# 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die



## Guest (Jun 3, 2018)

I was given the 5th Edition for Christmas about 10 years ago, and have been using it to target the silent era, and noting in particular, how the use of different soundtracks affects the impact of a film. For example, I've just finished watching _The Man With A Movie Camera_ accompanied by the music of Michael Nyman. The music made it quite exhausting viewing, but made it more hypnotic than, for example, the Alloy Orchestra version. Similarly, Keaton's _The General _has a different feel with the modern composition by Angelin Fonda suggesting (obviously, but affectingly) the propulsive nature of the train, where the more traditional soundtracks seem to reinforce the "slapstick and sentimental" with which it is all too easy to dismiss so much silent-era movie-making (especially the comedy).

If you want to join me in watching some of these movies and sharing opinions, you can find the list published here:

http://1001films.wikia.com/wiki/The_List

I'm not really interested in exploring the modern end of the list - it's what happened at the birth of cinema - the first 30-odd years - that most interests me, and especially the ones I've not seen before.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

MacLeod said:


> I was given the 5th Edition for Christmas about 10 years ago, and have been using it to target the silent era, and noting in particular, how the use of different soundtracks affects the impact of a film. For example, I've just finished watching _The Man With A Movie Camera_ accompanied by the music of Michael Nyman. The music made it quite exhausting viewing, but made it more hypnotic than, for example, the Alloy Orchestra version. Similarly, Keaton's _The General _has a different feel with the modern composition by Angelin Fonda suggesting (obviously, but affectingly) the propulsive nature of the train, where the more traditional soundtracks seem to reinforce the "slapstick and sentimental" with which it is all too easy to dismiss so much silent-era movie-making (especially the comedy).
> 
> If you want to join me in watching some of these movies and sharing opinions, you can find the list published here:
> 
> ...


MacLeod,
Thanks for providing that link. I tend to enjoy investigating the 2nd 30 years on the list (many in the Criterion section of my movie library).


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

MacLeod said:


> I was given the 5th Edition for Christmas about 10 years ago, and have been using it to target the silent era, and noting in particular, how the use of different soundtracks affects the impact of a film..


Thanks for the list. There are a lot of interesting silent films out there.

Speaking of soundtracks, I think the original score to Metropolis by Gottfried Huppertz better reflects what is happening than the one compiled by Girogio Moroder. Of course, for ultimate soundtrack fails, my first encounter with Metropolis was a cheap knockoff which put Ravel and Debussy's string quartets in as sountracks, and that definitely didn't work.

For the later films, personally, I was disappointed with A Nous La Liberty. I understand its historical significance, but if you compare it to Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, you really see Chaplin's genius.

I'm interested in films that are revelatory in some way. Bergman's Wild Strawberries had a scene which showed something in me that I hadn't seen before, and it kicked me forward into my next stage of life. I wonder if any of these on the list had that effect on others.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

good list, but by no means perfect. It is nice that it is not completely Anglo-Saxon-centric and contains even some Czech movies such as
The Shop on Main Street (Obchos na Korze) (1965)
Daisies (Sedmikrasky) (1966)
Closely Watched Trains (Ostre Sledované Vlaky) (1967)
Marketa Lazarová (1967)
The Fireman's Ball (Horí, Má Panenko) (1967)

on the other hand it is missing many more such as the Witchhammer (1970) - probably the best movie known to me about witchtrials. Or it is missing The Last Valley, on the other hand having American Werewolf in London etc. 

I have seen by guess about 1/3 of the movies on the list. My favorite directors are Tarkovski, Kurosawa and Kubrick and Bergman and no wonder that many of their movies are on the list


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

and how they could have omitted The Human Condition is also unfathomable
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Condition_(film_series)
or the Samurai trilogy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Trilogy

on the other hand it contains Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Why? How? The movie was just pure garbage


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## Guest (Jun 9, 2018)

Joe B said:


> MacLeod,
> Thanks for providing that link. I tend to enjoy investigating the 2nd 30 years on the list (many in the Criterion section of my movie library).


Many good movies in the 2nd 30, for sure, but it's the first 30 that I've not explored as a period - though I've already seen several of them ove the course of time. My education in silent movies tended to consist of watching programmes about the golden greats - Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Keystone Cops etc - or watching all the L&H shorts - or watching the horror greats like Nosferatu and Caligari. I had no sense of how cinema developed, so this list helps.



Manxfeeder said:


> For the later films, personally, I was disappointed with A Nous La Liberty. I understand its historical significance, but if you compare it to Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, you really see Chaplin's genius.
> 
> I'm interested in films that are revelatory in some way. Bergman's Wild Strawberries had a scene which showed something in me that I hadn't seen before, and it kicked me forward into my next stage of life. I wonder if any of these on the list had that effect on others.


I found A Nous La Liberte rather dull, so haven't finished it. Sacrilege? I don't like Dickens either, so don;t bother trying to read him any more - there's just too much else to read and, similarly, too much else to watch to waste time on stuff that doesn't appeal.



Jacck said:


> on the other hand it contains Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Why? How? The movie was just pure garbage


Why? Well I don't know, as the list alone is insufficient - you'd need the explanation too. It didn't strike me as garbage (pure or impure). But it has to be remembered that the list isn't claiming that the 1001 movies are the greatest, just that there is something about the movie that merits inclusion.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

MacLeod said:


> It didn't strike me as garbage (pure or impure). But it has to be remembered that the list isn't claiming that the 1001 movies are the greatest, just that there is something about the movie that merits inclusion.


we went to see that to a 3D cinema. I was appalled at the end of the movie and burried the Star Wars saga for good. It was just a cheap remake of the older episodes and full of catastrofic plotholes
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth...the-force-awakens_b_8850324.html?guccounter=1


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## Classicalinheart (Jun 21, 2018)

I recently watched the Prestige with Christian Bale and loved it. Its an old movie but definitely worth the watch


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