A Century of Film: Best Director

Right from the start, the directors kind of ruled the world of film.  They were paid well and by the 1930s they were getting “film by” credit and before too long that credit was before the title (in fact, mandated that way by agreement with the DGA).  They formed one of the powerful early guilds and their guild was one of the first two to begin giving out their own awards.  Writer-directors started to rise in the 1940s (lead by Preston Sturges and John Huston) and that would become the standard for most of the great foreign directors.  In the 1960s the auteur theory would come along and propel a number of directors to the top of the film world when it came to critical appreciation of the medium.  Today we are still in an era of truly great film directors, from those who came up through the medium in the 70s (Spielberg, Scorsese) to those 70s type independent minded directors who missed that era and came right after (Coen Brothers, Almodovar) to the great directors who made their mark in the 90s and later (Tarantino, Nolan, P.T. Anderson).  Following not too long after this post will come finally my 3.0 version of the Top 100 Directors of All-Time.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#100-51)

The penultimate grouping of 50 has films that earn a 97 down through 2001.  After that, they are a 98.  The intro is here.  Other parts can be found here.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#250-201)

Another part of the Top 1000 films through 2011.  The introduction can be found here.  Preceding parts of the list can be found here.  All of these films are a 95, which is high ****.  All but 6 of these films (all in very good years) earned Nighthawk nominations for Best Picture.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#300-251)

Another part of my countdown of the 1000 greatest films through 2011.  Through Pinocchio, these are all a 94 and after that, they are all a 95.  So, high ****.  The introduction can be found here.  Previous entries can be found here.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#350-301)

Yet another part in my countdown of the Top 1000 films in the first Century of Film (1912-2011).  The introduction can be found here and be clicking here, you can scroll through the preceding parts.  Every film in this group of 50 earns a 94 which is high ****.

 

A Century of Film: Foreign Film

Film might have come from the United States but the first great narrative film, A Trip to the Moon, came from France.  Since then, films in languages other than English have continued to flourish with various countries rising to the top at various points in film history though usually with France leading them all.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#400-351)

This is part something of this, I’ve lost track.  But you can find the original introduction here and by going here you can find all the other parts.  All of these films earn a 93 on a 100 point scale except The Commitments which is a 94 (which is a high **** while the rest are mid ****). The picture above wasn’t the easiest to decide on this time – I originally had Michael Caine images from three different films (in three different decades), there are two films with the same director and two stars, I could have gone with a different McKellen pic on the left to go with the one on the right or I could have done the other McKellen pic with another actor in the same role.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#450-401)

This is the 12th part of the countdown of the Top 1000 Films of the first Century of Film (1912-2011).  The introduction can be found here.  Just click here to find the other parts.

Films 450 through 428 are a 92.  The rest are a 93.  Both are mid ****.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#500-451)

This is the 11th part of the countdown of the Top 1000 Films of the first Century of Film (1912-2011).  The introduction can be found here.  Just click here to find the other parts.

All 50 of these films earns a 92 which is mid ****.

 

A Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#550-501)

This is the 10th part of the Top 1000 list.  The introduction can be found here.  This might be the only group of 50 in the Top 1000 without a single Hitchcock, Spielberg, Kurosawa or Woody Allen film among them.
Except for the four films at the bottom, these are all a 91 which is mid-range ****.  The bottom four films are all 92.