Annette Kuhn
Emeritus Professor in Film Studies, Queen Mary University of London
UK
Voted for
| Film | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| The Last Laugh | 1924 | F.W. Murnau |
| Man with a Movie Camera | 1929 | Dziga Vertov |
| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | 1937 | David Hand |
| La Règle du jeu | 1939 | Jean Renoir |
| Meshes of the Afternoon | 1943 | Maya Deren, Alexander Hackenschmied |
| The Red Shoes | 1948 | Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger |
| Tokyo Story | 1953 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| The 400 Blows | 1959 | François Truffaut |
| West Side Story | 1961 | Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins |
| Wavelength | 1967 | Michael Snow |
Comments
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Added on the basis of its technical and aesthetic innovativeness, its worldwide popularity, and its longevity.
La Règle du jeu
If thinking in terms of decades, Renoir should certainly feature on the list of greatest films from the 1930s and the choice was between this and La grande illusion (1939).
Meshes of the Afternoon
An incredibly powerful and beautiful film; extremely influential, arguably the most influential by a woman filmmaker.
The Red Shoes
A stunning Gesamtkunstwerk, included to acknowledge the importance and influence of music and dance in films. The Red Shoes is an outstandingly cinematic example of the genre.
West Side Story
A Gesamtkunstwerk, included to acknowledge the importance and influence of music and dance in films, West Side Story is an outstandingly cinematic example of the genre, and we are reminded of its greatness by the equally, but differently, wonderful 2021 remake.
Further remarks
I took part in the poll in 2012 and decided to keep five of the titles that I chose back then; and also to facilitate the choice for 2022 by making the cutoff date 1970 and picking two films from each decade between the Twenties and the Sixties. My earlier comments on the relative absence of non-Western titles still stand: the list would look different in this respect if confined to the 21st century. The same is true of films directed by women. I am sorry that there is now only one documentary.
Comments on the new additions to the list:
La Règle du jeu: if thinking in terms of decades, Renoir should certainly feature on the list of greatest films from the 1930s and the choice was between this and La Grande illusion (1939).
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: added on the basis of its technical and aesthetic innovativeness, its worldwide popularity, and its longevity.
Meshes of the Afternoon: an incredibly powerful and beautiful film, arguably the most influential by a woman filmmaker.
The Red Shoes and West Side Story: Gesamtkunstwerke, included to acknowledge the importance and influence of music and dance in films, these two being in their different ways outstandingly cinematic examples of the genre.