40 Critically Acclaimed But Little Seen Should-be Classics


1. Ride Lonesome (1959) Budd Boetticher
2. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) Leo McCarey
3. And Life Goes On... (1991) Abbas Kiarostami 
4. Jeanne Dielman (1975) Chantal Akerman
7. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) Terence Davies
8. Syndromes and a Century (2006) A. Weerasethakul
9. The Red and the White (1967) Jancsó Miklós
10. The Tarnished Angels (1958) Douglas Sirk
11. Fists in the Pocket (1965) Marco Bellocchio
12. Edvard Munch (1974) Peter Watkins
13. Love Streams (1984) John Cassavetes
14. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) Naruse Mikio
15. Lola (1961) Jacques Demy
16. A City of Sadness (1989) Hou Hsiao-hsien
17. Il Posto (1961) Ermanno Olmi
18. Our Daily Bread (1934) King Vidor
19. Le Bonheur (1965) Agnès Varda
20. 7th Heaven (1927) Frank Borzage
21. Les Bonnes Femmes (1960) Claude Chabrol
22. Le Plaisir (1952) Max Ophüls
23. Remember the Night (1940) Mitchell Leisen
24. A Brighter Summer Day (1991) Edward Yang
25. People on Sunday (1930) R. Siodmak & E.G. Ulmer
26. Man of Aran (1934) Robert J. Flaherty
27. Mother (1926) Vsevolod Pudovkin
28. The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) M. Powell & E. Pressburger
29. Spione (1928) Fritz Lang
30. Modern Romance (1981) Albert Brooks
31. Le Deuxième Souffle (1966) Jean-Pierre Melville
32. Accident (1967) Joseph Losey
33. Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960) Bert Stern
34. Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968) Alain Resnais
35. Stars in My Crown (1950) Jacques Tourneur
36. The Pumpkin Eater (1964) Jack Clayton
37. Late Autumn (1960) Ozu Yasujiro
38. The Devil, Probably (1977) Robert Bresson
39. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) Jean Epstein
40. La Chienne (1931) Jean Renoir

14 comments:

dskolnick said...

A very cool list of movies! I'm one of the voters, and was naturally pleased to see some of my selections in the Top 40, but what I really liked was the presence of a number of titles that I've wanted to see but have never caught (including the number one vote-getter). This has inspired me to catch up with them. Thanks Iain!

Unknown said...

No Latin American films? You've got to be kidding!!

Unknown said...

...and where is Kenneth Anger? rrrrrrrr!

Jemiah said...

Tales of Hoffmann is indeed amazing.

Dymon Enlow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Scritch said...

how about a brief intro about each film? that would be helpful

Anonymous said...

It breaks my heart that Distant Voices, Still Lives isn't on DVD - I was shown a VHS copy in a film class in college and it haunts me to this day.
And finding fault with a list this eclectic is like asking why someone has a different favorite food than yours. It was not meant to be universal, just... different.

Success in Small Steps said...

Kenneth Anger? I've seen all of his films. As experiments they're somewhat interesting, but as films they are meaningless.

Unknown said...

Just looked through the three lists "The 50 Greatests Films", Beyond The Canon: 100 Films Deserving of Greater Attention" and "The Obscure, the Forgotten, and the Unloved" and I must say that they're quite remarkable. I've made a document and saved the lists and will be sure to go through them when looking for new movies to take a look at. I haven't had the time to look at each title to careful though, a short review of them would have helped as someone pointed out earlier. Also, Peter Watkins "Edward Munch" that's no11 on this list also appears as no58 on the "Beyond the Canon".

Richard J Moir said...

@Kelly
My friend has Distant Voices, Still Lives on DVD. It was a BFI release quite recently. I absolutely adore it but actually prefer The Long Day Closes.

Andrew said...

I'm excited to check these out, if I can manage!

So with the 1000-vote and less rule, what would I vote for? "The Red and the White" would be right near the top. A fantastic film that deserves to be recognized as a masterpiece... do yourself a service and see it. I'm so happy to see it's on this list.

What else? The harrowing "Germany Pale Mother" (1980, Helma Sanders-Brahms), the animated abstract short "Diagonal Symphony" (1924, Viking Eggeling), "Krysar" (1986, Jirí Barta) a cubist animated version of the Piped Piper of Hamelin.

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Kelly,

Not sure if you have an international DVD player, but there is a lovely boxed set of all Terrence Davies's films -- including Distant Voices, Still Lives -- available on Region 2 from the British Film Institute.

Billy Stevenson said...

i've reviewed quite a few of these on my website: www.afilmcanon.com