# Visually beautiful films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277 "2003-04-22T07:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/1 "2003-04-22T07:58:10Z")
What films come to mind when you think of superb cinematography? 1. _Days of Heaven_ is so beautifully done that I wish I had a book of still photographs from it. 2. _The Road to Perdition_ has some stunning imagery. 3. _Tango_. I can’t recall the director but he is also the one who did that fantastic version of _Carmen_ about 20 years ago. The use of color in _Tango_ is breath-taking. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/2 "2003-04-22T08:13:23Z")
Terrence Malick again, with _The Thin Red Line_. The man sure shoots a pretty picture. ---
**Author:** ![dimosc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dimosc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimosc)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/3 "2003-04-22T09:23:34Z")
_What Dreams May Come_ had the most beautiful paradise i’ve ever seen 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Loneraven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@Loneraven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loneraven)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/4 "2003-04-22T09:29:14Z")
_The English Patient_. The beautiful views of the desert and of rural Italy stayed with me, even though the twists and turns of the plot have long disappeared from my memory-like-a-sieve. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/5 "2003-04-22T09:45:45Z")
_The Duellists_, Ridley Scott’s first film, is absolutely gorgeous with astonishing landscapes and great use of light slanting through branches. Sadly, it’s also extraordinarily dull. _Far From Heaven_ is incredibly beautiful with its leafy suburban streets in autumnal colours. I don’t know where they got those trees, but if you hand-painted every leaf it couldn’t look any nicer (and I doubt Haynes had the budget for that). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/6 "2003-04-22T10:06:12Z")
_Barry Lyndon_ _Tess_ _Kwaidan_ _The Magnificent Ambersons_ _The Fugitive_ (1947) _The Black Stallion_ _Gate of Hell_ _The Elephant Man_ ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/7 "2003-04-22T13:25:23Z")
_Dances With Wolves_ ---
**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:** [April 22, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/8 "2003-04-22T13:36:26Z")
As **Walloon** has already mentioned, **Barry Lyndon**. Every shot seems set up to mimic an 18th century painting. For the night scenes, Kubrick reported had a special lens made with a tiny f/# (which means a _huge_ amount of light-gathering capability, yet providing excellent quality pictures – a really difficult combination to achieve) so that he could shoot the scenes entirely by candlelight. I’d add **The Natural** as well – there was a very conscious decision to make those shots gorgeous. Watching the trailer for this film alone is an experience. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/9 "2003-04-22T13:44:07Z")
**Princess Mononoke The Pillow Book** and I’ll second **The Thin Red Line**. Overlong, IMO, but the first half was beautiful. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/10 "2003-04-22T13:52:48Z")
What, no \Amelie\? ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/11 "2003-04-22T13:54:51Z")
I have no luck with html ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/12 "2003-04-22T14:08:57Z")
My short list of the most beautifully shot films of the past few years would be:[list][li]_Far from Heaven_[/li][li]_In the Bedroom_[/li][li]_Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring_ and _The Towers_[/li][li]_The Man Who Wasn’t There_ (damn, I’m glad I saw that on the big screen)[/li]_The Pianist_ ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/13 "2003-04-22T14:24:10Z")
_Legend_ ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/14 "2003-04-22T14:26:18Z")
The Last Emperor The Mission Koyaanisqatsi Chariots of Fire ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/15 "2003-04-22T14:35:48Z")
_Witness The Piano Dreams Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/16 "2003-04-22T14:46:22Z")
Werner Herzog’s 1979 NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/17 "2003-04-22T14:46:38Z")
Toys ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/18 "2003-04-22T14:49:59Z")
**Sunrise** (Karl Struss) **Pandora’s Box** (Gunther Krampf) **Shanghai Express** (Lee Garmes) **Citizen Kane** (Gregg Toland) **Black Narcissus** (Jack Cardiff) **Cat People** (Nicholas Musaraca) **La Belle et la Bete** (Henri Alekan) **The Third Man** (Robert Krasker) **The Golden Coach** (Claude Renoir) **The Big Combo** (John Alton) **Night of the Hunter** (Stanley Cortez) **Sweet Smell of Success** (James Wong Howe) **Last Year at Marienbad** (Sacha Vierny) **Doctor Zhivago** (Freddie Young) **Close Encounters of the Third Kind** (Vilmos Zsigmond) **Pennies from Heaven** (Gordon Willis) **Fanny and Alexander** (Sven Nykvist) **The Double Life of Veronique** (Slavomir Idziak) **Dead Man** (Robby Muller) **In the Mood for Love** (Christopher Doyle) **O Brother, Where Art Thou?** (Roger Deakins) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/19 "2003-04-22T15:23:48Z")
_2001: A Space Odyssey_ and _The Straight Story_ immediately come to mind as examples of beautiful cinematography. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277/20 "2003-04-22T15:25:19Z")
What **ArchiveGuy** said. But I’d add _all_ the von Sternberg/Dietrich films from Paramount, and raise you **La Dolce Vita** , **Broken Blossoms** and the 1926 **Ben Hur**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visually-beautiful-films/170277.md?page=2)