Jim's Film Website: Best English-Language Films — year by year

2000s — The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Jackson / 2001–2003)

2010

PLEASE NOTE: My list of 2010 films will not be finalized until late 2011 — so far...

• Toy Story 3 (Lee Unrich)
• The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)

2009

• Precious (Lee Daniels)
• Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
• Torchwood: Children of Earth (Euros Lyn; Torchwood series created by Russell T Davies)
• Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)

2008

• WALL-E* (Andrew Stanton)
• The Hurt Locker*(Kathryn Bigelow)
• Synecdoche, New York (Charles Kaufman)
• The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
• Milk (Gus Van Sant)
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen)

2007

• Into the Wild* (P.T. Sean Penn)
• Sicko (Michael Moore)
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton)
• There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

2006

• Jesus Camp* (Rachel Grady & Heidi Ewing)
• The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
• Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
• United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
• Casino Royale (Martin Campbell)
• The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald)

2005

• Brokeback Mountain* (Ang Lee) [my review]
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas)
• Capote (Bennett Miller)
• Sin City (Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez, with Quentin Tarantino)
• Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Nick Park & Steve Box)
• Munich (Steven Spielberg)

2004

• Sideways (Alexander Payne)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
• Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón)
• Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore)
• Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino)
  

2003

• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King* (Peter Jackson)
• Mystic River* (Clint Eastwood)
• Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
• Monster (Patty Jenkins)
• Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)
• Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino)
• The Fog of War (Errol Morris)
• Finding Nemo (Stanton & Unkrich)

2002

• Adaptation* (Spike Jonze)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers* (Peter Jackson)
• Punch-Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson)
• Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese)
• 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle)
• Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore)
• The Hours (Stephen Daldry)
• Family Fundamentals (Arthur Dong)

2001

• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring* (Peter Jackson)
• Mulholland Dr*. (David Lynch)
• Memento* (Christopher Nolan)
• Bully (Larry Clark)
• Gosford Park (Robert Altman)
• Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Columbus)
• Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann / 2001)
• Hell House (George Ratliff)

2000

• Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)
• Chuck & Buck (Miguel Arteta)

2000s Runners-Up (in "best first" order)

• Urbania (Shear / 2000)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• Shrek (Adamson & Jenson / 2001)
• Little Miss Sunshine (Dayton & Faris / 2006)
• Land of the Dead (Romero / 2005)
• The Constant Gardener (Meirelles / 2005)
• District 9 (Neill Blomkamp / 2009)
• No Country for Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen / 2007)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Newell / 2005)
• Good Night, and Good Luck (Clooney / 2005)
• Session 9 (Brad Anderson / 2001)
• The Aviator (Scorsese / 2004)
• Gerry (Van Sant / 2002)
• Kinsey (Condon / 2004)
• Far From Heaven (Haynes / 2002)
• Syriana (Stephen Gaghan / 2005)
• Vera Drake (Leigh / 2004)
• Quantum of Solace(Forster / 2008)
• Hellboy (Del Toro / 2004)
• The Pianist (Polanski / 2002)
• Panic Room (Fincher / 2002)
• Chicago (Rob Marshall / 2002)
• Northfork (Polish / 2003)
• Wonder Boys (Hanson / 2000)
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Smith / 2001)
• Blade II (del Toro / 2002)
• In the Bedroom (Field / 2001)
• Quantum of Solace (Forster / 2008)
• Road to Perdition (Mendes / 2002)
• X2: X-Men United (Singer / 2003)
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Weir / 2003)
• Requiem for a Dream (Aronofsky / 2000)
• Funny Games (Haneke / 2008)
• The Strangers (Bertino / 2008)
• Hostel (Roth / 2005)
• Before Night Falls (Schnabel / 2000)
• The Mothman Prophecies (Pellington / 2001)
• The Man Who Wasn't There (Coen / 2001)
• Zodiac (Fincher / 2007)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Columbus / 2002)
• Cabin Fever (Roth / 2003)
• Crash (Haggis /2005)
• Monster's Ball (Forster / 2001)
  

1990s — The Piano (Campion / 1993)

1999

• American Beauty* (Mendes)
• Fight Club (Fincher)
• Being John Malkovich (Jonze)
• Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (Minghella)
• The Matrix (Wachowski Brothers)
• Election (Payne)
• Magnolia (P.T. Anderson)
• The Limey (Soderbergh)
• Dogma (Smith)
• Toy Story 2 (Lasseter & Brannon)

1998

• The Opposite of Sex (Roos)
• Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg)
• A Bug's Life (Lasseter)
• Blade (Norrington)
• Enemy of the State (Tony Scott)

1997

• L.A. Confidential* (Hanson)
• The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan)
• William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (Luhrmann)
• Licensed to Kill (Dong)
• Boogie Nights (P.T. Anderson)
• Mrs. Dalloway (Gorris)

1996

• Fargo* (Coen)
• Pillow Book (Greenaway)
• Scream (Craven)
• Breaking the Waves (von Trier)
• Secrets & Lies (Leigh)
• Fly Away Home (Ballard)

1995

• Se7en* (Fincher)
• Babe (Noonan)
• A Little Princess (Cuarón)
• Paris Was A Woman (Schiller)
• Toy Story (Lasseter)
• Kids (Larry Clark)
• Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee)
• Welcome to the Dollhouse (Solondz)
• Safe (Haynes)
• The Usual Suspects (Singer)
• Angels & Insects (Haas)
  
  

1994

• Heavenly Creatures* (Jackson)
• Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
• Speed (de Bont)
• The Underneath (Soderbergh)
• Wes Craven's New Nightmare (Craven)
• Natural Born Killers (Stone)
• The Lion King (Disney/ Allers & Minkoff)

1993

• The Piano* (Campion)
• Schindler's List (Spielberg)
• Remains of the Day (Merchant/Ivory)
• The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee)
• Menace II Society (Hughes Brothers)
• Blue (Jarman)
• The Age of Innocence (Scorsese)
• Dazed and Confused (Linklater)
• Silverlake Life: The View from Here (Joslin; completed by Peter Friedman)
• Groundhog Day (Ramis)

1992

• Howards End* (Mechant/Ivory)
• The Player (Altman)
• Swoon (Kalin)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (Coppola)
• Wittgenstein (Jarman)
• The Crying Game (Jordan)
• Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino)
• Under Siege (Davis)
• Batman Returns (Burton)
• Falling Down (Schumacher)
• Aladdin (Disney/ Musker & Clements)

1991

• Edward II* (Jarman)
• My Own Private Idaho* (Van Sant)
• Beauty and the Beast* (Disney/ Trousdale & Wise)
• Poison (Haynes)
• JFK (Stone)
• Slacker (Linklater)
• A Brief History of Time (Morris)

1990

• Die Hard 2: Die Harder (Harlin)
• GoodFellas (Scorsese)
• Total Recall (Verhoeven)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron / 1990)
  
  

1990s Runners-Up (best first)

• The Shawshank Redemption (Darabont / 1994)
• Dark City (Proyas / 1999)
• Good Will Hunting (Van Sant / 1997)
• Bound (Wachowski Brothers / 1996)
• Citizen Ruth (Payne / 1996)
• The Secret Garden (Holland / 1993)
• Pi (Aronofsky / 1998)
• The Thin Red Line (Malick / 1998)
• There's Something About Mary (Farrelly Brothers / 1998)
• Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh / 1993)
• Dead Alive (Jackson / 1993)
• Face/Off (Woo / 1997)
• Candyman (Rose / 1992)
• Coming Out Under Fire (Dong / 1994)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney/ Trousdale & Wise / 1996)
• Chasing Amy (Smith / 1997)
• Elizabeth (Kapur / 1998)
• Dances With Wolves (Costner / 1990 – theatrical release NOT the expanded director's cut)
• U Turn (Stone / 1997)
• The Silence of the Lambs (Demme / 1991)
• Beautiful Thing (MacDonald / 1996)
• Clerks (Smith / 1994)
• Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins / 1992)
• Get Real (Shore / 1998)
• The Fugitive (Davis / 1993)
• Ed Wood (Burton / 1994)
• Go (Liman / 1999)
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephen Elliott / 1994)
• The Crow (Proyas / 1994)
  
  

1980s — Raging Bull (Scorsese / 1980)

1989 – 0

1988 – 0

1987

• The Last of England* (Jarman)

1986

• Platoon* (Stone)
• Caravaggio (Jarman)

1985 – 0

1984

• A Nightmare on Elm Street* (Craven)
• A Passage to India (Lean)

1983 – 0

1982

• E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial* (Spielberg)
• The Draughtsman's Contract (Greenaway)

1981

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg)

1980

• Raging Bull (Scorsese)
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back* (Kirschner)

1980s Runners-Up (best first)

• The Tempest (Jarman / 1982)
• Parting Glances (Sherwood / 1986)
• The Angelic Conversation (Jarman / 1985)
• Blood Simple (Coen / 1984)
• The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover (Greenaway / 1989)
• Maurice (Merchant/Ivory / 1987)
• The Shining (Kubrick / 1980)
• Roger & Me (Moore / 1989)
• One From the Heart (Coppola / 1982)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Spielberg / 1989)
• Porky's (Bob Clark / 1981)
• Dead Ringers (Cronenberg / 1988)
• sex, lies, and videotape (Soderbergh / 1989)
• Aliens (Cameron / 1986)
• The Road Warrior (Miller / 1981)
• Die Hard (McTiernan / 1988)
• Stop Making Sense (Demme / 1984)
• Brazil (Gilliam / 1985)
• The Last Emperor (Bertolucci / 1987)
• Kiss of the Spider Woman (Babenço / 1985)
• The Thin Blue Line (Morris / 1988)
• Blade Runner (Scott / 1982)
• Airplane! (Abrahams, Zucker & Zucker / 1980)
• Something Wild (Demme / 1986)
• Diner (Levinson / 1982)
• Gremlins (Dante / 1984)
• Born on the Fourth of July (Stone / 1989)
• The Little Mermaid (Disney/ Musker & Clemente / 1989)
• The Times of Harvey Milk (Epstein / 1984)
• Lethal Weapon (Donner / 1987)
• Licence to Kill (Glen / 1989)
• Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch / 1984)
• Fatal Attraction (Lyne / 1987)
• Never Cry Wolf (Ballard / 1983)
• Hellraiser (Barker / 1987)
• Paris, Texas (Wenders / 1984)
• Videodrome (Cronenberg / 1982)
• It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (Linklater / 1988)
• The Purple Rose of Cairo (Allen / 1985)
• Dressed to Kill (De Palma / 1980)
• This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner / 1984)
• The Hitcher (Harmon / 1986)
• The Return of the Living Dead (O'Bannon / 1985)
• Eating Raoul (Bartel / 1982)
  
  

1970s — A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick / 1971)

1979

• Dawn of the Dead* (Romero)
• Manhattan (Allen)
• Over the Edge (Kaplan)
• Hair (Forman)
• Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
• Alien (Ridley Scott)
• The Tempest (Jarman)
• The Brood (Cronenberg)

1978

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman)
• Days of Heaven (Malick)
• Halloween (Carpenter)
• Gates of Heaven (Morris)
• Jubilee (Jarman)
• The Driver (Walter Hill)
• The Last Waltz (Scorsese)

1977

• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope* (Lucas)
• Martin (Romero)
• Annie Hall (Allen)
• Handle With Care (aka Citizen Band) (Demme)
• The Last Wave (Weir)
• New York, New York (Scorsese)
• The Duellists (R. Scott)
• Pumping Iron (Fiore & Butler)
• God Told Me To (Larry Cohen)

1976

• Taxi Driver (Scorsese)
• Network (Lumet)
• Sebastiane (Jarman & Humfress)
• All the President's Men (Pakula)

1975

• Barry Lyndon* (Kubrick)
• Nashville* (Altman)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (Weir)
• Jaws (Spielberg)
• Switchblade Sisters (Jack Hill)
  
  

1974

• The Godfather, Part II* (Coppola)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* (Hooper)
• The Conversation (Coppola)
• Chinatown (Polanski)
• A Woman Under the Influence (Cassavetes)
• The Sugarland Express (Spielberg)
• Hearts and Minds (Davis)
• Primate (Wiseman)
• Cockfighter (Hellman)
• Female Trouble (Waters)

1973

• Badlands* (Malick)
• Mean Streets* (Scorsese)
• American Graffiti (Lucas)
• The Exorcist (Friedkin)
• F for Fake (Welles)
• Don't Look Now (Roeg)
• The Killing Kind (Harrington)

1972

• The Godfather (Coppola)
• Cabaret (Fosse)
• Pink Flamingos (Waters)
• Marjoe (Howard Smith & Sarah Kernochan)
• Season of the Witch (aka Jack's Wife; aka Hungry Wives) (Romero)
• Harold and Maude (Ashby)

1971

• A Clockwork Orange* (Kubrick)
• The Devils (Russell)
• Sunday Bloody Sunday (Schlesinger)
• The Andromeda Strain (Wise)
• The Boy Friend (Russell)
• Get Carter (Hodges)
• Walkabout (Roeg)
• The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich)
• THX 1138 (Lucas)
• Straw Dogs (Peckinpah)
• Duel (Spielberg)

1970

• Gimme Shelter* (Maysles, Zwerin, & Maysles)
• Company: Original Cast Album (Pennebaker)
• MASH (Altman)
• Two-Lane Blacktop (Hellman)
• Hospital (Wiseman)
• Performance (Roeg & Cammell)
• Brewster McCloud (Altman)
  
  

1970s Runners-Up (best first)

• The Crazies (Romero / 1973)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Sharman / 1975)
• Dog Day Afternoon (Lumet / 1975)
• Eraserhead (Lynch / 1977)\
• The Music Lovers (Russell / 1971)
• The Wicker Man (1973 / Hardy)
• Carnal Knowledge (Nichols / 1971)
• The French Connection (Friedkin / 1971)
• Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Peckinpah / 1974)
• Deliverance (Boorman / 1972)
• O Lucky Man! (Anderson / 1975)
• The Black Stallion (Ballard / 1979)
• The Getaway (Peckinpah / 1972)
• Night Moves (Penn / 1975)
• The Paper Chase (James Bridges / 1973)
• Up! (Meyer / 1976)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Forman / 1975)
• Serpico (Lumet / 1973)
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (Roeg / 1976)
• Assault on Precinct 13 (Carpenter / 1976)

1960s — 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick / 1968)

1969

• The Wild Bunch* (Peckinpah)
• Women in Love (Russell)
• The Honeymoon Killers (Kastle)
• High School (Wiseman)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Hill)
• Easy Rider (Hopper)

1968

• 2001: A Space Odyssey* (Kubrick)
• Night of the Living Dead (Romero)
• Rosemary's Baby (Polanski)
• Salesman (Maysles, Zwerin, & Maysles)
• Five Million Years to Earth (aka Quatermass and the Pit) (Baker)
• Sympathy for the Devil (aka One Plus One) (Godard)
• Yellow Submarine (Dunning)
• If... (Anderson)
• Planet of the Apes (Schaffner)

1967

• The Graduate* (Nichols)
• Bonnie and Clyde (Penn)
• Don't Look Back (Pennebaker)
• Titicut Follies (Wiseman)
• Two For the Road (Donen)
• The Producers (Brooks)

1966

• Chimes at Midnight* (aka Falstaff) (Welles)
• Blowup* (Antonioni)
• The Shooting (Hellman)

1965

• Repulsion (Polanski)
• Darling (Schlesinger)
  
  

1964

• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb* (Kubrick)
• Goldfinger* (Hamilton)
• A Hard Day's Night* (Lester)
• The Naked Kiss (Fuller)
• My Fair Lady (Cukor)
• The Masque of the Red Death (Corman)

1963

• The Haunting* (Wise)
• The Birds (Hitchcock)
• The Servant (Losey)
• Hud (Ritt)
• This Sporting Life (Anderson)
• Billy Liar (Schlesinger)

1962

• Lawrence of Arabia (Lean)
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Richardson)
• The Longest Day (Annakin, Marton & Wicki)

1961

• West Side Story* (Wise)
• The Innocents (Clayton)
• 101 Dalmatians (Disney/ Geronimi, Luske, & Reitherman)
• The Guns of Navarone (Thompson)
• The Hustler (Rossen)

1960

• Psycho (Hitchcock)
• The Apartment (Wilder)
• Spartacus (Kubrick)
• Peeping Tom (Powell)
• Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Reisz)
  
  

1960s Runners-Up (best first)

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Nichols / 1966)
• Monterey Pop (Desmond, Feinstein, Pennebaker, Maysles, Murphy, Leacock & Proferes / 1969)
• Shock Corridor (Fuller / 1963)
• The Professionals (Richard Brooks / 1966)
• Oliver! (Reed / 1968)
• The Sadist (James Landis / 1963)
• In the Heat of the Night (Jewison / 1967)
• The Great Escape (John Sturges / 1963)
• The Conqueror Worm (aka Witchfinder General) (Reeves / 1968)
• Judgment at Nuremberg (Kramer / 1961)
• The Intruder (Corman / 1961)
• Tom Jones (Richardson / 1963)
• The Little Shop of Horrors (Corman / 1960)
• Advise & Consent (Preminger / 1962)
• Morgan! (Reisz / 1966)
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Kramer / 1967)
• Premature Burial (Corman / 1962)
  
  

1950s — North by Northwest (Hitchcock / 1959)

1959

• North by Northwest* (Hitchcock)
• Some Like It Hot* (Wilder)
• Odds Against Tomorrow (Wise)
• Imitation of Life (Sirk)
• The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (Guggenheim & Stix)
• A Bucket of Blood (Corman)

1958

• Vertigo* (Hitchcock)
• Touch of Evil* (Welles)
• Curse of the Demon (aka Night of the Demon) (Tourneur)
• Gigi (Minnelli)
• I Want to Live! (Wise)

1957

• Paths of Glory (Kubrick)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (Lean)
• 12 Angry Men (Lumet)
• The Incredible Shrinking Man (Arnold)
• Written on the Wind (Sirk)
• The Pajama Game (Abbott & Donen)
• Sweet Smell of Success (Mackendrick)
• Horror of Dracula (Fisher)

1956

• The Killing* (Kubrick)
• Forbidden Planet (Wilcox)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel)
• The Searchers (Ford)
• The Wrong Man (Hitchcock)
• Somebody Up There Likes Me (Wise)

1955

• Kiss Me Deadly* (Aldrich)
• The Night of the Hunter* (Laughton)
• All That Heaven Allows (Sirk)
• Rebel Without a Cause (Ray)
• Blackboard Jungle (Richard Brooks)
• The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis)
• The Man from Laramie (Anthony Mann)
  
  

1954

• Rear Window (Hitchcock)
• Rififi (Dassin)
• On the Waterfront (Kazan)
• Richard III (Olivier)

1953

• The Band Wagon (Minnelli)
• It Came from Outer Space (Arnold)
• Roman Holiday (Wyler)
• The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann)
• Shane (Stevens)
• The War of the Worlds (Haskin)

1952

• Othello* (Welles)
• Singin' in the Rain* (Kelly & Donen)
• High Noon (Zinneman)

1951

• The Tales of Hoffmann (Powell & Pressburger)
• The African Queen (Huston)
• Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (Kazan)
• The Thing from Another World (Nyby & Hawks)
• The Lavender Hill Mob (Crichton)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise)
• A Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge) (Desmond-Hurst)
• The Red Badge of Courage (Huston)

1950

• Sunset Blvd.* (Wilder)
• In a Lonely Place (Ray)
• Night and the City (Dassin)
• Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann)
• All About Eve (Mankiewicz)
• The Asphalt Jungle (Huston)
• Rio Grande (Ford)
• Panic in the Streets (Kazan)
• No Way Out (Mankiewicz)
  
  

1950s Runners-Up (best first)

• Pickup on South Street (Fuller / 1953)
• The Desperate Hours (Wyler / 1955)
• A Star is Born (Cukor / 1954)
• Rio Bravo (Hawks / 1959)
• The Big Heat (Lang / 1953)
• Run Silent, Run Deep (Wise / 1958)
• A Place in the Sun (Stevens / 1951)
• The Narrow Margin (Fleischer / 1952)
• Killer's Kiss (Kubrick / 1955)
• The Ladykillers (Mackendrick / 1955)
• The Bad and the Beautiful (Minnelli / 1952)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Fleischer / 1954)
• Summertime (Lean / 1955)
• Damn Yankees (Abbott & Donen / 1958)
• A Face in the Crowd (Kazan / 1957)
• The Crimson Pirate (Siodmak / 1952)
• Tarnished Angels (Sirk / 1958)
• From Here to Eternity (Zinneman / 1953)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon (Arnold / 1954)
• The Captain's Paradise (Kimmins / 1953)
• Kansas City Confidential (Karlson / 1952)
• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (Lourie / 1953)
• The Curse of Frankenstein (Fisher / 1956)
• Old Yeller (Stevenson / 1957)
• The Tingler (Castle / 1959)
  
  

1940s — Citizen Kane (Welles / 1941)

1949

• The Third Man (Reed)
• Adam's Rib (Cukor)
• White Heat (Walsh)
• The Set-Up (Wise)
• The Heiress (Wyler)
• A Letter to Three Wives (Mankiewicz)
• The Queen of Spades (Dickinson)
• Gun Crazy (aka Deadly is the Female) (Joseph H. Lewis)
• Battleground (Wellman)
• Force of Evil (Polonsky)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (Hamer)

1948

• Red River* (Hawks)
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre* (Huston)
• The Lady from Shanghai (Welles)
• Letter from an Unknown Woman (Ophüls)
• The Big Sleep (Hawks)
• Hamlet (Olivier)
• Rope (Hitchcock)
• Louisiana Story (Flaherty)

1947

• Great Expectations* (Lean)
• Black Narcissus (Powell & Pressburger)
• Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin)
• Out of the Past (Tourneur)
• Born to Kill (Wise)
• Crossfire (Dmytryk)
• Body and Soul (Rossen)
• Lady in the Lake (Montgomery)
• Raw Deal (Anthony Mann)
• Fear in the Night (Shane)
• Kiss of Death (Hathaway)

1946

• It's a Wonderful Life* (Capra)
• The Best Years of Our Lives* (Wyler)
• My Darling Clementine* (Ford)
• Notorious (Hitchcock)
• The Stranger (Welles)
• The Killers (Siodmak)

1945

• Detour* (Ulmer)
• Brief Encounter* (Lean)
• Scarlet Street (Lang)
• Mildred Pierce (Curtiz)
• Dead of Night (Cavalcanti / Crichton / Dearden / Hamer)
• The Body Snatcher (Wise / produced by Val Lewton)
• I Know Where I'm Going! (Powell & Pressburger)
• The House on 92nd Street (Hathaway)
  
  

1944

• Double Indemnity (Wilder)
• The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges)
• Meet Me in St. Louis (Minnelli) [my review]
• Gaslight (Cukor)
• The Curse of the Cat People (Wise & von Fritsch / produced by Val Lewton)
• The Woman in the Window (Lang)
• Lifeboat (Hitchcock)
• Laura (Preminger)
• National Velvet (Brown)
• Murder, My Sweet (Dmytryk)
• The Uninvited (Lewis Allen)
• Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Claw (Neill)

1943

• The Seventh Victim* (Robson / produced by Val Lewton)
• Casablanca (Curtiz)
• The Ox-Bow Incident (Wellman)
• I Walked With a Zombie (Tourneur / produced by Val Lewton)
• The Ghost Ship (Robson / produced by Val Lewton)

1942

• The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles)
• The Palm Beach Story (Sturges)
• Cat People (Tourneur)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (Curtiz)
• Now, Voyager (Rapper)

1941

• Citizen Kane* (Welles)
• The Maltese Falcon (Huston)
• Dumbo (Disney/ Sharpsteen)
• The Lady Eve (Sturges)
• Sullivan's Travels (Sturges)
• Suspicion (Hitchcock)
• Adventures of Captain Marvel [12-chapter serial] (Witney & English)
• They Died With Their Boots On (Walsh)
• The Wolf Man (Waggner)

1940

• The Philadelphia Story* (Cukor)
• His Girl Friday (Hawks)
• Fantasia (Disney/ Beebe & Roberts)
• My Favorite Wife (Kanin)
• Pinocchio (Disney/ Sharpsteen)
• The Great McGinty (Sturges)
• The Grapes of Wrath (Ford)
• The Sea Hawk (Curtiz)
• Christmas in July (Sturges)
  
  

1940s Runners-Up (best first)

• Oliver Twist (Lean / 1948)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Ford / 1949)
• He Walked by Night (Anthony Mann / 1948)
• Caught (Ophüls / 1949)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Fleming / 1941)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (Garnett / 1946)
• And Then There Were None (Clair / 1945)
• The Bank Dick (Cline / 1940)
• The Naked City (Dassin / 1948)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Kazan / 1945)
• Santa Fe Trail (Curtiz)
• Act of Violence (Zinnemann / 1948)
• Bedlam (Robson / 1946)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (Lewin / 1945)
• Bataan (Garnett / 1943)
• Saboteur (Hitchcock / 1942)
• Son of Dracula (Robert Siodmak / 1943)
• The Black Book (aka Reign of Terror) (Anthony Mann / 1949)
• Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak / 1949)
• The Leopard Man (Tourneur / produced by Val Lewton / 1943)
• The Great Dictator (Chaplin / 1940)
• The Outlaw (Howard Hughes & uncredited Howards Hawks / 1943)
• Sands of Iwo Jima (Dwan / 1949)
• The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (Barton / 1948)
• My Pal Trigger (McDonald / 1946)

1930s — Bringing Up Baby (Hawks / 1938)

1939

• Gone With the Wind* (Fleming, Cukor, et al.)
• Ninotchka (Lubitsch)
• The Wizard of Oz (Fleming)
• Stagecoach (Ford)
• Young Mr. Lincoln (Ford)
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Werker)
• Midnight (Leisen)

1938

• Bringing Up Baby* (Hawks)
• The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (Curtiz & Keighley)
• Pygmalion (Asquith & Howard)
• You Can't Take It With You (Capra)

1937

• Easy Living (Leisen)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney)
• The Awful Truth (McCarey)
• You Only Live Once (Lang)

1936

• Sabotage* (Hitchcock)
• The Story of Louis Pasteur* (Dieterle)
• Show Boat (Whale)
• Swing Time (Stevens)
• Dodsworth (Wyler)
• Modern Times (Chaplin)
• Fury (Lang)
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Capra)
• A Day at the Races (Wood)

1935

• Bride of Frankenstein* (Whale)
• The Informer (Ford)
• Mad Love (Freund)
• Top Hat (Sandrich)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (Lloyd)
• A Night at the Opera (Wood)
• The 39 Steps (Hitchcock)
• Captain Blood (Curtiz)
  
  

1934

• The Scarlet Empress* (von Sternberg)
• Man of Aran (Flaherty)
• The Black Cat (Ulmer)
• It Happened One Night (Capra)
• The Thin Man (Van Dyke)
• Tarzan and His Mate (Gibbons)
• Twentieth Century (Hawks)

1933

• King Kong* (Cooper & Schoedsack)
• 42^nd Street (Bacon & Berkeley)
• The Invisible Man (Whale)
• Duck Soup (McCarey)
• The Kennel Murder Case (Curtiz)
• Dinner at Eight (Cukor)
• Island of Lost Souls (Kenton)

1932

• Trouble in Paradise* (Lubitsch)
• Scarface* (Hawks)
• Blonde Venus (von Sternberg)
• Freaks (Browning)
• I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (LeRoy)
• Love Me Tonight (Mamoulian)
• Tarzan the Ape Man (Van Dyke)
• Horse Feathers (McLeod)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mamoulian)
• Grand Hotel (Goulding)
• Murders in the Rue Morgue (Florey)

1931

• The Public Enemy (Wellman)
• Frankenstein (Whale)
• City Lights (Chaplin)
• Monkey Business (McLeod)

1930

• All Quiet on the Western Front* (Milestone)
• Morocco (von Sternberg)
• Little Caesar (LeRoy)
  
  

1930s Runners-Up (best first)

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Capra / 1939)
• Nothing Sacred (Wellman / 1937)
• Dracula (Browning / 1931)
• Things to Come (Menzies / 1936)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Dieterle / 1939)
• The Old Dark House (Whale / 1932)
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Wood / 1939)
• Lost Horizon (Capra / 1937)
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (LeRoy & Berkeley / 1933)
• Dodge City (Curtiz / 1939)
• Gold Diggers of 1935 (Berkeley / 1935)
• Footlight Parade (Bacon & Berkeley / 1933)
• Dames (Enright & Berkeley / 1935)
• Death Takes a Holiday (Leisen / 1934)
• The Most Dangerous Game (Schoedsack & Pichel)
• After the Thin Man (Van Dyke / 1936)
• Love Affair (McCarey / 1932)
• She Done Him Wrong (Sherman / 1933)
• Murder at Midnight (Strayer / 1931)