Master Harold films this summer

This from Variety.com;

Danny Glover will reprise his stage role in a bigscreen adaptation of Athol Fugard's apartheid-era play "Master Harold... and the Boys." Pic will be helmed by Lonny Price, who directed Glover in the recent Broadway revival and played opposite him in the stage production 20 years ago. The title role will be played by Thomas Sangster, the "Love Actually" star who'll play the title role in the Steven Spielberg-directed "Tintin." The U.K./South Africa co-production will begin production on July 10 in Durban, South Africa.

Thanks, Peter.

Halliwell's Top 1000, by John Walker

For years, Leslie Halliwell published an annual guide to film, video and DVD, in partnership with John Walker.  When Mr Halliwell died, Walker took over the project on his own and changed the format from a straightforward listing alphabetical listing (over 23,000 films in the 2002 edition) to his own personally ranked selection of the 1000 greatest films.

Here's the list.  I'm working on adding years, countries and directors to the list.  When I've completed that, I'll repost with the more complete information - though for now I will offer this rundown of Walker's top directors, preceded by the number of films included in the list;

• 17 Alfred Hitchcock
  
• 12 George Cukor
  
• 10 Billy Wilder
  
• 10 Martin Scorsese
  
• 9 David Lean
  
• 9 Frank Capra
  
• 9 John Ford
  
• 8 François Truffaut
  
• 8 John Huston
  
• 8 Louis Malle
  
• 8 Luis Buñuel
  
• 8 Michael Curtiz
  
• 8 William Wyler
  
• 7 Akira Kurosawa
  
• 7 Carol Reed
  
• 7 Federico Fellini
  
• 7 Fred Zinnemann
  
• 7 Fritz Lang
  
• 7 Ingmar Bergman
  
• 7 Luchino Visconti
  
• 7 Rene Clair
  

Here's the list.  (Oh, if you'd like the list in an excel spreadsheet, email soulfoodmovies@ronreed.org and I'll send you a copy.)

1 Tokyo Story 
2 Rules of the Game  (La Regle du Jeu)
3 Lawrence of Arabia
4.1 Godfather, The
4.2 Godfather Part II
4.3 Godfather Part III
5 Seven Samurai 
6 Citizen Kane 
7 Raging Bull 
8 Vertigo
9 Some Like It Hot
10 8 1/2 
11 Dr Strangelove
12 Singin' in the Rain 
13 Taxi Driver
14 Searchers, The 
15 Seventh Seal, The 
16 Sweet Smell of Success 
17 Sunset Boulevard 
18 Third Man, The  
19.1 Apu Trilogy; Pather Panchali
19.2 Apu Trilogy; Aparajito
19.3 Apu Trilogy: The World of Apu
20 Children of Paradise  (Les Enfants du Paradis)
21 Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie, The 
22 Andrei Rublev 
23 Passion of Joan of Arc, The 
24 Viridiana 
25 Toy Story 
26 Rashomon
27 Wild Strawberries 
28 To Be or Not to Be 
29 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
30.1 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring 
30.2 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers
30.3 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
31 2001 - A Space Odyssey 
32 Battle of Algiers, The 
33 Alexander Nevsky 
34 Belle de Jour
35 Casablanca 
36 Goodfellas 
37 Tristana
38 Magnificent Ambersons, The
39 Breaking the Waves 
40 Sullivan's Travels
41 Frankenstein 
42 Battleship Potemkin 
43 Double Indemnity 
44 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
45 Weekend
46 Jules and Jim
47 Breathless (A Bout de Souffle)
48 Bonnie and Clyde 
49 Wings of Desire
50 Fitzcarraldo 
51 If 
52 Wild Bunch, The
53 Red Shoes, The
54 Annie Hall
55 Tom Jones 
56 On the Waterfront 
57 West Side Story
58 Saturday Night And Sunday Morning 
59 Grapes of Wrath, The
60 Great Expectations 
61 Leopard, The
62 Schindler's List 
63 Ashes and Diamonds 
64 A Nous La Liberte
65.1 400 Blows, The (Antoine Doinel Tetralogy)
65.2 Stolen Kisses (Antoine Doinel Tetralogy)
65.3 Bed and Board (Antoine Doinel Tetralogy)
65.4 Love On The Run (Antoine Doinel Tetralogy)
66 Mr Smith Goes to Washington 
67 Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
68 Laurel & Hardy short films
69 Chinatown
70.1 Star Wars
70.2 Empire Strikes Back, The
70.3 Return of the Jedia
71 Gosford Park
72 Rear Window
73 Aguirre the Wrath of God 
74 Short Film About Killing, A 
75 M*A*S*H 
76 Cries & Whispers 
77 All the President's Men 
78 Nights of Cabiria 
79 King Kong 
80 Gone with the Wind 
81 All Quiet on the Western Front 
82 Fanny and Alexander
83 North BY Northwest
84 Band Wagon, The
85 Yojimbo 
86 Brief Encounter 
87 Deliverance
88 Fargo 
89 Cabaret
90 Once Upon a Time in America 
91 Days of Heaven 
92 Adventures of Robin Hood, The 
93 High Noon 
94 His Girl Friday
95 Manhattan
96 Duck Soup
97 Henry V 
98 This Is Spinal Tap
99 Bad Day at Black Rock
100 Graduate, The
101 Charlie Chaplin Short Comedy Classics
102 American Beauty
103 Z
104 Unforgiven
105 Maltese Falcon, The
106 ET - The Extra-Terrestrial 
107 It's a Wonderful Life
108 Blue Angel, The
109 Bridge On The River Kwai, The
110 Gold Rush, The
111 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
112 Hustler, The
113 Kind of Loving, A
114 Walkabout
115 City Lights
116 On the Town
117 Oliver Twist
118 Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, The
119 After Life
120 Cinema Paradiso
121 Au revoir les enfants
122 David Copperfield
123 Day at the Races, A
124 Color of Pomegranates, The
125 Celebration, The
126 Day for Night
127 Ossessione
128 General, The
129 Bicycle Thief, The
130 Three Colors Trilogy
131 Jour de fête
132 Kes
133 Lacombe Lucien
134 Dead, The
135 La Strada
136 BRD Trilogy; The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, Lola
137 Hard Day's Night, A
138 Dead of Night
139 Kind Hearts and Coronets
140 Devil & Daniel Webster, The
141 Open City
142 Napoleon
143 Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1931)
144 Don't Look Now
145 Driver, The
146 In the Heat of the Night
147 Way Out West
148 Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The
149 Bride of Frankenstein
150 Mean Streets
151 Lost Weekend, The
152 Knack, The
153 39 Steps, The
154 LA Confidential
155 Man in the White Suit, The
156 Kings Row
157 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
158 Barbarian Invasions, The
159 Last Metro, The
160 Stagecoach
161 Last Picture Show, The
162 An American in Paris
163 Badlands
164 Lavender Hill Mob, The
165 Marseilles Trilogy; Marius, Fanny, Cesar
166 Pelle the Conqueror
167 Touch of Evil
168 Persona
169 Paths of Glory
170 Alien
171 12 Angry Men
172 Manchurian Candidate, The
173 Stairway To Heaven
174 Man for All Seasons, A
175 Mephisto
176 Midnight Cowboy
177 Psycho
178 Le Million
179 Les Misérables (1935)
180 King of Comedy, The
181 Destry Rides Again
182 Network
183 Night at the Opera, A
184 October
185 Tin Drum, The
186 Oh Mr Porter!
187 Passport to Pimlico
188 Lady Vanishes, The
189 Diary of a Country Priest
190 Throne of Blood
191 Piano, The
192 Picnic at Hanging Rock
193 Night of the Hunter, The
194 Kwaidan
195 Pinocchio
196 Player, The
197 Love Me Tonight
198 Thief of Bagdad (1940)
199 Rembrandt
200 M
201 Pygmalion
202 Sons of the Desert
203 Top Hat
204 Philadelphia Story, The
205 Trouble in Paradise
206 Bambi
207 Ran
208 When Harry Met Sally
209 Hunchback of Notre Dame, The
210 Grand Illusion
211 Best Years Of Our Lives, The
212 Solaris
213 Come and See
214 Invasion of the Body Snatchers
215 Whisky Galore
216 Hud
217 Easy Rider
218 Marty
219 Ivan's Childhood (1962)
220 Crumb
221 Blow Up
222 Kid, The
223 Navigator, The
224 Invisible Man, The
225 Fury
226 Magician, The (The Face)
227 le jour se leve (Daybreak)
228 Bank Dick, The
229 An Autumn Afternoon
230 Smiles Of A Summer Night
231 Gigi
232 Birth Of A Nation, The
233 Shoah
234 All About Eve
235 Bringing Up Baby
236 La Belle Noiseuse
237 Intolerance (1916)
238 Fantasia
239 Southern Comfort
240 Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment
241 Exterminating Angel, The
242 Brighton Rock (1947)
243 Trainspotting
244 Blue Velvet
245 Boudu Saved from Drowning
246 Ugetsu
247 Wizard of Oz, The
248 Death in Venice
249 Being There
250 Orphic Trilogy; Blood of a Poet, Orphee, La Testament d'Orphee
251 It Happened One Night
252 Contempt
253 Mutiny on the Bounty
254 Theif, The
255 Hannah and Her Sisters
256 Butcher, The
257 Heimat
258 Aladdin
259 Witness
260 WR - Mysteries of the Organism
261 Strangers on a Train
262 Wages of Fear, The
263 Ladykillers, The
264 Rebecca
265 Kiss Me Deadly
266 Yi Yi: A One and a Two
267 Early Summer
268 Oliver!
269 Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, The
270 Little Caesar
271 Bill Douglas Trilogy; My Childhood; My Ain Folk; My Way Home
272 Songs From the Second Floor
273 Big Sleep, The
274 Dresser, The
275 Diabolique
276 Turkish Delight
277 Lady Eve, The
278 Education of Vera, The
279 In the Mood for Love
280 Topsy-Turvy
281 All About My Mother
282 Birds, The
283 Army in the Shadows
284 La Beauté du Diable
285 Killing Fields, The
286 Forbidden Games
287 Amadeus
288 Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The
289 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
290 Crowd, The
291 Big Red One, The
292 Nashville
293 Southerner, The
294 10
295 Les Amants
296 Face to Face
297 Gandhi
298 Billy Liar
299 Angels With Dirty Faces
300 Clockwork Orange, A
301 Memento
302 L' Argent
303 Face in the Crowd, A
304 Once Upon a Time in the West
305 Foreign Correspondent
306 Morocco
307 Metropolis
308 Things to Come
309 Queen Christina
310 Breaker Morant
311 Central Station
312 Casque d'Or
313 O Brother Where Art Thou?
314 Day of Wrath
315 Who Framed Roger Rabbit
316 Black Narcissus
317 Animal Crackers
318 And Then There Were None
319 Conformist, The
320 Last Year at Marienbad
321 Conversation, The
322 Christ Stopped at Eboli
323 Funny Games
324 Playtime
325 Triumph of the Will
326 Performance
327 Claire's Knee
328 Lancelot of the Lake
329 Black Robe
330 Spirit of the Beehive, The
331 Go-Between, The
332 Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
333 Groundhog Day
334 Touch of Zen
335 Straight Story, The
336 My Fair Lady
337 Pianist, The
338 Lady for a Day
339 Burmese Harp, The
340 Y Tu Mama Tambien
341 Usual Suspects, The
342 Son's Room, The
343 Death by Hanging (1968)
344 Do The Right Thing
345 Apocalypse Now
346 Ikiru
347 Le Samourai
348 Sansho the Bailiff
349 Red Sorghum (1987)
350 Lolita
351 Zero for Conduct
352 Ace in the Hole (AKA The Big Carnival)
353 Richard III
354 Amores Perros
355 Jean de Florette
356 Master and Commander
357 Tunes of Glory
358 Life of Oharu, The
359 Being John Malkovich
360 Robocop
361 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
362 Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder)
363 Night of the Living Dead
364 Kagemusha
365 Family Life
366 Brighter Summer Day, A
367 Limelight (1952)
368 Arsenic and Old Lace
369 Le Feu follet
370 General, The
371 Dogville
372 Sons & Lovers
373 Repentance
374 Eight Men Out
375 Farewell My Concubine
376 Elephant Man, The
377 Padre Padrone
378 Fallen Idol, The
379 Beauty and The Beast (La Belle et la Bete)
380 Dog Day Afternoon
381 Earth
382 Shane
383 Truman Show, The
384 Rocco and His Brothers
385 My Darling Clementine
386 Hospital, The
387 Juliet Of The Spirits
388 Strike
389 Grifters, The
390 Gilda
391 Short Cuts
392 Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The
393 L'Eclisse
394 Howards End
395 Last Orders
396 Big Parade, The
397 Gospel According to St Matthew, The
398 Killers, The
399 Ride the High Country
400 Red River
401 Goldfinger
402 Murmur of the Heart
403 Hiroshima Mon Amour
404 Henry V (1989)
405 They Shoot Horses Don't They?
406 O Lucky Man!
407 To Be and to Have
408 Monkey Business
409 Tootsie
410 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
411 Hobson's Choice
412 This Man Must Die
413 L' Atalante
414 Shanghai Express
415 Taste of Honey, A
416 American Graffiti
417 Dirty Harry
418 Dumbo
419 Life of Brian
420 Horse Feathers
421 Genevieve
422 How Green Was My Valley
423 Cleo From 5 to 7
424 Jesus of Montreal
425 Gaslight
426 Thelma & Louise
427 Front Page, The
428 La Ronde
429 Ninotchka
430 Assault, The
431 I'm All Right Jack
432 Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The
433 Last Tango in Paris
434 La Chinoise
435 Full Monty, The
436 Felicia's Journey
437 Amarcord
438 Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
439 Patton
440 Alice
441 Blue Kite, The
442 Werckmeister Harmonies
443 Sound of Music, The
444 Last Seduction, The
445 Doctor Zhivago
446 UTU
447 Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train
448 Prospero's Books
449 Heaven Can Wait
450 Burnt by the Sun
451 Shakespeare in Love
452 French Connection, The
453 Key Largo
454 Killers, The
455 Pulp Fiction
456 Dinner at Eight
457 Intruder in the Dust
458 Darling
459 Olympische Spiele
460 Newsfront
461 Goodbye Mr Chips
462 Decline of the American Empire, The
463 Lost Horizon
464 It Always Rains on Sunday
465 Lenny
466 Heavenly Creatures
467 Farewell My Lovely
468 Holiday
469 Donnie Brasco
470 Klute
471 Blade Runner
472 Land and Freedom
473 Last Exit to Brooklyn
474 Richard III
475 L'Avventura
476 Woman in the Dunes
477 Les Misérables
478 Innocents with Dirty Hands
479 Day in the Death of Joe Egg, A
480 Husbands and Wives
481 Circle, The
482 Mrs Brown
483 City of Hope
484 In Cold Blood
485 Ploughman's Lunch, The
486 Modern Times
487 Umberto D
488 Long Day Closes, The
489 Love Affair
490 Shadowlands
491 Man Who Knew Too Much, The
492 Onibaba
493 Quiet American, The
494 Notorious
495 Man Who Came to Dinner, The
496 Cyrano de Bergerac
497 Room with a View, A
498 Mon Oncle d'Amerique 
499 Charlie Bubbles 
500 Falstaff Chimes At Midnight 
501 Milou in May
502 Field of Dreams 
503 Raiders of the Lost Ark
504 Scarface 
505 Tillsammans 
506 Mother and Son 
507 Diary for My Children
508 Niagra
509 Kid Brother, The
510 From Russia With Love
511 In The Realm Of The Senses
512 Scarlet Empress, The
513 Mine Own Executioner (1947) 
514 Raise the Red Lantern 
515 Shine 
516 Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The
517 Before the Rain 
518 Reservoir Dogs
519 Private Life of Henry VIII, The
520 Harvey 
521 Green for Danger 
522 Old Dark House, The
523 Mr Deeds Goes to Town 
524 My Name Is Joe 
525 Ginger and Fred 
526 Dr No 
527 Nosferatu 
528 China Syndrome, The
529 Moonlighting
530 All That Jazz
531 Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle) 
532 Keep an Eye on Amelia
533 Ordinary People 
534 Candidate, The
535 Way to the Stars, The
536 Miracle on 34th Street 
537 My Learned Friend
538 Nada (1974) 
539 Narrow Margin, The
540 Kolya 
541 Here Comes Mr Jordan 
542 Jezebel 
543 Night to Remember, A
544 Night Train to Munich
545 Ermo (1994) 
546 Nixon
547 Jazz Singer, The
548 My Favorite Wife 
549 Nothing Sacred 
550 Odd Man Out 
551 Asphalt Jungle, The
552 Innocent, The (L'Innocente) 
553 Naked City 
554 White Heat 
555 Death Of A Salesman 
556 Parallax View, The
557 Italian Straw Hat, The 
558 Planet of the Apes 
559 I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang 
560 Of Mice and Men 
561 Nasty Girl, The
562 Hardcore 
563 Time For Drunken Horses, A
564 Our Relations 
565 Lantana 
566 Journey Into Fear (1975) 
567 Palm Beach Story, The
568 Dr Mabuse - The Gambler 
569 Great Race 
570 People vs Larry Flynt, The
571 Ghost Goes West, The
572 Touching the Void 
573 Wind, The
574 Out of Sight 
575 Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House 
576 Once Were Warriors 
577 Pretty Village Pretty Flame 
578 Pride and Prejudice 
579 Private Function, A
580 Scenes From a Marriage 
581 Saving Private Ryan 
582 Meet Me In St Louis 
583 Lovers of the Arctic Circle 
584 Quiet Man, The
585 My Favorite Year 
586 Shootist, The
587 Casino 
588 Dangerous Liaisons 
589 Best Man, The
590 Prisoner of Zenda, The
591 This Sporting Life 
592 Sense and Sensibility 
593 Barton Fink 
594 Sweet Hereafter, The
595 Atlantic City 
596 Four Weddings and a Funeral 
597 Knife in the Water
598 L'Invitation
599 Midsummer Night's Dream, A
600 Story of Qiu Ju, The 
601 Private's Progress
602 Tango 
603 Run Lola Run 
604 Room at the Top 
605 Germinal 
606 Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The 
607 Phantom of Liberty
608 Taking Off 
609 Producers, The
610 Loves of a Blonde 
611 Opposite of Sex, The
612 Best Intentions, The
613 Safety Last!
614 Days and Nights in the Forest 
615 Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, The
616 Saturday Night Fever
617 Rabbit-Proof Fence
618 Panic in the Streets
619 Ghost Dog 
620 About Schmidt 
621 Secrets and Lies 
622 Sting, The
623 Port of Shadows 
624 Poil de carotte (1925) 
625 Intermezzo 
626 One False Move 
627 Comrades 
628 Man With the Movie Camera 
629 Grave of the Fireflies 
630 Rocky
631 She Done Him Wrong 
632 Strictly Ballroom 
633 Informer, The
634 Maxim Gorky Trilogy
635 Meet John Doe 
636 Sunday Bloody Sunday 
637 Metropolitan 
638 Star Is Born, A
639 Thin Red Line, The
640 Talk of the Town, The
641 Son of Frankenstein / The Ghost of Frankenstein 
642 Chariots of Fire 
643 Crying Game, The
644 Jane Eyre (1943)
645 Pajama Game, The
646 Set-Up, The
647 Pixote  Hector
648 Ship of Fools 
649 Sunshine State 
650 Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, The
651 Happiness 
652 Cabaret Balkan 
653 Those Wonderful Movie Cranks
654 Women in Love 
655 Men, The 
656 Romeo + Juliet 
657 Empire of the Sun
658 Wise Blood (1979) 
659 Daisies 
660 Taste of Cherry 
661 Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A
662 Day in the Country, A
663 Zazie dans le Metro
664 Roaring Twenties, The
665 Bob le Flambeur 
666 42nd Street 
667 Summertime
668 House of Games 
669 Madness Of King George, The
670 Vagabond 
671 Now Voyager 
672 Watchmaker of St Paul, The
673 Lion King, The
674 Way Ahead, The
675 Rosetta 
676 Butcher Boy, The
677 Fat City 
678 Un héros très discret 
679 Spirited Away
680 Hours, The
681 Los Olvidados (Young And The Damned) 
682 War & Peace (1968)
683 Wuthering Heights 
684 Thin Man, The
685 Election 
686 Fistful of Dollars, A
687 Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
688 Bachelor Party 
689 Ruling Class, The
690 Big Chill, The
691 Young Mr Lincoln 
692 Man Who Wasn't There, The
693 Lamerica 
694 From Here to Eternity
695 Hellzapoppin
696 Our Hospitality (1923) 
697 Gladiator 
698 Elizabeth
699 Fail-safe 
700 Seven Days in May 
701 Crossfire
702 Farewell My Lovely
703 Buena Vista Social Club
704 Dracula
705 Closely Watched Trains
706 Christmas Carol, A (Scrooge)
707 Mother
708 Greed
709 One Eyed Jacks
710 Court Jester, The
711 Kramer versus Kramer
712 Late Spring
713 Silence Of The Lambs, The
714 Woodstock
715 Le Fils (The Son)
716 La Terra Trema
717 Three Kings
718 Crimes & Misdemeanors
719 Simple Plan, A
720 Wedding Banquet, The
721 Delicatessen
722 Interrogation
723 Matrix, The
724 Nun's Story, The
725 Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, The
726 Dracula
727 Shrek
728 Damned, The
729 Seven
730 Shadow of a Doubt
731 Defiant Ones, The
732 East is East
733 Ox-Bow Incident, The
734 Man Of Marble / Man Of Iron
735 Niebelungen, The
736 Yol
737 Big Country, The
738 Stormy Weather
739 Cameraman, The
740 Major Barbara
741 Night Of The Demon (Curse Of The Demon)
742 Gregory's Girl
743 Smile
744 Boys Don't Cry
745 Assault on Precinct 13
746 Picture of Dorian Gray, The
747 Woman of the Year
748 Nightmare Before Christmas, The
749 Ivan the Terrible
750 Showboat
751 American Werewolf in London, An
752 Fencing Master, The
753 Golem, The
754 Game, The
755 Hue and Cry
756 Ulee's Gold
757 Sugarland Express
758 Marathon Man
759 This Gun For Hire
760 Blithe Spirit
761 City Slickers
762 Coal Miner's Daughter
763 Day of the Jackal, The
764 Gunga Din
765 Anne and Muriel
766 Sitting Pretty
767 Billy Elliot
768 Asthenic Syndrome, The
769 Quiet Wedding
770 Blue Collar
771 Zelig
772 Music Man, The
773 Reds
774 Ballad of a Soldier
775 Insider, The
776 Dear Diary (Caro Diario)
777 Victim
778 Slight Case Of Murder, A
779 Awful Truth, The
780 Blue Lamp, The
781 I Married A Witch
782 My Man Godfrey
783 State of the Union
784 As Good As It Gets
785 Picnic
786 All The King's Men
787 Moon and Sixpence, The
788 Thunder Rock
789 Friday the Thirteenth
790 Public Enemy
791 Bachelor Mother
792 Man Bites Dog
793 Mary Poppins
794 Double Suicide
795 Life Is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella)
796 Phantom of the Opera
797 Diner
798 Yankee Doodle Dandy
799 Soldier of Orange
800 Cabinet of Dr Caligari
801 Sing As We Go
802 Toy Story 2
803 Will It Snow For Christmas?
804 Spiral Staircase, The
805 Charge of the Light Brigade, The
806 Carry On Up the Khyber
807 Beauty and the Beast
808 Magnolia
809 Night of the Iguana, The
810 Badgad Café
811 Little Foxes, The
812 Women, The
813 Little Women
814 Life of Emile Zola, The
815 Bringing Out The Dead
816 Charley Varrick
817 Cousin, Cousine
818 Folies Bergere
819 49th Parallel
820 Love On The Dole
821 Enfants du Marais, Les
822 Enforcer, The
823 One Hour With You
824 Count of Monte Cristo, The
825 Body Snatcher, The
826 Speed
827 Stanley and Livingstone
828 Scarlet Pimpernel, The
829 House on 92nd Street
830 Julia
831 Boomerang!
832 I'm No Angel
833 Three Musketeers, The
834 Paleface, The
835 My Favorite Blonde
836 Happy Time, The
837 Alexander's Ragtime Band
838 Walk In The Sun, A
839 Fugitive, The
840 Erin Brokovich
841 Sabotage (A Woman Alone)
842 Berlin, Symphony of a Great City
843 Witness For the Prosecution
844 Gay Divorcee, The
845 Sur Mes Levres
847 Pickup on South Street
848 Fourteen Hours
849 Last Laugh, The
850 Arise My Love
851 Damnation
852 Dreamlife Of Angels, The
853 Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The
854 Baie des Anges, La
855 Cape Fear
856 French Can-Can
856 England Made Me
857 Gimme Shelter
858 Sixth Sense, The
859 Cranes Are Flyiing, The
860 Mandy
861 Best Boy
862 Adaptation
863 Young In Heart, The
864 Hoop Dreams
865 Mr Skeffington
866 Dead End
867 Lady Killer
868 Trilogy: On The Run, An Amazing Couple, After Life
869 Star Is Born, A
870 Kanal
871 Paris, Texas
872 Braveheart
873 Iron Giant, The
874 Apartment, The
875 Withnail and I
876 Big Heat, The
877 Laura
878 Letter, The
879 Witchfinder General (The Conqueror Worm)
880 Thief of Bagdad, The
881 Winslow Boy, The
882 Salvatore Giuliano
883 Pumpkin Eater, The
884 East Of Eden
885.1 Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
885.2 Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple
885.3 Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island
886 Ghost World
887 Call Me Madam
888 Bowling For Columbine
889 Born on the Fourth of July
890 Titfield Thunderbolt, The
891 Jubilee
892 Femme Infidele, La
893 Ordet
894 Butterfly Murders, The
895 Love (Szerelem)
896 Black God, White Devil
897 Bullitt
898 Melvin and Howard
899 Gunfighter, The
900 Odishon (Audition)
901 Memories of Underdevelopment
902 Get Carter
903 League of Gentlemen, The
904 Mark of Zorro, The
905 Born Yesterday
906 Tampopo
907 Great McGinty, The
908 Great Lie, The
909 Airplane
910 Bedford Incident, The
911 Ben-Hur
912 Straw Dogs
913 Rebel Without a Cause
914 Wicker Man, The
915 Autobus
916 For Me and My Gal
917 My Brilliant Career
918 Nothing But The Best
919 Random Harvest
920 Happiest Days of Your Life, The
921 Lovers and Other Strangers
922 Good Earth, The
923 Midnight
924 Babe
925 Most Dangerous Game, The
926 Saboteur
927 San Francisco
928 Posto, Il (Job, The)
929 Only Two Can Play
930 Prize, The
931 One Hundred and One Dalmatians
932 Hot Rock, The
933 Tobacco Road
934 Alias Nick Beal
935 Private Conversation, A
936 They Won't Forget
937 Sign of the Cross, The
938 Balance, La
939 On Approval
940 My Life As A Dog
941 Repulsion
942 Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, The
943 Antonia's Line
944 Father Brown (The Detective)
945 Back to the Future
946 Force of Evil
947 Kuhle Wampe (Whither Germany?)
948 Shock Corridor
949 Devils, The
950 Pickpocket
951 Salaam Bombay!
952 Rome Express
953 Bad Company
954 Bombshell
955 Black Swan, The
956 Dodsworth
957 More the Merrier, The
958 Black Eyes
959 Woman in the Window, The
960 Written On The Wind
961 Peeping Tom
962 Stage Door
963 Sea Hawk, The
964 Dodge City
965 Satyricon
966 Blue Bird, The
967 Chicken Run
968 Rains Came, The
969 Black Pirate, The
970 Young Frankenstein
971 Trash
972 Tokyo Godfathers
973 Donnie Darko
974 Lodger, The
975 Last Waltz, The
976 Sherlock Junior
977 Triplettes de Belleville, Les
978 Lover Come Back
979 Witchcraft Through The Ages
980 On Golden Pond
981 Ghost Breakers, The
982 One Hundred Men and a Girl
983 Bowery, The
984 Dark Star
985 Mystery of the Wax Museum
986 Atanarjuat The Fast Runner
987 Man Who Could Work Miracles, The
988 Around the World in Eighty Days
989 Patterns
990 Tokyo Olympiad
991 Jason and the Argonauts
992 Group, The
993 Great Waltz, The
994 Kipps (The Remarkable Mr Kipps)
995 Blair Witch Project, The
996 Starship Troopers
997 Fire Over England
998 Tin Pan Alley
999 Blackmail
1000 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The

Ramin Bahrani's Top Ten Criterions: High Soul Food Content

I asked to review MAN PUSH CART for Christianity Today Movies, but it was a bit too far off the beaten track for their mandate. Now that I read film-maker Ramin Bahrani's list of his Top Ten Criterion disks, and note how many soul food movies and soul food directors are included, then read his reasons for selecting these titles, I'm all the more curious about the man, his films, and his spirituality.

MY TOP TEN CRITERIONS
Ramin Bahrani

Writer-director Ramin Bahrani’s first two feature films, Man Push Cart (2005) and Chop Shop (2007) have won awards and acclaim all over the world, from Venice to Cannes to the U.S. Chop Shop also won Bahrani the Someone to Watch Independent Spirit Award in 2008. Bahrani is currently in postproduction on his third feature, Goodbye Solo.

1. Nanook of the North
Robert Flaherty
Robert Flaherty set his camera down and had the audacity and humanity to step back. I like Man of Aran even better. Without these films there would not have been La terra trema, Rome Open City (A&F 100), Bicycle Thieves, Where Is the Friend’s House?, Il posto . . . Such simple and moving storytelling, and so profoundly in touch with what it means to be human in this world. He has forever erased the line between fiction and documentary. What is left, fabricated or not, is a visual poem that challenges how we live and how we see, and all the while accepting life for what it is.

2. Mama Roma
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pasolini was murdered for a reason: he was a real artist with something to say that too many people did not want to hear. Nobody brings as much love and anger, and challenges and questions, as PPP. His films explode with life and energy, politics, religion, doubt, devotion, humor, and irony, and force you to rethink everything in your life and outside your life. Each frame is a revolution and a dare to the viewer. Bertolucci said, “You can tell when Pasolini puts the pen down and picks up the camera.” Which other filmmakers can claim that this quote would be true of them? A devastating majority of films are just filmed screenplays. Pasolini belongs to the rare group of artists who make films. Empty yourself, wash your eyes and ears, and for the first time really watch and listen to what the master has to say.

3. The Flowers of St. Francis (A&F 100)
Roberto Rossellini
My favorite from Rossellini. A sublime call to us all to be good, even at our own expense. Ten times more subversive and inspiring than any in the long list of meaningless yet much-lauded films made about the “lessons” of war, injustice, and inhumanity. This is the film everyone should have been watching in the last eight years. Fellini’s humor and Rossellini’s ironic wit are at their very best here. The monks are brilliant in their roles. A must-see gem. Videomatica

4. Il Posto
Ermanno Olmi
A great Italian film from the often ignored Olmi (please also see The Tree of Wooden Clogs). The scenes between young Domenico and Antonietta are so real you will think you have witnessed them yourself while standing outside a café window. Wonderful mix of humor and sadness, and of lightness in the face of the eternal meaninglessness of society’s damning labyrinth. The scenes go by so effortlessly, yet by the end you’re profoundly moved without understanding how Olmi has done it.

Videomatica

5. Umberto D. (a favourite of Doug Cummings)
Vittorio De Sica
I first saw this as a college student at one of the city’s repertory cinemas, in the early nineties, and will never forget it. One of the most simple and moving films ever made about man not losing his dignity in the face of our eternal fate and society’s greed. How to stay alive and human when you are no longer useful to our indifferent world? How to maintain hope when all that is left is to turn into the dust from which we came? Videomatica

6. L’avventura
Michelanglo Antonini
Every director should have a respect for the frame, and here Antonioni reminds us of that lesson shot after shot. He shocked Cannes but without being exploitative, which is more than most enfants terribles in Cannes’ history can claim. Antonioni shocked by being a ruefully disturbing mirror into the souls of his generation. Sandro’s empty desires, and Claudia’s blind and desperate search for meaning and connection in the deadly silence of life, are as true to our times as to when the film was made. Monica Vitti astounds with her beauty and her mystery, and Antonioni’s courage to explain nothing but allow us to feel and question everything is a testament to his brilliance.

7. Au hasard Balthazar (A&F 100)
Robert Bresson
One lesson after another from the master to all his students. A film that makes you ashamed to be part of the human race, and then fills you with the courage to be better. Videomatica

8. Scenes from a Marriage (full TV version)
Ingmar Bergman
A great first-date movie! Well . . . perhaps not. I have never seen a more truthful and honest account of human relationships. Shockingly simple in its creation, once again proving how hard it is to be simple and how it is usually much more profound. Bergman keeps cutting away to reveal more, not less. He has done the difficult and dirty work for us. Watch and accept the truth about our relationships, and then, like all of mankind, try to avoid your fate.

9. Nights of Cabiria
Federico Fellini
Along with La dolce vita and I vitelloni, my favorite from Fellini. So much love and hope in the face of the bastards who seem to run this world. Masani is brilliant and PPP’s dialogues and understanding of the “wretched of the earth” are perhaps Fellini’s good karma for the gifts he brought Rossellini in The Flowers of St. Francis seven years prior. Daring, loving, and painful. Thank you for not ending this one at the sea, but instead on the road, with trees, music, tears, and smiles—a real carnival in the face of death. Videomatica

10. Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa
Lessons one through one hundred in how to write, shoot, direct, and edit a film. Sit down and enjoy.

Recent Criterion release: Au Revoir, Les Enfants

I've wanted to see this film for a long time, but haven't managed to do so. Have always been curious how the Jewish-Christian themes play themselves out. New on Criterion, available at Videomatica.

Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss between two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938, USA, Frank Capra, Robert Riskin screenplay from Kaufman & Hart stage play)
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1984, USA, Kirk Browning & Ellis Rabb)
"The die is cast. I'm a lily."
"Have some popcorn."

In May and June of 1938, exactly seventy years ago, Frank Capra was on a Hollywood soundstage filming "You Can't Take It With You." The Kaufman and Hart comedy – by the turn of the millenium, the most-performed play in North America – was fresh from Broadway. Just like Capra's young romantic lead, Jimmy Stewart, who'd been in California only long enough to hook up with his buddy Henry Fonda, pick up small roles in a handful of studio pictures, and carry on a brief fling with Ginger Rogers (who may or may not have been a good dancer: far be it from me to weigh in on that particular argument).

Frank Capra saw in his unknown "aw shucks" leading man the quintessential movie star, and in this wonderfully human comedy something more divine than just a roomful of quirky characters. He wanted to make a film that would "dramatize Love Thy Neighbor in living drama. What the world's churches were preaching to apathetic congregations, my universal language of film might say more entertainingly to audiences."

Sounds like a lot of weight to put on a charming little comedy about nonconformity. But you know, the longer I spend around this surprisingly substantial story, the more I come to think he might be right. Grandpa Vanderhof's amiable contempt for the things of this world – like paying taxes that inevitably seem to end up bankrolling useless wars – smacks of the radical subversiveness of Jesus' gospel, an abandonment to divine providence that's more than just a little counter-cultural. In Depression-era America, or in rich-still-getting-richer, poor-still-getting-poorer British Columbia three quarters of a century later.

Disappointingly, Capra also saw here something less divine than a roomful of quirky characters: he remakes this play about unconventionality into something decidely more conventional, shifting the love story centre-stage and backgrounding the richly detailed communalism that gives context not only for the romance but for the unabashed individualism of its proto-hippy free spirits. Moss and Hart's gently anarchic celebration of good old Yankee eccentricity frames the virtues of idiosyncracy in community: the Vanderhof-Sycamore clan may be self-directed, but never self-serving or self-sufficient.

The original play is available on video, with Jason Robards taped in performance during a mid-eighties Broadway run. Filmed stage productions are tricky: performances large enough to fill a thousand-seat house can read false on screen, and outsize comic characterizations in particular go over the top, but still it's grand to see the story in all its good-natured anarchy – political as well as personal. (What this play need is human-scaled performances in the intimacy of a living room sized theatre. Hmm...)

I do love the Capra film treatment for one scene, though. Mr Poppins is a closet inventor who tallies numbers at Mr Kirby's bank – until the day Grandpa Vanderhof lures him away, a Depression-era Matthew forsaking the counting-house for a bagful of popcorn and a sudden vision of freedom;
"How'd you like to come over to our house and work on your gadgets? Everybody over to our place does just what he wants to do."
"But how would I live?"
"Same way we do."
"But who takes care of you?"
"The same one that takes care of the lilies, Mr Poppins. Except that we toil a little, spin a little, have a barrel of fun. If you want to, come on over and become a lily too."
"A lily? Me, a lily of the field?"

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE


The Capra film version is available at Videomatica