The order isn't definitive: ranking works of art is not meant to be a hierarchical activity, but rather an organizational one. It's interesting trivially and comparatively to see what movies came out at the same time, to see the progression of film history. And lists are just plain fun to argue over. They are meant to be conversation starters, not finishers. I don't have any particular criteria for what ranks above what, it's just my own subjective opinion, informed by a reasonable knowledge of film and film history, one that is expanding and deepening all the time.
The rankings change over time: when I see a new movie, I add it to the list here. Sometimes I'll see a movie again and my opinion of it will change, or my feelings about a film will evolve and so I'll move it up or down the list. These changes are noted as they occur in "This Week in Rankings" posts, though often a single change to a year will lead to a larger shuffling. These lists are, and always will be, a work in progress.
This is Part One, 1901-1949.
1901:
1. The Pan-American Exposition By Night
2. Excelsior! The Prince of the Magicians
3. What Happened on Twenty-Third Street
4. The Devil and the Statue
1902:
1. A Trip to the Moon
2. Gulliver's Travels
1903:
1. The Great Train Robbery
2. The Kingdom of Fairies
3. The Infernal Cakewalk
4. Jupiter's Thunderballs
5. The Life of an American Fireman
6. What Happened in the Tunnel
1904:
1. The Cook in Trouble
1905:
1. The Kleptomaniac
2. The Little Train Robbery
3. The Black Imp
4. A Crazy Composer
1906:
1. The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend
2. Films of the San Francisco Earthquake
3. Three American Beauties
1907:
1. The Rivals
2. The "Teddy" Bears
3. The Eclipse
4. The Haunted Hotel
5. Lightning Sketches
1908:
1. Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
1909:
1. A Corner in Wheat
2. Those Awful Hats
1910:
1. Ramona
2. In the Border States
1912:
1. The Musketeers of Pig Alley
2. The Girl and Her Trust
3. For His Son
4. The Sunbeam
5. Conquest of the Pole
1913:
1. Fantômas
2. The Mothering Heart
3. The Artist's Dreams
1914:
1. Kid Auto Races at Venice
2. Cabiria
3. Tillie's Punctured Romance
1915:
1. Les Vampires
2. Regeneration
3. The Cheat
4. The Birth of a Nation
5. A Fool There Was
6. Down on the Phoney Farm
7. The Lone Game
1916:
1. Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages
2. The Rink
3. The Pawnshop
4. The Floorwalker
5. One AM
6. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1917:
1. The Immigrant
2. The Poor Little Rich Girl
3. The Cure
4. Coney Island
5. Bobby Bumps Starts for School
1918:
1. A Dog's Life
1919:
1. True Heart Susie
2. Broken Blossoms
3. Blind Husbands
4. Don't Change Your Husband
5. When The Clouds Roll By
6. Sunnyside
7. A Day's Pleasure
8. Firemen Save My Child
1920:
1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
2. One Week
3. Way Down East
4. The Scarecrow
5. Why Change Your Wife?
6. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
7. The Mark of Zorro
8. Convict 13
9. Neighbors
10. The Bomb Idea
1921:
1. The Play House
2. Orphans of the Storm
3. Leaves from Satan's Book
4. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
5. The Goat
6. The Kid
7. The Phantom Carriage
8. The 'High Sign'
9. Camille
10. The Boat
11. The Haunted House
12. The Sheik
13. Hard Luck
14. Manhatta
1922:
1. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
2. Nanook of the North
3. Cops
4. Häxan
5. The Paleface
6. Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood
7. Day Dreams
8. Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler
9. The Blacksmith
10. The Frozen North
11. The Electric House
12. My Wife's Relations
1923:
1. Our Hospitality
2. Safety Last
3. The Three Ages
4. The Pilgrim
5. The Balloonatic
6. Springtime
1924:
1. Sherlock, Jr.
2. The Last Laugh
3. Greed
4. He Who Gets Slapped
5. The Iron Horse
6. The Thief of Bagdad
7. The Navigator
8. A Trip to Mars
9. The Sea Hawk
1925:
1. The Gold Rush
2. Battleship Potemkin
3. The Big Parade
4. Seven Chances
5. The Freshman
6. The Phantom of the Opera
1926:
1. The General
2. What Price Glory?
3. Bardelys the Magnificent
4. 3 Bad Men
5. The Scarlet Letter
6. The Adventures of Prince Achmed
7. Faust
8. 45 Minutes from Hollywood
9. Scents & Nonsense
10. Thundering Fleas
11. Along Came Auntie
1927:
1. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
2. Underworld
3. Seventh Heaven
4. Metropolis
5. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
6. Wings
7. The King of Kings
8. Jewish Prudence
9. It
10. Love 'Em and Weep
11. Fluttering Hearts
12. With Love and Hisses
13. Duck Soup
14. College
15. Why Girls Love Sailors
16. London After Midnight (Reconstruction)
17. Sailors, Beware!
18. Sugar Daddies
19. Slipping Wives
1928:
1. The Docks of New York
2. Steamboat Bill, Jr.
3. The Passion of Joan of Arc
4. Lonesome
5. The Wind
6. Street Angel
7. Two Tars
8. The Last Command
9. The Circus
10. L'Argent
11. The Cameraman
12. Spione
13. October
14. Show People
15. In Old Arizona
16. Speedy
17. Champagne
1929:
1. The Man with a Movie Camera
2. Diary of a Lost Girl
3. Un chien andalou
4. Blackmail
5. Hallelujah!
6. Pandora's Box
7. Days of Youth
8. Queen Kelly
9. The Manxman
10. The Love Parade
11. The Broadway Melody
12. Spite Marriage
13. The Cocoanuts
14. Only Me
1930:
1. Morocco
2. The Dawn Patrol
3. People on Sunday
4. City Girl
5. Under the Roofs of Paris
6. The Blue Angel
7. Earth
8. All Quiet on the Western Front
9. Animal Crackers
10. À propos de Nice
11. Monte Carlo
12. I Flunked, But. . .
13. Free and Easy
14. Not So Dumb
15. Murder!
16. Ladies of Leisure
17. Doughboys
18. Abraham Lincoln
1931:
1. City Lights
2. Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
3. Street Scene
4. M
5. Frankenstein
6. Tokyo Chorus
7. Safe in Hell
8. The Public Enemy
9. The Front Page
10. À nous la liberté
11. Waterloo Bridge
12. The Lady and the Beard
13. City Streets
14. Monkey Business
15. Little Caesar
16. Le Million
17. Kameradschaft
18. Night Nurse
19. Flunky, Work Hard
20. Cimarron
21. The Threepenny Opera
22. The Smiling Lieutenant
23. Dracula
24. The Criminal Code
25. Platinum Blonde
26. Parlor, Bedroom and Bath
27. Arrowsmith
28. Sidewalks of New York
1932:
1932 Awards
1. Trouble in Paradise
2. Vampyr
3. Shanghai Express
4. Scarface
5. One Way Passage
6. Me and My Gal
7. The Sign of the Cross
8. Where Now are the Dreams of Youth?
9. The Island of Lost Souls
10. Freaks
11. I was Born but . . .
12. The Most Dangerous Game
13. Blonde Venus
14. Red Dust
15. A Farewell to Arms
16. Boudu Saved from Drowning
17. No Blood Relation
18. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
19. Murders in the Rue Morgue
20. What Price Hollywood?
21. Love Me Tonight
22. Three on a Match
23. American Madness
24. Tarzan, the Ape Man
25. The Music Box
26. Red-Headed Woman
27. Horse Feathers
28. The Mask of Fu Manchu
29. Bird of Paradise
30. The Mummy
31. The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
32. The Old Dark House
33. Number Seventeen
34. Frisco Jenny
35. Jewel Robbery
37. Rain
38. The Purchase Price
39. The Crowd Roars
39. The Crowd Roars
40. Payment Deferred
41. Thirteen Women
42. Speak Easily
43. Bill of Divorcement44. White Zombie
45. Grand Hotel
46. Forbidden
47. The Passionate Plumber
1933:
1. Duck Soup
2. Japanese Girls at the Harbor
3. Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
4. 42nd Street
5. King Kong
6. Design for Living
7. Golddiggers of 1933
8. Wild Boys of the Road
9. Man's Castle
10. Baby Face
11. Footlight Parade
12. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
13. Passing Fancy
14. Apart From You
15. The Bitter Tea of General Yen
16. Zéro de conduite
17. Ecstasy
18. Every-Night Dreams
19. State Fair
20. Mystery of the Wax Museum
21. The Invisible Man
22. Midnight Mary
23. The Private Life of Henry VIII
24. Queen Christina
25. Gabriel Over the White House
26. Bombshell
27. Heroes for Sale
28. Sons of the Desert
29. Little Women
30. Girl Missing
31. Flying Down to Rio
32. Cavalcade
33. Penthouse
34. Topaze
35. What! No Beer?
36. She Done Him Wrong
37. Havana Widows
38. Going Hollywood
39. Stingaree40. The Vampire Bat
1934:
1. L'Atalante
2. No Greater Glory
3. The Scarlet Empress
4. A Story of Floating Weeds
5. Twentieth Century
6. The Thin Man
7. The Gay Divorcee
8. Judge Priest9. It Happened One Night
10. Our Daily Bread
11. It's a Gift
12. The Man Who Knew Too Much11. It's a Gift
13. Street Without End
14. The Merry Widow
15. Lilliom
16. Heat Lightning
17. Cleopatra
18. Les misérables
19. A Lost Lady
20. The Lost Patrol
21. Manhattan Melodrama
22. Death Takes a Holiday
23. The Merry Wives of Reno
24. Dames
1935:
1. Ruggles of Red Gap
2. The Devil is a Woman
3. Wife! Be Like a Rose!
4. Top Hat
5. The 39 Steps
6. Carnival in Flanders
7. Steamboat 'Round the Bend
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream
9. Sylvia Scarlett
10. The Informer
11. The Good Fairy
12. Barbary Coast
13. The Broadway Melody of 1936
14. Captain Blood
15. Bride of Frankenstein
16. Mutiny on the Bounty
17. Crime & Punishment
18. China Seas
19. A Night at the Opera
20. Annie Oakley
21. Mark of the Vampire
22. The Hands of Orlac (Mad Love)
23. Roberta
24. If You Could Only Cook
25. Anna Karenina
26. She
27. Gold Diggers of 1935
28. Shipmates Forever
1936:
1. Swing Time
2. Modern Times
3. Dodsworth
4. Story of a Cheat
5. Sisters of the Gion
6. Fury
7. A Day in the Country
8. The Only Son
9. My Man Godfrey
10. Show Boat
11. Theodora Goes Wild
12. Mr. Thank You
13. Things to Come
14. Follow the Fleet
15. Last of the Mohicans
16. The Prisoner of Shark Island
17. Camille
18. The Garden of Allah
19. The Plough and the Stars
20. Sabotage
21. The Charge of the Light Brigade
22. After the Thin Man
23. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
24. Libeled Lady
25. Mary of Scotland
26. The Petrified Forest
27. The King Steps Out
28. Romeo and Juliet
1937:
1. Make Way for Tomorrow
2. The Awful Truth
3. The Grand Illusion
4. Shall We Dance
5. Wee Willie Winkie
6. Humanity and Paper Balloons
7. History is Made at Night
8. Stella Dallas
9. Stage Door
10. Easy Living
11. You Only Live Once
12. Pepe le Moko
13. The Spanish Earth
14. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
15. Dark Journey
16. Nothing Sacred
17. Swing High, Swing Low
17. Swing High, Swing Low
18. A Damsel in Distress
19. A Star is Born
20. The Hurricane19. A Star is Born
21. A Day at the Races
22. Rosalie
22. Rosalie
23. Lost Horizon
24. Storm in a Teacup
25. Topper
26. The Broadway Melody of 1938
26. The Broadway Melody of 1938
27. Hollywood Hotel
28. The Great Garrick
28. The Great Garrick
29. Dead End
31. King Solomon's Mines
1938:
1. Bringing Up Baby
2. The Adventures of Robin Hood
3. The Lady Vanishes
4. Alexander Nevsky
5. Holiday
6. Three Comrades
7. Jezebel
8. St. Martin's Lane
9. The Masseurs and a Woman
10. Merrily We Live
11. The Shopworn Angel
12. The Great Waltz
13. Pygmalion
14. Angels with Dirty Faces
15. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
16. The Shining Hour
17. You Can't Take it with You
18. Carefree
19. Vivacious Lady
20. Blond Cheat
21. Man-Proof
22. Maid's Night Out
1939:
1. The Rules of the Game
2. Stagecoach
3. Only Angels Have Wings
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
5. Gone with the Wind
6. Young Mr. Lincoln
7. The Wizard of Oz
8. Gunga Din
9. Ninotchka
10. The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums
11. Midnight
12. The Roaring Twenties
13. Destry Rides Again
14. Babes in Arms
15. Le jour se lève
16. Love Affair
17. Drums Along the Mohawk
18. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
19. Beau Geste
20. Goodbye Mr. Chips
21. It's a Wonderful World
22. The Old Maid
23. The Four Feathers
24. The Women
25. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
26. Intermezzo: A Love Story
27. Wuthering Heights
28. Dark Victory
29. The Hound of the Baskervilles
30. Jamaica Inn
31. Second Fiddle
32. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
33. Man in the Iron Mask
1940:
1. The Shop Around the Corner
2. The Philadelphia Story
3. Fantasia
4. His Girl Friday
5. Waterloo Bridge
6. Rebecca
7. The Grapes of Wrath
8. The Letter
9. The Long Voyage Home
10. The Mortal Storm
11. Remember the Night
12. They Drive By Night
13. The Bank Dick
14. The Broadway Melody of 1940
15. Comrade X
16. The Thief of Baghdad
17. Pinocchio
18. The Mark of Zorro
19. The Sea Hawk
20. The Great Dictator
21. Night Train to Munich
22. My Little Chickadee
23. Foreign Correspondent
24. Dark Command
25. My Favorite Wife
26. Virginia City
27. One Million BC
28. Santa Fe Trail
1941:
1. Citizen Kane
2. The Lady Eve
3. The Strawberry Blonde
4. The Shanghai Gesture
5. The Maltese Falcon
6. How Green Was My Valley
7. Suspicion
8. Ornamental Hairpin
9. Man Hunt
10. High Sierra
11. Sullivan's Travels
12. 49th Parallel
13. The Loyal 47 Ronin
14. Ball of Fire
15. The Devil and Daniel Webster
16. They Died with Their Boots On
17. That Hamilton Woman16. They Died with Their Boots On
18. HM Pulham, Esq
19. Sergeant York20. Dumbo
21. The Devil and Miss Jones
22. That Uncertain Feeling
23. The Little Foxes
24. Sundown
25. The Gay Falcon
26. Meet John Doe
27. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
28. Rage in Heaven
29. Two-Faced Woman
30. Tom, Dick and Harry
31. Smilin' Through
32. Belle Starr: The Bandit Queen
1942:
1. Casablanca
2. Cat People
3. The Palm Beach Story
4. The Magnificent Ambersons
5. Bambi
6. Once Upon a Honeymoon
7. Now, Voyager
8. To Be or Not To Be
9. There Was a Father
10. This Gun for Hire
11. I Married a Witch
12. Wake Island
13. The Glass Key
14. China Girl
15. The Black Swan
16. Yankee Doodle Dandy
17. Son of Fury
18. Woman of the Year
19. Saboteur
20. Talk of the Town
21. You Were Never Lovelier
22. For Me and My Gal
23. The Major and the Minor
24. Across the Pacific
25. In this Our Life
26. Keeper of the Flame
27. The Lady is Willing
1943:
1. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
2. Day of Wrath
3. Shadow of a Doubt
4. I Walked with a Zombie
5. Heaven Can Wait6. The Gang's All Here
7. Air Force
8. The Ox-Bow Incident
9. Sanshiro Sugata
10. Hangmen Also Die!
11. Cabin in the Sky
12. The Constant Nymph
13. The More the Merrier
14. This Land is Mine
15. The 7th Victim
16. Northern Pursuit
17. Meshes of the Afternoon
18. The Leopard Man
19. Mission to Moscow
20. Jane Eyre
21. Watch on the Rhine
22. Phantom of the Opera
23. Passport to Suez
1944:
1. A Canterbury Tale
2. Meet Me in St. Louis
3. To Have and Have Not
4. Ivan the Terrible Part 1
5. Double Indemnity
6. Laura
7. Going My Way
8. Curse of the Cat People
9. Passage to Marseille
10. Ministry of Fear
11. Jammin' the Blues
12. Lifeboat
13. The Woman in the Window
14. Phantom Lady
15. Mademoiselle Fifi
16. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
17. Gaslight
18. Cobra Woman
19. Henry V
20. The Lodger
21. The Three Caballeros
22. Arsenic & Old Lace
23. The Canterville Ghost
24. Murder, My Sweet
25. The Mask of Dimitrios
26. Bluebeard
27. One Mysterious Night
1945:
1. Children of Paradise
2. Rome, Open City
3. They Were Expendable
4. Scarlet Street
5. The Bells of St. Mary's
6. Brief Encounter
7. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
8. I Know Where I'm Going!
9. Objective: Burma!
10. Detour
11. Leave Her to Heaven
12. The Clock
13. Mildred Pierce
14. A Walk in the Sun
15. Fallen Angel
16. The Southerner
17. The Story of GI Joe
18. Yolanda and the Thief
19. Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
20. The Spanish Main
21. The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
22. The House on 92nd Street
23. The Picture of Dorian Gray
24. My Name is Julia Ross
25. A Song to Remember
26. Spellbound
27. Anchors Aweigh
28. The Spiral Staircase
29. Back to Bataan
30. Caesar and Cleopatra
31. The Lost Weekend
1946:
1. The Big Sleep
2. It's a Wonderful Life
3. A Matter of Life and Death
4. Notorious
5. My Darling Clementine
6. No Regrets for Our Youth
7. Paisan
8. The Best Years of Our Lives
9. Gilda
10. The Killers
11. Beauty and the Beast
12. The Postman Always Rings Twice
13. Deception
14. The Stranger
15. The Blue Dahlia
16. Dragonwyck
17. Duel in the Sun
18. Green for Danger
19. Undercurrent
20. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
21. A Scandal in Paris
22. Etoile sans lumière
23. Bedlam
24. The Harvey Girls
25. Tomorrow is Forever
26. Song of the South
27. A Night in Casablanca
1947:
1. Black Narcissus
2. Out of the Past
3. The Lady from Shanghai
4. Monsieur Verdoux
5. The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
6. Odd Man Out
7. T-Men
8. The Secret Beyond the Door
9. The Man I Love
10. Ramrod
11. Lured
12. The Woman on the Beach
13. Cheyenne
14. Crossfire
15. The Unsuspected
16. The Late George Apley
17. Born To Kill
18. Dark Passage
19. Sinbad the Sailor
20. Railroaded!
21. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
22. The Egg and I
23. Gentlemen's Agreement
1948:
1. The Red Shoes
2. The Pirate
3. Red River
4. Unfaithfully Yours
5. Fort Apache
6. Letter from an Unknown Woman
7. Louisiana Story
8. Spring in a Small Town
9. They Live by Night
10. Force of Evil
11. Moonrise
12. Portrait of Jennie13. Macbeth
14. Rope
15. The Naked City
16. He Walked by Night
17. Drunken Angel
18. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
19. The Big Clock
20. Hamlet
21. Easter Parade
22. Bicycle Thieves
23. 3 Godfathers
24. Words and Music
25. Key Largo
26. Blood on the Moon
27. Berlin Express
28. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
29. A Foreign Affair
30. The Three Musketeers
1949:
1. The Third Man
2. Late Spring
3. Under Capricorn
4. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
5. The Black Book
6. The Set-Up
7. Jour de fête
8. Thieves' Highway9. On the Town
10. Stray Dog
11. Kind Hearts and Coronets
12. The Small Back Room
13. I Was a Male War Bride
14. A Letter to Three Wives
15. Caught
16. The Fountainhead
17. Battleground
18. Colorado Territory
19. Shockproof
20. Madame Bovary
21. White Heat
22. Adam's Rib
23. Holiday Affair
24. Sands of Iwo Jima
25. I Shot Jesse James
26. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
27. Follow Me Quietly
28. Samson and Delilah
29. All the King's Men
30. The Big Steal
31. A Woman's Secret
32. The Barkleys of Broadway33. Knock on Any Door
34. Take Me Out to the Ballgame
35. Black Magic
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