17. It Happened One Night (1934)
Influential, how? The original romcom.
Bagging itself the top five Oscars, the Clarke Gable-Claudette Colbert sleeper hit not only spawned a generation of screwball comedies, but established the 'loathe at first sight' blueprint that three out of five Hollywood romcoms have been following ever since.
Money Shot: Grudgingly sharing a room together, the duo trade rapid-fire quips.
18. Le Roman D'Un Tricheur (1936)
Influential, how? The art of narration.
Sure, there’d been earlier voiceovers – but never before had the main character told us his own tale.
Sacha Guitry (writer, director, lead actor) dances us through the life of his self-styled ‘Cheat’, dispensing with dialogue. Ealing's Kind Hearts And Coronets is a direct descendant.
Money shot: Sent to bed early, our hero sees his family die of food poisoning.
19. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Influential, how? Calling the 'toon.
"No one's gonna pay a dime to see a dwarf picture..."
Even Walt Disney's wife mocked his first feature-length 'toon, but Walt was vindicated in the end - Snow White took home $66m and seven Oscars.
It set the template and the quality-bar, too.
Money shot: Snow White cleans Chez Dwarf with fwuffy forest animals.
20. Stagecoach (1939)
Influential, how? New Western frontiers.
Both the Western and John Ford has been around for decades when the latter revitalised the former with a modern, mature, myth-making 'road' movie.
Orson Welles watched it 40 times before making Citizen Kane. 'Nuff said.
Money shot: The seminal stuntwork as legendary daredevil Yakima Canutt is dragged beneath galloping horses.
Comments
avoidz
Apr 3rd 2009, 14:41
Great article; one of your best. Thanks!
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filmgeek27
Apr 5th 2009, 10:58
Great feature. I have to admit to not buying the magazine for a few months now (I've just been clicking on to the website) but after that I'm going to go out and get this issue
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waldolydecker
Apr 17th 2009, 9:44
Oops! Your "Room at the Top" still is in fact a scene from Clouzot's "Les Diaboliques", starring Simone Signoret and Vera Clouzot - another influential film, no doubt. How could you forget "Rebecca", "Laura", "Singin' in the Rain", etc. Your list is interesting however, but quite a few of the contemporary titles quoted are worthless and will be forgotten in 10 years from now. Wanna bet? See you in 2019!
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WisdomPersona
Apr 17th 2009, 14:40
For the most part, a great list. However, why choose "Mean Streets" as the film that 'plugged in the jukebox'? "American Graffiti" had far more pre-recorded songs, and was released three months earlier. What gives?
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horrorfilmx
Apr 17th 2009, 17:43
Interesting article, but you mention that "Star Wars revolutionised CG visual effects". Star Wars had no CG visual effects, at least not until Lucas redid it decades later. That's why the original Star Wars looks so much more real than all the CGI junk that followed it, and why a generation raised on video games considers it "dated" and "cheesy" --- because they have to grounding in reality any more.
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futureman
Apr 18th 2009, 4:02
Good article but s didn't Superman bring about synergy? They completed a whole series of movies before the first Batman. I was also surprised there was no mention of the movies that influenced the sequel.
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Apathygrrl
Apr 18th 2009, 18:11
I'm actually surprised to find that the original King Kong isn't on your list.
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daveman14
Apr 19th 2009, 2:02
Great list but I'm surprised you left off Trip to the Moon by Melies as it is the first narrative film in history.
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Asterix
Apr 19th 2009, 3:03
Awesome article, but..... Why "Cableguy" (1996) and not "Back to the Future" (1985) (a family movie - the most influential travel time movie)? Why "Batman" (1989) and not "Superman - the movie" (1978) (You can believe a man can fly!...perfectly - the first comic book adaptation of all time)? And, where's the Godfather?????????
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grantmccall
Apr 19th 2009, 4:14
I'm quite surprised that the first feature film ever made isn't in this list: The story of the kelly gang - It's an Australian film, 60 minutes in length.It precedes "Birth of a nation" by 9 years. Oh well, us Aussies usually get left out of most important lists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Kelly_Gang
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grantmccall
Apr 19th 2009, 4:15
I'm quite surprised that the first feature film ever made isn't in this list: The story of the kelly gang - It's an Australian film, 60 minutes in length.It precedes "Birth of a nation" by 9 years. Oh well, us Aussies usually get left out of most important lists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Kelly_Gang
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heidavey
Apr 19th 2009, 20:08
You're first film is 7 years too late - "Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge" is widely regarded as the first film, that was followed by "Roundhay garden scene" both in 1888 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343112/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0392728/
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Jawsphobia
Apr 22nd 2009, 16:26
In the Blade Runner blurb, neon noir, looks more like a typo of the proper term neo-noir than a play on words. And although Blade Runner has some neon in it it is not wall-to-wall at all.
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ciaraosullivan
Aug 17th 2012, 17:10
I'm surprised that you left out Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
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