Vertigo has been named the ‘GREATEST FILM OF ALL TIME’ (we figure the caps are necessary in this instance) on the latest Sight and Sound poll, ending Citizen Kane‘s 50-year rule.
The British Film Institute collects the votes from more than 800 critics, programmers, academics, and distributors every decade to provide the most authoritative listing of the greatest movies.
Orson Welles‘ iconic feature debut nabbed the top spot for half a century, but has been overtaken by Alfred Hitchcock‘s psycho-sexual thriller in the poll’s latest iteration.
The top 10 is as follows.
1) Vertigo – Alfred Hitchcock
2) Citizen Kane - Orson Welles
3) Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu
4) The Rules of the Game - Jean Renoir
5) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - FW Murnau
6) 2001: A Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrick
7) The Searchers - John Ford
8) The Man with a Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov
9) The Passion of Joan of Arc – Carl Dreyer
10) 8 1/2 – Federico Fellini
You can check out the Top 50 here. Notable entries – and usual suspects – include Breathless at 13, Seven Samurai at 17, Singin’ in the Rain at 20, The Godfather at 21, Taxi Driver at 31, The 400 Blows at 39, and City Lights at 50. The most recent film on the list, David Lynch‘s Mulholland Drive, came in at 28.
Obviously these lists are just a bit of fun, but Sight and Sound have definitely earned their place to make such sweeping statements. And these kind of declarations are important to inspire debate and to hone arguments in favour (or against) some of the most significant works of film art. They also inspire us to finally seek out those important movies we just haven’t seen (I’m off to watch Sunrise…)
