_The 100 Best Films of All Time (74-70) (extended and updated)
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Castello, Tim Holt
Genre: Drama
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1942
Imdb-Rating: 8.0
Critic's opinion (James Berardinelli):
The Magnificent Ambersons is regarded as a classic largely for what it might have been, although the film earned four Oscar nominations (including one for Best Picture). Even with so many cuts reducing the final third to a frustrating mish-mash of disjointed segments, it retains the occasional power to mesmerize and amaze. Viewed from another perspective, it's somewhat astonishing that, with more than one-third of its footage removed, the end product remains compelling, and that the story has a sense of completeness. Following The Magnificent Ambersons/It's All True debacle, it would be four years before Welles was trusted to helm another feature (The Stranger), and, although he would go on to direct many great films, none of his future endeavors would salve the wounds left by what occurred with his second outing behind the camera. And not until Terry Gilliam's Brazil would another high-profile motion picture be subjected to the same kind of indignities that were heaped upon The Magnificent Ambersons.
73. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt
Genre: Adventure
Academy Awards: 3
Year: 1948
Imdb-Rating: 8.4
Critic's opinion (Brian Koller): I think that "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is a little better than "The Maltese Falcon", and thus is probably the best film that John Huston directed.
Director: François Truffaut
Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy
Genre: Drama
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1959
Imdb-Rating: 8.2
Critic's opinion (James Berardinelli): There's no question that The 400 Blows stands out when compared to other coming-of-age dramas. Even though more than forty years have elapsed since the film's release, its effect has neither faded nor been duplicated. By eschewing manipulation and sentimentality, Truffaut does not invite false emotions and insincere pity. Instead, his clear-eyed approach presents Antoine to us with all of his faults and foibles on display. He is not "sanitized" to shade our response. Yet, because Truffaut's style is so honest, we develop a deeper connection with Antoine that we would have in a traditional melodrama. And, when that final shot occurs, leaving Antoine suspended in time, with his future uncertain, our reaction is unforced. Of course we can now do what viewers could not in 1959 - look through other windows on different phases of Antoine's life and see how far he comes from the bored, uncertain boy presented here. The 400 Blows remains a remarkable film. As with all of the great classics, the passage of time only causes us to appreciate it more.
Director: Sergej Eisenstein
Cast: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov
Genre: War
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1925
Imdb-Rating: 8.2
70. The General
Director: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
Cast: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Richard Allen
Genre: Comedy
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1927
Imdb-Rating: 8.3
Critic's opinion (Brian Koller): Some people consider Keaton to be as important a silent film director as Chaplin. I can't agree with this. Several Chaplin films were clearly better than "The General". Chaplin's tramp character is more charismatic and had greater emotional range. Also, Chaplin had a greater social awareness: he was trying to make a statement as well as to make you laugh.
