The 1963 Mini-List

[ryannichols7]

tying up some loose ends - amazingly I haven't even drafted my list yet! I usually try and get a rough order, but I really have watched a lot this year and I'm pretty grateful for it.

The Great Escape: still the ultimate ensemble piece, maybe ultimate adventure film, and right up there with Grand Illusion for favorite prison film. it does a lot of things, all of which very well, and the pacing and script are an absolute masterclass of keeping the audience totally hooked, and rewarding repeat watches with endless layers of detail. I was more taken aback by Steve McQueen's performance than usual - this was a childhood favorite (my dad loved it, of course) and seeing it as an adult after watching Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (which I love) and The Archers' A Matter of Life and Death (which is my least favorite of their films so far) was interesting as a study of McQueen's character and how John Sturges uses him. he is not the Christlike figure that David Bowie is for Oshima, nor is he used as a tool to have some ridiculous propogandic message of "oh, Americans and Brits need to work together!" like the latter film. he is the audience's vessel in this film, truly the "everyman dragged into all this" type role that some movies just need. everyone else in the cast is obviously brilliant (Donald Pleasance and Richard Attenborough were most impressive this time), as is basically everything else. I really do love this movie so much - the fact that it can have its climax 2/3 of the way in and then whiplash you to that phenomenal final hour is just a stroke of genius. shame on anyone who looked down on Criterion for releasing it!

Love With the Proper Stranger: I think I've reached the conclusion that I'm just not super high on Natalie Wood, though she is good in The Searchers - there's too much going on here with her although I find her a lot better here than in Splendor in the Grass, which this movie absolutely destroys. a large part of that is, once again, Steve McQueen, who somehow was in this the same year as the above film. he's incredible as a romantic lead and for me, the reason to see the film. anyone who's ever appreciated his acting will be amazed here at the very nuanced, believable role he takes on here - not always likeable, with plenty of flaws, but very real and multi-layered. it's indeed a New York film, for better and worse - there's lots of loud Italian-American wiseguy stuff which is all traumatic to me, but there's also an incredible sweep of the city, worthy of The Crowd even!

Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan get into neorealism comparisons in their (so far excellent, I didn't finish it yet) commentary track and I'm curious to explore those a little more. I see it, but not fully convinced.

The Insect Woman: after being really high on Pigs and Battleships I feel a little letdown here. this is a better class portrait than Teshigahara's Pitfall (which I outright hated) and I tend to really appreciate Imamura's approach to more challenging characters and scenarios than I do Teshigahara or even Oshima. it was just a lot harder to get into this film, and I think the whole "fully encompassing portrait of how a woman suffered over time" concept has been done better somewhere else, but I can't exactly place where. I can appreciate the film, and thankful that Imamura is telling this kind of story (it's neat to look at it alongside the second half of Kurosawa's High and Low showing a darker side of Japan in the same year), but my enjoyment of it just wasn't as up to par. Imamura's direction (as usual, fantastic - he's so awesome at blending style and true mastery of the technique. again I'll pick on Teshigahara who comes off flashy and full of himself in the three films I've watched so far) and the performances are certainly reasons to seek it out, though I must say the credit sequence's metaphor is going to tell you right off the bat how much you'll enjoy this film..

let's see if Irma La Douce comes in time! otherwise I may start on 1964 after hitting Judex, the only other thing really on the docket.

[therewillbeblus]

The Insect Woman didn’t make my list either; but I appreciated the film more on a semi-recent watch as part of our film club, which may be worth checking out here. Mr Sausage had particularly insightful points to make about this film in relation to Imamura’s other work from that period.

[swo17]

Now that half of you have already voted, here's me finally getting around to plugging a few unsung favorites:

Crisis (Robert Drew)
Not as iconic perhaps as Primary's intimate portrait, nor as poetic as Faces of November, this is nonetheless a fascinating and vital doc about JFK just actually being the president and facing the difficult political dilemma of having to decide how publicly to enforce something he believed in (in this case, integration in schools) that could lose him votes and accordingly his position to be able to do anything about it. Of course in hindsight, not giving too much weight to his future election chances proved to be the right move.

Sun in Your Head (Wolf Vostell)
One of the Flux Films, this is just a cool visceral experience featuring distorted and haunting early TV images. The version on Re:voir's DVD plays silent while this truncated version adds a not inappropriate siren sound throughout. The description at that link also suggests a rather non-traditional manner of presentation in 1963, which I suppose contributes to the allure.

Unearthly Stranger (John Krish)
I don't believe Krish made that many fiction films, but it seemed to come about as naturally to him as anything else. This is a little bit like Invasion of the Body Snatchers but more complicated in that there ends up being much less of a binary distinction between a person and their "pod self." Some great shots and camera angles, and also of interest for its cast, including a rare early film role for Philip Stone, who you certainly know from his Kubrick films

[therewillbeblus]

I just watched Ken Jacobs' Little Stab at Happiness, which wouldn't have made my list, but it's certainly one of the more playful and engaging Jacobs films I've seen. Anyone who has the Kino set and a few minutes should check it out

[therewillbeblus]

Aaaand now I just watched Jacobs' The Sky Socialist, which is 100% making a revised list. It's kind of like a silent Mekas diary film in many ways, but one that's inconsistently-shot and arrhythmic in the best possible way, taking detours to meditate on some specific images (sunlight passing over a woman's neck forming a spidery shadow, for example) that will stay with me forever. I'm sure this is a film I'll return to over and over and recognize different powerful images each time.

I thought it was a '64 film since it was apparently shot between '63 and'64, and then Letterboxd lists it as '68, but if it's a '63 film I'm going to overturn my ballot

[Matt]

Crisis is, to me, remarkable in how generous George Wallace was in allowing himself to appear exactly as slimy and venomous as he actually was. If he had lived in our time, he might have been president!

[swo17]

Aaaand now I just watched Jacobs' The Sky Socialist, which is 100% making a revised list. It's kind of like a silent Mekas diary film in many ways, but one that's inconsistently-shot and arrhythmic in the best possible way, taking detours to meditate on some specific images (sunlight passing over a woman's neck forming a spidery shadow, for example) that will stay with me forever. I'm sure this is a film I'll return to over and over and recognize different powerful images each time.

I thought it was a '64 film since it was apparently shot between '63 and'64, and then Letterboxd lists it as '68, but if it's a '63 film I'm going to overturn my ballot

Oh, so many Ken Jacobs films are release year nightmares, but this one has an easy answer since you only bring it up now: It's been on the ballot all this time so it's eligible as a 1963 film.

And you are now of course morally obligated to get that 3x3D disc for the related-at-least-in-name A Primer in Sky Socialism

[brundlefly]

Unearthly Stranger (John Krish)
I don't believe Krish made that many fiction films, but it seemed to come about as naturally to him as anything else. This is a little bit like Invasion of the Body Snatchers but more complicated in that there ends up being much less of a binary distinction between a person and their "pod self." Some great shots and camera angles, and also of interest for its cast, including a rare early film role for Philip Stone, who you certainly know from his Kubrick films

This can look and move well for a concept fundamentally stodgy and silly (it's from the screenwriter of The Brain that Wouldn't Die and Al Adamson's Blood of Dracula's Castle) and dreamed up on the cheap, and Newell has a lot of fun playing against the supposed seriousness of the scientists. What I found most amusing is that the paranoia is less existential or based on political intrigue (though birthed in the shadow of the Profumo scandal, so perhaps that's there) than openly misogynist and how the film struggles with and laughs at that: The best scene takes place by a schoolyard made to be both intensely creepy and sympathetically sad; and it's never less than obvious that these serious and powerful men are reckless and incompetent.

[therewillbeblus]

And you are now of course morally obligated to get that 3x3D disc for the related-at-least-in-name A Primer in Sky Socialism

I've never been more motivated to upgrade to 3D

[swo17]

Final reminder that this is your last day to vote here for the top films of 1963

[ryannichols7]

Visitors on the Icy Mountain (Zhao Xinshui)

props for digging this one up swo - 42 imdb watches and 18 letterboxd watches. now since I watched it (it's on youtube! with multilingual hard subs!) and it tapped into my chinese ancestral background I feel like I gotta give a really good review of it on Letterboxd. I enjoyed it and the musical interludes were a nice surprise, but I need more context to say anything substantial about it - maybe in the near future or whenever we circle back for the full decade vote I'll state a good case for it. for now, I voted for it! I didn't vote for...

Current (Istvaan Gaal): i didn't realize I actually owned this till I dug out my Hungarian Masters box and boom, no brainer. it's weird to see how L'Avventura had such wide ranging influence even this early on. but I was reminded of Knife in the Water too, but love how this just felt so much less thrilling and so much more lived in. very hypnotic admittedly and while I wasn't sure entirely what to make of it (I thought it was kinda cruel towards its female characters), it's one I would recommend, just not to expect anything Jancso-worthy or anything. it was the director's debut and certainly feels like it. a fine curiosity, fitting for this project.

Irma La Douce did not make it in time, so I skipped it because I trust dustybooks. it'll very conveniently come tomorrow, I'll watch it, and who knows what. my two biggest misses entirely were Judex and The Servant, both of which I'm decently interested anyway and both "big" enough titles I'm sure I'll see at some point - apologies if anyone really likes either and wanted to see them climb the list.

anyway, my ballot is in, I predict 8 1/2 wins but I really hope High and Low does. let's see!

[swo17]

The 1963 List



##. Film (Director) points/votes(top 5 placements, aka likely votes in decade list)/highest ranking

01. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock) 333/17(9)/1
02. Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman) 328/18(6)/1
03. Le Mépris (Jean-Luc Godard) 322/16(9)/1(x2)
04. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa) 297/16(8)/1(x2)
05. 8½ (Federico Fellini) 291/13(11)/1(x4)
06. Muriel ou le temps d'un retour (Alain Resnais) 257/12(7)/1(x3)
07. La Jetée (Chris Marker) 231/13(6)/1(x2)
08. The Big City (Satyajit Ray) 197/10(6)/2
09. I fidanzati (Ermanno Olmi) 195/10(5)/1(x2)
10. Charade (Stanley Donen) 161/10(3)/3(x2)
11. Il gattopardo (Luchino Visconti) 153/10(1)/2
12. Mothlight (Stan Brakhage) 151/8(4)/2
13. The Silence (Ingmar Bergman) 144/8(2)/3
14. Hud (Martin Ritt) 134/8(3)/2
15. Billy Liar (John Schlesinger) 128/7(1)/3
16. The Haunting (Robert Wise) 127/6(4)/1
17. Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller) 117/8/6
18. La Baie des anges (Jacques Demy) 116/7(1)/2
19. The Servant (Joseph Losey) 110/8(1)/4
20. Judex (Georges Franju) 107/6(2)/2(x2)
21. Irma la Douce (Billy Wilder) 102/8/7
22. Black Peter (Miloš Forman) 97/7/8
23. I compagni (Mario Monicelli) 92/6(1)/5
24. Le mani sulla città (Francesco Rosi) 87/5(1)/5
25. Passenger (Andrzej Munk & Witold Lesiewicz) 85/5(2)/4
26. Youth of the Beast (Seijun Suzuki) 84/5(1)/3
27. The House Is Black (Forough Farrokhzād) 81/5(2)/4(x2)
28. Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger) 79/4(1)/2
(tie) The Insect Woman (Shōhei Imamura) 79/5(2)/1
30. A Woman's Life (Mikio Naruse) 73/5(1)/5
31. El verdugo (Luis García Berlanga) 70/3(3)/1
32. The Great Escape (John Sturges) 64/6/6
33. The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis) 61/3(1)/4
34. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (Roger Corman) 54/5(1)/5
35. La ragazza che sapeva troppo (Mario Bava) 53/5/6
36. An Actor's Revenge (Kon Ichikawa) 51/4/10
37. La visita (Antonio Pietrangeli) 46/3(1)/2
(tie) À cause, à cause d'une femme (Michel Deville) 46/4/11
39. This Sporting Life (Lindsay Anderson) 45/3/6
40. Tom Jones (Tony Richardson) 44/4/12
41. Sunday in New York (Peter Tewskbury) 43/4/14(x2)
42. Ikarie XB 1 (Jindřich Polák) 39/4/13
43. Josef Kilián (Pavel Juráček & Jan Schmidt) 35/2(1)/1
(tie) I tre volti della paura (Mario Bava) 35/3(1)/2
45. The Love Eterne (Li Han-hsiang) 33/2/9
46. The Man from the Diners' Club (Frank Tashlin) 32/3/14(x2)
47. Le Feu follet (Louis Malle) 31/2/7
(tie) I basilischi (Lina Wertmüller) 31/2/9
(tie) Les Carabiniers (Jean-Luc Godard) 31/2/10
50. Love with the Proper Stranger (Robert Mulligan) 30/3/13(x2)

ALSO-RANS

The Boxer and Death (Peter Solan) 29/2/6
L'Immortelle (Alain Robbe-Grillet) 29/3(1)/5
Crisis (Robert Drew) 28/3/13
The Incorrigible (Seijun Suzuki) 27/2/11
Something Different (Věra Chytilová) 26/3/13
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (Seijun Suzuki) 24/2/13
Carambolages (Marcel Bluwal) 22/2/8
Alone Across the Pacific (Kon Ichikawa) 20/2/8
Le Petit Soldat (Jean-Luc Godard) 19/2/12
La Boulangère de Monceau (Éric Rohmer) 19/2/14

Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook) 17/2/13
Audition/Talent Competition (Miloš Forman) 16/2/18(x2)
The Cardinal (Otto Preminger) 14/2/17
L'Appartement des filles (Michel Deville) 9/2/18
Un drôle de paroissien (Jean-Pierre Mocky) 8/2/20
Donovan's Reef (John Ford) 6/2/22

ORPHANS

Film (Director) highest ranking

America America (Elia Kazan) 11
L'ape regina (Marco Ferreri) 14
The Black Report (Yasuzō Masumura) 18
Blood Feast (Herschell Gordon Lewis) 13
The Caretaker (Clive Donner) 5
La Carrière de Suzanne (Éric Rohmer) 15
Changes in the Village (Lester James Peries) 18
Cleopatra (Joseph L. Mankiewicz) 16
Current (István Gaál) 16
Il demonio (Brunello Rondi) 23
Es muß ein Stück von Hitler sein (Walter Krüttner) 13
55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray) 13
Flaming Creatures (Jack Smith) 25
From Russia with Love (Terence Young) 11
La frusta e il corpo (Mario Bava) 1
Haircut No. 1 (Andy Warhol) 1
I Could Go on Singing (Ronald Neame) 5
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Stanley Kramer) 16
Johnny Cool (William Asher) 12
Kiss (Andy Warhol) 11
Legend of a Duel to the Death (Keisuke Kinoshita) 9
Machorka-Muff (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet) 19
Paranoiac (Freddie Francis) 10
The Prize (Mark Robson) 14
The Raven (Roger Corman) 9
The Red Lanterns (Vasilis Georgiadis) 3
Ro.Go.Pa.G. (Roberto Rossellini et al.) 18
The Sky Socialist (Ken Jacobs) 6
The Small World of Sammy Lee (Ken Hughes) 21
Le Soupirant (Pierre Étaix) 19
Il successo (Mauro Morassi) 23
Sun in Your Head (Wolf Vostell) 23
The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman) 16
The Third Shadow Warrior (Umetsugu Inoue) 9
13 Frightened Girls (William Castle) 16
Tiburoneros (Luis Alcoriza) 20
Les Tontons Flingueurs (Georges Lautner) 21
Unearthly Stranger (John Krish) 21
Os Verdes Anos (Paulo Rocha) 8
Vidas Secas (Nelson Pereira Dos Santos) 25
Visitors on the Icy Mountain (Zhao Xinshui) 15
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (Martin Scorsese) 9
When the Cat Comes (Vojtěch Jasný) 4
Whistle Stop (Boris Barnet) 22
Who's Minding the Store? (Frank Tashlin) 23

23 lists submitted

[domino harvey]

Thanks swo! My list:

01 Winter Light
02 Muriel
03 Billy Liar
04 Le mepris
05 Hud
06 La jette
07 Irma la douce
08 Carambolages
09 the Birds
10 Les carabiniers
11 À cause, à cause d'une femme
12 Johnny Cool
13 Love with the Proper Stranger
14 the Man from the Diner’s Club
15 the Servant
16 Shock Corridor
17 Sunday in New York
18 X the Man with X-Ray Eyes
19 Passenger
20 Un drôle de paroissien

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks swo! Orphans bolded

1. Muriel ou le temps d'un retour
2. Judex
3. The Haunting
4. The Birds
5. 8½
6. The Sky Socialist
7. Le Mépris
8. Shock Corridor
9. Billy Liar
10. Winter Light
11. High and Low
12. Hud
13. Irma la Douce
14. Sunday in New York
15. Charade
16. 13 Frightened Girls
17. Carambolages
18. The Man from the Diners' Club
19. À cause, à cause d'une femme
20. La ragazza che sapeva troppo
21. Le Petit Soldat
22. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
23. Il demonio
24. The Servant
25. L'Appartement des filles

Kinda surprised that the Ken Jacobs film didn't wow anyone else- I know he has many fans here, but none of his films have made even a fraction of an impact on me as much as this one did

[knives]

Whoops, blame me for The Demon and America America. Forgot to vote.

[TMDaines]

Dammit, I missed it again after cramming early this week. Thought it was Sunday.

[Matt]

Thank you, swo!

My list:

1 Haircut No. 1 (Andy Warhol) - knew this would be orphaned, but oh well
2 Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger)
3 Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman)
4 The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)
5 The Haunting (Robert Wise)
6 Le mani sulla città (Francesco Rosi)
7 Hud (Martin Ritt)
8 Black Peter (Miloš Forman)
9 8½ (Federico Fellini)
10 Passenger (Andrzej Munk & Witold Lesiewicz) - very happy this made the final rankings
11 Kiss (Andy Warhol)
12 Mothlight (Stan Brakhage)
13 Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook)
14 Le Feu follet (Louis Malle)
15 Tom Jones (Tony Richardson)
16 This Sporting Life (Lindsay Anderson)
17 Charade (Stanley Donen)
18 I fidanzati (Ermanno Olmi)
19 Il gattopardo (Luchino Visconti)
20 Ikarie XB 1 (Jindřich Polák)
21 La ragazza che sapeva troppo (Mario Bava)
22 La Jetée (Chris Marker)
23 Crisis (Robert Drew)
24 Alone Across the Pacific (Kon Ichikawa) - I suspected this would be an also-ran due to Ichikawa’s more famous and acclaimed film from this year
25 Flaming Creatures (Jack Smith) - I don’t actually enjoy this much but I felt it necessary to include out of respect for its importance

[Matt]

Where have people been able to see this 1963 Naruse film A Woman’s Life?

EDIT: never mind, I found it

[swo17]

Whoops, blame me for The Demon and America America. Forgot to vote.

Dammit, I missed it again after cramming early this week. Thought it was Sunday.

Should I just always make the mid-month voting deadline be on a Sunday? Would that help? I feel like I've been pretty good about leaving reminders when deadlines are coming up, but multiple people still keep missing them

[TMDaines]

My last miss was due to holiday, but natural cadence feels as if they usually end on Sundays. It might help, but it wasn’t your fault. I just forgot about it, as I had no chance to watch anything since Monday.

[knives]

In this case I just mistakenly thought I sent it in. I’ve been busy with vacay and prepping a move.

[swo17]

In that case I would also mention that I PM everyone to confirm receipt of a list, so if it's close to the deadline and you haven't heard from me yet, you should assume I haven't received it

[dustybooks]

I forgot to vote for Winter Light, but it looks like it did OK without me (would've been #7). My list as submitted:

1. La Jetee**
2. High and Low**
3. Mothlight**
4. The Birds
5. The Big City*
6. Billy Liar*
7. The Great Escape
8. Scorpio Rising*
9. Charade**
10. Contempt
11. The Silence*
12. Love with the Proper Stranger*
13. Bay of Angels*

* = a first-time viewing for this project. ** = revisited for this project.

[swo17]

I forgot to vote for Winter Light, but it looks like it did OK without me (would've been #7)

Hold the phone--this would in fact have put the Bergman in the #1 spot for the year. I'm still keeping that Birds gif though, as a caution to all that sometimes deadlines will sneak up on you

[Maltic]

I forgot about The Birds