best film: 1958 is a two-horse race at the top with Touch of Evil and Vertigo—any year with two of the best thirty films of all-time is a special one by definition. Still, ultimately when forced

best film:  The Seventh Seal from Ingmar Bergman Bergman’s first masterpiece—and a landmark film in 1950’s cinema A gray film- severe in tint and mood—Bergman sets the tone with the choir reigning down during the

best film:  The Searchers from John Ford John Ford’s The Searchers is many things: a meditation on wilderness and civilization is chief amongst them An update of Melville—John Wayne is Ahab here, obsession—monomaniacal The best film of

best film:  Lola Montes from Ophuls.  Lola Montes is a pure stylistic explosion and it is far ahead of the rest of the films from 1955. Andrew Sarris called it the greatest film ever made. Sadly,

best film:  Seven Samurai from Kurosawa  Kurosawa’s epic masterpiece further cements Kurosawa’s genius status first marked by Rashomon in 1950 and confirmed in Ikiru in 1952. A set-piece used three times I believe is the cemetery on the hill-

best film:  Tokyo Story from Ozu Tokyo Story is a candidate for the greatest mise-en-scene in film history. It is jam-packed with gorgeously arranged sets and shots The film, and the style, is a high-water

best film:  Ikiru from Kurosawa Both visually masterful and staggeringly profound and poignant One of cinema’s greatest character studies- Kane, Raging Bull– the examination of a man’s life. A bit of It’s A Wonderful Life and Dickens’ A Christmas

best film:  Early Summer from Ozu. The Japanese master made one of the best films of 1949 (Late Spring) and two years later he improves upon it ever so slightly (he’d do the same thing

best film:  Rashomon from Kurosawa.  Rashomon is a masterpiece on at least two levels: the use of deep focus photography combined with character blocking compositions (that’s one-- which rivals Citizen Kane– which is funny because Kane is also the

best film:  The Third Man from Carol Reed has so many superior elements to praise: the Ferris wheel set piece, post-war Vienna as the film’s backdrop, it is written by freaking Graham Greene, you have

best film:  Bicycle Thieves from De Sica. 1948 is the single greatest year for Italian Neorealism and De Sica’s masterpiece is the crown jewel- one of the best films of all-time. It is simple yet

best film:  Black Narcissus from Powell & Pressburger is the best film of 1947. It may ultimately be the best film The Archers ever made. Perhaps no one director (even in tandem) dominated the 1940’s