Alice's 500 Greatest Films
The goal in this compilation was to determine film history's definitive creme de la creme. The titles considered to be the greatest of the great from around the world and throughout the history of film.. So, after an in-depth analysis of respected critics and publications from around the globe, cross referenced and tweaked to arrive at the ranking of films representing, we believe, the greatest cinema can offer.
Scroll, contemplate and enjoy.....
Want a printable list of the 500 greatest to check off? Click here
Great Expectations ( Blu-ray ) (1946)
7.9/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Alec Guinness, Bernard Miles, Jean Simmons, John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Martita...
One of the great translations of literature into film, David Lean's "Great Expectations" brings Charles Dickens's masterpiece to robust on-screen life... Read more
The Best Years of Our Lives (Blu-ray) (1946)
8/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews, Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Do...
One of Hollywood's best. Three men return home after WWII and must re-adjust to civilian life, to their families, to their own changed lives. Expertly... Read more
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
8.6/10
Director: Frank Capra
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Donna Reed
Classic bittersweet comedy/drama that is the quintessential Frank Capra film. James Stewart is a banker living in the typical American small town of B... Read more
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
8.1/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews, Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Do...
One of Hollywood's best. Three men return home after WWII and must re-adjust to civilian life, to their families, to their own changed lives. Expertly... Read more
Notorious (1946)
8/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Cary Grant
In this brilliant allegory of love and betrayal, Hitchcock fuses two of his favourite elements: suspense and romance. A beautiful woman with a tainted... Read more
My Darling Clementine (1946)
7.8/10
Director: John Ford
Starring: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature
A beautifully directed American classic about Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) leading to the inevitable gunfight at the O.K.... Read more
Great Expectations (1946)
7.9/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Bernard Miles, Alec Guinness, Martita Hunt, Jean Sim...
One of the great translations of literature into film, David Lean's "Great Expectations" brings Charles Dickens's masterpiece to robust on-screen life... Read more
Brief Encounter ( Blu-ray ) (1945)
8.1/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Celia Johnson, Stanley Holloway, Trevor Howard
A masterpiece from Britain's post-war cinema, this extraordinary romantic drama stars Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, both giving impeccable performa... Read more
The Lost Weekend (1945)
8/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Ray Milland, Phillip Terry, Jane Wyman
Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning social drama stars Ray Milland as an alcoholic writer who falls into a maelstrom of delusion and dementia and winds up in... Read more
The Lost Weekend (Blu-ray) (1945)
7.9/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Ray Milland, Phillip Terry, Jane Wyman
Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning social drama stars Ray Milland as an alcoholic writer who falls into a maelstrom of delusion and dementia and winds up in... Read more
Children of Paradise ( Les Enfants du Paradis ) (1945)
8.3/10
Director: Marcel Carne
Starring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur
Poetic realism reaches sublime heights with "Children of Paradise" ("Les Enfants du Paradis"), the ineffably witty tale of a woman loved by four diffe... Read more
Open City ( aka Rome, Open City ) (1945)
6.4/10
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Starring: Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero
Aka "Roma, Citta Aperta". A superb film based on the true story of Don Morosi, a priest and resistance worker shot by the Germans in wartime Rome. Fil... Read more
Brief Encounter (1945)
8.1/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway
A masterpiece from Britain's post-war cinema, this extraordinary romantic drama stars Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, both giving impeccable performa... Read more
Double Indemnity (1944)
8.3/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Edward G Robinson
A masterpiece of film noir cinema from director Billy Wilder, who also co-scripted with Raymond Chandler. Barbara Stanwyck is the definitive femme fat... Read more
Meet Me in St Louis (1944)
7.7/10
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Tom Drake
Judy Garland is the classic American teenager in love, in song, in one of the brightest hours of her career. 'Meet Me in St Louis' is a charming turn-... Read more
Laura (1944)
8.1/10
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price
One of the greatest Hollywood whodunits ever made, Otto Preminger's noir-flavored thriller stars Dana Andrews as a detective investigating the murder... Read more
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp / A Matter of Life and Death ( aka Stairway to Heaven ) (1943)
Director: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Starring: Anton Walbrook, Deborah Kerr, Roger Livesey, David Niven, Kim Hunter, Raymond Ma...
"The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp" (1943, 157 minutes). Roger Livesey brilliantly portrays British officer Clive Candy, through the trials and trib... Read more
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
8.2/10
Director: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Starring: Anton Walbrook, Deborah Kerr, Roger Livesey, Roland Culver
Considered by many to be the finest British film ever made, "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp", by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is a stir... Read more
Casablanca ( Blu-ray ) (1942)
8.5/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Peter...
As time goes by, no film equals the popularity of this indisputable classic. In quintessential roles, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are former lo... Read more
To Be Or Not To Be (1942)
8.2/10
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Robert Stack
The original WWII satire and comedy classic. Jack Benny is a hammy Shakespearean actor who, along with members of his Polish acting troupe, becomes in... Read more