best film:  Rome, Open City from Rossellini. There are very few films in the 1940’s (or before or after) as important to film as Rome, Open City. It is a watershed film for realism, and

best film:  Double Indemnity from Billy Wilder is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, film noir of all-time and it, along with a few other key films, signifies the beginning of that important

best film:  Ossessione from Luchino Visconti An important film in the history of film noir, Italian neorealism (even if it doesn’t fit most of the characteristics of the movement), and Italian cinema in general The

best film:  The Magnificent Ambersons from Welles a visual stunner filled with an immaculately designed mise-en-scene, depth of field deep focus mastery in all its glory and creative transitions and camera movements A continuation of Citizen

best film:  Citizen Kane from Orson Wells. It is the year of Welles arrival and Citizen Kane. There are countless shots and sequences that are just so endlessly innovative. It’s a visual showpiece from beginning to

best film:  The Grapes of Wrath from John Ford . First off, it is gorgeously photographed. Ford is working with Gregg Toland one year before Kane. Henry Fonda also gives a transcendent performance- his best.

best film:  The Rules of the Game is Renoir’s lyrical masterpiece. His camera glides in and out of the lives of an enchanting ensemble giving us the best film of the entire decade. 1939 may

best film:  Bringing Up Baby from Howard Hawks. Hepburn, Grant and Hawks all had a strong resume leading up to this film in the 1930’s but it wasn’t until Bringing Up Baby that they solidified

best film:  Le Grande Illusion from Renoir It is an intelligent prison film and drama—the most common words used by critics heaping praise on it are “humanist”, ”anti-war” and “graceful”. Graceful is the only one

best film:  Modern Times from Chaplin. Modern Times is easily the best film of 1936. It’s a testament to Chaplin that this film, not even his best, hovers so far above the other best films of

best film:  The Bride of Frankenstein by Whale The sequel (four years after the original apparently because Whale would only agree to do it if he had complete artistic control) lacks some of the narrative

best film:  The Scarlet Empress from von Sternberg. Along with The Blue Angel and Morocco- this gives von Sternberg three masterpieces in five years. von Sternberg is not only a central figure when it