The All-Time List Discussion Thread (Decade Project Vol. 3)

[Shrew]

For those who are worried about lack for respect for orphans, we could do a short mini list of them. Maybe 2 weeks to a month and give swo a break?

[Rayon Vert]

I just don't care to scroll past it here unless you also cop to your blind spots. I think we can all agree to not mock or question anyone's bonafides based on their MIA titles, it's just a full-disclosure move.

I'm definitely planning on doing that. Otherwise I feel like I'm cheating the many directors and films I haven't made it to yet.

[TMDaines]

As the deadline has passed, I'm gonna start posting about my ballot. Will post my full list and mea culpas once Swo has posted the full results.

I started having seen 201 of the eligible films. Eventually saw 284/565. Would have liked to have seen more, but the house move quashed the first months of the project, but watching many of these on my new projector setup was a true privilege. The value for money in the projector and screen market is quite astounding, but I digress... Still, getting a projector was the best decision I ever made for my love of film. Contrary to some forums you do not need to spend four figures on a premium screen and five on a projector.

The top half of my ballot would have made my final reckoning every time, the next ten or so were also likely shoe ins, the next fifteen or so were part of a pool of another twenty that were difficult to choose between.

Films from fifteen countries made my list. Twenty from the US, six each from France and Italy, five from Germany and three from the Soviet Union. No other country had multiple, but Ukraine somehow got three films if you trace their history from the Soviet Union to independence.

There are four films from Lang, three from Hitchcock and two each from Coppola, Fellini and Capra.

The 60s had nine films, the 40s had eight and the 2010-14 half decade still managed four. The 90s only had two, on the other hand, and there is nothing pre-1922.

2014 had three films, whilst 1942, 1949, 1957, 1960, 1963, 1970, 1980, 2004 and 2007 all had two selected.

France 1949, and United States 1942 and 1960, and are the two time-and-place hotspots with two films.

[swo17]

Got a few lists overnight, a couple of them with issues that need to be corrected, so hopefully those people get back to me shortly.

To clarify a few points regarding this second round:

1. It's happening.

2. It's optional. Though if you opt out, you're missing the opportunity to have as much of a say in the final rankings.

3. This is only for scoring purposes. If you want to call your original top 50 your top 50, go right ahead. If you end up submitting an additional 5 titles to replace your orphans, you can call those your 51-55 picks. I personally don't consider my submitted top 50 all that meaningful outside the context of this project seeing as my favorite film of all time wasn't even eligible.

4. All this will change is the rankings of the final list. The orphans are what they are from the originally submitted top 50s. I will still publish this information. The final list is an incredibly tight race. There are presently six points separating the #1 and #2 picks. Six points. I guarantee you've seen both of these films. Many of you didn't have room for either of them. But I bet you prefer one over the other.

[TMDaines]

Still waiting for La La Land to be named the winner.

[swo17]

First round results

If you are really smart, you can probably figure out what to do from here, but regardless, I'll be PMing each of you instructions shortly.

[domino harvey]

Interesting! I only had two Orphans, but both were in my Top 10

[DarkImbecile]

Wow... I thought for sure I was going to have an extra few days to watch a couple more films and add them as orphan replacements, but unless I missed one on my first scan of the list, I didn't have a single orphan! How boring of me.

[domino harvey]

It just means our board has good taste!

[TMDaines]

Three for me:

A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Piano (1993)
Plemya (2014)

[DarkImbecile]

A little more surprised at some of the pitiable members of the "no votes" list than the orphans: Intolerance, The Elephant Man, The Sacrifice, L'Age d'or...

[dustybooks]

I intended to vote in this and simply couldn't because I put it off too long then had to wrap up a personal project that took up the entire weekend, but I would have voted for L'Age d'or so it does remain loved, just unofficially.

[swo17]

If you or anyone else wants to submit a top 50 culled from just the "still in contention" list before the second round ends (Wednesday at the latest but possibly sooner), you're welcome to do so.

Also, I love plenty of films I didn't vote for.

[dustybooks]

If you or anyone else wants to submit a top 50 culled from just the "still in contention" list before the second round ends (Wednesday at the latest but possibly sooner), you're welcome to do so.

Also, I love plenty of films I didn't vote for.

Oh I know, I was being cheeky. Annnnd I may just do that, thank you so much!

[domino harvey]

Guess there's no harm in being specific. My Orphans were They All Laughed at number two and Whirlpool and number six. You all are fools for letting them wither on the vine. And yet, you all are geniuses for recognizing the other forty-eight titles on my list as worthy of all time status, so we will call it a draw!

[Shrew]

I think I had four orphans: Henry Fool, Paisan, The Wedding March, and Happy Together. The last one is the only one that really surprises me, but I guess In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express sucked up most of the Wong Kar-wai love. Of course, several of my runners-up are now orphans too, like The Piano, Menilmontant, Viridiana, The Cranes are Flying. Sorry, other fans!

I finished 529/585 films, starting with about 400, so I'm pleased with my progress. I veered heavily toward the US in my final results, especially the classical period. However, I only voted for one US film from the 60s and one from the 90s, which feels pretty par for the course given those decades. I actually didn't have as much trouble paring down directors' outputs as I thought I would; I found that while I love a lot of films by certain directors, there was one film that stood far above the rest, often because their films hit similar notes (Hitchcock, Sternberg, Anderson, Wong). On the other hand, there were a few where I just couldn't decide between two very different films by one director (Lubitsch, Altman, Bergman, Carné).

US- 31, France- 7, Sweden-3, UK/China/Japan- 2, Italy/Czech/Belgium- 1

1920s- 3, 30s- 8, 40s- 9, 50s- 7, 60s- 5, 70s- 6, 80s- 4, 90s- 4, 00s- 3, 2010s- 1

Here's my list of the unseen. It's mostly limited by accessibility (sorry, pre-war German film and Raul Ruiz) and length (sorry, Shoah and Heimat). There are a few big titles on there (Scenes from a Marriage, Solaris, Greed, The Fly) that I feel guilty about but never got around to for a variety of reasons. And then there's Irreversible, which will probably be the last film I see from this list.

[domino harvey]

Ha, I felt that same way about Irreversible as Elephant, in that even though both were short and in my possession, I strongly suspect both will make me feel like garbage and so they too will likely stay near the bottom of my queue for a bit!

[A man stayed-put]

Three orphans for me too- Menilmontant, Yellow Sky and A Diary for Timothy

None of them from too high up on my list.

[John Shade]

First ever list for me and I really enjoyed participating. I had one orphan:Au revoir les enfants. A film that I saw in 9th grade French class which made an impression.

My list had 18 American films, 15 French films, and the rest a sort of international hodgepodge, with a few British and Italian films.

2010s: 2, 2000s: 1, '90s: 5, '80s: 6, '70s: 3, '60s: 13, '50s: 12, '40s: 3, '30s: 4, '20s: 1.

I'll post a not-seen list; off the top of my head I can say most of the '20s films and back I have not seen.

I will also admit that I determined between Moonrise Kingdom and Grand Budapest Hotel by a coin flip.

[swo17]

What would you have done if it had landed on its edge?

[John Shade]

I would have just blamed rigged, fake news and submitted a wasted vote for Inception.

[knives]

I guess I'm the big loser so far with five orphans. Some, Police; Adj, are surprising and others, The Blue Bird, not so much. The rest are I Was a Male War Bride, The Shanghai Gesture, and Flowing. You guys are nuts vis a vis that last one.

[swo17]

A couple people had as many as 7 orphans.

[Tommaso]

I have five orphans. With one exception, I'm not really surprised about this, though.

They are (in chronological order):

Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front (Mitchell & Kenyon 1901): I really love this three minute film for its enchanting glimpse at a time long past and still find it surprising how effective its simplicity is 116 years after it was made.

Il fuoco (Pastrone 1916): I guess these diva films are still too obscure, but I hope the next pre-20s list will make more people search them out. Many of them are on youtube now, so no excuses.

Die Nibelungen (Lang 1924): Seriously? An orphan?!

Opfergang (Harlan 1944): High time to get Zizek on this board, it seems...

Kwaidan (Kobayashi 1964): doesn't come unexpected, given how much more popular Kurosawa or Ozu are.

But no complaints, because I'm happy and surprised that some others of my more obscure favourite films/directors are still in contention: Forst, Berger, Ottinger..

[DarkImbecile]

Swo, how many total lists did you end up with (so far, I guess)?