Top Ranked Films from Germany

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-Germany
2. 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.

Director Film Counts in the Critics 1000

Directors with the most films in the critics top 1000.


Top Ten:
1. John Ford (18)
2. Fritz Lang (16)
3. Luis Bunuel (15)
4. Alfred Hitchcock (14)
5-6. Ingmar Bergman (13), Jean-Luc Godard (13)
7. Federico Fellini (12)
8-10. Howard Hawks (11), Stanley Kubrick (11), Akira Kurosawa (11)

10 each: Chaplin, Mizoguchi, J.Renoir
9 each: Scorsese, Visconti, Powell (9 total, 7 w Pressburger)
8 each: Allen, Altman, Bresson, Huston, Rossellini, von Sternberg, Welles, Wilder
7 each: Bertolucci, Cassavetes, Kieslowski, Lubitsch, Lynch, Ophuls, Ozu, Peckinpah, Rohmer, Powell & Pressburger, Spielberg, Tarkovsky, Trauffaut

Alphabetical List, four or more films
Total films in the top 1000, those 86 with 4+, represents 561 films. Followed by total in the top 200, then the [highest ranked film]

Allen (8) – 2 [#113: Manhattan]
Almodovar (4) [#635: All About My Mother]
Altman (8) – 2 [#67: Nashville]
Antonioni (6) – 3 [#38: L’avventura]
Bergman (13) – 5 [#40: Persona]
Bertolucci (7) – 1 [#65: The Conformist, photo right]
Bresson (8) – 3 [#61: Au hasard Balthazar]
Buñuel (15) – 7 [#68: Viridiana]
Capra (6) – 2 [#45: It’s a Wonderful Life]
Cassavetes (7) – 1 [#156: A Woman Under the Influence]
Chaplin (10) – 4 [#23: City Lights]
Clair (4) [#275: Le Million]
Cocteau, Jean (4) [#196: La Belle et la bête]
Coen Bros (5) [#288: Fargo]
Coppola (5) – 4 [#6: The Godfather]
Cukor (5) – 1 [#142: The Philadelphia Story]
De Sica (4) – 2 [#14: The Bicycle Thief]
Demy, Jacques (4) [#248: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg]
Donen (4) w Kelly (2:] – 1 [#11: Singin’ in the Rain]
Dreyer (5) – 4 [#17: The Passion of Joan d’Arc]
Eisenstein (6) – 3 [#8: Battleship Potemkin]
Fassbinder (6) – 1 [#186: Ali-Fear Grips the Soul]
Fellini (12) – 5 [#5: 8 ½]
Flaherty, Rob't (4) [#210: Nanook of the North]
Ford (18) – 6 [#7: The Searchers]
Forman (4) – 1 [#131: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, photo rt]
Godard (13) – 4 [#33: Breathless]
Griffith (5) – 3 [#51: Intolerance]
Hawks (11) – 4 [#63: Rio Bravo]
Herzog (5) – 1 [#91: Aguirre-The Wrath of God]
Hitchcock (14) – 5 [#2: Vertigo]
Hou Hsiao-Hsien (4) [#287: The Time to Live and the Time to Die]
Huston, J (8) – 2 [#111: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]
Kazan (6) – 1 [#104: On the Waterfront]
Keaton (7) – 2 [#30: The General]
Kiarostami (6) – 1 [#191: Close-Up]
Kieslowski (7) – 1 [#132: Dekalog]
Kubrick (11) – 6 [#4: 2001-A Space Odyssey]
Kurosawa (11) – 4 [#9: Seven Samurai, photo right]
Lang, F (16) – 2 [#53: M]
Lean (6) – 2 [#13: Lawrence of Arabia]
Lubitsch (7) – 2 [#71: To Be or Not To Be]
Lumet (4) [#283: Network]
Lynch (7) – 1 [#107: Blue Velvet]
Mankiewicz (4) – 1 [#72: All About Eve]
Mann, A (4) [#589: Man of the West]
McCarey (4) – 1 [#103: Duck Soup]
Melville, Jean-P (6) [#280: Le Samourai]
Minnelli (5) – 1 [#157: The Band Wagon]
Mizoguchi (10) – 2 [#54: Ugetsu Monogatari]
Murnau, F.W. (6) – 3 [#12: Sunrise]
Ophüls, Max (7) – 2 [#77: Letter From an Unknown Woman]
Ozu, Yasujiro (7) – 2 [#10: Tokyo Story]
Pabst (4) – 1 [#189: Pandora’s Box]
Pasolini (5) – 1 [#159: Gospel According to St. Matthew, photo rt]
Peckinpah (7) – 1 [#158: The Wild Bunch]
Polanski (5) – 1 [#36: Chinatown]
Powell & Pressburger (7) – 4 [#126: A Matter of Life and Death]
Ray, Nicholas (6) [#241: Johnny Guitar]
Ray, Satyajit (6) – 3 [#59: Pather Panchali]
Renoir, Jean (10) – 3 [#3: The Rules of the Game]
Resnais (6) – 2 [#89: Last Year at Marienbad]
Rivette, Jacques (4) – 1 [#181: Celine and Julie Go Boating]
Roeg, Nicolas (4) – 2 [#136: Don’t Look Now]
Rohmer, Eric (7) [#278: My Night at Maud’s]
Rossellini (8) – 3 [#86: Voyage in Italy]
Scorsese (9) – 4 [#18: Raging Bull]
Scott, Ridley (4) – 1 [#46: Blade Runner]
Sirk (6) – 1 [#199: Written on the Wind]
Spielberg (7) – 3 [#106: Jaws]
Sturges, Preston (5) – 3 [#114: The Lady Eve]
Tarkovsky (7) – 3 [#41: Andrei Rublev]
Tourneur, Jacques (4) [#117: Out of the Past, photo right]
Truffaut (7) – 2 [#42: Jules et Jim]
Vidor, King (6) – 1 [#178: The Crowd]
Visconti (9) – 3 [#66: The Leopard]
von Sternberg, Josef (8) [#255: Blue Angel]
von Stroheim, Erich (4) – 1 [#64: Greed]
Weir (4) [#526: Picnic at Hanging Rock]
Welles (8) – 4 [#1: Citizen Kane]
Wenders (4) [#247: Wings of Desire]
Wilder (8) – 4 [#22: Some Like it Hot]
Wong Kar-Wai (5) [#328: Chungking Express]
Wyler (5) – 1 [#122: The Best Years of Our Lives]

- Those with 2+ in the top 200 that didn't make the list above -
Leone (3)– 3 [#73: Once Upon a Time in the West] - only 3 but all in top 200
Malick (2)– 2 [#164: Days of Heaven]

Those with 3: Paul Thomas Anderson, Theo Angelopoulos, Luis García Berlanga, John Boorman, James Cameron, Marcel Carné, Chen Kaige, David Cronenberg, Michael Curtiz, Brian De Palma, Clint Eastwood, Jim Jarmusch, Humphrey Jennings, Jerry Lewis, Joseph Losey, Terrence Malick, Louis Malle, Albert & David Maysles, Nikita Mikhalkov, Arthur Penn, Otto Preminger, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Carol Reed, Rob Reiner, Glauber Rocha, George Stevens, Jean-Marie Straub, Jacques Tati, Andrzej Wajda, Raoul Walsh, Robert Wise, Zhang Yimou, Fred Zinnemann

The Critics 1000 list can be seen and downloaded at They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?

Surprises
John Cassavetes with 7, has more films in the top 1000 than Kazan (6), Lean (6). Coppola (5), Wyler (5), Dreyer (5), Wong Kar-Wai (5), Preston Sturges (5), Polanski (5), Pasolini (5), Herzog (5), Minnelli (5), Jacques Tourneur (4). He doesn’t have that many great films does he, aren’t most about average at best?

William Wyler, with 13 best director and 12 best picture nominations only has 5 in the top 1000, and his greatest (Best Years of Our Lives) is only #122. This should be an all-time top 10 film, perhaps the finest anti-war film ever made.

Billy Wilder, with such original classics as Sunset Boulevard (photo right), Stalag 17, Double Indemnity, and The Apartment, has his light gender-bending comedy Some Like It Hot at #22 just outplace Boulevard (#29) as his highest ranked film; for me it’s about 4th of his.

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner at #46. Not bad SciFi but ahead of E.T., Close Encounters, The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, even another and better Philip K. Dick story in Minority Report? It has about 5 minutes of actual futuristic footage, then reverts into a typical detective action film: let’s hunt down and kill the androids/killers one at a time. Well done but hardly a top 50 all-time.

Woody Allen’s admittedly good Manhattan (photo left) outranking best picture winner Annie Hall, and the more complex and rewarding Hannah and Her Sisters. Together, a formidable trilogy, but the seamless weaving together of multiple family stories in Hannah directly inspired Ron Howard’s Parenthood, and a host of copycats.

Where are Coppola’s Tucker: A Man and His Dream and Peggie Sue Got Married? To include Godfather III over these takes an offer someone couldn’t refuse, or perhaps listing the Godfathers together as a trilogy.

Elia Kazan’s top film, On the Waterfront, is only 104th, when imitator Sergio Leone has one higher (73rd, the overblown Once Upon a Time in the West)? ..what are people looking at?

Surrealist Luis Bunuel has 15 in the top 1000, but 7 (and most) in the top 200? He admits to not shooting with a script, and just letting the cameras capture the film that he creates later with editing. Gee, how could you ever tell, as many of his films seem entertaining but pointless overall, especially Un Chien Andelou, perhaps ranked due to Dali’s participation? (it must be art if the guy who once set a stuffed giraffe on fire in a museum was involved.)


My Favorite Ten:
1-Kubrick, 2-Coppola, 3-Wilder, 4-Wyler, 5-Spielberg, 6-Scorsese, 7-Yimou, 8-Lean, 9-Kazan, 10-Bertolucci, John Huston(tie)
Just out: Coen Bros., John Ford, Woody Allen, Herzog, Lang, Antonioni, Tornatore, Wong Kar-Wai, Carol Reed, Weir, Welles, Wertmuller
Stanley Kubrick for sheer number of top 20 caliber films, same as Coppola, who had more mistakes having done more films. Wilder and Wyler are perhaps the most consistant. Doing just 10 is tough. For me, Welles didn't do enough great films, just a couple, Kane and Ambersons. Same with Ford - Informer and Mister Roberts are my faves. [*Subject to change at a moment's notice]