Amph Filmmakers & Critics' Top Ten Movies: Liv Ullmann

Nestor Almendros
(Cinematographer: Claire's Knee, Days of Heaven)

Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut)
Alexander Nevsky (1938, Sergei Eisenstein)
Design for Living (1933, Ernst Lubitsch)
The Crowd (1928, King Vidor)
The Earrings of Madame de... (1953, Max Ophuls)
The Devil Is a Woman (1935, Josef von Sternberg)
Sansho Dayu (1954, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock)
Nights of Cabiria (1957, Federico Fellini)

I haven't seen all of these: I would say "Citizen Kane" and "The Earrings of Madame de" are masterpieces; "The Devil is a Woman" is not, but would appeal to a cinematographer.

 

His cinematographer's eye may be behind his choice of Rebecca too; it's a significantly lesser film in Hitchcock's canon, but atmosphere, it's got in spades.

 

I like his pick of "Rebecca", as I believe it might be the very best Hitchcock, and if not, at least top three. "Citizen Kane" makes its obligatory appearance; great film, but does it have to appear on every top ten? The rest I can't comment on.

 

I can't agree: "Rebecca" is indeed a lesser Hitchcock, mainly because it was produced by David O. Selznick, and thus Hitchcock had less control over it. Nearly everything he made in the 50's is better, as is "Shadow of a Doubt" and "Notorious" in the 40's; and "The 39 Steps", "The Lady Vanishes" and "Blackmail" in the 30's.

I will admit it is the best of his three films directly produced by Selznick. (The other two are "Spellbound" and "The Paradine Case")

 

Pedro Almodovar
(Filmmaker: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Talk to Her)

The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
All About Eve (1950, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945, John M. Stahl)
North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
Out of the Past (1947, Jacques Tourneur)
Midnight (1939, Mitchell Leisen)
Some Like It Hot (1959, Billy Wilder)
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
Senso (1954, Luchino Visconti)

I had better luck with this list: seen nine out of ten, missing only the last one.

"Leave Her to Heaven"'s inclusion didn't surprise me in the slightest, it's the most over-the-top thing you've ever seen, in equally garish orange and teal Technicolour. A thread of camp runs through many of these choices, especially "All About Eve", "Some Like it Hot" and "Heaven." But no Douglas Sirk (!)

 

I'd say there's a thread of camp in both The Night of the Hunter and Touch of Evil too. (Well, okay, more than just a thread in Touch of Evil). North by Northwest isn't exactly campy, but it's a very ironic version of a thriller. Only Out of the Past is a really, totally serious thriller, in my opinion.

 

"Midnight" is a very charming, funny comedy, but I wondered why he liked it over some more obvious choices. It's been awhile since I've seen it, though.

 

Jeffrey M. Anderson
(Film Critic: Combustible Celluloid, Las Vegas Weekly, San Francisco Examiner, Common Sense Media)

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton)
Cat People (1942, Jacques Tourneur)
Chimes at Midnight (1966, Orson Welles)
Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947, Charles Chaplin)
L'Avventura (1960, Michelangelo Antonioni)
Mouchette (1967, Robert Bresson)
Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966, Mario Bava)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, Robert Zemeckis)


Here there's no common thread, as far as I can tell. I've seen six out of ten. My choices for Dreyer, Keaton, Welles Chaplin and Hawkes would all be different: "Day of Wrath", "Our Hospitality", "Citizen Kane", "The Gold Rush" and "His Girl Friday." Hell, my choice for Zemeckis would be different: "Back to the Future"

 

Allison Anders
(Filmmaker: Gas Food Lodging, Grace of My Heart)

All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk)
Alice in the Cities (1974, Wim Wenders)
The Hours and Times (1992, Christopher Munch)
The Man from Laramie (1955, Anthony Mann)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, Max Ophuls)
A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester)
Woman on the Beach (1947, Jean Renoir)
Naked (1993, Mike Leigh)
The Age of Innocence (1993, Martin Scorsese)
There's Always Tomorrow (1956, Douglas Sirk)

A Sirkian. Also likes "Letter From an Unknown Woman", one of Ophuls' American films--it is indeed very good. I've seen six out of ten.

 

Lindsay Anderson
(Filmmaker: if..., Oh Lucky Man!)

L'Age D'Or (1930, Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali)
A Diary for Timothy (1945, Humphrey Jennings)
Earth (1930, Alexander Dovzhenko)
A Generation (1954, Andrzej Wajda)
If... (1968, Lindsay Anderson)
The Maltese Falcon (1941, John Huston)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli)
They Were Expendable (1945, John Ford)
Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
Zero for Conduct (1933, Jean Vigo)

Seen only three of these, unfortunately. I suppose him picking his own movie is a joke, but why not?

 

Why not? if... is a pretty excellent film. I might pick it too if I made it.

 

Theo Angelopoulos
(Filmmaker: The Traveling Players, Eternity and a Day)

Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Ivan the Terrible (1943, Sergei Eisenstein)
Ordet (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau)
L'Avventura (1960, Michelangelo Antonioni)
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin)
Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)
Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)

I've seen seven out of ten; and the only choice I disagree on is "Persona"; watching mid-career Bergman is an instant depressant. "Ordet" is one utterly strange film and not as great as "Day of Wrath", but still an interesting choice. "Ivan" takes patience and you have to understand its origins in Stalinist Russia, but another good choice. "8 and a half" is brilliant.

 

I notice Theo has a Murnau film on the list.

 

But not the best one.

 

Unfortunately, so true.

 

Gillian Armstrong
(Filmmaker: My Brilliant Career, Little Women)

The Bicycle Thief (1947, Vittorio De Sica)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
The Godfather Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)
Jules and Jim (1961, Francois Truffaut)
Gone with the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming)
La Strada (1954, Federico Fellini)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
The Seventh Seal (1956, Ingmar Bergman)
The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)

Seen all of these. The first appearance of "The Godfather" (!)

 

That's far and away the most traditional list so far; you've got the big Italian neorealist film (The Bicycle Thief), the four most often cited American masterpieces (Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind & The Wizard of Oz), the most famous Kurosawa (Seven Samurai), the most famous Bergman (The Seventh Seal). She goes slightly less obvious with Fellini and Truffaut; she picks probably the second most famous film from each of them (Jules & Jim instead of Breathless; La Strada instead of La Dolce Vita), which qualifies as downright counter culture, I guess, in her book. She's to be commended for bucking tradition (and speaking the truth) by asserting The Godfather Part II over the original. But, predictable as this list is, it's also damned hard to argue against any of the picks being worthy.

Except The Wizard of Oz, but then I gave up on getting the rest of the world to see reason on that one a long time ago.

 

Olivier Assayas
(Filmmaker: Irma Vep; Late August, Early September)

Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)
L'Argent (1983, Robert Bresson)
La Dolce Vita (1959, Federico Fellini)
In Girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (1978, Guy Debord)
Ludwig (1972, Luchino Visconti)
A Man Escaped (1956, Robert Bresson)
Mirror (1975, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Ordet (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Playtime (1967, Jacques Tati)
Scenes from a Marriage (1974, Ingmar Bergman)

I've seen only one--"Ordet"--of these ones. No American ones at all.

 

Andrei Rublev and Ordet are both masterpieces of the first order. Unfortunately, I haven't seen much else from his list.

 

Clive Barker
(Filmmaker: Hellraiser, Night Breed)

Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Fantasia (1940, Ben Sharpsteen)
The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin)
Fellini Satyricon (1970, Federico Fellini)
Gone with the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming)
Ben-Hur (1959, William Wyler)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale)
Pinocchio (1940, Ben Sharpsteen)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli)
Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)

The most intriguing choice here? "Pinocchio".

 

Andre Bazin
(Editor: Cahiers du Cinema)

Les Vampires (1915-16, Louis Feuillade)
The Pilgrim (1923, Charles Chaplin)
Broken Blossoms (1919, D.W. Griffith)
Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
Greed (1924, Erich von Stroheim)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Le Jour se leve (1939, Marcel Carne)
The Little Foxes (1941, William Wyler)
Les Dames du Bois de Boulongne (1945, Robert Bresson)
The Bicycle Thief (1949, Vittorio De Sica)

I'm guessing this is a fairly early list. I've seen five, of which "Sunrise" and "The Rules of the Game" are masterpieces. "The Little Foxes" good; "Greed" and "Le Jour se leve" interesting but very heavy-handed. Would love to see "Les Vampires".

 

i was gonna say andrei rublev.

 

Robert Benton
(Filmmaker: Kramer vs. Kramer, Nobody's Fool)

Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks)
The Wild Child (1970, Francois Truffaut)
Charley Varrick (1973, Don Siegel)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
My Night at Maud's (1969, Eric Rohmer)
Children of Paradise (1945, Marcel Carne)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978, Ermanno Olmi)
The Fallen Idol (1948, Carol Reed)
Claire's Knee (1971, Eric Rohmer)
My Darling Clementine (1946, John Ford)

Seen six out of ten, of which "The Rules of the Game" and "Children of Paradise" are undoubted masterpieces.

 

Bernardo Bertolucci
(Filmmaker: The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris)

The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Sansho Dayu (1954, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Germany Year Zero (1947, Roberto Rossellini)
Breathless (1959, Jean-Luc Godard)
Stagecoach (1939, John Ford)
Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Marnie (1964, Alfred Hitchcock)
Accatone (1961, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)

Seen six out of ten. "Marnie" is an interesting choice for a Hitchcock. Not much loved by critics, but it has something of a quality of a waking dream, a bit like "Vertigo."

 

Antonia Bird
(Filmmaker: Priest, Ravenous)

Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese)
Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
GoodFellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)
12 Angry Men (1957, Sidney Lumet)
Local Hero (1983, Bill Forsyth)
Don't Look Now (1973, Nicholas Roeg)
Raising Arizona (1987, Joel and Ethan Coen)
Five Easy Pieces (1970, Bob Rafelson)
Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick)
Broadcast News (1987, James L. Brooks)

Seem five out of ten. "Local Hero" and "Raising Arizona" are films of outstanding charm, though based on that, you might think the Scorcese charm would be different.