# Favourite Movie Directors



## peleshyan

Who are your favourite movie directors?

Not some directors that made your favourite movies but a directors you love so much that it is hard to not like even their most underwhelming works.


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## Rogerx

Hitchcock, James Cameron, Pedro Almodóvar just a few


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## Guest

It's very easy to bring to mind the directors of your favourite dozen movies, but less easy to go beyond that and think about directors who you like despite their lesser works.

So, do I like the works of John Houston? Or do I just happen to like _The African Queen_, _The Treasure of the Sierra Madre _and _The Maltese Falcon_? Or Humphrey Bogart?

Yesterday, I watched Hitchcock's _The Man Who Knew Too Much_ (1956) and decided that there was too much about it that irritated, though there were some pleasures. In fact, working my way through a Blu-Ray boxed set of his Hollwood movies, I'm increasingly of the opinion that his moral ambiguities (Stewart drugging Day, and the obsessive Scottie in _Vertigo_) are despicable.

Ridley Scott has a great visual sense (_Alien, Legend, Black Rain_), but _Prometheus _and its sequel are examples of such stupid story-telling!

Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood) and Raoul Walsh (_White Heat_, _They Died With Their Boots On_, and _The Naked and The Dead_, are two of my favourites from the golden era, but they made so many that I've _not _seen - how would I know which are their lesser works to judge them by?

Two whose movies I have enjoyed are Michael Mann (_Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Collateral_) and Peter Weir (_Picnic at Hanging Rock, Witness _and _Master and Commander_), who are not prolific at all and not, apparently active.

It's difficult not to conclude that the "auteur theory" is grossly overrated. Watch enough of some directors' movies, and common themes and approaches emerge, but as they often work with the same writers, editors and cinematographers, that's hardly surprising. So, do I like the _directors_? Or is it just that my story interests coincide with theirs?


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## josquindesprez

Jacques Rivette, Jean Epstein, João César Monteiro, Ritwik Ghatak, Buster Keaton (even though he typically co-directed), Luis Buñuel.

It’s probably more helpful to think of the auteur theory as shorthand. With some directors (Hitchcock, Woody Allen) you can tell right away how they exerted control. With studio directors it’s harder to see, even if some (Jacques Tourneur for example) could consistently elevate b-movie material. And of course Adam Sandler has more control over how his movies end up than a director does, so sometimes other people are more of an “auteur,” so if we want to expand things and say that all directors are “auteurs” it’s most helpful to see it as a way of categorizing and not so much a workable, consistent question of artistic control.


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## Templeton

Truffaut
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Richard Linklater
Spike Lee
Wong Kar-wai
Ken Loach
Chaplin


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## Joe B

I could go on about Kurosawa and a few others, but in the current generation of directors I would put Luc Besson and Antoine Faqua in that category. I find they both infuse their personalities in their work, giving even their lesser offerings something unique and different.


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## norman bates

peleshyan said:


> Who are your favourite movie directors?
> 
> Not some directors that made your favourite movies but a directors you love so much that it is hard to not like even their most underwhelming works.


Billy Wilder
Alfred Hitchcock
Federico Fellini
Sam Peckinpah
Roman Polanski
David Lynch
Stanley Kubrick
Fritz Lang
Andrej Tarkovskij
Maya Deren
Coen brothers


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## Mifek

Akira Kurosawa
Andrey Zvyagintsev
Miloš Forman
Charlie Chaplin
Stanley Kubrick
Lars von Trier
Ingmar Bergman
Billy Wilder
Wojciech Smarzowski
Jorgos Lantimos
Federico Fellini


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## tdc

Going by the criteria in the OP probably only David Lynch and the Coen brothers.


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## norman bates

I forgot to mention Orson Welles and Hayao Miyazaki


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## Josquin13

Robert Bresson
James Ivory
Ingmar Bergman
Carol Reed
Alan Pakula
Alfred Hitchcock
Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Orson Welles
Luchino Visconti
David Lean
Werner Herzog
Sidney Lumet
Michael Powell
Andrei Tarkovsky
Lasse Halström
Wim Wenders
René Clément
Coen brothers
Peter Greenaway--Greenaway's films can be challenging, but he has a brilliant visual imagination. The Draughtsman's Contract is still my favorite film by him.

Lately, I've been impressed by the films of director Joe Wright.

I agree that Ridley Scott has a great visual sense, but his scripts are often only average--such as Kingdom of Heaven, and he's not really an actor's director, not in the sense that Sidney Lumet, Orson Welles, Elia Kazan, or Ingmar Bergman were. (Though Scott generally casts good actors.) But his visuals are tour de force.


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## Phil loves classical

J. Ford, Kurosawa, Polanski, Kubrick, C. Ballard


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## Guest

Phil loves classical said:


> J. Ford, Kurosawa, Polanski, Kubrick, *C. Ballard*


Ballard...? Who he?


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## Phil loves classical

MacLeod said:


> Ballard...? Who he?


Sorry for late response, never came back to the thread. Carol Ballard who directed the Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf.

Lately I've really got to like Luis Bunuel. With Tarkovsky it's a mix, I liked Andrei Rublev, and especially Mirror. Hated Stalker and much of Solaris.


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## bz3

To limit it to 3 I will say Ford, Hawks, and Carpenter.


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## bz3

MacLeod said:


> It's very easy to bring to mind the directors of your favourite dozen movies, but less easy to go beyond that and think about directors who you like despite their lesser works.
> 
> So, do I like the works of John Houston? Or do I just happen to like _The African Queen_, _The Treasure of the Sierra Madre _and _The Maltese Falcon_? Or Humphrey Bogart?
> 
> Yesterday, I watched Hitchcock's _The Man Who Knew Too Much_ (1956) and decided that there was too much about it that irritated, though there were some pleasures. In fact, working my way through a Blu-Ray boxed set of his Hollwood movies, I'm increasingly of the opinion that his moral ambiguities (Stewart drugging Day, and the obsessive Scottie in _Vertigo_) are despicable.
> 
> Ridley Scott has a great visual sense (_Alien, Legend, Black Rain_), but _Prometheus _and its sequel are examples of such stupid story-telling!
> 
> Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood) and Raoul Walsh (_White Heat_, _They Died With Their Boots On_, and _The Naked and The Dead_, are two of my favourites from the golden era, but they made so many that I've _not _seen - how would I know which are their lesser works to judge them by?
> 
> Two whose movies I have enjoyed are Michael Mann (_Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Collateral_) and Peter Weir (_Picnic at Hanging Rock, Witness _and _Master and Commander_), who are not prolific at all and not, apparently active.
> 
> It's difficult not to conclude that the "auteur theory" is grossly overrated. Watch enough of some directors' movies, and common themes and approaches emerge, but as they often work with the same writers, editors and cinematographers, that's hardly surprising. So, do I like the _directors_? Or is it just that my story interests coincide with theirs?


Scott has been cursed with some truly awful scripts in the last 15 years. Not that any of his movies had dynamite ones but you can view the descent in Hollywood screenwriting as a whole through the prism of his movies. The Alien sequels he directed are truly awful but thoroughly beautiful films with interesting ideas. They'll remain one of Hollywood's big 'what if?'s.


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## Guest

Scott, like Berlioz, seems obsessed with some kind of _idée fixe_ where Alien is concerned. I only watched _Prometheus _- which I didn't like, despite the beauty - and didn't bother with _Covenant._ A third prequel is in the pipeline!

I think his last good movie was _The Martian _which was well scripted and focused on character, not just action. Given he's 81, he remains very active and it'll be interesting to see how any of his current projects (eg _Gladiator 2, Battle of Britain_) turn out.


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## Biwa

I'll add Roger Corman.


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## Rogerx

Biwa said:


> I'll add Roger Corman.


Isn't he called king of the B movies?


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## Biwa

Rogerx said:


> Isn't he called king of the B movies?


How about "The Pope of Pop Cinema" for a title!!? LOL!!! :lol:

What's he up to these days? https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...-marvel-debate-stories-are-simplistic-1251762


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## Tchaikov6

Another vote for Kubrick, have a guilty spot for Tarantino. Others:

Francis Ford Coppola
Hayao Miyazaki
Damien Chazelle
Martin Scorsese
Brad Bird
Wes Anderson


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## Varick

Tchaikov6 said:


> ... have a guilty spot for Tarantino. Others:


I don't think there is any need to feel guilty about liking Tarantino. I love most of his stuff (albeit Jackie Brown and wasn't too thrilled with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Sure, there are a few times (such as in the Kill Bill movies) where I'm like, "Yeah, OK, I get it... You're cool!!!!" but I still love the stuff non-the-less.

Onto the OP:

Besides Q.T., I'd have to add:
- The Coen Brothers
- David Lynch
- Clint Eastwood
- Tim Burton. Just something about his stuff I dig.
- John Frankenheimer
- Wes Anderson (Love that quirky, dry, odd humor)

I like a lot of Ridley Scott films, but I also think there are plenty of his brother Tony's movies that are really good: "True Romance, Crimson Tide, Out of the Furnace, Spy Game, etc" I think Tony often has a grit in some of his movies that Ridley lacks. I find Ridley more polished, which is fine is some cases. But maybe I still wouldn't put him in this list.

V


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## Tchaikov6

Varick said:


> I don't think there is any need to feel guilty about liking Tarantino. I love most of his stuff (albeit Jackie Brown and wasn't too thrilled with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Sure, there are a few times (such as in the Kill Bill movies) where I'm like, "Yeah, OK, I get it... You're cool!!!!" but I still love the stuff non-the-less.
> 
> Onto the OP:
> 
> Besides Q.T., I'd have to add:
> - The Coen Brothers
> - David Lynch
> - Clint Eastwood
> - Tim Burton. Just something about his stuff I dig.
> - John Frankenheimer
> - Wes Anderson (Love that quirky, dry, odd humor)
> 
> I like a lot of Ridley Scott films, but I also think there are plenty of his brother Tony's movies that are really good: "True Romance, Crimson Tide, Out of the Furnace, Spy Game, etc" I think Tony often has a grit in some of his movies that Ridley lacks. I find Ridley more polished, which is fine is some cases. But maybe I still wouldn't put him in this list.
> 
> V


Haha true, he is a pretty good director, just not as well respected as legends like Kubrick and Hitchcock (yet).


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## AfterHours

Top 10 would probably be...

1. Orson Welles
2. Alfred Hitchcock
3. Ingmar Bergman
4. Fritz Lang
5. Andrei Tarkovsky
6. Federico Fellini
7. Theo Angelopoulos
8. Billy Wilder
9. Akira Kurosawa
10. Stanley Kubrick


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## Tchaikov6

AfterHours said:


> Top 10 would probably be...
> 
> 1. Orson Welles
> 2. Alfred Hitchcock
> 3. Ingmar Bergman
> 4. Fritz Lang
> 5. Andrei Tarkovsky
> 6. Federico Fellini
> 7. Theo Angelopoulos
> 8. Billy Wilder
> 9. Akira Kurosawa
> 10. Stanley Kubrick


Billy Wilder is a legend, Some Like it Hot is the best comedy ever! (or one of...)


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## Trout

Directors I love pretty much wholeheartedly:

David Lynch
Akira Kurosawa
Stanley Kubrick
Richard Linklater
Coen brothers
Hayao Miyazaki
Charlie Chaplin
David Fincher

Directors whom I am only somewhat familiar with, but have loved most everything I've seen:

Terrence Malick
Yasujiro Ozu
Martin Scorsese
Fritz Lang
Jean-Pierre Melville
Wong Kar-Wai


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## Dodecs

Rogerx said:


> Isn't he called king of the B movies?


his films are legit artworks.


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## TheMusicalScorpio

off the top of my head

James Cameron
James Wan
Paul Anderson (Select films as hes done some terrible ones)
Ridley Scott
John Carpenter


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## Tchaikov6

I've already posted a list here, but it's changed a lot since then. Updated top 10:

10. *John Hughes*
Favorite Film: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

9. *Hayao Miyazaki*
Favorite Film: Spirited Away

8. *Robert Zemeckis*
Favorite Film: Back to the Future

7. *Noah Baumbach*
Favorite Film: Frances Ha

6. *Pete Docter*
Favorite Film: Inside Out

5. *Quentin Tarantino*
Favorite Film: Pulp Fiction

4. *Martin Scorsese*
Favorite Film: Raging Bull

3. *Brad Bird*
Favorite Film: The Incredibles

2. *Steven Spielberg*
Favorite Film: Jaws

1. *Stanley Kubrick*
Favorite Film: 2001: A Space Odyssey


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## Rogerx

Dodecs said:


> his films are legit artworks.


We do not have to agree on everything, it's like I said B movies


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## Guest

*Billy Wilder*: "Seven Year Itch", "Some Like it Hot", "Stalag 17", "Double Indemnity", "1,2,3", "Witness for the Prosecution", "Sabrina"
*Howard Hawks*: "His Girl Friday", "Bringing up Baby", "Ball of Fire", "The Big Sleep", "Red River", "Rio Bravo", "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".
*Alfred Hitchcock*; "Vertigo", "Psycho", "Rear Window", "Shadow of a Doubt", "Strangers on a Train"
*John Ford*: "The Searchers", "How Green was my Valley", "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Informer", the Cavalry trilogy
*George Stevens*: "Talk of the Town", "Woman of the Year", "Shane", "A Place in the Sun", "Giant"
*George Cukor*: "The Philadelphia Story", "The Women", "Adam's Rib", "A Star is Born"
*Vincente Minnelli*: "An American in Paris", "Some Came Running", "The Bandwagon", "Designing Woman"
*Elia Kazan*: everything!!

*Martin Scorsese*: "Raging Bull", "The Age of Innocence"
*James L. Brooks*: "Terms of Endearment", "As Good as it Gets"
*Mike Nichols*: "The Remains of the Day", "The Birdcage
*The Coen Brothers*: "The Big Lebowski", "The Man who Wasn't There", "No Country for Old Men", "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"


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## Guest

Speaking of "*As Good as It Gets*" watch this scene with two actors at the very top of their game. Helen Hunt is the finest living American actress: Jessica Lange used to be like her!!


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## gregorx

A list of some of my favorite directors.This list doesn't include anyone still with us. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but in no order: 

Akira Kurosawa 
Michelangelo Antonioni
Federico Fellini 
Alfred Hitchcock
Seijun Suzuki
Stanley Kubrick
John Ford


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## Sieglinde

Sergio Leone
Sam Peckinpah
Akira Kurosawa
Kobayashi Masaki 
Fritz Lang


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## pianozach

First director that comes to mind?

*Hitchcock*

I've got every available film, and still haven't watched them all.

Some of his earlier films are deadly dull though.


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## Shosty

Some of my favorite are: 
Jim Jarmusch
Paul Thomas Anderson
Martin Scorsese
Stanley Kubrick
Abbas Kiarostami
The Coen brothers
Terry Gilliam
Pedro Almodovar
Ingmar Bergman

Also I've only watched a few movies from Yorgos Lanthimos, Aki Kaurismaki and Greta Gerwig but have loved what I've watched!


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## Tchaikov6

mine has changed a LOT since the last time I posted. here they are, ranked, with my films of theirs favorite to least favorite

*1. Stanley Kubrick*
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Barry Lyndon
3. Dr. Strangelove
4. A Clockwork Orange
5. Eyes Wide Shut

*2. Martin Scorsese*
1. Raging Bull
2. The Irishman
3. The King of Comedy
4. After Hours
5. The Departed

*3. Quentin Tarantino*
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Jackie Brown
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

*4. Hayao Miyazaki*
1. Spirited Away
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Porco Rosso
4. Kiki's Delivery Service
5. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
6. My Neighbor Totoro
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Howl's Moving Castle

*5. The Coen Brothers*
1. No Country for Old Men
2. Fargo
3. Blood Simple
4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs


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## pianozach

norman bates said:


> Billy Wilder
> Alfred Hitchcock
> Federico Fellini
> Sam Peckinpah
> Roman Polanski
> David Lynch
> Stanley Kubrick
> Fritz Lang
> Andrej Tarkovskij
> Maya Deren
> Coen brothers





pianozach said:


> First director that comes to mind?
> 
> *Hitchcock*
> 
> I've got every available film, and still haven't watched them all.
> 
> Some of his earlier films are deadly dull though.


I think norman bates' list contains most of my fave directors, all but the last three.

I'm also a fan of *Woody Allen*'s films, though not him personally. He's a sad warped little man.

And *Terry Gilliam*'s films . . . Clever, smart.

Oh, and *Spielberg* and *George Lucas*. Great directors able to bring generic stories to life.

Oh, and *John Ford*. Every always forgets about him.

And *David Lean* and *Charlie Chaplin*.


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## Caryatid

These are not really my favourites, and I certainly haven't watched all their work, but to name a few greats who have been overlooked so far:

Carl Theodor Dreyer - _Vampyr _
David Cronenberg - _Naked Lunch_
Douglas Sirk - _Written on the Wind_
Robert Altman - _McCabe & Mrs. Miller_


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## Tchaikov6

Caryatid said:


> These are not really my favourites, and I certainly haven't watched all their work, but to name a few greats who have been overlooked so far:
> 
> Carl Theodor Dreyer - _Vampyr _
> David Cronenberg - _Naked Lunch_
> Douglas Sirk - _Written on the Wind_
> Robert Altman - _McCabe & Mrs. Miller_


Dreyer is wonderful, the Passion of Joan of Arc is one of the greatest silent films. Altman too is fantastic, but I've seen too few films from them to consider them favorites.


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## flamencosketches

pianozach said:


> I'm also a fan of *Woody Allen*'s films, though not him personally. He's a sad warped little man.


Agreed... I used to adore his movies, but I can't really watch them anymore. It seems he injects some of his psychological hangups and perversions into just about every character.

Some of my favorites are Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, Stanley Kubrick, and the Coen brothers. I'm not the film buff I used to be.

Recently I watched a movie called Werckmeister Harmonies by the Hungarian director Béla Tarr, and I thought it was beautifully filmed. But I have no idea what it was about.


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## starthrower

Any fans of the 1959 film, Jazz On A Summer's Day? I was rewatching this one last night and the direction is brilliant and imaginative. Filmed in Newport, Rhode Island and directed by Aram Avakian and Bert Stern.


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## Guest

Caryatid said:


> These are not really my favourites, and I certainly haven't watched all their work, but to name a few greats who have been overlooked so far:
> 
> Carl Theodor Dreyer - _Vampyr _
> David Cronenberg - _Naked Lunch_
> Douglas Sirk - _Written on the Wind_
> Robert Altman - _McCabe & Mrs. Miller_


I once wrote a review of "*Written on the Wind*" on another board. I'll copy and paste it here, and I'm certain you won't like what I had to say:

Tonight I watched this Douglas Sirk potboiler after a very long, well-earned hiatus - spending part of my night stupefied, but amused, by unmitigated soap played to the hilt to the accompaniment of the melodramatic music of Frank Skinner.

The film was made in 1956 and it seems to have preserved its appearance; no doubt somebody thought it was worthy of restoration. Most of the old tropes were there; oil baron's spoilt son Kyle (Robert Stack) has a drinking problem and, adding insult to injury, thinks he's infertile. Oil baron's daughter Marylee (a chronically lurching and ludicrously foxy Dorothy Malone) is in love with best friend Mitch, who really loves Lucy (Lauren Bacall) - Kyle's wife. Are you ready for this plot? Leaves were rustling, tyres were spinning, alcohol flowed freely, a man falls down stairs to his death, characters were staring menacingly at others from behind curtains, there was a shooting, jealousy in spades, Kyle lurching and laughing under the influence (in a menacing "I've got depression" kind of way!) and the ubiquitous black hired help looked on helplessly with an ominous "there's gonna be a killin' tonight".

I laughed aloud when Marylee did a Douglas Sirk-equivalent 'dance of the seven veils' erotically in front of a picture of Rick (Rock Hudson) while some revolting trumpet jazz became increasingly shrill and loud on the portable record player. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the house, old man Hadley is at the end of his tether and his increasing desperation at his lawless and wanton daughter causes him to drop down dead at the top of the stairs, with full choreography. Close-up of a hand clutching a staircase railing and then..well, you know the rest.

The production design was good, if claustrophobic, but I think Rock Hudson must have found it difficult to keep a straight face, hard on the heels of "Giant" the year before. The only similarity to that epic was the existence of oil rigs and very wealthy people who had 'problems'!! Plaudits to Bacall who tried to maintain her considerable class and dignity throughout, despite the fact that this script was a stinker. She would be rewarded for her perseverance the following year with a superb performance in Vincente Minnelli's classy "Designing Woman".


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## Caryatid

Christabel said:


> I once wrote a review of "*Written on the Wind*" on another board. I'll copy and paste it here, and I'm certain you won't like what I had to say:
> 
> Tonight I watched this Douglas Sirk potboiler after a very long, well-earned hiatus - spending part of my night stupefied, but amused, by unmitigated soap played to the hilt to the accompaniment of the melodramatic music of Frank Skinner.
> 
> The film was made in 1956 and it seems to have preserved its appearance; no doubt somebody thought it was worthy of restoration. Most of the old tropes were there; oil baron's spoilt son Kyle (Robert Stack) has a drinking problem and, adding insult to injury, thinks he's infertile. Oil baron's daughter Marylee (a chronically lurching and ludicrously foxy Dorothy Malone) is in love with best friend Mitch, who really loves Lucy (Lauren Bacall) - Kyle's wife. Are you ready for this plot? Leaves were rustling, tyres were spinning, alcohol flowed freely, a man falls down stairs to his death, characters were staring menacingly at others from behind curtains, there was a shooting, jealousy in spades, Kyle lurching and laughing under the influence (in a menacing "I've got depression" kind of way!) and the ubiquitous black hired help looked on helplessly with an ominous "there's gonna be a killin' tonight".
> 
> I laughed aloud when Marylee did a Douglas Sirk-equivalent 'dance of the seven veils' erotically in front of a picture of Rick (Rock Hudson) while some revolting trumpet jazz became increasingly shrill and loud on the portable record player. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the house, old man Hadley is at the end of his tether and his increasing desperation at his lawless and wanton daughter causes him to drop down dead at the top of the stairs, with full choreography. Close-up of a hand clutching a staircase railing and then..well, you know the rest.
> 
> The production design was good, if claustrophobic, but I think Rock Hudson must have found it difficult to keep a straight face, hard on the heels of "Giant" the year before. The only similarity to that epic was the existence of oil rigs and very wealthy people who had 'problems'!! Plaudits to Bacall who tried to maintain her considerable class and dignity throughout, despite the fact that this script was a stinker. She would be rewarded for her perseverance the following year with a superb performance in Vincente Minnelli's classy "Designing Woman".


I appreciate your review. It comes as no surprise - it is a typical reaction to Douglas Sirk's melodramatic style. All I can say is that we have different tastes.


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## Guest

I did like Sirk's "*Imitation of Life*", though; an excellent re-make of the 1930s version and a film which addressed very serious issues. Would have preferred another lead actress apart from Lana Turner, though, as I thought she was too old for the part and too one-dimensional.

You might enjoy this article, if you haven't already read it:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/douglas-sirks-glorious-cinema-of-outsiders


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## Guest

George Cukor is a favourite director; having come from the Broadway stage he knew how to coach great performances from a cast. One of his most famous films, "*Dinner at Eight*" (1933), is very good and has some real comedy, as well as drama, liberally spread throughout. Stand-out performances in this film (which will soon be 100 years old!!): Screenplay Herman Mankiewicz and Donald Ogden Stewart.

Jean Harlow as the feisty blond bombshell with plenty of 'nerve' to tell people just what she thinks. The last lines of the film between Harlow and Dressler represent one of the greatest endings in film; up there with "well, nobody's perfect"!! Harlow was only to live another 4 years after this film was made.

Marie Dressler (who was terminally ill with cancer when this film was made) is wonderful as the elderly stage actress, which she delivers with aplomb, humour and style.

John Barrymore; as the wash-up, alcoholic actor. Never better in this film and there's a terribly moving scene when he realizes he's finished. Very prophetic for the sad and tragic Barrymore.

Billie Burke: she of "The Wizard of Oz"; scatty but strong and determined. Another feisty female role.

The film is obviously hugely dated now and that 'cardboard' sound of 1933 - when microphones were hidden on the set or other unlikely places (see 'Singin' in the Rain') - it is still highly recommended for film buffs who like great writing, acting and direction.


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## Aliputera

Martin Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve


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## cheregi

easy: apichatpong weerasethakul!! yes it is slow/artsy-type foreign cinema, but it's also funny, and charming, and weird, and beautiful...


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## MAS

Christabel said:


> *Billy Wilder*: "Seven Year Itch", "Some Like it Hot", "Stalag 17", "Double Indemnity", "1,2,3", "Witness for the Prosecution", "Sabrina"
> *Howard Hawks*: "His Girl Friday", "Bringing up Baby", "Ball of Fire", "The Big Sleep", "Red River", "Rio Bravo", "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".
> *Alfred Hitchcock*; "Vertigo", "Psycho", "Rear Window", "Shadow of a Doubt", "Strangers on a Train"
> *John Ford*: "The Searchers", "How Green was my Valley", "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Informer", the Cavalry trilogy
> *George Stevens*: "Talk of the Town", "Woman of the Year", "Shane", "A Place in the Sun", "Giant"
> *George Cukor*: "The Philadelphia Story", "The Women", "Adam's Rib", "A Star is Born"
> *Vincente Minnelli*: "An American in Paris", "Some Came Running", "The Bandwagon", "Designing Woman"
> *Elia Kazan*: everything!!
> 
> *Martin Scorsese*: "Raging Bull", "The Age of Innocence"
> *James L. Brooks*: "Terms of Endearment", "As Good as it Gets"
> *Mike Nichols*: "The Remains of the Day", "The Birdcage
> *The Coen Brothers*: "The Big Lebowski", "The Man who Wasn't There", "No Country for Old Men", "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"


I don't think *Mike Nichols* directed _The Remains of the Day_, but *James Ivory*


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## MAS

In no particular order:
Blake Edwards
Terry Gilliam
Steven Spielberg
Martín Scorsese
John Boorman
John Ford
George Cuckor
François Truffaut 
Luchino Visconti
Mike Nichols
Sergio Leone
Ingmar Bergman
James Ivory
John Huston
Billy Wilder
Élia Kazan
Akira Kurosawa 
Stanley Kubrick
William Wyler
Vincente Minnelli 
George Stevens
Orson Welles
Joseph L. Mankiewicz


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## Guest

MAS said:


> I don't think *Mike Nichols* directed _The Remains of the Day_, but *James Ivory*


Something went wrong with my list - Mike Nichols *PRODUCED* "Remains of the Day". And, of course, he didn't direct that film!! It shouldn't have been on that list, which is correct in all other respects.


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## MAS

Christabel said:


> Something went wrong with my list - Mike Nichols *PRODUCED* "Remains of the Day". And, of course, he didn't direct that film!! It shouldn't have been on that list, which is correct in all other respects.


No worries, I only noticed because I love James Ivory!


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## Aliputera

Denis Villeneuve!


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## Terrapin

Billy Wilder
William Wyler
Alfred Hitchcock
John Ford
Howard Hawks
Fritz Lang
Charlie Chaplin
Robert Altman
Roman Polanski
Coen Brothers


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## Ned Low

Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Luis Bunuel, Carl Theodore Dryer, Lars von Trier, Hirukazo Koreeda, Philippe Garrel, Wim Wenders, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Gaspar Noe, Edward Yang, Andrei Svyangitsev, Francois Ozon, Christoph Honore, Angela Schanelec


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## BlackAdderLXX

In the past decade the list is pretty short:
Edgar Wright
Quentin Tarantino


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## Guest

Terrapin said:


> Billy Wilder
> William Wyler
> Alfred Hitchcock
> John Ford
> Howard Hawks
> Fritz Lang
> Charlie Chaplin
> Robert Altman
> Roman Polanski
> Coen Brothers


What a great list!!! _Billy Wilder, you are so very much loved and much-missed_.

I watched "Stalag 17" again over the weekend. Classic film; wonderful script and great direction. When you look at it a couple of times you'll notice the sight gags of Wilder; they're in there without drawing attention away from the main action. A look here, a move there - full of comedy and character insight. The man was a genius. Raised in Vienna, this European Jew had a sophistication and self-deprecating humour which contributed incalculably to the Hollywood of the 1930s and beyond. His films are at once inherently American and laced with European insights. Europe's loss in the 20th century was America's huge gain. Lubitsch was another one; there are dozens of them. Wilder and Lubitsch worked on 'Ninotchka" in 1939; ".....it's a good idea - but who said we had to have an idea?!"


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## Dulova Harps On

Some faves:

F. W. Murnau
Jacques Rivette
Stanley Kubrick
Max Ophuls
Jean Pierre Melville
Yasujirō Ozu
Rolf de Heer
Robert Altman
Peter Weir
Jacques Tourneur 
Nicholas Ray
Michael Curtiz
Ernst Lubitsch
Fritz Lang
Marcel Pagnol
Rene Clair
Joseph Losey


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## Guest

I've always been a huge admirer of David Lean and his cinematic eye. Here's something I just found about Lean and the making of "Dr. Zhivago". Apparently the director wasn't too well loved, and these rather blunt comments from Omar Sharif are very telling. I'd forgotten about this because it's been some time since I read the excellent biographical tome on Lean by Kevin Brownlow:


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