# The most beautiful looking film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460 "2009-09-01T08:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/21 "2009-09-01T13:59:45Z")
Disney’s _Earth_ gets my vote. It quite easily had the most impressive shots of any film I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/22 "2009-09-01T14:08:05Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > If you liked **Barry Lyndon** , then you must see Ridley Scott’s first movie “ **The Duellists** ” which was directly inspired by B.L. and tries to out-beautify it. It looks absolutely stunning. Good role for Harvey Keitel, too. I came here to say just that. A gorgeous film, shot on an unbelievably low budget. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/23 "2009-09-01T14:15:16Z")
“[In the mood for love](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/)” would have my vote, a sad love story in sixties Hong Kong, almost every shot is a work of art. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/24 "2009-09-01T14:33:42Z")
I see Terrence Malick has already been mentioned (Days of Heaven) and I’ll chime in with **The Thin Red Line** , which is gorgeous. It’s got to be one of the most boring war movies ever, but the cinematographry is incredible. Another interesting fact is that the truly beautiful **Black Narcissus** was shot entirely on a sound stage. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/25 "2009-09-01T14:41:55Z")
Definitely **Gone With the Wind** - whatever else you can say about it - is one truly, breathtakingly beautiful movie. Even the burning of Atlanta looks gorgeous! **Black Orpheus** is mesemerizing, and it’s especially interesting because it is set mainly in the decidedly unpicturesque squalor of the Rio slums. (Granted, though, it is during Carnivale, but that shack Eurydice’s cousin lives in is pretty bad for modern times.) ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/26 "2009-09-01T14:46:02Z")
Endless Summer 2. Its a surf “documentary” but it is still a very beautiful film. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/27 "2009-09-01T15:16:12Z")
I’ll second or third Kubrick’s films – **Barry Lyndon** and **2001** , and I felt the same way about **Dances with Wolves**. **Lawrence of Arabia** , I agree, was gorgeous, but don’t neglect **Dr. Zhivago**. Or **Spartacus**. In the 1980s there were several films that were consciously gorgeous. **The Natural** pretty clearly took a lot of effort to make every scene look significant. And, despite its many flaws, **Greystoke, the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes** looked absolutely beautiful. I think that a lot of the new breed of CGI films are trying to be “beautiful” too. Peter Jackson’s **Lord of the Rings** films and **King Kong** were clearly shooting for visual magnificence. Does it violate your standards of beauty if it’s achieved via computer simulation rather than by photographing reality? ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/28 "2009-09-01T16:00:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I think that a lot of the new breed of CGI films are trying to be “beautiful” too. Peter Jackson’s **Lord of the Rings** films and **King Kong** were clearly shooting for visual magnificence. Does it violate your standards of beauty if it’s achieved via computer simulation rather than by photographing reality? Not for me… When I saw **Hellboy 2** , I said to my friends that they wouldn’t see a more visually stunning movie that year. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/29 "2009-09-01T16:08:51Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > I came here to say just that. A gorgeous film, shot on an unbelievably low budget. I will definitely check this out. If nothing else, it is impressively ballsy to watch Barry Lyndon and think “I think I can out pretty this” 🙂 > [@CalMeacham](#): > > I think that a lot of the new breed of CGI films are trying to be “beautiful” too. Peter Jackson’s **Lord of the Rings** films and **King Kong** were clearly shooting for visual magnificence. Does it violate your standards of beauty if it’s achieved via computer simulation rather than by photographing reality? It really shouldn’t do but somehow it does, no matter how unfair that might be. I think especially when it feels a little as if it is the equivalent of applying photoshop to a cover, that is making an already beautiful landscape look that bit _more_ so to create the effect. I admire the effort and skill but it often doesn’t move me as much emotionally. Doesn’t therefore apply to films set in Space where the landscapes we see can only be artificial. Thus, the alien seascapes in “Solaris” (both versions in their own ways) are impossibly beautiful and deeply haunting to me. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/30 "2009-09-01T16:52:40Z")
The Emerald forest [The Emerald Forest (1985) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089087/) a John Boorman film is visually stunning, Not a great movie though. And of course Blade runner [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/) ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/31 "2009-09-01T17:16:34Z")
I love movies that play games with the colour to evoke emotions. The Cook, The Theif, His Wife and Her Lover is a classic example. Some of the scenes are more beautiful than others but the overall effect is enchanting. O Brother, Where art Thou? used the technique and was more obviously beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/32 "2009-09-01T17:22:01Z")
[A Walk in the Clouds](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114887/) from 1995 was beautifully filmed ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/33 "2009-09-01T17:35:49Z")
Although it’s in B&W, I think _Roman Holiday_ is beautifully shot. Very evocative. StG ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/34 "2009-09-01T17:49:34Z")
I’ll second The Fall…one truly spectacular movie. I would also add The Mission. Every time I see that movie it takes my breath away ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/35 "2009-09-01T17:52:10Z")
Kenneth Branagh’s version of\* Hamlet\*. _Prospero’s Books_. For that matter, just about anything by Peter Greenaway. A lot of people hate his story-telling style, but he is great with the visuals. _Citizen Kane_. _The Agony and the Ecstasy_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/36 "2009-09-01T18:05:40Z")
_Breaker Morant_ has several scenes set on the spare, windswept South African veldt that are awe-inspiringly beautiful. _Excalbur_ has some incredibly lush, evocative landscape scenes - filmed in Ireland, but supposed to be England. Another vote for _Last of the Mohicans_, which IIRC was mostly filmed on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, one of the last old-growth forests on the East Coast. The 2005 remake of _Pride & Prejudice_ has some lovely shots of the English countryside. The opening scene, showing a summer sunrise, is quietly beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/37 "2009-09-01T18:15:37Z")
The first one that popped into my head was Brother Sun, Sister Moon about St Francis of Assissi and the woman that started the Poor Claires. Lots of gorgeous Italian countryside, and the cinematography impressed me at the time so much that 37 years later it’s my first answer to this question. A Room With a View is also lovely to look at. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/38 "2009-09-01T18:25:02Z")
Disney’s _Sleeping Beauty_ is still the most beautiful animated film I’ve seen. _Beauty and the Beast_ and _Lion King_ were both pretty darn beautiful, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/39 "2009-09-01T18:27:33Z")
Great thread! Of the movies I’ve seen, the win goes to _2001_. But I’d also like to add _Amelie_, Ang Lee’s _Sense and Sensibility_, _What Lies Beneath_ (not a great movie by any stretch, but very pretty), _The Graduate_ (sparse, but very visually appealing), _What About Bob?_ (a weird nomination, I know, but it makes me want to vacation on Lake Winnipesaukee), _Stealing Beauty_, _Sirens_, and Alfonso Cuaron’s _A Little Princess_. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_Tightlips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@Joey\_Tightlips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_Tightlips)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460/40 "2009-09-01T18:33:19Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I quite like the movies _Hero_ and _Curse of the Golden Flower_, visually. Seconding this. And don’t forget \*\*House of Flying Daggers \*\*on this list. I don’t think it’s as good a movie as Hero, but definitely the prettiest of the three. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-beautiful-looking-film/508460.md?page=3)