This continues our top ranked films on the internet survey, by individual countries. The first list is just Germany, and we merged West Germany into these; 49 total, with 35 in the top 1000. The second list is just the multi-country collaberations that included Germany, 43 mentioned, with 38 in the top 1000.© 2009, William L. Sinclair
Germany and West Germany
1. M [Lang, Fritz; 1931] #11
2. Metropolis [Lang, Fritz; 1927] #23
3. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens [Murnau, F.W.; 1922] #48
4. Aguirre: The Wrath of God [Herzog, Werner; 1972] #72
5. Lives of Others, The [von Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel; 2006] #163 [photo rt]6. Berlin Alexanderplatz [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner; 1980] #197
7. Das Boot [Peterson, Wolfgang; 1981] #245
8. Pandora's Box [Pabst, G.W.; 1928] #251
9. Blue Angel, The [von Sternberg, Josef; 1930] #273
10. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The [Wiene, Robert; 1919] #326 11. Last Laugh [Murnau, F.W.; 1924] #425
12. Marriage of Maria Braun, The [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner; 1979] #426
13. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner; 1971] #435
14. Triumph of the Will [Riefenstahl, Leni; 1935] #455
15. Downfall [Hirschbiegel, Oliver; 2004] #484
16. Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler [Lang, Fritz; 1922] #487
17. Kings of the Road [Wenders, Wim; 1976] #490
18. Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner; 1972] #524
19. Olympia [Riefenstahl, Leni; 1938] #532
20. In a Year with 13 Moons [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner; 1978] #538
21. Fitzcarraldo [Herzog, Werner; 1982] #566
22. Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The [Herzog, Werner; 1974] #573
23. Alice in the Cities [Wenders, Wim; 1974] #580
24. Faust [Murnau, F.W.; 1926] #585
25. Fox and His Friends [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner; 1975] #706
26. Tiger of Eschnapur, The [Lang, Fritz; 1959] #741
27. Heimat (Homeland) [Reitz, Edgar; 1984] #823
28. Grizzly Man [Herzog, Werner; 2005] #840
29. Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, The [Straub, Jean-Marie; 1968] #843
30. Tin Drum, The [Schlöndorff, Volker; 1979] #852
31. Hitler: A Film from Germany [Syberberg, Hans-Jürgen; 1977] #857
32. Liebelei [Ophüls, Max; 1933] #867
33. Threepenny Opera, The [Pabst, G.W.; 1931] #878
34. Not Reconciled [Straub, Jean-Marie; 1965] #896
35. Kameradschaft [Pabst, G.W.; 1931] #921
36. Mädchen in Uniform [Sagan, Leontine; 1931] #1004
37. Die Nibelungen [Lang, Fritz; 1924] #1010
38. Diary of a Lost Girl [Pabst, G.W.; 1929] #1013
39. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City [Ruttmann, Walter; 1927] #1018
40. American Friend, The [Wenders, Wim; 1977] #1022
41. Under the Bridges [Kaütner, Helmut; 1945] #1076
42. Veronika Voss [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner; 1982] #1081
43. Land of Silence and Darkness [Herzog, Werner; 1971] #1092
44. Rocker [Lemke, Klaus; 1972] #1127
45. Yesterday Girl [Kluge, Alexander; 1966] #1159
46. Variety [Dupont, E.A.; 1925] #1181
47. Lessons of Darkness [Herzog, Werner; 1992] #1188
48. Spione [Lang, Fritz; 1928] #1205
49. People on Sunday [Siodmak, Robert & Edgar G. Ulmer; 1930] #1270
Lang, Murnau, Herzog - these are not only deservedly at the top of this list but are also among my favorite directors. Each seemed to make his films into works of art. Fitzcarraldo remains a favorite 'obsession on film', a grand adventure as crazy as its director. I was also riveted by The Lives of Others, and Das Boot. Even today, the filmmaking artistry of Leni Reifenstahl is undeniable; she undoubtably gets moved down the list because it's all Third Reich propaganda, but those interested in creative camera work and direction should definitely see these, at least Olympia, which documented the 1936 Olympics.
Multi-Country with Germany
1. Conformist, The [Bertolucci, Bernardo; 1970] #76 - Italy-France-Germany2. City of God [Meirelles, Fernando; 2002] #192 - Brazil-Germany-France
3. Wings of Desire [Wenders, Wim; 1987] #247 - France-West Germany
4. Fight Club [Fincher, David; 1999] #275 - US-Germany
5. Hiroshima mon amour [Resnais, Alain; 1959] #284 - France-Japan
6. Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The [Demy, Jacques; 1964] #289 - France-Germany
7. Tristana [Buñuel, Luis; 1970] #315 - France-Spain
8. Vampyr [Dreyer, Carl Theodor; 1932] #316 - France-Germany
9. 1900 [Bertolucci, Bernardo; 1976] #368 - France-Germany-Italy
10. L'Argent [Bresson, Robert; 1983] #442 - France-Switzerland
11. Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The [Schnabel, Julian; 2008] #443 - France-US
12. Germany, Year Zero [Rossellini, Roberto; 1947] #467 - Italy-West Germany
13. Mulholland Dr. [Lynch, David; 2001] #477 - France-US
14. In the Realm of the Senses [Oshima, Nagisa; 1976] #479 - France-Japan
15. That Obscure Object of Desire [Buñuel, Luis; 1977] #496 - France-Spain
16. Wind Will Carry Us, The [Kiarostami, Abbas; 1999] #511 - France-Iran
17. F for Fake [Welles, Orson; 1973] #525 - France-Iran-West Germany
18. Sacrifice, The [Tarkovsky, Andrei; 1986] #586 - France-Sweden
19. Werckmeister Harmonies [Tarr, Bela & Hranitzky, Agnes; 2000] #611 - Hung-It-Germany-France
20. Triplets of Belleville, The [Chomet, Sylvain; 2003] #624 - France-Belg-Can-UK
21. Dead Man [Jarmusch, Jim; 1995] #636 - US-Germany
22. Three Colours: Blue [Kieslowski, Krszystof; 1993] #654 - France-Poland-Switzerland
23. Three Colours: Red [Kieslowski, Krszystof; 1994] #656 - France-Switzerland-Poland
24. Persepolis [Paronnaud, Vincent & Satrapi, Marjane; 2007] #694 - France-US
25. Passion [Godard, Jean-Luc; 1982] #704 - France-Switzerland
26. Sauve qui peut (la vie) [Godard, Jean-Luc; 1980] #716 - France-Switzerland
27. Damned, The [Visconti, Luchino; 1969] #728 - Italy-West Germany
28. Ludwig [Visconti, Luchino; 1972] #749 - France-Germany-Italy
29. Underground [Kusturica, Emir; 1995] #757 - France-Germany-Hungary
30. Fateless [Koltai, Lajos; 2005] #824 - Hungary-Germany
31. Indian Tomb, The [Lang, Fritz; 1959] #877 - France-Italy-West Germany
32. I'm Going Home [de Oliveira, Manoel; 2001] #882 - France-Portugal
33. Seraphine [Provost, Martin; 2008] #893 - France-Belg
34. Sweet Sixteen [Loach, Ken; 2002] #927 - UK-Germany-Spain
35. Three Colours: White [Kieslowski, Krszystof; 1994] #956 - France-Poland
36. Edge of Heaven, The [Akin, Fatih; 2007] #962 - Germany-Tky-Italy
37. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, The [Butler, George; 2000] #968 - Sw-UK-Germany-US
38. Tenant, The [Polanski, Roman; 1976] #991 - France-US
39. Trial, The [Welles, Orson; 1962] #1052 - Fr-Germany-Yugo-Italy
40. Paragraph 175 [Epstein, Rob & Friedman, Jeffrey; 2000] #1063 - UK-US-Germany
41. Tale of the Wind, A [Ivens, Joris; 1988] #1066 - UK-France-Germany
42. Eternity and a Day [Angelopoulos, Theo; 1998] #1125 - Greece-Fr-It-Germany
43. Kingdom (Riget) [von Trier, Lars; 1994] #1193 - Den-Fr-Germany-Sweden
The Conformist remains one of my favorite films from any era. For me, Bertolucci's finest, and the influence on Coppola is obvious as this seems to have inspired the Godfather films. City of God is a modern masterpiece, a literal war in the streets of what's considered the worst slums in our hemisphere; this is my favorite Brazilian film. Fight Club is great fun, I laughed throughout and later found out director Fincher said "I make comedies, why don't people laugh in the theater?" - well, I did; this is brillliant insanity, plus Helena Bonham Carter.
