing film of the year in the United States.
The film won ten Academy Awards in its eleven nominated categories, including Best Picture, as well as a special award for Robbins. The film holds the distinction of being the musical film with the most Academy Award wins (10 wins), including Best Picture.
The soundtrack album made more money than any other album before it.
Awards and honors
The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1997.
The film holds the distinction of being the only musical film with the most Academy Award wins (10 wins), including Best Picture.
Wins
Academy Award for Best Picture – Robert Wise, producer
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – George Chakiris
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Set Decoration, Color) – Victor A. Gangelin and Boris Leven
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Color) – Daniel L. Fapp
Academy Award for Costume Design (Color) – Irene Sharaff
Academy Award for Directing – Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
Academy Award for Film Editing – Thomas Stanford
Academy Award for Original Music Score of a Musical Picture – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin
Academy Award for Sound – Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD), and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)
Nominations
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium – Ernest Lehman
Others
Academy Award for Brilliant Achievements in the Art of Choreography on Film – Jerome Robbins
American Film Institute recognition
1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #41
2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #3
2004 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
"Somewhere" #20
"America" #35
"Tonight" #59
2006 AFI's 100 Years of Musicals #2
2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #51
Whisky Galore! (released in the US as Tight Little Island) was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky. The plot deals with the attempts of Scottish islanders to take advantage of an unexpected windfall, despite opposition from British authorities.
It starred Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gordon Jackson. This was Alexander Mackendrick's directorial debut.
Mackenzie also wrote a sequel, Rockets Galore!, which was filmed by the Rank Organisation in 1957. An attempt was made to produce a remake of the film between 2004 and 2006.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical-fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
The film stars Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Grapewin, Clara Blandick, and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins.
The film follows farm girl Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) who lives on a Kansas farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but dreams of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." After being struck unconscious during a tornado by a window which has come loose from its frame, Dorothy dreams that she, her dog Toto, and the farmhouse are transported to the magical Land of Oz. There, the Good Witch of the North, Glinda (Billie Burke), advises Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz, who can return her to Kansas. During her journey, she meets a Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), a Tin Man (Jack Haley), and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), who join her, hoping to receive what they lack themselves (a brain, a heart, and courage, respectively). All of this is done while also trying to avoid the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) and her attempt to get her sister's ruby slippers from Dorothy, who received them from Glinda.
Initially, The Wizard of Oz was not considered a commercial success in relation to its enormous budget, although it made a small profit and received largely favorable reviews. The impact it had upon release was reportedly responsible for the release of two other fantasy films in Technicolor the following year - The Blue Bird and The Thief of Bagdad. The songs from The Wizard of Oz became widely popular, with "Over the Rainbow" receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the film itself garnering several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
The Wizard of Oz was an annual television tradition in the United States, and through these showings, it has become one of the most famous films ever made. It is still shown on television, though more often now than simply once a year. The film received much more attention after its annual television screenings were so warmly embraced and has since become one of the most beloved films of all time.
The Library of Congress names The Wizard of Oz as the most-watched film in history. It is often ranked among the top ten best movies of all-time in various critics' and popular polls, and it has provided many indelible quotes to the American cultural consciousness. Its signature song, "Over the Rainbow," sung by Judy Garland, has been voted the greatest movie song of all time by the American Film Institute.
Awards and honors
According to The Observer, the film has the greatest soundtrack of all time. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards upon its release, including Best Picture and Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It lost the award in the Best Picture category to Gone with the Wind (another MGM release), but won in the category of Best Song (Over The Rainbow) and Academy Award for Best Original Music Score. Although the Best Song award went to E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, the Best Original Score Award went to, not the songwriters, but Herbert Stothart, who composed the background score. Judy Garland received a special Academy Juvenile Award that year, for "Best Performances by a Juvenile" (this meant that the award was also for her role in the film version of Babes in Arms). The Wizard of Oz did not receive an Oscar for its now-famous special effects - that award went to the 1939 film version of The Rains Came, for its monsoon sequence. Additional nominations were for Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning for Art Direction and to Hal Rosson for Cinematography (color).
In current reviews, The Wizard of Oz is still praised by critics.
On the films Rotten Tomatoes listing, 100% of critics give the film positive reviews, based on 65 reviews.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten American films in ten genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The Wizard of Oz was acknowledged as the best film in the fantasy genre.
American Film Institute recognition
1998 AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies #6
2001 AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills #43
2003 AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains:
Wicked Witch of the West, villain #4
2004 AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs:
"Over the Rainbow" #1
"Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," #82
2005, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes:
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" #4
"There's no place like home" #23
"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too" #99
2006 AFI's 100 Years of Musicals #3
2006 AFI's 100 Years…100 Cheers #26
2007 AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #10
2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 #1 Fantasy film
Other noted honors
1999 Rolling Stone's 100 Maverick Movies ranked #20.
1999 Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Films ranked #32.
2000 The Village Voice's 100 Best Films of the 20th Century ranked #14.
2002 Sight & Sound's Greatest Film Poll of Directors ranked #41
2005 Total Film's 100 Greatest Films #83.
2007 Total Film's 23 Weirdest Films ranked #1.
As you read through the lists of 3* and 4* films you become aware that certain directors/producers regularly gain the Three and Four Star accolades. Examples which spring to mind include Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Sergei Eisenstein, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, Noel Coward, James Whale, John Huston, Steven Spielberg, John Ford, Billy Wilder, and Stanley Kubrick, Ealing Comedies & Universal Horror Films (Dracula, Frankenstein black & white versions)
In many cases they each have their own kind of specialism.
David Lean specialises in vast open spaces, large casts etc – Lawrence of Arabia, Ghandi, and Bridge on the River Kwai.
John Ford – Westerns
James Whale - 1930’s horror films
I sincerely hope that this list of "classics" has stirred some happy film going memories.
Tomorrow I will be looking at another genre.
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