Visually, your favourite films

The Fall

 

Those are beautiful, beautiful movies.

I think Lawrence of Arabia and 2001 would be high on my list. Empire Strikes Back is also a surprisingly good-looking film. Wizard of Oz is also a fairly amazing-looking film. And no list would be complete without Citizen Kane. Singin' in the Rain is I think the most beautiful musical ever made. And I think Inception has some really, really great cinematography and sets in it.

 

Oh yeah, forgot about those two, as well as The Scent of Green Papaya. Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes are two of the most beautiful color films ever made.

 

Too many to list! Although here's three that I find visually stunning.


Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura




Alejandro Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain



Mario Bava's Blood And Black Lace

 

Spirit of the Beehive (1973)


The Mirror (1975)


Paris, Texas (1984)


Eraserhead (1977)


8 1/2 (1963)

 

A shout-out to Charles Laughton's sole directorial effort, The Night of the Hunter, itself heavily influenced by the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s.

At the other end of the visual scale, I love the gauzy, impressionistic look, and the use of natural light, in Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock.

 

"Heat" and "Collateral" by Michael Mann. Love the use of colour and the city landscape of LA in these films. Subtle but very atmospheric. Also "Heat" has the amazing bank robbery scene

 

Totall agree on 2001, I also love the stylized look of a clockwork orange.
Another film I love the look of is The company of wolves. Pan's labyrinth as well

 

RIDLEY SCOTT has directed quite a few visually entertaining films. Besides BLADE RUNNER, there is his first film THE DUELISTS which rivals Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON for the best visual film on the NAPOLEONIC era. There is also ALIEN which was his second feature. His brother Tony Scott directed the visually stunning THE HUNGER which is one of the best vampire films ever.

 

The Hunger is a good call. Gorgeous photography in that one. The softer sequences remind me a little of Orson Welles's The Immortal Story.

 

Speaking of Michael Mann... "The Last of the Mohicans" is quite a spectacle.

 

Dersu Uzala (1975) by Akira Kurosawa

This was an unusual film by Kurosawa. In 1972, he had attempted suicide and failed (which is about as shameful as you can get in Japan). This was his first film after the suicide attempt. It was the first film he made outside of Japan; instead he filmed it in Siberia in Russian. Thematically, it is a simple film. Dersu is a hunter living in a forest who befriends a Russian captain passing through with his troops. They bond, and Dersu saves his life on the frozen tundra. They eventually separate, but 20 years later they meet again in the forest as the captain is coming through again. Dersu has become aged and blind and can no longer hunt, and the Captain decides to take him to the city where he can care for him. It is one of the most touching films I have ever seen; it never fails to get me all misty eyed.

Cinematography-wise, it was his only 70mm film, and he took full advantage. It is also one of the most lushly beautiful films I have ever seen, full of wide shots of the Siberian forest and tundra.

 

Agreed. Of the two, though, Baraka is the better.

 

3. The Thin Red Line/Days of Heaven
2. Baraka/Samsara
1. SPEED RACER

 

Harry Pearson praised the picture quality of The Sundowners in an early edition of his magazine, The Perfect Vision, and I did find after watching my own copy of the Laser Disc that it was visually spectacular in a way that was common among the best movies filmed in the Fifties and Sixties. Once a movie enthusiast has grown to understand what went on in the actual production of the film itself, one can appreciate that the picture quality has become rather bland in subsequent years. One of my all-time favorites has been Irma La Douce. Hitchcock's movies—especially North By Northwest and Vertigo–are particularly striking.

 

North By Northwest
Help! (Sue me, I love the way it looks, more than Hard Days Night)
Open Range (western with Robert Duvall & Kevin Costner)
Avatar
Casino Royale
The Count of Monte Cristo
Titanic

 

The Right Stuff (Caleb Deschanel again)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

 

Not a great film but Speed Racer was visually stunning.

 

Make sure to get the Theatrical cut (On DVD import) rather than the director's cut here in the USA.

 

The Third Man
Lawrence Of Arabia
The Searchers

 

The Third Man was aired on TCM yesterday. Picture was good but the soundtrack was awful.

 

I'm still kicking myself that I never bought the Criterion blu-ray when I had the chance. Who knew it would go OOP?

 

Me, too. That and The Man Who Fell to Earth. I own both on Criterion DVD -- including both versions of The Third Man -- but waited too long on the BDs.

The Third Man was listed recently at Amazon US as being available, at $39.95, but I received an e-mail last week cancelling my order, due to lack of stock. It was worth a shot.

 

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

I also like the look (thanks to the incredible landscapes used) in Open Range and Lord of the Rings