Best Films of the 1960s

The 1950s saw the release of many brilliant works of cinema from around the world but the 1960s increased that quality substantially. The 1960s is the decade when the words 'World Cinema' truly came to fruition. Some of my all-time favourite films come from this decade so trying to narrow down a list to just 30 titles was a very difficult task.

When it comes to co-productions, Italy and France rule this list with 53% of all titles (16/30) being either an Italian or French production: 8 co-productions involve both France and Italy; 13 productions involving Italy and 3 productions involving France. Of course, when it comes to those co-productions, many are perceived as belonging to only 1 country such as La Dolce Vita is considered an Italian film while Playtime as being French.

Interestingly, Italy dominates the top 10 with 5 titles including the first 4 spots. Safe to say, Italian films never hit such highs in any of my other decades list. So the 1960s were easily my favourite decade when it came to Italian cinema.

Top 30 films of the 1960s:

1. The Battle of Algiers (1966, Italy/Algeria, Gillo Pontecorvo)

2. Hands over the City (1963, Italy/France, Francesco Rosi)

3. Il Posto (1961, Italy, Ermanno Olmi)

4. La Dolce Vita (1960, Italy/France, Federico Fellini)

5. Mahanagar (The Big City, 1963, Satyajit Ray)

6. Bandits of Orgosolo (1961, Italy, Vittoria De Seta)

7. Playtime (1967, France/Italy, Jacques Tati)

8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, UK/USA, Stanley Kubrick)

9. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, UK/USA, Stanley Kubrick)

10. Soleil Ô (1967, Mauritania/France, Med Hondo)

11. Black God, White Devil (1964, Brazil, Glauber Rocha)

12. Army of Shadows (1969, France/Italy, Jean-Pierre Melville)

13. An Autumn Afternoon (1962, Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)

14. L'Avventura (1960, Italy/France, Michelangelo Antonioni)

15. Le samouraï (1967, France/Italy, Jean-Pierre Melville)

16. Le Trou (1960, France/Italy. Jacques Becker)

17. Z (1969, France/Algeria, Costa-Gavras)

18. Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962, France/Italy, Agnès Varda)

19. My Life to Live (1962, France, Jean-Luc Godard)

20. Aimless Bullet (1961, South Korea, Yu Hyun-mok)

21. El Verdugo (The Executioner, 1963, Spain, Luis García Berlanga)

22. Change of Life (1966, Portugal, Paulo Rocha)

23. The Sound of Music (1965, USA, Robert Wise)

24. A Married Couple (1969, Canada, Allan King)

25. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960, Japan, Mikio Naruse)

26. Blow-Up (1966, UK/Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni)

27. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966, Italy/Spain, Sergio Leone)

28. Memories of Underdevelopment (1968, Cuba, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea)

29. The Exterminating Angel (1962, Mexico, Luis Buñuel)

30. Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960, India, Ritwik Ghatak)

Tough to leave out many films. Here are 11 that shouldn’t have missed out (in no particular order):

Psycho (1960, USA, Alfred Hitchcock)

Last Year at Marienbad (1961, France, Alain Resnais)

The Housemaid (1960, South Korea, Kim Ki-young)

Breathless (1960, France, Jean-Luc Godard)

Ikarie XB1 (1963, Czechoslovakia, Jindrich Polák)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Italy/USA, Sergio Leone)

Closely Watched Trains (1966, Czechoslovakia, Jirí Menzel)

Noite Vazia (1964, Brazil, Walter Hugo Khouri)

The Round-Up (1966, Hungary, Miklós Jancsó)

The House is Black (1963, Iran, Forugh Farrokhzad)

La Jetée (1962, France, Chris Marker)

Best Films of the 1940s

Safe to say, the world had more serious matters to consider in the 1940s. Yet, somehow this decade resulted in two films that have dominated the Best Films of All Time list for the longest time – Casablanca and Citizen Kane. In addition, a shining example of Neorealism cinema debuted in this decade with Bicycle Thieves. Plus, quite a few 1940s noir films still top many all time film noir lists.

As WWII was fought mostly in Europe and some parts of Asis and North Africa, it isn’t surprising that majority of this list is made up of American films (6/10 films). The 4 non-American films in the list were released in 1945 or after, which makes sense with the end of WWII and the post-war recovery.

Top 10 Films of the 1940s (roughly in order of preference):

1. Citizen Kane (1941,USA, Orson Welles)

2. Bicycle Thieves (1948, Italy, Vittorio De Sica)

3. Rome: Open City (1945, Italy, Roberto Rossellini)

4. Double Indemnity (1944, USA, Billy Wilder)

5. Casablanca (1994, USA, Michael Curtiz)

6. Sullivan’s Travels (1941, USA, Preston Sturges)

7. The Great Dictator (1940, USA, Charles Chaplin)

8. The Third Man (1949, UK, Carol Reed)

9. Late Spring (1949, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)

10. I Walked with a Zombie (1943, USA, Jacques Tourneur)

Honourable mentions:

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, UK, Robert Hamer)

The Lady Eve (1941, USA, Preston Sturges)

Best Films of the 1930s

While the 1920s produced a wealth of cinematic riches, that decade also marked the final flourish of silent cinema. The 1930s were characterized by the advent of “talkies” or sound films, which changed the cinematic landscape and how people perceived cinema. Hollywood studios began the shift away from silent films but the 1930s still had a good amount of silent cinema to choose from, especially from Japanese director Yasujirô Ozu who released a handful of silent cinema at the start of the decade.

Top 10 Films of the 1930s:

1. Modern Times (1936, USA, Charles Chaplin)

2. M (1931, Germany, Fritz Lang)

3. L'Âge d'or (1930, France, Luis Buñuel)

4. The Rules of the Game (1939, France, Jean Renoir)

5. I Was Born, But… (1932, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)

6. Duck Soup (1933, USA, Leo McCarey)

7. City Lights (1931, USA, Charles Chaplin)

8. Bringing Up Baby (1938, USA, Howard Hawks)

9. The Blood of a Poet (1932, France, Jean Cocteau)

10. Earth (1930, Soviet Union, Aleksandr Dovzhenko)