SIGHT & SOUND 2012

                                                    
Since 1952 British magazine Sight & Sound makes, only once-per-decade, the ONLY  important and respected list of greatest movies of all time (reasons and motives are well known by every single serious film-buff). That does not mean this particular process is perfect. It is a political game. Very few are openly honest on their picks, and when they choose, most will have the goal to impact the final list. Everybody that is allowed to vote will admit that, and I would do the same if I could. There is certainly the unfair aspects on the process. Roger Ebert is correct when he says:


“To make the list, a director is punished if too many of his films are voted for. He needs an "official masterpiece." With Buster Keaton that film used to be "The General," but after the restoration of all of his films his votes have become scattered, I suspect, among "Sherlock Jr.," "Steamboat Bill Jr." and other treasures.”


With Bergman and Kurosawa I believe that their votes were split in 7 or 8 films. And they are out of the top 10.

Some things caught my attention:
    -----------------------------------                                                                                                                                                            xThe Silent era on the rise with 3 films on the top 10 (Sunrise - Man with a Movie Camera - The Passion of Joan of Arc). 
-------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                                              xHollywood can't sell that old Popcorn (as they once did). A movie like Star Wars, for example, is nowhere to be found. And a old Hollywood Standard like “Gone with the Wind” did not make the cut.
-------------------------------------
x  I will not get into the Citizen Kane VS. Vertigo argument. It does not matter…both are masterpieces. Since I never thought of Citizen Kane as the absolute greatest film of all time(there isn’t one), I did not took it that personally.


X  Andrei Tarkovsky hits the big time! --- The Russian master very well ranked with 3 films on the list. 
-------Most popular Filmmakers in the top 100: 
x Ingmar Bergman – 4 films -Persona - Wild Strawberries - Fanny and Alexander - The Seventh Seal

x Jean-Luc Godard - 4 films – Breathless – Contempt - Pierrot le fou - Histoire(s) du cinema

x Carl Theodor Dreyer – 3 films - The Passion of Joan of Arc – Ordet – Gertrud

x Francis Ford Coppola - 3 films - Apocalypse Now - The Godfather - The Godfather Part II

x Andrei Tarkovsky - 3 films - Andrei Rublev - Mirror - Stalker

x Alfred Hitchcock - 4 films - Vertigo - Rear Window - Psycho - North by Northwest



One thing that worries me: 

x No comedies – Even the classics from Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin took a hit. Both filmmakers are a little further down the list this time around. Not enough votes for “His Girl Friday”, “Bringing up Baby”, “Holiday”, "The Philadelphia Story" or “The Awful Truth”. ANYTHING by Ernst Lubitsch ??????????
------------------------------------------------------





After 10 long years waiting for the 2012 Sight & Sound poll it is easy to say that the results are intriguing ( but not conclusive – they will never -ever -be).












THE COMPLETE --SIGHT&SOUND -- 2012 LIST:




1. Vertigo, 1958 (191 votes)

2. Citizen Kane, 1941 (157 votes)

3. Tokyo Story, 1953 (107 votes)

4. La Règle du jeu, 1939 (100 votes)

5. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 1927 (93 votes)

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (90 votes)

7. The Searchers, 1956 (78 votes)

8. Man with a Movie Camera, 1929 (68 votes)

9. The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1927 (65 votes)

10. 8½, 1963 (64 votes)

11. Battleship Potemkin, 1925 (63 votes)

12. L’Atalante, 1934 (58 votes)

13. Breathless, 1960 (57 votes)

14. Apocalypse Now, 1979 (53 votes)

15. Late Spring, 1949 (50 votes)

16. Au hasard Balthazar, 1966 (49 votes)

17= Seven Samurai, 1954 (48 votes)

17= Persona, 1966 (48 votes)

19. Mirror, 1974 (47 votes)

20. Singin’ in the Rain, 1951 (46 votes)

21= L’avventura, 1960 (43 votes)

21= Le Mépris, 1963 (43 votes)

21= The Godfather, 1972 (43 votes)

24= Ordet, 1955 (42 votes)

24= In the Mood for Love, 2000 (42 votes)

26= Rashomon, 1950 (41 votes)

26= Andrei Rublev, 1966 (41 votes)

28. Mulholland Dr., 2001 (40 votes)

29= Stalker, 1979 (39 votes)

29= Shoah, 1985 (39 votes)

31= The Godfather Part II, 1974 (38 votes)

31= Taxi Driver, 1976 (38 votes)

33. Bicycle Thieves, 1948 (37 votes)

34. The General, 1926 (35 votes)

35= Metropolis, 1927 (34 votes)

35= Psycho, 1960 (34 votes)

35= Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles, 1975 (34 votes)

35= Sátántangó, 1994 (34 votes)

39= The 400 Blows, 1959 (33 votes)

39= La dolce vita, 1960 (33 votes)

41. Journey to Italy, 1954 (32 votes)

42= Pather Panchali, 1955 (31 votes)

42= Some Like It Hot, 1959 (31 votes)

42= Gertrud, 1964 (31 votes)

42= Pierrot le fou, 1965 (31 votes)

42= Play Time, 1967 (31 votes)

42= Close-Up, 1990 (31 votes)

48= The Battle of Algiers, 1966 (30 votes)

48= Histoire(s) du cinéma, 1998 (30 votes)

50= City Lights, 1931 (29 votes)

50= Ugetsu monogatari, 1953 (29 votes)

50= La Jetée, 1962 (29 votes)

53 – Rear Window, North By Northwest, Raging Bull – 28 votes

56 – M, Touch of Evil, The Leopard – 26 votes

59 – Sherlock Jr, Sansho Dayu, La Maman et la Putain, Barry Lyndon 25 votes

63 – Modern Times, Sunset Blvd, The Night of the Hunter, Wild Strawberries, Rio Bravo, Pickpocket – 24 votes

69 – A Man Escaped, Blade Runner, Sans Soleil, Blue Velvet – 23 votes

73 – La Grande Illusion, Les Enfants du Paradis, The Third Man, L'eclisse, Nashville – 22 votes

78 – Once Upon a Time in the West, Chinatown, Beau Travail – 21 votes

81 – Magnificent Ambersons, Lawrence of Arabia, Spirit of the Beehive – 20 votes

84 – Greed, Casablanca, Colour of Pomegrantes, The Wild Bunch, Fanny & Alexander, A Brighter Summer Day – 19 votes

90 – Partie de campagne, A Matter of Life and Death, Aguirre, Wrath of God – 18 votes

93 – Intolerance, Un chien andalou, Colonel Blimp, Madame de..., Seventh Seal, Imitation of Life, Touki-Bouki, A One and a Two. – 17 votes



My list, on this blog, was made 7-8 years ago. And by now I can think of some changes. Amacord, Breathless, The New World ARE IN. And a Bela Tarr movie must find a place here. I would substitute “Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol” for “Terra em Transe” as the best Rocha’s film…but that is for later….maybe….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_%26_Sound   --- All lists since 1952---

Jean Renoir's masterpiece  "The Rules of the Game" is the only film to appear in every top 10 since 1952.