The category is “Best Foreign Language Film.”
• Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
• Metropolis (1927)
• October (1928)
• Storm Over Asia (1928)
• Westfront 1918 (1930)
• Kameradschaft (1931)
• Mother India (1957)
• The Battle of Neretva (1969)
Man, is this board a wealth of information, or what ? !!! “The Man Who Would be King” is one of my all time favorite movies. And the whole Alexander the Great aspect to the story always intrigued me. I had wondered if the writers had come up with “Sikander” purely as a plot device to mask the real name (until the heros figure it out for the audience). But he really is referred to as Sikander !
I’ve actually been asked over here before about why British films are never in the Best Foreign Film category. The word Language does tend to get dropped.
Say, from your list above, you mention Metropolis. Is that really considered an epic?
It was the most expensive German movie made to that time, it had a cast that included several hundred extras, huge, elaborate sets, and it ran three and a half hours at its German premiere. Take a look.
Thanks. I knew what we have now is not complete, but I didn’t realize it originally ran that long.
athelas writes:
> Are there any recent epic foreign movies - ones on a scale like Gladiator, Lord of
> the Rings, or the Star Wars movies.
It’s hardly clear that any of these are American. Gladiator is listed as a British/American co-production, which I believe means that it is funded by both British and American money. The Jackson films are listed as being New Zealand/American/German co-productions, which apparently means that the money comes from all those countries. Only the Lucas films are filmed solely with American money. They all were filmed at various places around the world. There’s a British, a New Zealand, and an American director for these films. The actors in all these films come from all over the English-speaking world (and even from outside the English-speaking world). The day when it was even possible to say that most large-budget films came solely from a single country is long gone.
The Italian silent film “Cabiria” (1914) may be considered the first epic film, at over 181 minutes (restored) and with appropriate subject matter and scope. It’s claimed as an influence on W.D. Griffith in making “Birth of a Nation” (1915). Also contains the first dolly shot, and was reportedly the first feature-length movie shown at the White House.
As mentioned earlier, it’s “Best Foreign Language Film”. Also the LotR movies were produced by an American company (New Line Cinema) in association with Peter Jackson’s outfit (Wingnut Films), which makes it American in the eyes of Hollywood.
I think you mean Griffith’s Intolerance (1916), with which it shares huge sets, massed extras, and an ancient milieu.
How about the German film “Stalingrad”?(Well worth watching)
Actually, Cabiria was credited as an influence on Birth of a Nation, but would, of course, have influenced Intolerance as well.
“Hollywood” should try saying that in New Zealand, at best “Hollywood” would leave covered in sheep shit and over ripe kiwifruit!
I have NO personal opinion (I think I may be the ONLY Kiwi alive who has never seen any of the LOTR movies) but you will be taking on a nation if you try to say LOTR isn’t a Kiwi movie.
Sure the story isn’t Kiwi, nor the money, nor most of the major cast but much of the technology, all of the scenery and pretty much every Kiwi who ever fancied being in a movie IS.
Seriously, it doesn’t matter if Hollywood thinks the LOTR films are American every NZer including the government will poke them in the eye for saying so. 
Is there even any evidence that Hollywood thinks that Jackson’s films are American?