Film professors should add these underappreciated titles to their film studies syllabus for the classroom. These groundbreaking films developed new techniques or pushed the medium towards a new trend, Instead of bombarding you with a list of frequently cited classics, like Citizen Kane and Metropolis, Video Librarian has compiled a list of films that have had a significant impact on the art of filmmaking. Academic librarians can use this list as a guide for building their film section for students.
Voyage to the Moon - Georges Melies
As a former magician, the possibilities of film fascinated Melies, and he quickly began experimenting with the new medium. Throughout his career, Melies used multiple exposures, time lapses, dissolves, and discovered the stop trick, which can make people appear, disappear, or transform. Today, he’s known as “the father of special effects.” His most influential film is 1902’s Voyage to the Moon, a sci-fi movie that focuses on humanity's first journey into space and their subsequent meeting with extraterrestrials. Within the film, Melies shows off some of the fanciest techniques of past filmmaking which includes superimposition, his famous stop trick, and dissolves. Today, Hollywood has moved way past these tricks, but it all started with Meiles.
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The Birth, The Life, and the Death of Christ - Alice Guy
Alice Guy was one of the first female directors ever, which makes her a pretty important historical figure. Notably, she was one of the first filmmakers to create full-length fiction films and hand paint tint onto film to give it color. Her most famous surviving movie is The Birth, The Life, and the Death of Christ, which is a full-length film that chronicles—you guessed it—the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The 33-minute narrative film was a huge undertaking and required the building of sets and the hiring of extras. Not only is Guy an important part of film history for pioneering narrative fiction movies, but she helped pave the way for female directors during film’s infancy, and deserves a spot on any film buff’s list.
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Nanook of the North - Robert Flaherty
Robert Flaherty is considered the founding father of the documentary genre, more specifically ethnographic movies, which uses film to document the beliefs and practices of a society, culture, or subculture. Instead of walking into another group’s territory and filming them without their permission, the filmmaker worked with the group or society to make entertaining movies that accurately represented their way of life. His most famous work is Nanook of the North, which follows a family of indigenous Inuit people around northern Canada.
Throughout the film, audiences watch Nanook’s family build an igloo, hunt and kill a walrus, and skin a seal. It’s interesting to note that, although a lot of the information about how the Inuit people live is accurate, a lot of the scenes in the movie were staged. Flaherty’s movies influenced later filmmakers like Jean Rouche to implement the cinéma vérité style of filmmaking, which became its own film movement.
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Read our review of Nanook of the North.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene’s film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari features a maniacal hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses his influence to make a sleepwalker (Conrad Veidt) kill people. The movie was the pioneering influence of The German Expressionism movement, which was characterized by slanted sets and stark contrasts between light and dark that reflected the actors' emotional states. The film influences the horror classics Nosferatu and Beetlejuice.
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - John Ford
John Ford was the king of westerns in Hollywood, many of which starred the ultimate cowboy, John Wayne. He often used static shots that included his characters and a dramatic landscape. The filmmaker often celebrated the classic cowboy image by creating heroic myths around them. Ironically, his best film centers on the death of such a mythic hero. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance focuses on the contentious relationship between Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart) and Tom Doniphon (John Wayne).
Stoddard is an educated lawyer who wanders into a gunslinging town after being robbed and injured. He butts heads with the local cowboy, Doniphon, when he attempts to civilize the wild west. In the end, Doniphon accepts that he’s a relic of the past and that Stoddard is the future. This film is a deconstruction of the heroic myth of the wild west and the swaggering cowboy made by the very man who helped create it.
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Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock certainly gets plenty of praise, Psycho deserves its proper dues for its contribution to the horror genre. Most people know that the shower death of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is iconic, but it’s important to understand why. Psycho was made under the thumb of The Hays Code, which had a strict zero-tolerance policy for violence and nudity.
Hitchcock pushed the envelope as far as he could, while still obeying the rules, and created some of the most frightening scenes in cinematic history. That he did so without showing nudity and graphic violence is quite impressive.
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Meshes of the Afternoon - Maya Deren
Maya Deren created avant-garde short films that invited viewers into the mind of her characters. Her work served as a massive influence on American filmmakers like Stan Brakhage, David Lynch, and Stanley Kubrick.
One of her most famous films, Meshes of the Afternoon uses shadows, mirrors, and keys to symbolize one woman’s search for identity and attempt to understand herself.
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Chronicle of a Summer - Jean Rouche
Inspired by Flaherty’s film “Nanook of the North,” Jean Rouche made films that often attempted to communicate authenticity and understanding. Instead of focusing on an entire society or culture, Rouche often followed one person or a small group of people and attempted to understand them in a deep and personal way that often revealed some universal truth.
Working alongside sociologist Edgar Morin, Rouche’s most popular film is Chronicle of A Summer, wherein a group of young people discuss the problems within their own lives and the larger issues facing society. On top of those big ideas, Morin and Rouche wanted to know if it was possible to capture pure, unadulterated truth on film. Chronicle of A Summer is revolutionary and a must-watch for film students.
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The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman’s name should be as famous as Hitchcock or Scorsese, but his mastery is often overlooked. He tackled big ideas like religion, death, and psychology within his films, but his genius use of poetic language and imagery makes the exploration of such deep subjects more enjoyable and beautiful than it should be. Although his most famous film is “Persona,” I recommend “The Seventh Seal,” where a disenchanted crusading knight, Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), challenges Death (Bengt Ekerot) to a chess match for his life. The movie showcases Bergman’s talents with its powerful imagery, unique characterization, and exploration of death.
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Faces - John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes was an actor before he began directing independent films, which had a huge influence on his filmmaking style. He collaborated with actors on his scripts and allowed the performers full control of their characters. Cassavetes's films are thoroughly planned, but his shooting style and natural dialogue have an off-the-cuff feel that can be mistaken for improvisation.
Like most of the director’s films, Faces focuses on average characters like bored wives and cheating husbands, who have ordinary problems like being bored or trapped within their toxic relationships. Cassavetes’ authentic dialogue and natural style make those subjects feel even more intense and genuine.
Read our review of Faces
Watch Faces on Amazon.