Citizen Kane has been dethroned.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

At least so says the now conventional wisdom.. (The S & S critics poll being as close to CW as you can get in the film world).

A good choice, I think, even if not mine personally. These sorts of canocial debates get stodgy with consensus (Yes, I'm very aware of the stupidity of the concept of a canon. But never with the notion of list making - it's fun) though perhaps it is worth noting that there is no film from a more recent year than 1968(!) in the list though there are three silent films.

I think this is the link (I say I think because with my current crappy Wifi connection, it doesn't fully load for me). Somewhat peeved to have only seen 6 of the top 10 and 23 of the top 50. I've got some watching to do.

The Directors' poll is interesting too. And also a non-Anglophone winner. Yay! (Even if it is a film I didn't really shine to when I saw it).

Thoughts?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I honestly have no clue how one could objectively evaluate art and, having only seen two of the fifty films in the list, I am not really in any position to offer a nuanced critique.

It's not meant to be 'objective', only a survey of critical opinion.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I discovered a while ago that I don't really like Hitchcock, so...

Oh really? That does surprise me somewhat. I could certainly see you saying "I discovered a while ago that I don't really like Kubrick". Any idea why?

Also this:

I honestly have no clue how one could objectively evaluate art and, having only seen two of the fifty films in the list, I am not really in any position to offer a nuanced critique.

It's not meant to be 'objective', only a survey of critical opinion.

Completely agree.

Also these lists bring attention to films outside the mainstream, which is good. The same films always win popular polls. In what popular poll is A man with a movie camera going to feature? (This should not be read as a slur against popular polls).

****

As for Potemkin, that actually does have a plot and story line unlike A Man with a Movie Camera. Not that I prefer the Eisenstein to the Vertov film whose inclusion was a (good) surprise for me. It is a silent soviet (very soviet - NEP era soviet) avant-garde film from the late 1920s and it is still ahead of its time.

Anyone willing to try and put their own top ten. I have been thinking about but other than Once Upon a time in America (not in the S & S top 50 - boo!) I'm not sure of any particular film. Cronenberg and Welles would have to be represented though.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Putting so many films from the 1920s in this list is silly. Yeah, Battleship Potemkin is a cool film and very innovative for its time, but pretending it's better than films with actual acting, stories, more advanced camerawork, etc is ridiculous.

Have you seen any of the other three silents mentioned?