Movies Of The Year: The Big List (1) 1914-1949

Here's how it works: A film's year is determined by what year IMDB says it is. Not because IMDB is especially accurate, but just because I need some easy to use way to figure out what movies I've seen and when they're from, and IMDB's the easiest and most comprehensive resource there is. So, I browse IMDB by year, pick out all the movies I've seen (and the ones I think I should see) and put them in some kind of order.

The order isn't definitive: ranking works of art is not meant to be a hierarchical activity, but rather an organizational one. It gives me a chance to write about some movies. 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 (though not nearly what it should be, as you can see from the Unseen lists in the individual Movies Of The Year entries).

The rankings change over time: when I see a new movie from a year I've already posted, I add it to The Big List here. Sometimes I'll see a movie again and my opinion of it will change, or my feelings about a film will evolve over time, and so I'll move it up or down its list here as well. The Big List is, and always will be, a work in progress.

This is Part One, 1914-1949.


1914:

1. Tillie's Punctured Romance

1915:

1. The Cheat
2. A Fool There Was
3. The Birth Of A Nation

1916:

1917:

1. The Immigrant
2. The Cure

1918:

1. A Dog's Life

1919:

1. Broken Blossoms
2. When The Clouds Roll By
3. Sunnyside

1920:

1. The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari
2. One Week
3. Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
4. The Mark Of Zorro

1921:

1. The Kid
2. The Play House
3. The 'High Sign'
4. Manhatta
5. The Sheik

1922:

1. Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror
2. Nanook Of The North
3. Cops
4. Häxan
5. Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler
6. The Blacksmith

1923:

1. Our Hospitality
2. The Three Ages
3. The Balloonatic

1924:

1. Sherlock, Jr.
2. The Last Laugh
3. Greed
4. The Iron Horse

1925:

1. Battleship Potemkin
2. Seven Chances
3. The Gold Rush
4. The Freshman
5. The Phantom of the Opera

1926:

1. 3 Bad Men
2. The Adventures Of Prince Achmed
3. Faust

1927:

1. Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans
2. The General
3. Seventh Heaven
4. Wings
5. Metropolis
6. It

1928:

1. Steamboat Bill, Jr.
2. The Passion Of Joan Of Arc
3. The Circus
4. Speedy

1929:

1. The Man With A Movie Camera
2. Blackmail
3. Pandora's Box
4. The Love Parade
5. The Cocoanuts

1930:

1. Morocco
2. The Dawn Patrol
3. Earth
4. City Girl
5. Animal Crackers
6. All Quiet On The Western Front
7. À propos de Nice
8. Monte Carlo
9. Murder!
10. Ladies Of Leisure
11. Abraham Lincoln


1931:

1. City Lights
2. Tabu: A Story Of The South Seas
3. M
4. Le Million
5. Tokyo Chorus
6. À nous la liberté
7. The Threepenny Opera
8. Kameradschaft
9. Monkey Business
10. Little Caesar
11. The Smiling Lieutenant
12. Frankenstein
13. The Public Enemy
14. Night Nurse
15. The Criminal Code
16. Platinum Blonde
17. Arrowsmith

1932:

1. Vampyr
2. Shanghai Express
3. Scarface
4. I Was Born But . . .
5. Trouble In Paradise
6. Blonde Venus
7. Red Dust
8. A Farewell To Arms
9. The Old Dark House
10. Boudu Saved From Drowning
11. The Most Dangerous Game
12. Red-Headed Woman
13. The Music Box
14. One Hour With You
15. Rain
16. Forbidden
17. The Mask Of Fu Manchu
18. Freaks
19. Thirteen Women
20. Grand Hotel
21. Horse Feathers
22. The Crowd Roars
23. Bird Of Paradise
24. Bill Of Divorcement

1933:

1. Duck Soup
2. King Kong
3. Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
4. 42nd Street
5. Baby Face
6. Footlight Parade
7. Passing Fancy
8. Zéro de conduite
9. Golddiggers Of 1933
10. Queen Christina
11. Sons Of The Desert
12. The Private Life Of Henry VIII
13. Little Women
14. Mystery Of The Wax Museum
15. Flying Down To Rio
16. Penthouse
17. Topaze
18. She Done Him Wrong
19. Stingaree
20. Bombshell

1934:

1. L'Atalante
2. A Story Of Floating Weeds
3. The Thin Man
4. Judge Priest
5. The Man Who Knew Too Much
6. Twentieth Century
7. It Happened One Night
8. Our Daily Bread
9. The Merry Widow
10. It's a Gift
11. A Lost Lady
12. The Lost Patrol
13. The Gay Divorcee
14. Manhattan Melodrama
15. Death Takes A Holiday

1935:

1. Top Hat
2. Ruggles Of Red Gap
3. The 39 Steps
4. The Devil Is A Woman
5. Steamboat Round The Bend
6. The Informer
7. Sylvia Scarlett
8. The Good Fairy
9. Mutiny On The Bounty
10. A Midsummer Night's Dream
11. A Night At The Opera
12. Captain Blood
13. If You Could Only Cook
14. Mark Of The Vampire
15. China Seas
16. Shipmates Forever

1936:

1. Modern Times
2. Swing Time
3. Sisters Of The Gion
4. Show Boat
5. Fury
6. Follow The Fleet
7. Last Of The Mohicans
8. My Man Godfrey
9. The Prisoner Of Shark Island
10. Camille
11. The Garden Of Allah
12. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
13. The Charge Of The Light Brigade
14. After The Thin Man
15. Libeled Lady
16. Mary Of Scotland
17. The Petrified Forest
18. Romeo And Juliet

1937:

1. The Awful Truth
2. The Grand Illusion
3. Wee Willie Winkie
4. A Star Is Born
5. Shall We Dance
6. Easy Living
7. You Only Live Once
8. Pepe le Moko
9. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
10. The Hurricane
11. A Day At The Races
12. Dead End
13. Nothing Sacred
14. Stage Door
15. Hollywood Hotel
16. Lost Horizon
17. Stella Dallas
18. The Spanish Earth
19. King Solomon's Mines

1938:

1. Bringing Up Baby
2. The Adventures Of Robin Hood
3. Alexander Nevsky
4. The Lady Vanishes
5. Jezebel
6. Three Comrades
7. Angels With Dirty Faces
8. You Can't Take It With You
9. Holiday
10. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
11. Carefree
12. Vivacious Lady
13. Blond Cheat
14. Man-Proof
15. Maid's Night Out

1939:

1. The Rules Of The Game
2. Stagecoach
3. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
4. Young Mr. Lincoln
5. Gone With The Wind
6. Only Angels Have Wings
7. The Wizard Of Oz
8. Ninotchka
9. Gunga Din
10. Love Affair
11. The Story Of The Late Chrysanthemums
12. Destry Rides Again
13. Midnight
14. Babes In Arms
15. Le jour se lève
16. Drums Along The Mohawk
17. The Hunchback Of Notre-Dame
18. Beau Geste
19. Goodbye Mr. Chips
20. The Roaring Twenties
21. The Four Feathers
22. The Old Maid
23. The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex
24. Wuthering Heights
25. Dark Victory
26. The Women
27. Jamaica Inn
28. Man In The Iron Mask

1940:

1. The Shop Around The Corner
2. Fantasia
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. His Girl Friday
5. Rebecca
6. The Letter
7. Waterloo Bridge
8. The Grapes Of Wrath
9. The Bank Dick
10. The Long Voyage Home
11. The Thief Of Baghdad
12. Pinocchio
13. The Mark Of Zorro
14. The Mortal Storm
15. The Great Dictator
16. My Little Chickadee
17. Foreign Correspondent
18. The Sea Hawk
19. Dark Command
20. They Drive By Night
21. My Favorite Wife
22. Virginia City
23. One Million BC
24. Santa Fe Trail

1941:

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Maltese Falcon
3. The Lady Eve
4. Suspicion
5. Sullivan's Travels
6. How Green Was My Valley
7. The Devil And Daniel Webster
8. The Loyal 47 Ronin
9. The Shanghai Gesture
10. Ball Of Fire
11. Sergeant York
12. 49th Parallel
13. Dumbo
14. The Little Foxes
15. Meet John Doe
16. High Sierra
17. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
18. Rage In Heaven
19. Two-Faced Woman
20. Tom, Dick And Harry
21. Smilin' Through
22. Belle Starr: The Bandit Queen

1942:

1. Casablanca
2. Cat People
3. The Palm Beach Story
4. Now, Voyager
5. The Magnificent Ambersons
6. I Married A Witch
7. To Be Or Not To Be
8. Wake Island
9. This Gun For Hire
10. The Glass Key
11. Woman Of The Year
12. Bambi
13. Yankee Doodle Dandy
14. Once Upon A Honeymoon
15. Talk Of The Town
16. You Were Never Lovelier
17. For Me And My Gal
18. The Major And The Minor
19. Across The Pacific
20. In This Our Life
21. Keeper Of The Flame
22. The Lady Is Willing

1943:

1. Day Of Wrath
2. The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp
3. The Gang's All Here
4. Air Force
5. The Ox-Bow Incident
6. Shadow Of A Doubt
7. I Walked With A Zombie
8. Sanshiro Sugata
9. Hangmen Also Die!
10. Cabin In The Sky
11. The 7th Victim
12. Meshes Of The Afternoon
13. The Leopard Man
14. The More The Merrier
15. Watch On The Rhine
16. Phantom Of The Opera
17. Passport To Suez

1944:

1. A Canterbury Tale
2. Ivan The Terrible Part 1
3. To Have And Have Not
4. Double Indemnity
5. Laura
6. Going My Way
7. Meet Me In St. Louis
8. The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek
9. Lifeboat
10. Gaslight
11. Arsenic & Old Lace
12. Henry V
13. The Three Caballeros
14. Murder, My Sweet
15. The Mask Of Dimitrios
16. Bluebeard
17. One Mysterious Night

1945:

1. Children Of Paradise
2. The Men Who Tread On The Tiger's Tail
3. I Know Where I'm Going!
4. Detour
5. Brief Encounter
6. Leave Her To Heaven
7. Rome, Open City
8. They Were Expendable
9. The Story Of GI Joe
10. The Bells Of St. Mary's
11. The Clock
12. Yolanda And The Thief
13. Mildred Pierce
14. Fallen Angel
15. The Picture Of Dorian Gray
16. Spellbound
17. A Walk In The Sun
18. The Southerner
19. Anchors Aweigh
20. My Name Is Julia Ross
21. The Spiral Staircase
22. Back To Bataan
23. Caesar And Cleopatra
24. Objective: Burma!
25. The Lost Weekend
26. The Spanish Main

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. Paisan
7. The Best Years Of Our Lives
8. Gilda
9. Deception
10. The Killers
11. The Stranger
12. Beauty And The Beast
13. The Blue Dahlia
14. Duel In The Sun
15. Green For Danger
16. The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers
17. A Scandal In Paris
18. Bedlam
19. The Harvey Girls
20. Tomorrow Is Forever
21. Song Of The South
22. The Postman Always Rings Twice
23. 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. Crossfire
8. T-Men
9. Lured
10. Born To Kill
11. Ramrod
12. The Late George Apley
13. The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer
14. Dark Passage
15. Gentlemen's Agreement
16. Railroaded!
17. Sinbad The Sailor

1948:

1. The Red Shoes
2. Red River
3. Fort Apache
4. Letter From An Unknown Woman
5. Unfaithfully Yours
6. The Pirate
7. Spring In A Small Town
8. Rope
9. Macbeth
10. Portrait Of Jennie
11. They Live By Night
12. Force Of Evil
13. He Walked By Night
14. The Naked City
15. The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
16. Hamlet
17. Bicycle Thieves
18. 3 Godfathers
19. Words And Music
20. Key Largo
21. Blood On The Moon
22. Berlin Express
23. A Foreign Affair
24. Easter Parade
25. The Three Musketeers

1949:

1. The Third Man
2. Late Spring
3. Stray Dog
4. The Set-Up
5. Jour de fête
6. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
7. Kind Hearts And Coronets
8. Thieves' Highway
9. A Letter To Three Wives
10. The Fountainhead
11. Battleground
12. White Heat
13. The Small Back Room
14. Adam's Rib
15. Sands Of Iwo Jima
16. I Shot Jesse James
17. On The Town
18. The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad
19. The Barkleys Of Broadway
20. The Big Steal
21. Follow Me Quietly
22. Knock On Any Door
23. Take Me Out To The Ballgame
24. Black Magic