MOTY
Movies of the Year, starting from 1920 'til present.
A work in progress.
A few documentaries, animated films, and honourable mentions crop up occasionally for good measure.
Open to change as I find new films.
current cut off for placeholders:
1985
a couple of years still have splits waiting for re-watches, though.
A work in progress.
A few documentaries, animated films, and honourable mentions crop up occasionally for good measure.
Open to change as I find new films.
current cut off for placeholders:
1985
a couple of years still have splits waiting for re-watches, though.
List activity
157 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
129 titles
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.I didn't even need to check what else came out this year.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsVictor SjöströmHilda BorgströmTore SvennbergOn New Year's Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.The re-score is my favourite version. Also, dat scene where he rides across the water
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.Second place in my top ten films
If this didn't exist, "Häxan" would have won instead. - DirectorRobert WieneStarsGregori ChmaraElisabeta SkulskajaAlla TarasovaStudent Raskolnikow, who has written an article about laws and crime, proposing the thesis, that un-ordinary people can commit crimes if their actions are necessary for the benefit of mankind, murders an old woman, who operates a crooked loaning house, as well as her sister, who made the mistake of visiting her at the wrong time. He is suspected of the crime, but somebody else confesses to the murder. Meanwhile, he has fallen in love with Sonja, the street-walking daughter of an ex-official who was fired because of drinking. Raskolnikow's sister is engaged with an arrogant official, who dislikes him, because Raskolnikow gave Sonja 25 Rubel for her father's funeral. When Raskolnikow tells him his opinion of his behaviour against the poor, he tries to show he's a good guy also to the public and showing that Sonja is also a thief at the same time by framing her of a theft of 100 Rubels. But after this, Raskolnikow finds out that Sonja was a very close friend of his second victim.Silent version > talkie
- DirectorH.K. BreslauerStarsEugen NeufeldHans MoserAnny MilettyJews are expelled from the city of Utopia.Satire: getting you killed in cinema since at least 1924.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsAleksandr AntonovVladimir BarskiyGrigoriy AleksandrovIn the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre....just edges it over "Стачка" for me.
- DirectorGraham CuttsStarsIvor NovelloIsabel JeansNina VannaThe rise of The Rat, an Apache, from seedy Montmartre bars to the gentleman status of Pierre Boucheron, and his fall to lower than an Apache--all by the hands of a beautiful girl he did not love.Because The Rat trilogy is epic.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.Uncut version when?
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsWallace BeeryRichard ArlenLouise BrooksAfter killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada.It's like Twelfth Night with Hobos also, Canadada
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery....is technically my MOTY, but if you HAVE to have a feature-length...
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksJosef RovenskýFritz RaspAfter falling pregnant by a pharmacist and refusing to marry, a young woman is ejected from her home and sent to a strict girls' reform school....then take more Brooks.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.Yeah, yeah, box office, blah, blah IT'S GOOOOOOOOD THO!
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.dat monologue . Also, HOW DARE YOU MOVE THE CAMERA IN LIKE THAT! IT'S TOO SOON FOR YOU TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT! /SPOILER]
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsJulian WestMaurice SchutzRena MandelA drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.Another vampire film?
Yeah, but this one's different, honest... - DirectorJean VigoStarsJean DastéRobert le FlonLouis LefebvreIn a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day....easily wins a relatively slow year, but if you must have a feature-length again...
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City....because w/e.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsRobert DonatElissa LandiLouis CalhernAfter greedy men have Edmond Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to get his revenge on them.The best adaptation of my favourite Dumas book, and also my favourite "revenge" book in general. although a strange part of me still likes the '02 version a bit for some weird reason
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRobert DonatMadeleine CarrollLucie MannheimA man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.Sometimes, I like Hitchcock's normal films...
- DirectorMu FeiStarsQiong LiuLi-li LiYi ZhangOstensibly a tale of a village attempting to fend off a pack of vicious wolves. In reality, the wolves were a euphemism for the Japanese army who had recently occupied Manchuria.There were a few "fun" films I was tempted by in '36, but this amazing allegorical piece trumped them when I realised it came out in the same year.
- DirectorSadao YamanakaStarsChôjûrô KawarasakiKan'emon NakamuraTsuruzô NakamuraThe lives of two slum neighbors, one of a happy-go-lucky gambler and the other of a poor ronin, converge when the two get involved with the affairs of a powerful samurai official and his gangsters.Not the only jidaigeki that's going to be on this list, I'm sure..
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsDavid AlbrittonArvo AskolaJack BeresfordThe document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin.OK, this was a hard year to call. I'm placing Olympia the first documention because the techniques used on this were groundbreaking. As a documentary, it doesn't count as a "movie" for this list, so I still had a 3-way split on my hands...
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienHumphrey BogartA priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids....and although I love "The Adventures of Robin Hood" for nostalgia, and even though "Hôtel du Nord" is technically a better film, I just can't put anything else here. I love my noir, and although I don't like gangster stuff in general, this film just has the je ne c'est quoi for me.
- DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.I don't often do romance films, but when I do, Scarlet is a [expletive deleted] .
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongFord Beebe Jr.StarsLeopold StokowskiDeems TaylorThe Philadelphia OrchestraA series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.OK, some people think animation /= film, so get used to seeing these "animentions" when there was an animated feature that I think deserves mentioning. This is the first, for obvious reasons. best renditions of both "Toccata and Fugue" as well as "Night on Bald Mountain" ever
- DirectorBoris IngsterStarsPeter LorreJohn McGuireMargaret TallichetAn aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself.Yeah yeah "The Great Dictator" does have an amazing plot and monologue, but I still prefer this.