What I've seen of...Harvard's noncommittal faculty's list of movies undergraduates should try to see

Submitted by RosieCotton on Thu, 06/01/2006 - 03:40
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  1. Arrival of a Train (1895)
  2. Workers Leaving the Factory (1895)
  3. Watering the Gardener (1895)
  4. Feeding the Baby (1895)
  5. The Lady Vanishes
  6. A Trip to the Moon (Melies, 1903)
  7. Conquest Of North Pole (Melies, 1912)
  8. Fantomas (one episode) (Feuillade, 1913-14)
  9. The Kiss (1896)
  10. Life of an American Fireman (1902)
  11. Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902)
  12. Romance of the Rails (1903)
  13. The Great Train Robbery (1903)
  14. The Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1906)
  15. The Lonely Villa (1909)
  16. A Corner in Wheat (1909)
  17. The Lonedale Operator (1911)
  18. The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
  19. The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)
  20. The House Divided (Alice Guy, 1913, US)
  21. The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915, US)
  22. Intolerance (D. W. Griffith, 1916, US)
  23. The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (Robert Weine, 1919, Ger)
  24. Nosferatu (Friedrich W. Murnau, 1921, Ger)
  25. The Blot (Lois Weber, 1921, US)
  26. The Last Laugh (F.W. Murnau, 1924, Ger)
  27. Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924, US)
  28. Sherlock Junior (Buster Keaton, 1924, US)
  29. Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925, USSR)
  30. The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925, US)
  31. Body and Soul (Oscar Micheaux, 1925, US)
  32. The General (Buster Keaton, 1926, US)
  33. Page Of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926, Jap)
  34. Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1926, Ger)
  35. The End of St. Petersburg (Vsevolod Pudovkin, 1927, USSR)
  36. Napoleon (Abel Gance, 1927, Fr)
  37. Sunrise (Friedrich W. Murnau, 1927, US)
  38. October (Sergei Eisenstein, 1927-8, USSR)
  39. Our Daily Bread (F.W. Murnau, 1928, US)
  40. The Crowd (King Vidor, 1928, US)
  41. Pandora's Box (Georg W. Pabst, 1928-9, Ger)
  42. The Passion Of Joan of Arc (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1928, Fr)
  43. Earth (Dovzhenko, 1930, USSR)
  44. L'Age d'Or (Luis Buñuel, 1930, Fr)
  45. M (Fritz Lang, 1931, Germany)
  46. The Exile (Oscar Michaux, 1931, US)
  47. Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932, US)
  48. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932, US)
  49. Ten Minutes to Live (Oscar Michaux, 1932, US)
  50. Zero de Conduite (Jean Vigo, 1933, Fr)
  51. Christopher Strong (Dorothy Arzner, 1933, US)
  52. El Compadre Mendoza (Fernando de Fuentes, 1933, Mexico)
  53. L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934, Fr)
  54. Land without Bread (Luis Buñuel, 1934, Sp)
  55. It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934, US)
  56. The Scarlet Empress (Joseph von Sternberg, 1934, US)
  57. A Night at the Opera (Marx Brothers, 1935, US)
  58. The Crime of M. Lange (Jean Renoir, 1935, Fr)
  59. The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935, GB)
  60. Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936, US)
  61. Sisters of the Gion (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936, Jap)
  62. Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937, Fr)
  63. Bringing up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938, US)
  64. Alexander Nevsky (Sergei Eisenstein, 1938, USSR)
  65. Le Jour Se Leve (Marcel Carné, 1939, Fr)
  66. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939, US)
  67. Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939, US)
  68. The Rules Of The Game (Jean Renoir, 1939, Fr)
  69. Gone With the Wind (Victor Flemming, 1939, US)
  70. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Flemming, 1939, US)
  71. Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940, US)
  72. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940, US)
  73. Thief of Bagdad (Michael Powell, 1940, GB)
  74. Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941, US)
  75. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941, US)
  76. The Blood of Jesus (Spencer Williams, 1941, US)
  77. Ivan the Terrible, Part I (Sergei Eisenstein, 1943-44, USSR)
  78. Day Of Wrath (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1943, Denmark)
  79. Children of Paradise (Marcel Carne, 1945, Fr)
  80. Rome Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945, It)
  81. Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946, It)
  82. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946, US)
  83. The Lady in the Lake (Robert Montgomery, 1947, US)
  84. La TerraTrema (Luchino Visconti, 1948, It)
  85. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1949, It)
  86. Diary of A Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1950, Fr)
  87. Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel, 1950, Mexico)
  88. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950, Jap)
  89. Outrage (Ida Lupino, 1950, US)
  90. High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952, US)
  91. The Earrings of Madame De (Max Ophuls, 1953, Fr)
  92. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953, Jap)
  93. The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953, Fr)
  94. Ugetsu Monogatari (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953, Jap)
  95. Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953, Fr)
  96. The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953, US)
  97. Salt of the Earth (Herbert J. Biberman, 1953, US)
  98. Voyage in Italy (Roberto Rossellini, 1953, It)
  99. The Little Fugitive (Ray Ashley, 1953, US)
  100. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954, Jap)
  101. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954, Jap)
  102. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954, US)
  103. Ordet (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1954, Den)
  104. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954, It)
  105. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955, US)
  106. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955, India)
  107. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956, US)
  108. Kanal (Andrzej Wajda, 1956, Poland)
  109. A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956, Fr)
  110. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957, Sw)
  111. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1957, US)
  112. Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957, US)
  113. Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957, It)
  114. Pyaasa (Guru Dutt, 1957, India)
  115. Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958, Poland)
  116. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958, US)
  117. Ballad Of A Soldier (Grigori Chukrai, 1959, USSR)
  118. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1959, Fr)
  119. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959, Fr)
  120. The Four Hundred Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959, Fr)
  121. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959, US)
  122. Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1959, US)
  123. The World of Apu (Satyajit Ray, 1959, India)
  124. L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960, It)
  125. Mother Joan of the Angels (Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1960, Poland)
  126. Rocco And His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960, It)
  127. The Hidden Star (Ritwak Ghatak, 1960, India)
  128. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, US)
  129. Accattone (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1961, It)
  130. Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais, 1961, Fr)
  131. The Island (Kaneto Shindo, 1961, Jap)
  132. Viridiana (Luis Buñuel, 1961, Sp)
  133. Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda, 1961, Fr/It)
  134. The Connection (Shirley Clarke, 1961, US)
  135. An Autumn Afternoon (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962, Jap)
  136. The Eclipse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962, It)
  137. La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962, Fr)
  138. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963, It)
  139. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963, It)
  140. Vidas Secas (Nelson Pereira Dos Santos, 1963, Brazil)
  141. The Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964, It)
  142. Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors (Sergei Paradjanov, 1964, USSR)
  143. Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964, US)
  144. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964, It)
  145. The Brig (Jonas Mekas, 1964, US)
  146. Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene, 1965, Senegal)
  147. Pierrot le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965, Fr/It)
  148. The Round-Up (Miklós Jancsó, 1965, Hun)
  149. The Shop on Main Street (Jan Kadar, 1965, Czech)
  150. Not Reconciled (Jean-Marie Straub and Danielle Huillet, 1965, WGer)
  151. Happiness (Agnes Varda, 1965, Fr)
  152. The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966, It)
  153. Blow-up (Antonioni, 1966, GB)
  154. Daisies (Vera Chytilova, 1966, Czech)
  155. Au Hasard, Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966, Fr/Sw)
  156. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966, USSR)
  157. Two or Three Things I Know about Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966, Fr)
  158. Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966, Sw)
  159. Hawks and Sparrows (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1966, It)
  160. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967, Fr)
  161. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967, US)
  162. Land In Anguish (Glauber Rocha, 1967, Brazil)
  163. I Even Met Happy Gypsies (Aleksander Petrovic, 1967, Yugo)
  164. Silence And Cry (Miklós Jancsó, 1968, Hungary)
  165. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968, US)
  166. Death by Hanging (Nagisa Oshima, 1968, Jap)
  167. Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomas Gutierrez Alea, 1968, Cuba)
  168. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1969, It)
  169. The Night of Counting the Years (Shadi Abdelsalam, 1969, UAR)
  170. Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969, US)
  171. Blood of the Condor (Jorge Sanjines, 1969, Bolivia)
  172. Antonio das Mortes (Glauber Rocha, 1969, Brazil)
  173. Lucia (Humberto Solas, 1969, Cuba)
  174. The Jakal of Nahualtoro (Miguel Littin, 1969, Chile)
  175. King Lear (Grigori Kozintsev, 1970, USSR)
  176. Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971, US)
  177. My Uncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971, Can)
  178. Shaft (Gordon Parks, 1971, US)
  179. How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Nelson Pereira Dos Santos, 1971, Brazil)
  180. Aguirre, Wrath Of God (Werner Herzog, 1972, W Ger)
  181. Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972, It/Fr)
  182. The Rat Trap (Adoor Gopalakrishnan, 1972, India)
  183. The Spirit of The Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973, Sp)
  184. Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973, US)
  185. The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache, 1973, Fr)
  186. India Song (Marguerite Duras, 1974, Fr)
  187. Xala (Ousmane Sembene, 1974, Senegal)
  188. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974, US)
  189. Cria Cuervos (Carlos Saura, 1975, Sp)
  190. Jeanne Dielman... (Chantal Akerman, 1975, Belgium)
  191. Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975, US)
  192. Travelling Players (Theodor Angelopoulos, 1975, Greece)
  193. Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1976, US)
  194. Kings of the Road (Wim Wenders, 1976, W Ger)
  195. Iphigenia (Michael Cacoyannis, 1976, Greece)
  196. The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko, 1976, USSR)
  197. In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976, Fr/Jap)
  198. Car Wash (Michael Schultz, 1976, US)
  199. Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (Alain Tanner, 1976, Fr/Switz)
  200. Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnet, 1977, US)
  201. Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (Raœl Ruiz, 1978, Fr)
  202. The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978, WGer)
  203. The Two of Them (Marta Meszaros, 1978, Hungary)
  204. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979, US)
  205. Vengeance Is Mine (Shohei Imamura, 1979, Jap)
  206. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980, US)
  207. Germany, Pale Mother (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1980, Ger)
  208. Zoot Suit (Luis Valdez, 1981, US)
  209. Chan is Missing (Wayne Wang, 1981, US)
  210. The German Sisters (Margarethe von Trotta, 1981, WGer)
  211. The Draftsman's Contract (Peter Greenaway, 1982, GB)
  212. Ashes and Embers (Haile Gerima, 1982, US)
  213. Boat People (Ann Hui, 1982, Hong Kong)
  214. A Question of Silence (Marleen Gorris, 1982, Netherlands)
  215. The Wind (Souleymane Cisse, 1982, Mali)
  216. Yol (Ylmaz Guney, 1982, Turkey)
  217. The Ballad Of Narayama (Shohei Imamura, 1983, Jap)
  218. Once Upon A Time In America (Sergio Leone, 1983, US)
  219. Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige, 1984, China)
  220. Illusions (Julie Dash, 1984, US)
  221. Camila (Maria Luisa Bemberg, 1984, Argentina/Sp)
  222. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985, Fr/Jap)
  223. The Official Story (Luis Puenzo, 1985, Argentina)
  224. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986, US)
  225. Rosa Luxemburg (Margarethe von Trotta, 1986, WGer)
  226. Yeelen (Souleymane Cisse, 1987, Mali)
  227. Red Sorghum (Zhang Yimou, 1987, China)
  228. Wedding In Galilee (Michel Khleifi, 1987, Belgium/Fr)
  229. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987, WGer/Fr)
  230. Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, 1988, Fr/India)
  231. Time of the Gypsies (Emir Kusturica, 1989, Yugo)
  232. Freeze -- Die -- Come To Life (Vitali Kanevski, 1989, USSR)
  233. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989, US)
  234. Sweetie (Jane Campion, 1989, Australia)
  235. Yaaba (Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1989, ?)
  236. The Killer (John Woo, 1989, Hong Kong)
  237. The Match Factory Girl (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland, 1989)
  238. Looking for Langston (Isaac Julien, 1989, GB)
  239. Speaking Parts (Atom Egoyan, 1989, Can)
  240. Tilai (Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1990, ?)
  241. Ju Dou (Zhang Yimou, 1990, China)
  242. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991, China)
  243. Young Soul Rebels (Isaac Julien, 1991, GB)
  244. Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1992, US)
  245. Life According to Agfa (Assi Dayan, 1992, Israel)
  246. Satanic Tango (Bela Tarr, 1994, Hun)
  247. Chung King Express (Kar wai Wong, 1994, Hong Kong)
  248. Vive l’amour (Tsai Ming-liang, 1994, China/Taiwan)
Author Comments: 

What this list is and what this list is not:
"The faculty of Visual and Environmental Studies [of Harvard University] have drafted the following list of titles which concentrators with a primary interest in film or video should try to see during their undergraduate years. This is not a list of cinema's greatest hits or of the best movies and videos of all time. Rather, it reflects a variety of criteria. Some works we consider great, nothers important, others influential. Not every title on the list represents a unanimous choice. We plan to revise the list periodically and welcome your comments and suggestions."

There are 248 on the list. I've seen the numbered ones.