Wednesday, August 01, 2012

sight & sound | 2012 poll results

The top fifty, selected by 846 critics, academics, programmers and distributors. All the details on the once-a-decade poll can be found at the Sight & Sound website.

The big news: Citizen Kane drops from the Number One position for the first time since the inaugural 1952 poll, where the Orson Welles film wasn't among the top ten. Not a good day for Welles, with Touch Of Evil (formerly #15), The Magnificent Ambersons and The Third Man (formerly tied at #35) dropping right off the charts.

The last ten years have also been cruel to Ingmar Bergman. While Persona joins the party at #17, Wild Strawberries (#27 in 2002), and Fanny and Alexander and The Seventh Seal (previously tied at #35) have been frozen out completely. ("Fanny and Alexander and The Seventh Seal" - sounds like an adventure story for kids).



And these are the films that disappeared.


For the time being, only the top ten films of the Directors' poll are available. Again, Kane falls. The Godfather holds on better than in the Critics' poll. In general, the American auteurs of the seventies do well with this crowd: though Raging Bull dropped from the top ten, Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now were added.


More to come;
Aug 3/4: August issue of Sight & Sound released in UK: complete list of 100 films
Aug 7: August issue available as digital download (Apple Newsstand)
Aug 15: complete critics’ poll of 846 entries in interactive form on S&S website
Aug 22: complete interactive directors’ poll online (358 entries) added

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