Movies to see before you die

[moremojo]

Tipping my hat to the recent publication 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider, I hereby initiate a thread devoted to those movies you've heard about, read about, would love to see, but never seem to find, whether in repertory screenings or home-entertainment venues. These are those films that you sense would become cherished or important milestones in your cinematic education, but can never seem to experience due to scarcity or obscurity. Here are some of the unseen objects of my affection, listed in rough chronological order. Please feel free to comment as you choose, and/or submit titles of your own that fit this exquisitely elusive category. My selection:

Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915), directed by Maurice Tourneur

Lady of the Dugout (1918), directed by W.S. Van Dyke

Tih Minh (1918), serial directed by Louis Feuillade

Victory (1919), directed by Maurice Tourneur

Gribiche (1926), directed by Jacques Feyder

Nana (1926), directed by Jean Renoir

L'Argent (1928), directed by Marcel L'Herbier

Lonesome (1928), directed by Pal Fejos

White Shadows in the South Seas (1928), directed by W.S. Van Dyke

Sono yo no tsuma (1930), directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Other Men's Women (1931), directed by William A. Wellman

Poil de carotte (1932), directed by Julien Duvivier

Dezertir (1933), directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin

Minato no nihon musume (1933), directed by Hiroshi Shimizu

Velikiy uteshitel (1933), directed by Lev Kuleshov

Mauvaise graine (1934), directed by Alexander Esway and Billy Wilder

The Strawberry Blonde (1941), directed by Raoul Walsh

Lumiere d'ete (1943), directed by Jean Gremillon

'I Know Where I'm Going!' (1945), directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Bara en mor (1949), directed by Alf Sjoberg

Nora inu (1949), directed by Akira Kurosawa

Le Sang des betes (1949), directed by Georges Franju

Stars in My Crown (1950), directed by Jacques Tourneur

The Big Sky (1952), directed by Howard Hawks

I Love Melvin (1953), directed by Don Weis

Saadia (1953), directed by Albert Lewin

The Story of Three Loves (1953), directed by Vincente Minnelli and Gottfried Reinhardt

Track of the Cat (1954), directed by William A. Wellman

Les Carnets du Major Thompson (1955), directed by Preston Sturges

Les Maitres fous (1955), directed by Jean Rouch

Gervaise (1956), directed by Rene Clement

Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (1959), directed by Jean Renoir

Das indische Grabmal (1959), directed by Fritz Lang

Der Tiger von Eschnapur (1959), directed by Fritz Lang

Plein soleil (1960), directed by Rene Clement

Tirez sur le pianiste (1960), directed by Francois Truffaut

El angel exterminador (1962), directed by Luis Bunuel

La Jetee (1962), directed by Chris Marker

Ride the High Country (1962), directed by Sam Peckinpah

Salvatore Giuliano (1962), directed by Francesco Rosi

Seppuku (1962), directed by Masaki Kobayashi

I basilischi (1963), directed by Lina Wertmuller

Pour la suite du monde (1963), directed by Michel Brault, Marcel Carriere, and Pierre Perrault

Sodrasban (1963), directed by Istvan Gaal

Taiheiyo hitori-botchi (1963), directed by Kon Ichikawa

A tout prendre (1964), directed by Claude Jutra

Thomas l'imposteur (1964), directed by Georges Franju

Sevmek zamani (1965), directed by Metin Erksan

Subarnarekha (1965), directed by Ritwik Ghatak

Brigitte et Brigitte (1966), directed by Luc Moullet

Faraon (1966), directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz

Le Pere Noel a les yeux bleus (1966), directed by Jean Eustache

Gavotte (1967), directed by Walerian Borowczyk

Herostratus (1967), directed by Don Levy

The Honey Pot (1967), directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Jaguar (1967), directed by Jean Rouch

Kristove roky (1967), directed by Juraj Jakubisko

Goto, l'ile d'amour (1968), directed by Walerian Borowczyk

Det kaere legetoj (1968), directed by Gabriel Axel

Keresztelo (1968), directed by Istvan Gaal

Petulia (1968), directed by Richard Lester

Le Revelateur (1968), directed by Philippe Garrel

Age of Consent (1969), directed by Michael Powell

L'Armee des ombres (1969), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville

La Femme infidele (1969), directed by Claude Chabrol

Fenyes szelek (1969), directed by Miklos Jancso

Harry Munter (1969), directed by Kjell Grede

Mr. Freedom (1969), directed by William Klein

Ovoce stromu rajskych jime (1969), directed by Vera Chytilova

Anaparastassi (1970), directed by Theo Angelopoulos

Cuadecuc, vampir (1970), directed by Pere Portabella

Leo the Last (1970), directed by John Boorman

Pripad pro zacinajiciho kata (1970), directed by Pavel Juracek

Uski Roti (1970), directed by Mani Kaul

Une aventure de Billy le Kid (1971), directed by Luc Moullet

Deep End (1971), directed by Jerzy Skolimowski

Les Males (1971), directed by Gilles Carle

Avanti! (1972), directed by Billy Wilder

Fat City (1972), directed by John Huston

King, Queen, Knave (1972), directed by Jerzy Skolimowski

Siddhartha (1972), directed by Conrad Rooks

What? (1972), directed by Roman Polanski

Roma rivuole Cesare (1974), directed by Miklos Jancso

Hustle (1975), directed by Robert Aldrich

Night Moves (1975), directed by Arthur Penn

La Marge (1976), directed by Walerian Borowczyk

Voskhozhdeniye (1976), directed by Larisa Shepitko

La Chambre verte (1978), directed by Francois Truffaut

The Shout (1978), directed by Jerzy Skolimowski

Cutter's Way (1981), directed by Ivan Passer

Une chambre en ville (1982), directed by Jacques Demy

Finye (1982), directed by Souleymane Cisse

White Dog (1982), directed by Samuel Fuller

Sans soleil (1983), directed by Chris Marker

La voce della luna (1990), directed by Federico Fellini

Guling jie shaonian sha ren shijian (1991), directed by Edward Yang

Xiao Wu (1997), directed by Zhang Ke Jia

Spider (2002), directed by David Cronenberg

Kare kare zvako: Mother's Day (2005), directed by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Les Saignantes (2005), directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo

[Andrew]

Well, now I really know who to go to when I get a hankering for one of these, Scott.  Please tell me you first heard of a lot of these from the book you mentioned!

I have seen I know where I'm going since it has been issued on DVD.  It is excellent, really memorable; I look forward to seeing it again.

I do have a candidate of my own:  La femme du boulanger (The Baker's Wife, 1938) by Marcel Pagnol.  It seems to be available on VHS but I have gone over completely to DVD, the VHS is not hooked up any more.  I just saw the Fanny trilogy by Pagnol which is on DVD and it is a wonderful set of films, unlike any others I have seen.

[moremojo]

Well, now I really know who to go to when I get a hankering for one of these, Scott.  Please tell me you first heard of a lot of these from the book you mentioned!

I have seen I know where I'm going since it has been issued on DVD.  It is excellent, really memorable; I look forward to seeing it again.

I do have a candidate of my own:  La femme du boulanger (The Baker's Wife, 1938) by Marcel Pagnol.  It seems to be available on VHS but I have gone over completely to DVD, the VHS is not hooked up any more.  I just saw the Fanny trilogy by Pagnol which is on DVD and it is a wonderful set of films, unlike any others I have seen.

Hey there, Andrew--

Very many of these titles don't appear in the book I cited in my opening post. I've encountered their mention in various sources I've consulted or stumbled upon over the years. One film that I did learn about from the book Schneider edited is 'I Know Where I'm Going!'--everyone who mentions having seen it seems to appreciate it very much, including you!

Pagnol was an egregious omission on my part (others include Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen and Michael Cacoyannis's To telefteo psemma), but my list was starting to get out of hand! I have caught a bit of one of the Fanny films on cable TV, but otherwise, nothing from that important director. I have seen the 1986 feature Jean de Florette, directed by Claude Berri, which was based on Pagnol's work.

Going off on another tangent, have you seen any pictures of Pagnol? He was a very handsome man!

Cheers,
 
Scott

[Andrew]

I read up on Pagnol at www.marcel-pagnol.com/ which has some pictures.  The Fanny trilogy on DVD (as rented from Netflix) has a fourth disk of nice appreciation and analysis from French film authorities, also with some pictures, and there is an audio of Pagnol reminiscing about producing the plays they were based on.  This last is on the DVDs of the three films.  I have also been enjoying reading his memoir of childhood, My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle, which I got after seeing the charming film versions by Yves Robert.

[Shuggy]

Petulia (1968), directed by Richard Lester

Saw it when it came out. I was too young, didn't get most of it. I preferred The Knack

Deep End (1971), directed by Jerzy Skolimowski

Oh yes!

Avanti! (1972), directed by Billy Wilder

Thought it was just a good bedroom farce, but I could be wrong.

Siddhartha (1972), directed by Conrad Rooks

I was expecting a biography of the Buddha  , so I was bitterly disappointed. Very slow, lovely images, very little happened.

[ekeby]

This is quite a list! There are many I've never heard of, so thank you . . . .

A couple on your list have shown up on TCM . . . . I think Plein Soliel was on IFC. I know I saw it somewhere recently, just can't recall where. There was a resurgence of interest because of The Talented Mr. Ripley.

One that I saw years ago and that hasn't been available until just this spring is The Purple Plain (1954) Eric Ambler script, Robt. Parrish directed. Talk about male bonding . . . .

Another hard to find pic (that I saw in first release and would love to see again) is Something For Everyone (1970), directed by Harold Prince. Delicious. Was out on VHS for a while in the 80s, I guess, but copies now go for $$$$.