Dateline: 01/01/01

In this second [Part I] of a three-part series listing the world's all-time greatest movies created outside of Hollywood, I've selected 30 films from 1950 to 1974 that have been hailed by critic's and viewers around the world.

2001: A Space Odyssey, England/USA, 1968
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Keir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood, Daniel Richter

Almost every frame could reside in an art gallery. Based on a short story by Arthure C. Clarke, astronauts travel to Jupiter to investigate the appearance of a radio transmission. When HAL, the computer, begins acting strangely, the surviving team member attempts to abort the mission.

Awards:
Best Effects, Special Visual Effects. Academy Awards, USA
Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound. British Academy Awards
Best Dramatic Presentation. Hugo Awards
National Film Registry. National Film Preservation Board, USA

Analysis:
2001: an ambient legacy by D.B. Spalding

Reviews:
Ebert's Great Movies
FilmSite's Greatest Films
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

8 ½, Italy, 1963
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale

A struggling, artistically blocked director tries to make a movie among a surrounding circus of personalities. This surreal, neorealist film is one of Fellini's greatest achievements.

Awards:
Best Foreign Language Film. Academy Awards, USA
Best European Film, Bodil Festival, Denmark
Best Foreign Language Film. National Board of Review, USA
Best Foreign Language Film. New York Film Critics Circle Awards, USA

Reviews:
Ebert's Great Movies
Motion Picture Database
Washington Post

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

The Adventure (L'Avventura), France, Italy, 1960
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari

In this landmark, revolutionary narrative, wealthy friends go yachting. When one girl runs off on an island, her boyfriend and best friend search for her but, entangled in their own preoccupations, eventually forget about her. Extraordinary cinematography complements and reveals theme.

Awards:
Jury Prize. Cannes Film Festival

Reviews:
Boston Phoenix
Ebert's Great Movies
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Ballad of a Soldier, USSR, 1959
Directed by Grigori Chukhrai
Starring Vladimar Ivashov, Shauna Prokhorenko

In this Soviet realist film, a heroic WWII soldier heads home to see his mother and encounters people needing his help. When he finally arrives home for what may be his last visit, he must immediately return to the front.

Awards:
Best European Film. Bodil Festival, Denmark
Best Film. British Academy Awards.

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Breathless (À Bout de Souffle), France, 1959
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg

A small-time crook hides out in Paris with an American girl after killing a cop. Betrayed, he faces the consequences like his idol, Humphrey Bogart. Influenced by Italian Neorealism, American Beat culture, and B-movies, this masterpiece of the French New Wave employed the trademark documentary shooting style, natural sound, and a stylish mix of long takes and jump cuts.

Awards:
Best Feature Film. Prix Jean Vigo, France

Reviews:
Edinburgh University Film Society
The Magic of The Movies
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

The Burmese Harp (Biruma no Tategoto), Japan, 1956
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
Starring Rentaro Mikuni, Tatsuya Mihashi

Set at the end of WWII, a Japanese soldier carries word of Japan's surrender. Shot and left for dead, a Buddhist monk nurtures him back to health. When the soldier begins to bury the dead, he becomes like the holy man.

Reviews:
Film Commentary
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Day For Night (La Nuit Américaine), France, 1973
Directed by Francois Truffaut
Starring Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Francois Truffaut, Valentina Cortese

A movie about making movies, the director himself plays a director who's beginning a new film called I Want You to Meet Pamela. Eventually, the actors and the crew think their real lives are just like the movies.

Awards:
Best Foreign Language Film. Academy Awards, USA
Best Film, Best Direction, Best Supporting Actress-Valentina Cortese. British Academy Awards
Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film, Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture-Valentina Cortese. Golden Globes, USA
Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress-Valentina Cortese. National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA
Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress-Valentina Cortese. New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Reviews:
Ebert's Great Movies
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
(Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie), France/Italy/Spain, 1972
Directed by Luis Bunuel
Starring Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Bulle Ogier

A surrealistic political comedy about a group of wealthy friends thwarted from dining by increasingly strange events.

Awards:
Best Foreign Language Film. Academy Awards, USA
Best Actress, Best Screenplay. British Academy Awards
Best Film, Best Director. National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim), France, 1962
Directed by Francois Truffaut
Starring Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, and Henri Serre

Two writers, Jules and Jim, are enchanted by a beautiful, spirited, independent woman. Over the years, neither Jules nor Jim can free himself from her powerful spell until she alters their futures forever.

Awards:
Best European Film. Bodil Festival, Denmark
Best Director. Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina.

Reviews:
Pauline Kael
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Hiroshima Mon Amour, France/Japan, 1959
Directed by Alain Resnais
Starring Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Bernard Fresson

What began as a documentary evolved into Resnais' first dramatic feature film. A married French actress making a film in Japan begins a doomed affair with a married Japanese architect. This non-linear narrative of New Wave filmmaking blends montage, quick-cutting, flashbacks, and long tracking shots with voice-overs and music.

Awards:
UN Award. British Academy Awards
Best Foreign Language Film. New York Film Critics Circle Awards, USA

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Last Year at Marienbad
(L'Année dernière à Marienbad), France/Italy, 1961
Directed by Alain Resnais
Starring Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sascha Pitoëff

A man sees a woman and tries to convince her that he knows her from the year before. But does he? Two years after shooting in Japan, Resnais pushed film language to new horizons by playing with time and memory in relationship to the characters. Kurosawa's influence on the French New Wave?

Awards:
Golden Lion. Venice Film Festival

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Lawrence of Arabia, England, 1962
Directed by David Lean
Starring Jose Ferrer, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Peter O'Toole, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Omar Sharif, Gamil Ratib

A glorious film about the legendary British Officer T.E. Lawrence. Assigned to Arabia during World War I, Lawrence unites warring Arab tribes against the Ottoman Turks and attempts to establish a sovereign Arabia.

Awards:
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography-Color, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Original Music Score, Best Sound. Academy Awards, USA
Best Film, Best British Film, Best British Actor-Peter O'Toole, Best British Screenplay. British Academy Awards
DGA Award. Directors Guild of America, USA
Best Cinematography. British Society of Cinematographers
Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Motion Picture Director, Best Supporting Actor-Omar Sharif, Best Cinematography. Golden Globes, USA
Best Director. National Board of Review, USA
National Film Registry. National Film Preservation Board, USA

Reviews:
Roger Ebert
Edinburgh University Film Society
FilmSite Greatest Films
Motion Picture Database
Washington Post

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Lola Montes, France, 1955
Directed by Max Ophuls
Starring Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook

Lola Montes is the featured attraction at a travelling circus where the ringmaster parades her sad life of famous failed romances and broken dreams. There's no business like show business.

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

A Man Escaped (Le vent souffle où il veut), France, 1956
Directed by Robert Bresson
Starring Francois Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock

A World War II resistance fighter plans his escape from a Nazi prison as his scheduled execution grows nearer. The director's experience as a POW brought authenticity and lush details to the escape drama.

Awards:
Best Film. French Film Academy
Best Director. Cannes Film Festival

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Pather Panchali, India, 1955
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Starring Kanu Banerjee, Subir Banerjee, Runki Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee

Satyajit Ray's first film of the acclaimed "Apu Trilogy." A boy's father journeys out to find work and returns to tragedy.

Awards:
Best Non-European Film. Bodil Festival, Denmark
Best Foreign Film. National Board of Review, USA
Best Human Document. Cannes Film Festival

Reviews:
Film.com
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Peeping Tom, England, 1960
Directed by Michael Powell
Starring Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley, Michael Powell

A young man, himself the subject of his father's psychological experiments, lures aspiring actresses to isolated areas and murders them while filming their terror. A groundbreaking study in voyeurism, cinema, and obsession.

Reviews:
Brit Movie
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Persona, Sweden, 1966
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Margaretha Krook

An acclaimed actress suddenly stops speaking and suffers a nervous breakdown. Hospitalized, a dedicated nurse works with her patient at a seaside retreat where the nurse bares her soul and the actress listens like an analyst. Perhaps the greatest cinematic exploration of an actor's reality.

Awards:
Best Film, Best Actress-Bibi Andersson. Guldbagge Awards, Sweden
Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress-Bibi Andersson. National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Rashomon, Japan, 1950
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura

In 12th-century Japan, a famous bandit rapes a woman and kills her wealthy husband. Or does he? This classic film investigates the crime from the viewpoints of the bandit, the wife, the dead man, and a peasant.

Awards:
Board of Governors Outstanding Foreign Language Film. Academy Awards, USA
Best Foreign Film, Best Director. National Board of Review, USA
Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

The River, India, 1951
Directed by Jean Renoir
Starring Arthur Shields, Thomas E. Breen, Patricia Walters, Adrienne Corri, Radha Shri Ram

A young British war veteran visiting his cousin in India attracts three teenage British girls awakening sexually. Having lost a limb during the war, the soldier barely notices the teens. A flowing film that moves with the grace of a river.

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

The Road (La Strada), Italy, 1954
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Giulietta Masina, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani

Fellini mixes surreal elements with neorealism in this story about a carnival strong man who buys a poor young woman to be his wife and assistant. Enduring a life of pain and abuse, she's befriended by a trapeze artist. But in a rage, the strong man accidentally kills the trapeze artist, plunging the woman into despair.

Awards:
Best Foreign Language Film. Academy Awards, USA
Best European Film. Bodil Festival, Denmark
Best Foreign Language Film. New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Reviews:
Roger Ebert
Motion Picture Database
Washington Post

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Sansho the Bailiff (Sanshô dayû), Japan, 1954
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring Kinuyo Tanaka, Eitaro Shindo

Set in 11th-century feudal Japan, kidnappers assault a family and sell the children as slaves to Sansho. Ten years later, the children plan an escape from Sansho's labor camp. A classic of Japanese cinema.

Awards:
Silver Lion. Venice Film Festival

Reviews:
Jim Emerson
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

In 17th century Japan a village pillaged by thieves employs an elder samurai to protect them. His samurai team teachs the villagers courage and cooperation, and through the battle, the farmers become warriors who can take care of themselves while the samurai become legends.

Awards:
Silver Lion. Venice Film Festival

Reviews:
CultureVulture.Net
Edinburgh University Film Society
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet), Sweden, 1957
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Gunnar Bjornstrand, Max Von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe

In this religious allegory set during the Black Death plague of 14th century Europe, a knight plays chess with Death. Throughout the game the knight ponders the existance of God while visited by believers and agnostics.

Awards:
Jury Special Prize. Cannes Film Festival

Reviews:
Ebert's Great Movies
Edinburgh University Film Society
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari), Japan, 1953
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Starring Chishu Ryu, Chiyeko Higashiyama, So Yamamura, Haruko Sugimura, Setsuko Hara, Kyoko Kagawa, Shiro Osaka

An elderly couple visits their married children in Tokyo for perhaps the last time, but the self-absorbed children send their parents away to a spa. Upon returning home lonely and disillusioned, the mother falls ill and cannot recognize her children when they arrive. Directed in the traditional Japanese style.

Reviews:
CultureVulture.Net
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Tom Jones England, 1963
Directed by Tony Richardson
Starring Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, David Warner, Joyce Redman, Diane Cilento, David Tomlinson

At the beginning of the free-love era, Richardson combined naturalistic styles with slapstick comedy to create a highly popular adaptation of Henry Fielding's 1749 novel about the exploits of a promiscuous playboy.

Awards:
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay. Academy Awards, USA
Best Film from Any Source, Best British Film, Best British Screenplay. British Academy Awards
DGA Award. Directors Guild of America, USA
Best Musical/Comedy Motion Picture, Best English-Language Foreign Film. Golden Globes, USA
Best English Language Picture, Best Director. National Board of Review, USA
Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor-Albert Finney. New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Ugetsu, Japan, 1953
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori

Amid civil war in 16th century Japan, two peasants leave their families to seek fame and fortune in the city. One becomes a Samurai and the other charms a noblewoman, but they eventually return to their wives. Mizoguchi finds the contradictions in traditional Japanese society.

Awards:
Silver Lion. Venice Film Festival

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Umberto D., Italy, 1952
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Starring Carlo Battisi, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Genneri, Ileana Simova, Alberto Albani Barbieri

This neorealist classic is a complex social indictment and a simple tale about the life of an elderly pensioner. Penniless and alone with his dog, the old man contemplates suicide until a ray of hope pierces his bleakness.

Awards:
Best European Film. Bodil Festival, Denmark
Best Foreign Language Film. New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället), Sweden, 1957
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Victor Sjostrom, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Max Von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand

A professor takes a road trip to his alma mater to receive an honorary degree. While travelling with his daughter-in-law, he stops at his childhood vacation home and dreamily reflects on his life. Continuing, he picks up a young woman strikingly similar to his first love. The growing cast of characters further stimulate his self analysis.

Awards:
Golden Bear. Berlin International Film Festival
Best European Film. Bodil Festival
Best Foreign Film. Golden Globes, USA
Golden Ombú, Silver Ombú for Best Actor-Victor Sjöström. Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina
Best Foreign Film, Best Actor-Victor Sjöström. National Board of Review, USA

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database
Movie Reviews UK

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

A Woman Under The Influence, USA, 1974
Directed by John Cassavetes
Starring Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Matthew Cassel, Matthew Laborteaux

A housewife spirals into complete mental breakdown and is committed to an institution by her husband. Six months later, she comes out worse than when she entered.

Awards:
Best Dramatic Motion Picture Actress-Gena Rowlands. Golden Globes, USA
Best Actress-Gena Rowlands. National Board of Review, USA
National Film Registry. National Film Preservation Board, USA

Reviews:
Ebert's Great Movies
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

The Young and The Damned (Los Olvidados), Mexico, 1950
Directed by Luis Bunuel
Starring Roberto Cobo, Javier Amezcua, Efrain Arauz, Jesus Navarro, Alma Delia Fuentes, Miguel Inclan, Estela Inda

This cinematic masterpiece, a raw and deeply-felt portrait of child gangs in Mexico City's slums, combines violence and degradation with the surreal in what became Bunuel's trademark style.

Awards:
Golden Ariel, Silver Ariel Best Young Actor-Roberto Cobo. Academy Awards, Mexico
Best Director. Cannes Film Festival

Reviews:
Motion Picture Database

Additional Information:
Internet Movie Database

Masterpieces of Cinema I: 1900 - 1949
Masterpieces of Cinema III: 1975 - 1999