Sight and Sound Magazine unveiled the highly anticipated results of their ambitious survey of the Top 50 Greateat Films of All Time last week with much hubbub. What started in 1952, and has been published every ten years since, has built into a critical mass of film glory that’s hard not to revel in. Tallying 846 top ten lists from critics worldwide representing votes for 2,045 different films, Sight and Sound’s poll is about as definitive as you are going to get in the feverishly opinionated arena of film criticism. The big news for the 2012 edition is that, after 50 years, Citizen Kane has been toppled from the number one spot by Alfred Hitchcock’s grand mystery wrapped up in the bun of Kim Novak’s hair, otherwise known as Vertigo.
With nary a fear a heights nor a newspaper mogul in sight, Walker Film/Video staff weighs in with their picks for the greatest films of all time:
Dean Otto, Associate Curator
In the Mood for Love (2000) Wong Kar-Wai
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Imitation of Life (1959) Douglas Sirk
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927) Carl Theodor Dreyer
Satyricon (1969) Federico Fellini
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975) Chantal Akerman
La Jetee (1962) Chris Marker
A Movie (1958 ) Bruce Conner
Metropolis (1927) Fritz Lang
Emily Davis, Bentson Researcher
A Pitcher of Colored Light (2007) Robert Beavers
Observando el Cielo (2007) Jeanne Liotta
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971 -1972) Jonas Mekas
At Sea (2007) Peter Hutton
Ten Skies (2004) James Benning
Fog Line (1970) Larry Gottheim
A Movie (1958) Bruce Conner
Wavelength (1967) Michael Snow
Zorns Lemma (1970) Hollis Frampton
An Injury to One (2002) Travis Wilkerson
Jeremy Meckler, Intern
Pierrot Le Fou (1965) Jean Luc Godard
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Woody Allen
Sans Soleil (1983) Chris Marker
Fitzcarraldo (1982) Werner Herzog
Last Year at Marienbad (1961) Allain Resnais
I Was Born But… (1932) Yasujiro Ozu
Blue Velvet (1986) David Lynch
The Third Man (1949) Carol Reed
Days of Heaven (1978) Terrence Malick
F for Fake (1973) Orson Welles
Matt Levine, Intern
Les Vampires (1915) Louis Feuillade
Strike (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
City Lights (1930) Charlie Chaplin
L’Atalante (1934) Jean Vigo
Late Spring (1949) Yasujiro Ozu
Ugetsu (1953) Kenji Mizoguchi
Andrei Rublev (1966) Andrei Tarkovsky
Mouchette (1967) Robert Bresson
Playtime (1967) Jacques Tati
Yi Yi (A One and a Two) (2000) Edward Yang
Kathie Smith, Program Manager
Branded to Kill (1967) Seijun Suzuki
A Brighter Summer Day (1991) Edward Yang
Floating Clouds (1955) Mikio Naruse
In the Mood For Love (2000) Wong Kar-wai
Late Spring (1949) Yasujiro Ozu
Life of Oharu (1953) Kenji Mizoguchi
Napoleon (1927) Abel Gance
Pierrot Le Fou (1965) Jean Luc Godard
San Soleil (1983) Chris Marker
Stalker (1975) Andrei Tarkovsky
Get Walker Reader in your inbox. Sign up to receive first word about our original videos, commissioned essays, curatorial perspectives, and artist interviews.