LANDMARK FILMS (1915 - 1975) by William Wolf
List of movies that had revolutionized the cinema at the time of release (and some may seem outdated). Taken from the book by William Wolf. (In list order)
List activity
79 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
38 titles
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishMae MarshHenry B. WalthallThe Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.Art and Racism... "The pioneering work that expanded the potential of the film medium, but also stands as the most racist major film ever made."
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.Reality on film... "First feature documentary to present reality with such dramatic immediacy, intimacy, and eloquence."
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsAleksandr AntonovVladimir BarskiyGrigoriy AleksandrovIn the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.International Impact... "Revolutionary cinema for revolutionary goals."
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.Zenith and Fade-Out... "The genius of Keaton is that he created a Civil War epic through the medium of comedy."
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAl JolsonMay McAvoyWarner OlandThe son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.The sound revolution... "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" cracked Harry Warner.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glenda FarrellA small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.Grandfather of The Godfather... "The mobster emerged as the new national hero in another popular formula for story-telling."
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.Pacesetter for Horror... "In 1931, when the very real monster of the Depression had engulfed the United States, the most famous and durable of horror films was released."
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.Comedy breakthrough... "Probably the best talking comedy ever made!"
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsClark GableClaudette ColbertWalter ConnollyA rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.Sex and the American Dream... "It set the important screw-ball comedy pattern and forecast how Hollywood comedies would treat sex and society for many years to come."
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRobert DonatMadeleine CarrollLucie MannheimA man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.Contributions of a suspense master... "The turning point that sped Hitchcock on his way to a position of world renown and influence difficult to measure fully."
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.Depression and depersonalization... "Expresses the combination of the comic skill that made Chaplin the most renowned film personage throughout the world, and the intelligence that extended his film talent to embrace concepts defining the precarious position of humankind."
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.The great French cinema... "Best anti-war film ever made."
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneClaire TrevorAndy DevineA group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.Western tradition and myth... "John Ford's 1939 classic persists as the landmark reference point for all western movies."
- DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.Epic Hollywood... "A travesty historically in its portrayals of blacks, Civil War dynamics, and the postwar period."
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.Film as social criticism... "The strongest film indictment of economic injustice to emerge from the 1930s."
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongFord Beebe Jr.StarsLeopold StokowskiDeems TaylorThe Philadelphia OrchestraA series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.The magic of Disney... "In technique, Disney was in advance of his time with Fantasia, a landmark imaginatively combining sound with animation image, an audio-visual trip."
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'Another beginning... "Citizen Kane advanced cinema through experimentation and rediscovery."
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAnna MagnaniAldo FabriziMarcello PaglieroDuring the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.New realism, new hope... "Open City not only told a story of heroism and resistance against the Nazis and Fascists, but bristled with convincing documentarylike detail and dramatic realism that expressed the passion and terror of the war years."
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.Opening to the East... "The fascination of Rashomon lies in the complexity, mystery, and atmosphere with which Kurosawa endows it."
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.America's musical voice... "All the elements that make a musical entertaining coordinate with rare precision."
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsKanu BannerjeeKaruna BannerjeeSubir BanerjeeImpoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.Discovery in India... "Rightfully acclaimed as a masterpiece, one of cinema's most poignant dramas of childhood, family life, and the struggle for existence."
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.The genius of Bergman... "The film that heralded to the world the international arrival of an intellectual filmmaker who could use the medium for a far more thoughtful purpose than most people has associated with cinema."
- DirectorJack ClaytonStarsLaurence HarveySimone SignoretHeather SearsAn ambitious young accountant plots to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter despite falling in love with a married older woman.Struggle for maturity... "The impact Room at the Top had in the United States and Britain is traceable to the need for English language films to become more realistic and grown-up."
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJean SebergVan DoudeA small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.The French New Wave... "A Bout de Souffle is the most startling of the Nouvelle Vague films because it so sharply reveals the nature of the dynamic movement and accurately dramatizes the frustration, anger, and hostility that were to characterize the sixties."
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnouk AiméeClaudia CardinaleA harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.The interior film... "Fellini's quasi-autobiographical, brilliantly imaginative mosaic of the reality and the fantasy in the life of a middle-aged director in crises is a landmark demonstrating the medium's potential for inner revelation."