All of the film production students in my program were emailed a list of 100 films recommended by the faculty. I thought this was such a fun idea that I decided to make my own – using my own criteria. I’ll probably fine-tune and republish another one at some point.
And now, without further ado, the 100 movies every film student should see:
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
College (1927)
The Public Enemy (1931)
The Antique Shop (1931)
King Kong (1933)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
Bright Eyes (1934)
Rainbow Valley (1935)
Great Guy (1936)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Shall we Dance (1937)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1937)
The Saint in New York (1938)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
The Four Feathers (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Ghost Breakers (1940)
My Little Chickadee (1940)
Fantasia (1940)
Our Town (1940)
Pimpernel’ Smith (1941)
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Sons of the Pioneers (1942)
Laura (1944)
Henry V (1944)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Welcome Stranger (1947)
Copacabana (1947)
Call Northside 777 (1948)
Treasure Island (1950)
Harvey (1950)
Scrooge (1951)
People Will Talk (1951)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Magic Box (1951)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
House of Wax (1953)
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1954)
To Hell and Back (1955)
The Red Balloon (1956)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
The Tingler (1959)
Dr. No (1962)
The Raven (1963)
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
The Ipcress File (1965)
The Endless Summer (1966)
How to Steal a Million (1966)
Wait Until Dark (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Yellow Submarine (1968)
Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1970)
Le Mans (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971)
American Graffiti (1973)
Sleeper (1973)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Magic Christian (1969)
Superman (1978)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
TRON (1982)
Yentl (1983)
Back to the Future (1985)
Fletch (1985)
F/X (1986)
Labyrinth (1986)
Roxanne (1987)
Back to the Beach (1987)
Big (1988)
Willow (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
The Wizard of Speed and Time (1988)
Young Einstein (1988)
Henry V (1989)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
The Rocketeer (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
A League of Their Own (1992)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
Toy Story (1995)
Independence Day (1996)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Sicko (2007)
Avatar (2009)