1928-1947
[1] Metropolis (Lang, 1927/Germany) vs. [16] Out of the Past (Tourneur, 1947) (15-2)
[2] Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936) vs. [15] The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928/France) (11-6)
[3] The Wind (Sjostrom/1928) vs. [14] The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock/1938) (3-13)
[4] Show People (Vidor, 1928) vs. [13] Frankenstein (Whale, 1931) (1-17)
[5] The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946) vs. [12] Duck Soup (McCarey, 1933) (6-12)
[6] The General (Keaton/Bruckman, 1927) vs. [11] King Kong (Cooper/Schoedsack, 1933) (11-7)
[7] Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau, 1946/France) vs. [10] Olympia (Riefenstahl, 1938/Germany) (14-2)
[8] Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch, 1932) vs. [9] Napoleon (Gance, 1927/France) (6-8)
Some painful losses (and thankless choices), from Kong & Lubitsch to the exquisite Joan & Wind. Interestingly, if we didn’t have the 1 film-per-director rule, Hawks would’ve had 3 in this grouping. Would Bringing Up Baby or His Girl Friday have done any better? For now, Hawks is 0-for-2 and completely out of competition.
1948-1967
[1] The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Leone, 1966) vs. [16] Ivan’s Childhood (Tarkovsky, 1962/USSR) (18-0)
[2] Paths of Glory (Kubrick, 1957) vs. [15] High and Low (Kurosawa, 1963/Japan) (12-4)
[3] Sansho the Bailiff (Mizogushi, 1954/Japan) vs. [14] Sweet Smell of Success (Mackendrick, 1957) (5-10)
[4] The Seventh Seal (Bergman, 1957/Sweden) vs. [13] Rififi (Dassin, 1955/France) (12-5)
[5] Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) vs. [12] The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955) (10-6)
[6] The Wages of Fear (Clouzot, 1953/France) vs. [11] Kanal (Wajda, 1957/Poland) (14-1)
[7] Kind Hearts and Coronets (Hamer, 1949) vs. [10] Rocco and His Brothers (Visconti, 1960/Italy) (14-0)
[8] Los Olvidados (Bunuel, 1950/Mexico) vs. [9] Harikiri (Kobayashi, 1962/Japan) (8-6)
The two director rule also adversely affected Mizoguchi & Bergman in this grouping (both would have had multiple reps here), but at least the better-known Swede lives for another day. And Hunter’s another painful loss (though to a worthy enough opponent).
1968-1987
[1] Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968) vs. [16] Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Hughes, 1986) (13-5)
[2] The Shining (Kubrick, 1980) vs. [15] Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978) (12-6)
[3] Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975) vs. [14] A Christmas Story (Clark, 1983) (13-5)
[4] Come and See (Klimov, 1985/USSR) vs. [13] Manon of the Spring (Berri, 1986/France) (5-9)
[5] The Terminator (Cameron, 1984) vs. [12] Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972/West Germany) (11-6)
[6] Scarface (DePalma, 1983) vs. [11] Warriors of the Wind (Miyazaki, 1984/Japan) TIE (9-9)
Hawks is out but this remake poser stays? Uh uh. It’s not as good as the losing “loser” Spirited Away, but Miyazaki still takes it. WINNER: Warriors of the Wind
[7] The Thing (Carpenter, 1982) vs. [10] Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979/USSR) (11-7)
[8] Harold and Maude (Ashby, 1971) vs. [9] Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987/West Germany) (13-5)
I like a naked Emmanuelle Béart as much as the next guy, but if you ever get a chance to see the harrowing Come and See, don’t pass it up. Unforgettable.
1988-2007
[1] The Professional (Besson, 1994) vs. [16] The Celebration (Vinterberg, 1998/Denmark) (16-2)
[2] Sin City (Rodriguez, 2005) vs. [15] Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata, 1988/Japan) - TIE (9-9)
I’m not that big an anime fan, but two mediocre crime film winners in this grouping is enough. WINNER: Grave of the Fireflies
[3] Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992) vs. [14] Infernal Affairs (Mak/Lau, 2002/Hong Kong) (13-5)
[4] Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001) vs. [13] Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993) (2-16)
[5] Oldboy (Park, 2003/South Korea) vs. [12] Snatch (Ritchie, 2000) (7-11)
[6] Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997/Japan) vs. [11] Nobody Knows (Koreeda, 2004/Japan) (13-3)
[7] Time of the Gypsies (Kusturica, 1988/Yugoslavia) vs. [10] Heat (Mann, 1995) (6-12)
[8] V for Vendetta (McTeigue, 2005) vs. [9] The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998) (0-18)
