Paul's Favourites
The 7th Arts's highest level of achievement can be judged alongside great literature, great music, and great painting, with many filmmakers creating enduring masterpieces.
The list of film titles below may not all be enduring masterpieces, but I have however, fond lingering memories of all of them. They all fit the criteria of what I feel films can or should do, to not only be well crafted, but also to entertain, inform, enlighten and more often than not, take the viewer down roads less travelled...
Can only hope you also will discover or rediscover some viewing pleasures among my all-time favourites' listed below.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Director: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Elsa Lanchester
Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) makes a bride for his creature (Boris Karloff), and all hell breaks loose. Arguably better than the orginal - both emot... Read more
The Court Jester (1956)
7.9/10
Director: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama
Starring: Glynis Johns, Danny Kaye, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury
Danny Kaye has one of his best roles in this beloved comedy classic which rates as one of the funniest comedies of all time. To help restore the thron... Read more
The Cove (2009)
8.5/10
Director: Louie Psihoyos
In the 1960s, Richard O'Barry was the world's leading authority on dolphin training, working on the set of the popular television program "Flipper". D... Read more
The Crimson Pirate (1952)
7.3/10
Director: Robert Siodmak
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok
This rip-roaring, swashbuckling adventure (among the best) stars Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat as buccaneers in the Mediterranean. It has it all - p... Read more
The Cuckoo (2002)
7.9/10
Director: Alexandr Rogozhkin
Starring: Anni-Christiina Juuso, Ville Haapasalo, Viktor Bychkov
Aka "Kukushka". Highly-praised and upbeat anti-war drama in which two men from opposing armies - a Finnish sniper and a Russian Captain find themselve... Read more
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
7.8/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Billy Gray, Hugh Marlowe, Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe
A spacecraft lands in Washington D.C. and an alien emerges, with a menacing robot whose destructive powers defy imagination. So begins the science-fic... Read more
The Dreamers (2003)
7.2/10
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Robin Renucci, Anna Chancellor
Aka "Les Innocents". Director Bernardo Bertolucci's provocative, sensual drama centers on American exchange student Matthew (Michael Pitt) who befrien... Read more
The Emperor and the Assassin (1999)
7.3/10
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Li Xuejian, Sun Zhou, Lu Xiaohe, Wang Zhiwen
This lavishly produced, epic historical drama is set in the third century B.C. and tells the multi-faceted story of the man who became the first Emper... Read more
The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
7.9/10
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Bruno S, Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira
About a young man who in the 1820's suddenly appeared in a small German town, full-grown but seemingly a new born child, unable to speak and stand. Br... Read more
The Fly (1986)
7.5/10
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz
Cronenberg's 'The Fly' is less a remake of the original film than a remake of the original short story about a brilliant scientist who develops a syst... Read more