Ten Favorites
by J. Spurlin | created - 26 Sep 2010 | updated - 27 Sep 2010 | PublicThese ten movies might be my desert island picks—although part of me would be tempted just to take ten Hitchcocks.
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1. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 427,104 | Gross: $3.20M
Alfred Hitchcock's haunting tale of romantic obsession would have been an excellent movie without Bernard Herrmann's score, but is a masterpiece with it. (Ditto Psycho (1960) and North by Northwest (1959).)
2. Way Out West (1937)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy, Family, Western
Stanley and Ollie are enlisted to deliver the deed to a goldmine in a small village, only for it to be stolen.
Director: James W. Horne | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynn, James Finlayson
Votes: 8,995
Fans of Laurel and Hardy often cite Sons of the Desert (1933) (1933) as their best feature, which in turn is inferior to a handful of their best shorts. I choose this one as not only their best film of any length, but the best comedy ever made. The soft-shoe dance is my pick for all-time best movie scene.
3. High Noon (1952)
PG | 85 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
A town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 110,212 | Gross: $9.45M
If I were a movie editor this brilliantly cut western, directed by Fred Zinnemmann and scored by Dmitri Tiomkin, would be my model for creating suspense and excitement; and Elmo Williams would be my hero.
4. The Gold Rush (1925)
Passed | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman
Votes: 118,682 | Gross: $5.45M
City Lights (1931) (1931) and Modern Times (1936) (1935) are just as wonderful, but I found this one first and so it has a special place in my heart just as Charlie Chaplin, probably the greatest moviemaker, should have in everyone's.
5. Double Indemnity (1944)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Byron Barr
Votes: 167,514 | Gross: $5.72M
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were the stars the first time I saw the film; Edward G. Robinson, in a great supporting role, has been its star for me ever since. Every ounce of juice was squeezed from James M. Cain's crime story, and then Billy Wilder and his team poured in some of their own.
6. The General (1926)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
After being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley
Votes: 98,175 | Gross: $1.03M
Realism, escapism and slapstick combine for a richly inventive comedy from the endlessly fascinating Buster Keaton.
7. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Not Rated | 75 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
Votes: 53,274 | Gross: $4.36M
This witty, bizarre, extravagant and touching horror film rises above any category.
8. Duck Soup (1933)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Musical
Rufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx
Votes: 62,750
For Marx Brothers fans, the toss-up for their best film is usually between this and A Night at the Opera (1935) (1935). I prefer to take them straight: no restraints, no mercy and no playing Cupid to a pair of dullards that you just know in their heart of hearts they'd rather dunk in lemonade.
9. Dumbo (1941)
G | 64 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.
Directors: Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen, John Elliotte | Stars: Sterling Holloway, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing, Billy Bletcher
Votes: 142,132 | Gross: $1.60M
Walt Disney's marvelously inventive animated tale is a delight that becomes truly extraordinary when we get to the heartbreaking "Baby Mine" song, the hallucinatory pink elephants sequence, the cheery and cheering black crows number and finally an exciting climax. Four great scenes right in a row.
10. Top Hat (1935)
Not Rated | 101 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes
Votes: 20,714 | Gross: $3.88M
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance through a breezy plot in shimmering black-and-white to lighter-than-air songs. They don't make many musicals any more, and when they do they don't even consider making them like this.
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