Favorite Directors

[charliechaplinfan]

I missed Malmoulian I love Love Me Tonight and Song of Songs

[ChiO]

And I forgot on my "just-missed-list" (and shame, shame I say, on Dewey & Mr. Ark for not correcting me): Charles Burnett.

[myrnaloyisdope]

I've only seen Killer of Sheep by Burnett, which I thought was quite good. It felt like a precursor to some of the so-called "hood" films of the late 80's and early 90's. Plus there is some great music.

What other Burnett would you recommend?

Another director I should mention is Gregory La Cava even though I've only seen one of his films. Stage Door is one of my absolute favorite movies, and La Cava's direction helps it immensely from the use of overlapping dialogue(3 years before His Girl Friday), to the way he gives everyone a chance to shine, his direction is really good.

I've heard that My Man Godfrey is fantastic, and he directed several movies with Claudette Colbert and Ginger Rogers.

But really I just needed an excuse to mention Stage Door.

[Mr. Arkadin]

And I forgot on my "just-missed-list" (and shame, shame I say, on Dewey & Mr. Ark for not correcting me): Charles Burnett.

Thought about it, but also considered the fact that perhaps you did not enjoy his other films as much. Glad to know you feel the same as I do. We never covered Rossellini or Visconti either!

I was rather disappointed that none of the Gong Li/Yimou films were featured on TCM's Asian Images. These Chinese classics were banned on release for their cloaked anti-communist underpinnings, but won all kinds of awards abroad and have helped to create a shift of change in communist China that is still growing (we hope).

Here's the trailer for Raise the Red Lantern:
[youtube][/youtube]

Another controversial choice would be Leni Riefenstahl. Although films like Triumph of the Will (1934) and Olympia (1938) were Nazi propaganda, there is no denying their genius--twisted as it may be. Throw in The Blue Light (1932) and Tiefland (1954), and you have a ligitamate contender.

[feaito]

I've only seen Killer of Sheep by Burnett, which I thought was quite good. It felt like a precursor to some of the so-called "hood" films of the late 80's and early 90's. Plus there is some great music.

What other Burnett would you recommend?

Another director I should mention is Gregory La Cava even though I've only seen one of his films. Stage Door is one of my absolute favorite movies, and La Cava's direction helps it immensely from the use of overlapping dialogue(3 years before His Girl Friday), to the way he gives everyone a chance to shine, his direction is really good.

I've heard that My Man Godfrey is fantastic, and he directed several movies with Claudette Colbert and Ginger Rogers.

But really I just needed an excuse to mention Stage Door.

Mynaloyisdope,

Thanks for bringing up Mr. La Cava, so I'd add:

Gregory La Cava- Stage Door (of course), My Man Godfrey, Bed of Roses and Gabriel Over The White House.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I've only seen Killer of Sheep by Burnett, which I thought was quite good. It felt like a precursor to some of the so-called "hood" films of the late 80's and early 90's. Plus there is some great music.

What other Burnett would you recommend?

My Brother's Wedding (1983)
Several Friends (1969)
The Horse (1973)
When it Rains (1995)

[ChiO]

I strongly second Mr. Ark's recommendations and would add:

To Sleep with Anger (1990)
Warming By the Devil's Fire (2003)

All four of Mr. Ark's recommendations, along with Killer of Sheep, are on "The Charles Burnett Collection", a 2-DVD set distributed by New Yorker Video released in 2007. Worth twice-the-price just to have Killer of Sheep, so it is a steal. The Glass Shield is the only Burnett film that I've seen that didn't resonate with me.

Burnett scripted and photographed Bless Their Little Hearts (1983), directed by Billy Woodbury (a friend of Burnett). Its look and feel is reminiscent of Killer of Sheep. Very moving.

I don't think that To Sleep with Anger and Bless Their Little Hearts are available for rental. Warming By the Devil's Fire is on DVD as one of the seven films that make up "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues".

[Mr. Arkadin]

Bryce, you list some incredible films. Glad to see another fan of Vengance is Mine (1979).

I'm also in total agreement with Lumet. Have you seen The Verdict (1982)? If not pencil in some time on your calender. One doesn't often think of a courtroom drama having beautiful colors and framing, but Lumet proves everyone wrong here. I also think it's Paul Newman's best performance. Another Lumet fave is The Pawnbroker (1965) with a wonderful Jazz score by Quincy Jones.

Lots of other great ones there, I noticed you do not have Crash (1996) listed under your David Cronenberg films. I have wanted to see this one for awhile, but must admit--I'm a little afraid of what I'll discover. Have you (or anybody here) seen it and if so, what are your thoughts?

P.S. I have Straw Dogs and thought about listing it, but I felt its themes were dealt with much better in Polanski's black comedy Cul de Sac (1966) which also has not been mentioned. Shame, shame.

[MichiganJ]

Mr. Arkadin:

Crash is like almost all of Cronenberg films. It’s visceral, surprising, intense, and thought provoking. It’s not any more (or less) graphic then any of his other films, and I found the film’s themes, (what I could make of them) pretty interesting, even though I don’t necessarily agree with them.

I agree that The Verdict is Newman’s best performance and one of Lumet’s best films. Have you seen his latest, Before the Devil Knows Your Dead? Very worthwhile suspense thriller, with fine performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei. It’s a time shifting film, like Pulp Fiction, so you get to see the same scenes, from different character perspectives.

[charliechaplinfan]

Leni Riefenstahl has to be included. I like The Blue Light and The White Hell of Pitz Palu

[MissGoddess]

Mon Général, get ready to confirm your snap judgement regarding my taste and you may also want to check your teeth for cavities after reading my list. For, as you know, I have always been drawn more to character, stars and story more than director and style, with a FEW exceptions. I tried to follow your request not to list "favorites" but only those most representative of their range for someone unfamiliar with the director's work.

As you MIGHT expect, I have concentrated mostly on studio directors, most well known, some ignored completely. A few who trod the line between rebel/auteur and studio employee are also represented.

As you might NOT expect, I have left off two favorites: John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock, because they are too well discussed elsewhere. If you insist I add them, I will but only upon request. And I don't expect a request.

One more note: I ONLY listed titles that are on Region 1 VHS or DVD, including Out of Print titles you can still find on Ebay, etc. This means I left off some good examples, but it also means I can be very obedient to rules.


Here we go, in no particular order and with apologies for disobediently listing more than three:

Leo McCarey (Love Affair, Duck Soup, The Awful Truth, Going My Way)

Michael Curtiz (Captain Blood, Casablanca, Adventures of Robin Hood, Jim Thorpe All American, Young Man with a Horn, Life with Father, Dodge City)

Frank Borzage (Seventh Heaven, A Farewell to Arms, History is Made at Night, Strange Cargo)

Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde, Bombshell, Red Dust, Test Pilot)

W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke (Trader Horn, Tarzan the Ape Man, Manhattan Melodrama, San Francisco, The Thin Man)

Jack Conway (Red Headed Woman, A Tale of Two Cities, Libeled Lady, Honky Tonk, The Hucksters)

Tay Garnett (China Seas, Postman Always Rings Twice, Cause for Alarm)

Mitchell Leisen (Death Takes a Holiday, Easy Living, Midnight, To Each His Own)

Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express, The Scarlet Empress)

Jean Negulesco (The Mask of Dimitrious, Humoresque, Road House, Under My Skin, Three Came Home, How to Marry a Millionaire)

Henry Koster (The Bishop's Wife, Harvey, No Highway in the Sky)

Mark Robson (The Ghost Ship, Isle of the Dead, Bedlam, Edge of Doom, The Harder They Fall, Von Ryan's Express)

Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, Out of the Past, Canyon Passage, The Flame and the Arrow, Stars in my Crown)

Henry King (Jesse James, Song of Bernadette, Captain from Castille, Prince of Foxes, The Gunfighter, Love is a Many Splendored Thing)

Otto Preminger (Laura, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Anatomy of a Murder, Bonjour, Tristesse and Man with the Golden Arm)

Anthony Mann (Man of the West, The Furies, The Man from Laramie, Raw Deal)

Nicholas Ray (On Dangerous Ground, The Lusty Men, Party Girl, In a Lonely Place)

Ernst Lubitsch (Die Puppe, The Marriage Circle, Lady Windemere's Fan, The Smiling Lieutentant, The Merry Widow, Trouble in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner, Ninotchka, Heaven Can Wait, Cluny Brown)

Robert Wise (Curse of the Cat People, The Body Snatcher, Born to Kill, The Set Up, Blood on the Moon, Until They Sail, Run Silent, Run Deep, The Sand Pebbles, The Sound of Music)

Stanley Donen (Charade, Indiscreet, The Grass is Greener, Singing in the Rain, Royal Wedding, Two for the Road, Arabesque)

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (House of Strangers, All About Eve, A Letter to Three Wives, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Cleopatra, Suddenly, Last Summer)

John Farrow (Five Came Back, The Big Clock, His Kind of Woman, Hondo)

Henry Hathaway (Peter Ibbetson, Lives of a Bengal Lancer, The Shepherd of the Hills, The Dark Corner, Kiss of Death, 13 Rue Madeleine, Call Northside 777, Niagara, Fourteen Hours, Rawhide, Garden of Evil, How the West Was Won, True Grit)

Raoul Walsh (The Big Trail, The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra, Manpower, They Died with Their Boots On, Northern Pursuit, Pursued, White Heat)

John Cromwell (Of Human Bondage, The Prisoner of Zenda, Algiers, Made for Each Other, So Ends Our Night, Anna and the King of Siam, The Racket)

Lewis Milestone (Tempest, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Front Page, Rain, The General Died at Dawn, Arch of Triumph, The Purple Heart, Edge of Darkness, A Walk in the Sun, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers)

Rouben Mamoulian (Love Me Tonight, Queen Christina, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Golden Boy, The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand)

William Dieterle (Midsummer Night's Dream, Juarez, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Portrait of Jennie)

William Wellman (Wings, The Public Enemy, Wild Boys of the Road, The Call of the Wild, Nothing Sacred, Beau Geste, Lady of Burlesque, The Ox Bow Incident, The Story of G.I. Joe, Westward the Women, Track of the Cat)

Mervyn LeRoy (Three on a Match, I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Waterloo Bridge, Johnny Eager, Random Harvest, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, East Side, West Side, Quo Vadis?, The Bad Seed)

John Sturges (Mystery Street, Bad Day at Black Rock, Last Train from Gun Hill, Never So Few, The Great Escape, The Satan Bug, The Hallelujah Trail, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Ice Station Zebra)

Budd Boetticher (Seven Men from Now, Comanche Station, The Bullfighter and the Lady)

Richard Brooks (Deadline U.S.A., Blackboard Jungle, The Last Hunt, The Catered Affair, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Professionals)

John Huston (In This Our Life, The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Night of the Iguana, The Misfits, Beat the Devil)

Edmund Goulding (Love, Hell's Angels, Grand Hotel, Dark Victory, The Dawn Patrol, The Great Lie, The Razor's Edge)

William Wyler (The Good Fairy, Counsellor-at-Law, These Three, Dodsworth, Wuthering Heights, Mrs Miniver, The Letter, The Westerner, The Little Foxes, Detective Story, The Heiress, The Desperate Hours, Roman Holiday, The Big Country, Ben-Hur, Funny Girl)

Howard Hawks (Scarface: Shame of a Nation; To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Only Angels Have Wings, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Red River, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Rio Bravo, Hatari!)

Billy Wilder (Sunset Blvd, Stalag 17, Love in the Afternoon, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, Ace in the Hole)

Delmer Daves (Destination Tokyo, Pride of the Marines, Dark Passage, Cowboy, Kings Go Forth, 3:10 to Yuma, A Summer Place)

Blake Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, The Pink Panther Experiment in Terror, The Tamarind Seed)

David Lean (Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Summertime, Bridge on the River Qwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter)

[Synnove]

Another controversial choice would be Leni Riefenstahl. Although films like Triumph of the Will (1934) and Olympia (1938) were Nazi propaganda, there is no denying their genius--twisted as it may be. Throw in The Blue Light (1932) and Tiefland (1954), and you have a ligitamate contender.

This is a conflict for me. I like the Blue Light, I haven't seen Olympia or Tiefland, but I have seen Triumph of the Will and even if it's a work of talent, it's lulling. There are so many clips of marching that my mind glazes over. That's when I become the most conscious that it's pure propaganda, because it's hypnotizing in its glorification of the millitary. How can one evaluate that film without taking into account what it endorses? Should one do that?

Anyway, my list is,

F. W. Murnau - Nosferatu, Sunrise, Faust
Tim Burton - Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Ed Wood
D. W. Griffith - Broken Blossoms, Intolerance, Isn't Life Wonderful
King Vidor - The Big Parade, The Crowd, Show People
Victor Sjostrom - The Phantom Carriage, Ingeborg Holm, The Wind (all of them)
Ingmar Bergman - Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal
Charles Chaplin - Modern Times, City Lights, The Great Dictator
Charles Laughton - Night of the Hunter

That's all I can think of for now.

[Mr. Arkadin]

Leni Riefenstahl has to be included. I like The Blue Light and The White Hell of Pitz Palu

The White Hell of Pitz Palu is indeed a beautiful movie and it stars LR, but it was directed by GW Pabst and Arnold Fanck. Glad to see another fan of my fave "Mountain" film.