31. The Saragossa Manuscript (dir. Wojciech Has, 1965)

32. The Gospel According To Matthew (dir. Pier Paolo Passolini, 1964)

33. Marketa Lazarova (dir. Frantisek Vlacil, 1967)

34. High and Low (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1963)

35. Le Bonheur (dir. Agnes Varda, 1965)

36. Army Of Shadows (dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)

37. La Dolce Vita (dir. Federico Fellini, 1960)

38. Through A Glass Darkly (dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1961)

39. Charulata (dir. Satyajit Ray, 1964)

40. Cleo From 5 To 7 (dir. Agnes Varda, 1962)

1. The Saragossa Manuscript (dir. Wojciech Has)

2. Le Bonheur (dir. Agnes Varda)

3. Pierrot le Fou (dir. Jean-Luc Godard)

4. Repulsion (dir. Roman Polanski)

5. A Blonde In Love (dir. Milos Forman)

6. My Way Home (dir. Miklos Jancso)

7. Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors (dir. Sergei Paradjanov)

8. Alphaville (dir. Jean-Luc Godard)

9. Intimate Lighting (dir. Ivan Passer)

10. Red Beard (dir. Akira Kurosawa)

Red Beard (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1965) 4/5

The last collaboration between Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, Akira Kurosawa’s epic social drama, Red Beard, is a deeply humanistic exploration of responsibility in which an ambitious young doctor arrives at a charitable clinic for the poor for what he expects to be a short visit…

1. Winter Light (dir. Ingmar Bergman)

2. The Leopard (dir. Luchino Visconti)

3. 8½ (dir. Federico Fellini)

4. High and Low (dir. Akira Kurosawa)

5. Muriel, Ou Le Temps D’Un Retour (dir. Alain Resnais)

6. Le Mepris (dir. Jean-Luc Godard)

7. The Servant (dir. Joseph Losey)

8. Suzanne’s Career (dir. Eric Rohmer)

9. The Insect Woman (dir. Shohei Imamura)

10. The Silence (dir. Ingmar Bergman)

High and Low (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1963) 5/5

Akira Kurosawa’s police procedural masterpiece, High and Low, explores inequalities in a modern Japanese capitalist society with it’s gripping story of kidnap and extortion.

Sanjuro (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1962) 4/5

Akira Kurosawa’s action packed and riotously funny samurai film, Sanjuro, stars Tony Mifune as a lethargic do-gooder helping to rid a Japanese town of it’s corrupt government.

Yojimbo (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1961) 4/5

Akira Kurosawa’s thoroughly entertaining film, Yojimbo (The Bodyguard), stars Toshio Mifune as a wandering samurai who stumbles upon a feuding town where both clans compete for his services.

1. L’Avventura (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)

2. Breathless (dir. Jean-Luc Godard)

3. When A Woman Ascends The Stairs (dir. Mikio Naruse)

4. The Naked Island (dir. Kaneto Shindo)

5. La Dolce Vita (dir. Federico Fellini)

6. The Virgin Spring (dir. Ingmar Bergman)

7. The Bad Sleep Well (dir. Akira Kurosawa)

8. Goddess (dir. Satyajit Ray)

9. Late Autumn (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)

10. The Young One (dir. Luis Bunuel)

The Bad Sleep Well (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1960) 4.5/5

Akira Kurosawa’s brilliant indictment of corporate corruption, The Bad Sleep Well, stars Toshiro Mifune as a grief stricken son seeking revenge for the apparent suicide of his father.

Top 25 films from the 1950s #8

Ikiru (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1952)

The Hidden Fortress (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1958) ****

In Akira Kurosawa’s entertaining classic, The Hidden Fortress, a pair of peasants, lured by the prospect of gold, unwittingly escort a warrior and a princess across enemy territory as they try to escape a rival clan.

I’ve not quite finished watching the films I have from 1957, I’ve decided not to watch Ill Met By Moonlight just yet, I want to watch some of Powell & Pressburger’s better know films before I see it. Here’s my top 5 films from 1957:

#1 The Cranes Are Flying (dir. Mikhail Kalatozov)

#2 Wild Strawberries (dir. Ingmar Bergman)

#3 The Seventh Seal (dir. Ingmar Bergman)

#4 Il Grido (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)

#5 Throne Of Blood (dir. Akira Kurosawa)

Some notable films from 1957 which I want to see but haven’t yet:

Nights Of Cabiria (dir. Federico Fellini), Paths Of Glory (dir. Stanley Kubrick) and Twelve Angry Men (dir. Sidney Lumet)

Throne Of Blood (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1957) *****

In Throne Of Blood Akira Kurosawa wonderfully re-imagines Shakespeare’s Macbeth by placing the action in feudal Japan and turning Macbeth into an ambitious samurai who is manipulated into a position of power by his wife.