MoFo Lists

I have two questions for y'all.

I could watch a few of the films I have left on the Cannes list.
The problem is they are in foreign languages with no subtitles.
Does that really count?

The other question is if these films are not available through normal channels, is it illegal to download them?

I've got another list you can consider adding the official ranks: FILM NOIR.

Noir is a pretty malleable term, but it's definitely one of my personal favorite genres. As with the Westerns list, this one comes from the BFI Screen Guide book series: 100 Film Noir by Jim Hillier & Alastair Phillips (2009, ISBN 97814844572168). Not officially a British Film Institute "list", but one under their publishing banner. As with the BFI 100 Westerns list, even with a hundred flicks there are some omissions genre fans can fight about and again they've gone out of their way to include some newer entries and films from all around the world. But in general, a darn good list that will have titles even the most hardcore filmbuffs won't have seen, as well as the majority of what most superfans would agree is the canon. And one of the other things I like about the lists in this series is that they are alphabetical rather than some kind of ranking, so there's no qibbling about 'how can they have put this one over that one?'.


There is a bit of overlap with some of the other lists, but not much. Here's the list (DAMN I wish I had learned to type at some point - stay in school, kids!)...

36 (2004)
The American Friend (1977)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
La Bête Humaine (1938)
The Big Combo (1955)
The Big Heat (1953)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Blast of Silence 1961)
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Body and Soul (1947)
Born to Kill (1947)
Brighton Rock (1947)
Call Northside 777 (1948)
The Castle of Sand (1974)
The Chase (1946)
Chinatown (1974)
C.I.D. (1956)
Collateral (2004)
Cornered (1945)
Criss Cross (1949)
The Crooked Way (1949)
Crossfire (1947)
Cry of the City (1948)
The Dark Corner (1956)
Dark Passage (1947)
Dead Reckoning (1947)
Death is a Caress (1949)
Death of a Cyclist (1955)
Detour (1945)
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
D.O.A. (1950)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Driver (1978)
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
Fallen Angel (1945)
Fear in the Night (1947)
Force of Evil (1948)
Foreign Land (1996)
Get Carter (1971)
Gilda (1946)
The Glass Key (1942)
Gun Crazy (1950)
He Ran All the Way (1951)
He Walked by Night (1948)
High & Low (1963)
A History of Violence (2005)
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003)
I Married a Communist (1949)
I Wake Up Screaming (1942)
I Walk Alone (1948)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Le Jour se Lève (1939)
Journey Into Fear (1942)
The Killers (1946)
The Killing (1956)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Kiss of Death (1947)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Lady in the Lake (1946)
Laura (1944)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
The Lost One (1951)
M (1931)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Memories of Murder (2003)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
The Narrow Margin (1952)
Night and the City (1950)
Night Moves (1975)
Nightmare Alley (1947)
Odd Man Out (1947)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
On Dangerous Ground (1952)
Out of the Past (1947)
Phantom Lady (1944)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Pitfall (1948)
Point Blank (1967)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Pursued (1947)
Quai des Orfèvres (1947)
The Reckless Moment (1949)
Rififi (1955)
Le Samouraï (1967)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Side Street (1950)
Sin City (2005)
Story of a Love Affair (1950)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Taxi Driver (1976)
They Live by Night (1948)
T-Men (1947)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Touchez pas au Grisbi (1954)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)


Forty-eight come from the 1940s, the undisputed golden age of Noir, and another twenty-five from the 1950s as the first cycle was winding down. Plus a few forerunners from the 1930s, seven from the 21st Century, twenty made outside of the U.S. or U.K., and only one that is a true genre crossover (Raoul Walsh's Western Pursued).

As if to prove my point that these lists are impossible to compile, in the index they have "Another 100 Film Noirs" (which I won't list unless anyone is really really curious). And even then, there are still a few titles that jump out at me as exclusions. TWO HUNDRED is not going to be enough to satisfy a genre junkie. Such is the inherent and inevitable weakness of these exercises. BUT, as far as lists go, this one does give certainly the genre newbie a sense of the width and breadth of what "Noir" has to offer.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

That looks great, Holden! Thanks for posting it. I'll probably add that and the Filmsite Foreign Film list Loner linked to together; should find time for it this weekend. Thanks a lot, guys!

By the by, most of these Noir titles are available on R1 DVD, but SEVENTEEN are currently not. The missing titles would be 36 (a.k.a. Department 36), The Blue Dahlia, Brighton Rock, Cornered, Cry of the City, Death is a Caress - Døden er et Kjærtegn, The Glass Key, He Ran All the Way, I Married a Communist (a.k.a The Woman on Pier 13), I Walk Alone, Journey into Fear, The Lost One, Odd Man Out (OOP), Phantom Lady, Pitfall and Reckless Moment. Some of those have been available on VHS in the U.S. over the years, but a few have never had official releases. Keep an eye on Turner Classic Movies and such.

Of those seventeen movies, eight are available on R2 U.K. DVD (36, The Blue Dahlia, Brighton Rock, Cry of the City, The Glass Key, He Ran All the Way, Odd Man Out and Reckless Moment).


So some of these are definitely going to be tough to track down for most MoFos. Good luck. And for the record, other than the Norwegian Døden er et Kjærtegn (which I may have a line on) I have indeed seen all ninety-nine others.

That British Film Institute Screen Guide series has not gotten around to Horror yet, not in total, although they do have 100 European Horror Films. Obviously that's going to be incredibly comprehensive for what it is, but by not including the American or Asian titles especially it is less useful for MoFo purposes, perhaps.





Don't have that European Horror in my personal library. In addition to 100 Westerns and 100 Film Noirs I also have 100 Road Movies and 100 Documentary Films from that BFI series of books. The other titles so far are 100 Anime, 100 Bollywood Films, 100 American Independent Films, 100 Shakespeare Films, 100 British Documentaries and 100 Modern Soundtracks.

Okay MoFos I need help with the Cannes list.

Here are the films I'm having trouble locating or have concerns about buying.

Velikiy perelom aka The Turning Point
http://www.petershop.com/en/catalogu...y-perelom.html

Neecha Nagar aka Lowly City
http://www.induna.com/1000006180-productdetails/#

Muži bez krídel also known as Men Without Wings and Blood and Fire
?

Iris och löjtnantshjärta aka Iris and the Lieutenant
?

De rřde enge aka The Red Earth and Red Meadows
Here is one of the links, http://www.haushoej.dk/product.asp?product=5393

Due soldi di speranza aka Two Cents Worth of Hope
http://cgi.ebay.com/DUE-SOLDI-DI-SPE...3286.m63.l1177
Currently available on YouTube.

Une aussi longue absence aka The Long Absence
?

Signore & signori aka The Birds, the Bees and the Italians
http://cgi.ebay.com/SIGNORE-E-SIGNOR...3286.m20.l1116

La classe operaia va in paradiso aka The Working Class Goes to Heaven
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...&condition=new

Chronique des années de braise aka Chronicle of the Years of Fire
?

I know there are other ways to acquire these films, but I would rather do it like this.

Anyone wanting a bit of Noir action on the cheap can watch a few of em all legal and free at the Prelinger archive. They've got streams these days, but the download is your best bet for watchability (it's not perfect, but passable. Like watching on a shoddy telly ). They've got stuff like DOA, Detour, Scarlet Street etc.

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Hey Yoda, I believe Chelovek No. 217 should be on the Cannes list.

Awards 1946

Just a quick update to let you guys know that I'll definitely be adding Filmsite's 100 Greatest Foreign Films list, as well as the Film Noir list Holden posted. Both are in different formats than I'm used to accounting for, so it might take a bit, but hopefully I'll just grab a can of soda and plough through one or both of them at some point. Dunno which will go up first; whichever ends up seeming easier to format, I think.

Based on that link, it appears we might be missing quite a few from 1946; enough to make me wonder if there's some kind of discrepancy. That link suggests that there were 21 Grand Prix films in '46, but Wikipedia (I know, I know...) has only 11 listed. The difference seems large enough that I have to think they're categorizing them differently.

Is the one on Festival-Cannes.com more like a list of finalists or nominees, perhaps? Anyone who can shed any light on all this?

This is what they have listed on IMDB.

Cannes Film Festival: 1946

Hmm, that's weird. Chelovek No. 217 is the only one that's on the IMDB list (which has 12) when compared to the Wikipedia one (which has 11). This blog has 11, as well, where Chelovek is listed as a competitor but not a winner:

http://histoiredecannes.blogspot.com...l-du-film.html

Definitely something strange going on with the discrepancy. AllMovie.com lists the film as having won the "Grand Prix For Best Director," whereas it has a film like The Lost Weekend, which is on all these lists, as winning the "Grand Prix." Perhaps that's the reason? IMDB is counting the Best Director Grand Prix as the "overall" Grand Prix for some reason?

Odd isn't it?

After looking into it, I don't believe it won either.

I'm having trouble looking up a title from the Cannes list. It's supposed to be called The Way from 1981. I can't find this film as of yet. Is this its English title? Or does anyone know if this title is correct?

EDIT: I can't see it on the Palm d'Or list so now I'm wondering if this was just a miss print.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Could be, here's a link for the films at Cannes that year.

http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/ar...mpetition.html

Yeah, I think it may be a miss print. The winner in 81 was Man of Iron. Unless there's more than Palm d'Or winners on this list? I don't believe there is though.

That list has all the films that were in competition that year, but if you check the tab at the other end, there's list of all the films shown that year.

Right, but our Cannes list is just the Palm d'Or winners, yeah? I think that's what Chris was trying to do. I'm not sure though because there are several with the same date. So I don't know.

Yes, our list is just the Palm d'Or winners. Sorry, I misunderstood.

The Way is also known as Yol, and yep, it's a legit Cannes award-winner, for 1982, ras-a-frass.

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