Joan Mellen

Comments

Battleship Potemkin

This film is a clinic in filmmaking, in film-editing. It invents the genre.

Ivan the Terrible

This film teaches us how to penetrate the nuances of history. The color sequence in Part II introduces film to color as to psychological ambiguity.

Seven Samurai

Kurosawa is Eisenstein's principal heir and is the genius of Japanese cinema.

The Conformist

Freud and Marx collide in this brilliant interpretation of World War Two, the personal and political as interchangeable.

Belle de jour

Any Bunuel film would qualify.

The Exterminating Angel

I chose this one because it is so uncompromising.

Greed

I'm claiming "Greed" as an American film. It is truly original.

Modern Times

This one requires no explanation.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

The story of the American West bar none.

The Godfather Part II

With the Altman film, this is America.