[ol]
[li]The title character is absolutely unforgettable. [/li][li]The film made technological breakthroughs in its production. [/li][li]The players were eternally typecast afterwards. [/li][li]It has a rabid fan-base.[/li][li]Multiple sequels have been made (none as good as the original).[/li][li]Its symbolism fascinates scholars.[/li][li]It has spawned toys, novels, games, collectables & art.[/li][li]It has influenced the famous & mighty. Fans of Kong included both Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler.[/li][li] It defined a film genre.[/li][li] It was rather unique in its genre for years.[/li][/ol]
I came into this room to support the idea that Oz was the best.
But, looking around at all these people who say otherwise, I am now retreating to a safer locale.
Sorry, Skald, you’re on your own this time.
You should have warned me to wear my pocket discombobulator.
The Court Jester.
Reasons :
[ul]
Songs, could not gayer be
Skies, could not bluer be
Hearts, could not truer be
Knights, full of chivalry
Villains, full of villainy
Maidens, fair (in silks, bedecked)
Tried and true effects
Research, authenticity, dust
Authorship sometimes attributed to Shakespeare, Francis Bacon
Plot (quite a lot)
Scary tale at start, fairy tale at end
Life couldn’t possibly, not even probably, life couldn’t possibly better be.
[/ul]
Wild Strawberries gets my vote. Fellini had a few great ones before 60 as well.
WS has such a depth of reflection of life, it was of the best of all time, what to speak of the 60s.
Was Jules et Jim and 400 blows pre-60s? If they were, I would add them.
I gave it serious thought, but I thought it had serious flaws as a macguffin. Maybe the writers thought it would work when the movie was made, before the camps were liberated. Real Nazis would have just kidnapped and killed the lot of them.
There are a lot of small films I like better (The Third Man, The Big Sleep, The Thin Man, etc.) but of the big pre-1960 epics I have to go with Around the World in 80 Days (1956). Huge all-star cast, elaborate sets, fantastic title and credit sequences, a fantastic Victor Young score and best of all…Cantiflas!
All Quiet on the Western Front - great acting, great special effects for the time, remarkable in that it was from a German perspective even though made in Hollywood.
Paths of Glory, maybe the best exposition ever of the futility and slaughter of trench warfare, and maybe Kirk Douglas’s greatest role.
And I’m gonna throw in another Kirk Douglas flick, if the OP will pardon a release date in 1960 (surely it would have been in production in 1959!). Spartacus succeeds as an epic film in all the areas so many others fail, plus has the benefit of an essentially humanist message of freedom without all the God crap thrown in. I am SPARTACUS!
Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc is an expressionistic masterpiece from 1928, and still haunts me to this day (in a good way). Maria Falconetti’s performance as Joan is staggering – Pauline Kael said it “may be the finest performance ever recorded on film,” and IMO that should be changed from “may be” to “is.” Even though it’s a silent film from the 20s, it seems incredibly modern (to my film-novice eyes). I’ve never seen anything else like it.