Classic Film : Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Here are the results and some statistics for the most recent CFB yearly poll, for 1959

Total ballots: 71
Total films mentioned: 251

For this year, I will be highlighting as "obscure" those films with under 500 votes from IMDb users.

As usual, the first number is the rank, the second is the number of ballots the film appears on, and the third is the total number of points attained.

01. .. 51 .. 686.0 North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock)
02. .. 38 .. 624.0 Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais)
03. .. 45 .. 584.5 Les quatre cents coups / The 400 Blows (François Truffaut)
04. .. 40 .. 554.0 Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder)
05. .. 37 .. 513.0 Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger)
06. .. 27 .. 389.0 Ballada o soldate / Ballad of a Soldier (Grigoriy Chukhray)
07. .. 32 .. 385.0 Ben-Hur (William Wyler)
08. .. 31 .. 348.0 Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)
09. .. 26 .. 330.0 Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)
10. .. 22 .. 326.0 Apur Sansar / World of Apu (Satyajit Ray)

11. .. 25 .. 302.5 Room at the Top (Jack Clayton)
12. .. 23 .. 292.0 Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)
13. .. 27 .. 290.5 Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
14. .. 24 .. 262.0 The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann)
15. .. 20 .. 260.0 Ukikusa / Floating Weeds (Yasujirô Ozu)
16. .. 21 .. 257.0 Shadows (John Cassavetes)
17. .. 21 .. 246.0 Nobi / Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa)
18. .. 21 .. 212.0 Ohayô / Good Morning (Yasujirô Ozu)
19. .. 15 .. 208.0 Ningen no jôken (I) / The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (Masaki Kobayashi)
20. .. 18 .. 186.5 Ride Lonesome (Budd Boetticher)

21. .. 18 .. 182.5 Orfeu Negro / Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus)
22. .. 15 .. 172.5 Nazarín (Luis Buñuel)
23. .. 17 .. 169.5 Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henry Levin)
24. .. 12 .. 161.0 Ningen no jôken (II) / The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (Masaki Kobayashi)
25. .. 12 .. 158.0 Day of the Outlaw (André De Toth)
26. .. 14 .. 157.0 I'm All Right Jack (John Boulting)
27. .. 11 .. 153.0 Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson)
28. .. 13 .. 134.5 Odds Against Tomorrow (Robert Wise)
29. .. 13 .. 133.0 Neotpravlennoe Pismo / Letter Never Sent (Mikahil Kalatozov)
30. .. 15 .. 124.5 Sleeping Beauty (Clyde Geronimi)
31. .. 12 .. 122.5 The Diary of Anne Frank (George Stevens)
32. .. 12 .. 121.0 Pociag / Night Train (Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
33. .. 12 .. 109.0 On the Beach (Stanley Kramer)
34. .. 09 .. 108.0 Compulsion (Richard Fleischer)
34. .. 11 .. 108.0 The Mouse That Roared (Jack Arnold)
36. .. 07 .. 103.0 Araya (Margot Benacerraf)
36. .. 11 .. 103.0 Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon)
38. .. 08 .. 094.5 The Hanging Tree (Delmer Daves)
39. .. 10 .. 094.0 Die Brücke / The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki)
40. .. 13 .. 092.0 The Hound of the Baskervilles (Terence Fisher)

41. .. 11 .. 088.5 Les cousins / The Cousins (Claude Chabrol)
42. .. 08 .. 086.5 Der Tiger von Eschnapur / The Tiger of Eschnapur + Das indische Grabmal / The Indian Tomb (Fritz Lang)
43. .. 07 .. 083.0 Last Train from Gun Hill (John Sturges)
44. .. 08 .. 082.0 A Bucket of Blood (Roger Corman)
45. .. 07 .. 080.0 Donald in Mathmagic Land (Hamilton Luske)
45. .. 07 .. 080.0 Sapphire (Basil Dearden)
47. .. 06 .. 076.5 Warlock (Edward Dmytryk)
48. .. 09 .. 076.0 Il generale Della Rovere / General Della Rovere (Roberto Rossellini)
49. .. 09 .. 075.5 The Mummy (Terence Fisher)
50. .. 07 .. 073.5 Sterne / Stars (Konrad Wolf)
51. .. 08 .. 072.0 North West Frontier (J. Lee Thompson)
52. .. 05 .. 069.0 Jakten / The Chasers / The Hunt (Erik Løchen)
52. .. 09 .. 069.0 Plan 9 from Outer Space (Edward D. Wood, Jr)
54. .. 07 .. 067.5 The House on Haunted Hill (William Castle)
55. .. 05 .. 065.5 Doa al karawan / The Curlew's Cry / The Nightingale's Prayer (Henry Barakat)
55. .. 07 .. 065.5 Shake Hands With the Devil (Michael Anderson)
57. .. 07 .. 061.0 No Name on the Bullet (Jack Arnold)
57. .. 08 .. 061.0 Our Man in Havana (Carol Reed)
59. .. 06 .. 059.0 The Crimson Kimono (Samuel Fuller)
59. .. 05 .. 059.0 La grande guerra / The Great War (Mario Monicelli)

61. .. 06 .. 054.5 Kaagaz Ke Phool / Paper Flowers (Guru Dutt)
62. .. 07 .. 053.0 The Devil's Disciple (Guy Hamilton)
63. .. 04 .. 050.5 Operation Petticoat (Blake Edwards)
63. .. 04 .. 050.0 Le testament du Docteur Cordelier / The Doctor's Horrible Experiment / Experiment in Evil (Jean Renoir)
65. .. 06 .. 050.0 Expresso Bongo (Val Guest)
66. .. 04 .. 049.0 The Wonderful Country (Robert Parrish)
67. .. 04 .. 047.0 They Came to Cordura (Robert Rossen)
68. .. 04 .. 046.0 Une simple histoire / A Simple Story (Marcel Hanoun)
69. .. 04 .. 045.0 India: Matri Bhumi (Roberto Rossellini)
70. .. 03 .. 043.0 Danger Within / Breakout (Don Chaffey)
71. .. 04 .. 042.0 Un maledetto imbroglio / The Facts of Murder (Pietro Germi)
72. .. 04 .. 040.0 La notte brava / The Big Night (Mauro Bolognini)
73. .. 04 .. 039.0 Le chant du Styrène / The Song of Plastic (Alain Resnais)
74. .. 04 .. 037.5 Blind Date / Chance Meeting (Joseph Losey)


Films that received 1st-place votes - voter profile
(ranked in order of number of first-place votes received, then by total points received)

10 - Hiroshima mon amour - ali-112, Blue_Leaf, emeiserloh, Gloede_The_Saint, MarcusCinemus, morrison-dylan-fan, Perception_de_Ambiguity, RogerTheMovieManiac88, the_beer_hunter, timmy_501
9 - Anatomy of a Murder - farne, Good_Will_Harding, hobnob53, LuxNatalis, Maddyclassicfilms, OldAussie, Rufus-T, Signa815, wholesomefolsom
6 - North by Northwest - AssetsonFire, dizexpat, leifeng_2003, Red-Barracuda, soullimbo, Spikeopath
5 - Les quatre cents coups - boudu_sauve_des_eaux, DryToast, honesthughgrant, miran_kor, Modern_Classics
5 - Some Like it Hot - creightonhale, Mpo141, osullivan60, retroman2, rudeboy_murray
5 - Ballada o soldate - awoodbine, bkamberger, Fredcdobbs101, PoppyTransfusion, zetes
4 - Ben-Hur - AlanSwann, dooncan, rcocean3, ziggystar86
3 - Apur Sansar - Friend_of_Millhouse, gerkyo, interiorday
2 - Imitation of Life - ManoftheHour, tobias-681-466452
2 - Pociag - Carmel98, g_monte
1 - Room at the Top - Raymond_chandler
1 - Suddenly, Last Summer - timshelboy
1 - The Nun's Story - flake-y
1 - Ukikusa - Jamie-Steel
1 - Shadows - zolaaar
1 - Tiger Bay - sol-
1 - Araya - road-traveled
1 - The Hanging Tree - JeffersonCody
1 - A Bucket of Blood - oOgiandujaOo
1 - Jakten -Rollo_Treadway
1 - Doa al karawan - OldAle1
1 - The Devil's Disciple - GSPdude
1 - Il tempo si èfermato / Time Stood Still (Ermanno Olmi) - Lynchs - film received 2 votes for 25 points
1 - L'île du bout du monde / Temptation (Edmond Gréville) - jdidaco - only points received

UNRANKED BALLOTS:

Addison_De_Witt
ANGEL_GLEZ
Bob-Rohrer
cayado-coro
Ethan_Ford
melvelvit-1


Awards Times

Oscars

05. Anatomy of a Murder
07. Ben-Hur (winner)
11. Room at the Top
14. The Nun's Story
31. The Diary of Anne Frank


Berlin

41. Les cousins


Cannes

21. Orfeu Negro


Venice

48. Il generale Della Rovere
59. La grande guerra
(tie)


Unique Points of Viewing

morrison-dylan-fan and sol- did their usual yeoman work in hunting out obscurities, each choosing 13 films unique to their lists.


Genre round-up

While "women's pictures", a mainstay of Hollywood and many other film industries (particularly Japan) in the classic era did find some purchase in the walls of this poll, what strikes me as notable are the vast numbers of great westerns and war films that made an impact in 1959, with the former still an exclusively American province (for the time being), while the latter saw films coming primarily from the biggest losers and sufferers in the previous generation's big conflict. And I might note that the #1 film chronicles a journey westward, though not by horseback, and the #2 film certainly deals with the horrors of war, or the memory of it at least. But this is still the 50s, and not everything has to be aimed at boys yet, as Douglas Sirk and a few others showed.

CATTLE DRIVE

08. Rio Bravo
20. Ride Lonesome
25. Day of the Outlaw
38. The Hanging Tree
43. Last Train from Gun Hill
47. Warlock
57. No Name on the Bullet
66. The Wonderful Country
67. They Came to Cordura

These Thousand Hills barely missed.

NATIONS COLLIDE

06. Ballada o soldata (USSR)
17. Nobi (Japan)
19. Ningen no jôken (I) (Japan)
24. Ningen no jôken (II) (Japan)
31. The Diary of Anne Frank (USA)
39. Die Brücke (West Germany)
50. Sterne (East Germany)
59. La grande guerra (Italy)
70. Danger Within (UK)

Just missed out: Yesterday's Enemy (UK)

Since this is the last poll before Halloween, I'd like to highlight the horror films from this year - but alas, few of them made much impact, with The Mummy barely edging out Plan 9 on a handful of votes apiece. The boom years for Hammer, the giallo, and Japanese ghost stories were for the most part yet to come.

And finally, the CFB's love for thrillers and noir is manifest in yet another win for Alfred Hitchcock, his 9th:

1935 The 39 Steps
1938 The Lady Vanishes
1940 Rebecca
1946 Notorious
1951 Strangers on a Train
1954 Rear Window
1958 Vertigo
1959 North by Northwest
1960 Psycho




You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

As always many thanks for running these polls OldAle. It's always interesting to read everybody's film choices and it's fun speculating on which film will take the number one place.

Not surprised that North By Northwest won and I'm happy that The World of Apu and Anatomy of A Murder did so well. Nice to see Tiger Bay doing quite well too.





Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Good stuff as usual and an interesting write-up. The top 5 was fairly predictable I think, but the placing less so - a bit surprising that the Resnais finished so high.

A shame Yesterday's Enemy didn't make it. What's the criteria to get on the list, is it 3 votes/35 points?

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results


What's the criteria to get on the list, is it 3 votes/35 points?


Yes. Both criteria. Yesterday's Enemy was very close at 5/34. Actually there seemed to be more films than usual "bubbling under"; lots of films that were liked by several people but which nobody put near the tops of their lists.

You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

1 point out - you're such a stickler for the rules!

So in theory, a film could get 40 points from 2 votes but still not make it. Have you thought about relaxing the rules a bit, or does that just let in too many more films?

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Typically when there are films that have 40 points from 2 users, I mention them (there were none this time); but films with lots of votes but under 35 points can be quite numerous, sometimes up to 15-20, and I'm already highlighting anywhere from 60-90 films per poll. It just struck me as a reasonable cutoff - and even so there are films that make the list that are very hard to find and have no commercial video releases, like this year's Une simple histoire, a film with less than 100 IMDb votes and no DVD release in France, the UK, the USA, or probably anywhere else.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

You always highlight the #1 films anyway, so it would still get a mention. You have to draw the line somewhere and I suppose when you get to 25-35 points it could just be 2 people who like an obscurity.

Did you say recently that you were going to post some of the previous results or did I imagine that?

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Really wonderful to see Resnais' spellbinding, deeply memorable and utterly astonishing masterpiece come in in second place. Relatively close to top spot while featuring on a whole thirteen ballots less than the winning film! Terrific showing and I think it probably is the outstanding motion picture of 1959.

I'm also particularly glad to see 'Sterne' there. It's a well structured film with an understated air of horror and melancholia that builds to several extraordinarily moving scenes of mounting pathos and anticipation of loss.

Not too many others of mine made the cut. Boo-hoo! It is nice to know, however, that Barakat's amazing melodrama 'Doa al karawan' managed a few mentions. And, 'Araya' did alright as well. A hugely distinctive and utterly fascinating examination of these people and their harsh existence.

Cheers for all you have done for this poll. Nice work!


That's all, folks!

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

OldAle1, you are the Boss. What a delightful process this is, both as a participant and as an observer. Your efforts (and those of Spikeopath) have earned you both endless quantities of good karma from the Cinema Powers That Be. Bravo!

... and, on a personal note: Room at the Top! #11/251! Ya-Hoo, little doggies, Ya-Hoo!!!

As iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Thank you, sir.

Aside from Hitch, it might be fun to see statistics of other directors who have topped the polls more than once. (I'm guessing fan favorites Allen, Bergman, Buñuel, Fellini and Kurosawa may be candidates for repeat winners.)

Is 1965 the last remaining Sixties year?



→ God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety ←

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results


Aside from Hitch, it might be fun to see statistics of other directors who have topped the polls more than once


I think this is reasonably accurate:

3 - Allen - Annie Hall, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Crimes and Misdmeanors
3 - Chaplin - The Kid, The Gold Rush, Modern Times
3 - Kubrick - Dr. Strangelove, 2001, Full Metal Jacket*
3 - Polanski - Repulsion, Chinatown, The Pianist**

2 - Keaton - Our Hospitality, The General
2 - Lynch - Blue Velvet, Mulholland Dr
2 - Murnau - Nosferatu, Sunrise
2 - Scorsese - Taxi Driver, Goodfellas
2 - Scott - Alien, Blade Runner
2 - Spielberg - Jaws, Schindler's List

* I think; I don't seem to have the 1964 results at the moment. I still have to get them all together from a couple of computers and drives. How am I able to be so disorganized with mere movie polls? I don't know.

** Since I will be re-running 1965, I would imagine there's at least some chance this one will change.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Good lord what a list! Its says a lot about the previous votes if Hollywood stuff like Jaws, Schindler's List, Alien, Repulsion, Chinatown, The Pianist, Full Metal Jacket, and The Purple Rose of Cairo won in the past.

I thought the voters were sophisticates who knew World film.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results


I thought the voters were sophisticates who knew World film.

Not everyone snobbishly excludes films just because they're well known or made in America. Every one of those films is popular for a reason, and it's quite obvious they will fare well when a majority of voters have seen them (even if they put a different film at #1). It doesn't mean the poll is compiled by philistines.

Also, the idea that Repulsion is a Hollywood film is ridiculous, on several levels.


That is a masterpiece of understatement.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

I think he might be sarcastic here but I can't say I always know with rc.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Based on my own past experience, I would say sarcasm is a near-certainty. Also, refer to Pillow Talk comment down-thread. I find rcocean to be an honestly candid CFB member, and I am always intrigued by his comments.

As iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Okay, I'm not really familiar with his tastes or posting style so didn't realise. Although I was taken aback that someone could be so openly snobby, so I'm relieved! But you do find some film buffs who would turn their noses up at most of those films and even make such comments sincerely. Not a good attitude.


That is a masterpiece of understatement.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

It happens sometimes. When the J.K. Rowlings books (Harry Potter) became such a sensation about 18(?) or so years ago, I used to joke to my friends with kids that the books were printed on paper laced with cocaine, because addiction was the only possible reason for such mass hysteria. Later on, I attended Harry Potter 4 at a megaplex with those same friends and their children, and I had a marvelous time. So much so that I have watched the entire series of 8 films twice. However, I still am leery of reading the books.

As iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Could you be referring to the Repulsion produced by Pandro S. Berman, lensed by Joseph Ruttenberg, from a screenplay by Anita Loos, Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, and Sonya Levien? Ah, yes, that standard bit of Hollywood fluff, Repulsion.

Kurosawa.

Hi Ale,I first want to say thank you for running the poll, (I am a bit surprise that Buñuel's Fever Mounts did not get enough votes for a place on the list)and that after seeing your list of directors who have had a film win the top spot,I was just wondering about what the highest rankings have been for Kurosawa's films?

Thanks.

Re: Kurosawa.

Not at home right now with access to old polls but if memory serves Seven Samurai cane in 3rd, and Ikiru and Yojimbo were both top 5-6. Probably Rashomon was also, and maybe Ran. No wins though.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

I'm frankly astonished that 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' and 'Full Metal Jacket' topped the polls for the years in question! The rest I can understand but these two really struck me as unexpected.

That's all, folks!

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

I remember being pretty shocked at The Purple Rose of Cairo's win, but so many years followed where not particularly great Woody Allen films finished in the top 10. God, I'd think almost any year with a Woody Allen film is guaranteed to have it finish in the top 10. Post-Bullets Over Broadway, still top 20.

If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.

Nations Collide

Assuming you mean films with the events of WWII as the setting or background, can I add a few more titles that appear on the list?

Hiroshima mon amour (flashbacks)
Il generale Della Rovere
Operation Petticoat

I saw some more and it really seems to have been a big topic in cinema that year, more than in the years around 1959. I wonder why.

Re: Nations Collide

Good points. I was thinking mostly of films that actually deal with combat/front line stuff, and expanding it more - yeah, there really is a focus on it this year. Perhaps it had a little to do with the 20th anniversary of the war starting, or (just as likely) the Cold War heating up and troubles in Vietnam becoming more obvious outside of that country and France.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Nations Collide

The Nun's Story, also (the last third of the film).


That is a masterpiece of understatement.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Fine results. I am surprised North by Northwest didn't dominate. In fact, it seems to have won based on lower-placed votes. Even I couldn't deny it was one of the top 20 films of the year, and I disagree with those who would remove a film from their list just because it's popular. I am also very surprised that it is Hiroshima mon amour which challenges it most closely. I would have expected The 400 Blows to be much more popular. Obviously it's nipping at its heels.

As for Japanese ghost stories, I'm guessing The Yatsuya Ghost Story didn't get any votes? I thought it was only okay. And you forgot to mention House on Haunted Hill, which I also didn't like, but which did decently in the poll.

If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results


Even I couldn't deny it was one of the top 20 films of the year, and I disagree with those who would remove a film from their list just because it's popular.


I disagree with your disagreement

Anyway, I think that those of us who do drop the popular stuff do so for the reason that we're (perhaps foolishly) hoping to highlight stuff other people have missed, and hoping to have a more diverse and interesting final results list. At least, that's my reasoning. As for N by NW and this year in particular - I ended up with 13 films that I rate 10 and 27 that I rate 9, for 40 possibilities in all. The Hitchcock in fact would not make my top 20; having just seen it again on TCM a few months ago, I'm getting a bit tired of it. It's a fun but to me fairly empty film, and at least a half-dozen of the Master's other films are just as entertaining to me but offer more substance. And it feels a bit overlong at this point.

In any case, I have a general rule that always applies that between films that I like just about equally, I'll usually pick the less popular example(s); nobody needs reminding how great any of the top few films are, including me.

The Ghost of Yotsuya was on two lists for 5 points; I considered it for my own list and obviously liked it much more than you did - the camerawork alone makes it pretty special IMO.



You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

I think both The Ghost of Yatsuya and the other film by the same director I've seen, Hell, have great makeup and production design, but are fairly artless otherwise.

I like to go with my honest opinion, and my wish is that all others would do the same. I would agree if there were a dozen films that I liked more or less equally, I might go for the more obscure choices, but I can usually choose between two films more easily than others might be able to.

If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Thanks for all the hard work you've put into this!!!
What a great year.

The Hitchcock winner and Rio Bravo being the highest placed western were probably predictable but both results leave me a little disappointed.

In a fantastic year for westerns the well-known Hawks film finished in front of many better but I suspect less seen films of the genre e.g. all the other titles you highlight in the results.


"I thought you said you were a musician."

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Totally agree re: Rio Bravo, which I just watched for about the 4th time the other night. It's a really good film certainly, with one of the Duke's best performances and probably Dean Martin's peak as an actor - but I've always been a little mystified at it's canonization as one of the absolute best. The climax just feels so - anticlimactic - and it feels about 20 minutes too long to me. Ride Lonesome is a much better film IMO and The Hanging Tree and No Name on the Bullet are at least as good. In fact one of my regrets for this poll is that I didn't get to watch more westerns myself; would have liked to make time for They Came to Cordura and These Thousand Hills in particular.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Rio Bravo

I actually like the remake with Bob Mitchum better. And I agree "Ride Lonesome" is a better film.

I suppose in the 50s and 60s being "too long" wasn't really a defect. Film goers thought they were getting value for their money, and the movies always got chopped up when they were shown on TV. But with the exception of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" which is only 91 minutes, pretty much every Hawks movie after 1950 is "too long" for me.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

I watched it again for this poll thinking it might get in the Top 20 but . It's not bad but it just seems bit flabby and rambling. And it has one really bad performance, whoever plays the kid (Ricky Nelson?)

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Superb work as always! North by Northwest isn't quite top five Hitchcock for me but it's hard to argue with it topping the poll. My watch list always swells when the results of these polls are revealed.

Pillow Talk

I'm somewhat shocked that only 11 people out of 71 thought it worthy of a vote. I mean its not a Top 10 film but still...

Well, at least "I'm all right Jack" got 14 votes.

Re: Pillow Talk

I'm rather surprised by the relatively poor showing of Pillow Talk as well - I thought this kind of film was more popular here - certainly Doris Day has a big enough CFB fanbase. But maybe most of the people who talk about her on other threads just aren't voting here? Dunno.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Pillow Talk


I'm rather surprised by the relatively poor showing of Pillow Talk as well - I thought this kind of film was more popular here - certainly Doris Day has a big enough CFB fanbase. But maybe most of the people who talk about her on other threads just aren't voting here? Dunno.


A lot of the people who vote in the CFB yearly polls don't seem to do much at IMDB except vote in polls.

So there's that.

Re: Pillow Talk

There's nothing wrong with that. There have always been a lot of lurkers who will post only on polls and such. It's been that way since way back in the Fixing the Oscar days.

If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Glad to see Hiroshima high .. but no no no it's not second to that pastel-coloured spy romp, no :) Similarly glad to see La notte brava in the list, I guess, given that not so long ago it was impossible to find, but it's a shame it wasn't higher all the same. Nazarán on the other hand is ridiculously low - we ought to start plugging it again...

If they organise the revolution like they did this meeting, what'll happen?

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

soooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) didn't even make the list......but pleasantly surprised Ohayô (1959) was so high.

Excellent work all round , not sure if someone has asked this before , but is there any chance you have links to previous poll winners ? ( for those of us who are recent additions to the CFB)

" I'm just gonna go find a cash machine..."

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Nazarin, and, in fact, many Bunuel films are desperately in need of video releases, at least in the USA. There must be some rights issues with so many of his middle-period films. I think Nazarin has actually had a couple of DVD releases over the years, but they were poor (I think at least one was unsubtitled - which seems to be a huge waste of money in my mind). Why are the boutique labels avoiding these films? I want this one and The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz especially.

If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Yup. It's been a while since I've seen a Buñuel actually - saw this one in the cinema sometime in the 90s, and that's how I've seen most of the half of so of his filmography that I've seen. Even finding really good downloads of some of his stuff isn't always easy. I think, in the USA anyway, perhaps he's a bit out of fashion among film buffs - though at least a few of his major films have been released by Criterion or other decent labels over the years, which is more than one could say for plenty of other greats.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

I've got a DVD, subbed, distributed by an outfit called Yume Films. It's been a while since I watched it but I don't think it was better than barely adequate. And yet those early Buñuel films are extraordinary.

If they organise the revolution like they did this meeting, what'll happen?

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Nazarin was the film that kind of got him back into Europe (and America, since The Young One came the next year).

If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.

Re: Year-by-Year Polls: 1959 - Results

Thanks as always! Very good results on the whole. I'm especially pleased with Room at the Top's position - it didn't even make the top 25 on FG.

Warlock should be higher though. I rewatched that on the big screen recently and it's a great, psychological western.


And finally, the CFB's love for thrillers and noir is manifest in yet another win for Alfred Hitchcock, his 9th:

1935 The 39 Steps
1938 The Lady Vanishes
1940 Rebecca
1946 Notorious
1951 Strangers on a Train
1954 Rear Window
1958 Vertigo
1959 North by Northwest
1960 Psycho

Wow, that's some major dominance.


That is a masterpiece of understatement.

Re: 1959 Results: Kagi (The Key) Odd Obsession

Kagi (1959)

How has this film so thoroughly disappeared from our awareness? It was an art-house mainstay back in the day. Based on a Tanizaki novel. Great cast, including Machiko Kyo and Tatsuya Nakadai. Directed by the amazing Kon Ichikawa, whose Nobi (Fires on the Plain) is well known and did well in this poll. Somehow, Odd Obsession has tumbled into undeserved obscurity, from which I hope it speedily recovers.

I should add that the film's present obscurity seems to be entirely for commercial reasons, in other words, availability of the film to be seen. That's what needs to be corrected.


Put it on a tripod!

Re: 1959 Results: Kagi (The Key) Odd Obsession

I've been aware of that one - dimly aware, anyway - for at least 20 years, I remember the VHS box from the video stores I worked it. But I never have gotten around to seeing it and it looks like it's not available on DVD in the USA or UK. As I mentioned above there are always a few films with very limited availability that make the poll (usually the lower rungs of the poll) but there are far more that don't and I guess this was one of them.

You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: 1959 Results: Kagi (The Key) Odd Obsession

See, I have in my mind a number of what I think are standard titles: films that I assume must be available even if only on some specialist label. Kagi is one of them. I'm brought up short when I discover I can't just tell someone, "You ought to see this film," because there's no way. This all-access interweb-connected world is mighty hit-or-miss. "Classics" means you can see all the old episodes of Hazel, or the classic Alka-Seltzer commercials. Real classics, though - ppfffshtt.


Put it on a tripod!

Re: 1959 Results: Kagi (The Key) Odd Obsession

I can't disagree, still plenty of truly major films unavailable. And some like the one we've been talking about were better-known and more widely available 20-25 years ago. The vagaries of distribution and the (perceived) decline in the number of people willing to pay money for these "old" classics - particularly old classics that aren't American or British.


You move like a pregnant yak.

Re: 1959 Results: Kagi (The Key) Odd Obsession


has this film so thoroughly disappeared from our awareness?
Not from mine. It is one of the top films in my to watch pile for the year, but I could not find anywhere.

Aahhh...

Re: 1959 Results: Kagi (The Key) Odd Obsession

It's on Hulu. I saw it on VHS back in the day. Not a favorite. It's good, but nowhere near as good as Fires on the Plain.

If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.
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