The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever features experts and enthusiasts and, well, their favorite films of every year ever. Host Tristan Ettleman sits down with a new guest every week to dive into the history and beauty of some of the best movies to ever come out of the cinematic medium.
The event that has been foreshadowed the past few seasons comes to pass in 1914: the Great War, or World War I. And while not every facet of the conversations this season relates back to the disruption of the film industry that ensued (to say nothing of the disruption of every other aspect of life), it certainly looms large and provides context for filmmaking language and industrial developments in this year and to come through at least the end of the decade. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914! Films mentioned: Life’s Shop Window (1914) - J. Gordon Edwards Making a Living (1914) - Henry Lehrman Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) - Henry Lehrman The Squaw Man (1914) - Cecil B. DeMille Judith of Bethulia (1914) - D.W. Griffith The Merchant of Venice (1914) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914) - Mack Sennett Cabiria (1914) - Giovanni Pastrone
The 1913 season introduction episode’s title was “A Milestone Year?” And indeed, the guests for these past five episodes, as well as the representation of listeners based on their submission lists, made the case that it was artistically, industrially, critically, and popularly. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to see the full list of 1913 submissions! Films mentioned: Suspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley Fantômas (1913) - Louis Feuillade Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane Tucker A House Divided (1913) - Alice Guy-Blaché The Student of Prague (1913) - Stellan Rye The Night Before Christmas (1913) - Ladislas Starevich Ivanhoe (1913) - Herbert Brenon The Last Days of Pompeii (1913) - Eleuterio Rodolfi and Mario Caserini Quo Vadis (1913) - Enrico Guazzoni
Charlie Keil, Professor in the Cinema Studies Institute and the Department of History at the University of Toronto, is the author of Early American Cinema in Transition . His periodization of the transitional era, as explored in that book, ends with 1913 and his take on the traits of the time and how it shifts from the beginning of the period in 1907 defines the conversation. Charlie has also published seven other books, the most recent being The Oxford Handbook of Silent Cinema , coedited with Rob King. His next book will be Observing Film Art: Themes from the Work of David Bordwell , co-edited with Murray Smith, and due December 2026. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resource mentioned: Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane Tucker Suspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley Death’s Marathon (1913) - D.W. Griffith The Mothering Heart (1913) - D.W. Griffith The Evidence of the Film (1913) - Lawrence Marston and Edward Thanhouser The Story the Biograph Told (1904) - Wallace McCutcheon, Sr. Judith of Bethulia (1914) - D.W. Griffith The Lonely Villa (1909) - D.W. Griffith The Physician of the Castle (1908) - unknown Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - George Miller Thelma and Louise (1991) - Ridley Scott Citizen Kane (1941) - Orson Welles Ingeborg Holm (1913) - Victor Sjöström Fantômas (1913) - Louis Feuillade Falling Leaves (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché American Cinema’s Transitional Era: Audiences, Institutions, Practices - Charlie Keil and Shelley Stamp, eds.
Paul Gagliardi, Teaching Associate Professor of English at Marquette University, selects almost entirely comedy shorts for his 1913 highlights, although they connect with his proto-expressionist feature pick in that they all contain morbid underbellies. And diving into the comic commentary of these works, intended or not, reflects a few things about audience reception to movies and politics of the time. Paul is the author of All Play and No Work: The Comic Plays of the Federal Theatre Project . His website is paul-gagliardi.com . Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resources mentioned: A House Divided (1913) - Alice Guy-Blaché The Student of Prague (1913) - Stellan Rye Fatty Joins the Force (1913) - George Nichols Cohen Saves the Flag (1913) - Mack Sennett Mabel’s Dramatic Career (1913) - Mack Sennett The Brutalist (2024) - Brady Corbet The Jazz Singer (1927) - Alan Crosland Sherlock Jr. (1924) - Buster Keaton The Battle of Gettysburg (1913) - Charles Giblyn and Thomas Ince My Dinner with Andre (1981) - Louis Malle By the Sea (1915) - Charlie Chaplin The Cook (1918) - Roscoe Arbuckle Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco (1915) - Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand The Round-Up (1920) - George Melford Nosferatu (1922) - F.W. Murnau Faust (1926) - F.W. Murnau Grease (1978) - Randal Kleiser The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup - Jonathan Wilson
Michael Gebert is the founder and co-moderator of NitrateVille , the online discussion site about vintage films of the silent era through the 1950s. Looking ahead to the advancements soon to come, his selections of almost all features demonstrate editing and performance style shifts, which branched off in slightly different ways in countries like America, France, and Sweden. Michael is host of the NitrateVille Radio podcast , which talks to people doing "cool stuff" in the world of vintage film, from authors and filmmakers to the curators of retrospectives and festivals. He is also a food journalist in Chicago and the author of The Chicago Way: An Oral History of Chicago Dining . Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resources mentioned: Ingeborg Holm (1913) - Victor Sjöström Germinal (1913) - Albert Capellani The Child of Paris (1913) - Léonce Perret Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane Tucker Mabel’s Dramatic Career (1913) - Mack Sennett The Squaw Man (1914) - Cecil B. DeMille The Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMille The Conquest of the Pole (1912) - Georges Méliès The Searchers (1956) - John Ford Sammy’s Scandalous Scheme (1915) - Gilbert P. Hamilton The Extra Girl (1923) - F. Richard Jones Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902) - Edwin S. Porter Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915) - Maurice Tourneur The Blue Bird (1918) - Maurice Tourneur The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England (1914) - Maurice Tourneur The Miracle Man (1919) - George Loane Tucker Metropolis (1927) - Fritz Lang Suspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley The Lonely Villa (1909) - D.W. Griffith Weapons (2025) - Zach Cregger Breathless (1960) - Jean-Luc Godard The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador (1912) - Léonce Perret Les Vampires (1915) - Louis Feuillade Tih Minh (1918) - Louis Feuillade Fantômas (1913) - Louis Feuillade The Strike (1904) - Ferdinand Zecca Les misérables (1912) - Albert Capellani Les misérables (1925) - Henri Fescourt Les misérables (1934) - Raymond Bernard A Man There Was (1917) - Victor Sjöström The Gardener (1912) - Victor Sjöström The Phantom Carriage (1921) - Victor Sjöström Girl with Hyacinths (1950) - Hasse Ekman The Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. Griffith The Magician (1926) - Rex Ingram The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) - Rex Ingram Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood - Robert S. Birchard Cinema’s First Nasty Women Pordenone 2025 Report - Michael Gebert The Origins of Film Maurice Tourneur: Weaver of Dreams - Christine Leteux George Loane Tucker: The First of the Immortals - Frank Thompson
Julie K. Allen, professor of Comparative Arts and Letters at Brigham Young University, is the author of Screening Europe in Australasia . So it makes sense that her selections, each from a different country, would embody the transnational dynamic of silent film just before the outbreak of World War I. Julie is also the author of Icons of Danish Modernity , Danish but Not Lutheran , and The Silent Muse: The Memoirs of Asta Nielsen . She is currently working on a book about the Danish cinema license system with the tentative title The Cultural Politics of Film Exhibition. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resources mentioned: Quo Vadis (1913) - Enrico Guazzoni Atlantis (1913) - August Blom Fantômas (1913) - Louis Feuillade Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane Tucker The Suffragette (1913) - Urban Gad The Abyss (1910) - Urban Gad What 80 Million Women Want (1913) - Will Louis Les misérables (1912) - Albert Capellani Nick Carter, le roi des détectives (1908) - Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset Les Vampires (1915) - Louis Feuillade Judex (1916) - Louis Feuillade Saved from the Titanic (1912) - Étienne Arnaud Destiny (1921) - Fritz Lang The Phantom Carriage (1921) - Victor Sjöström Blind Justice (1916) - Benjamin Christensen Sealed Orders (1914) - Benjamin Christensen Häxan (1922) - Benjamin Christensen Titanic (1997) - James Cameron Nero (1909) - Luigi Maggi and Arturo Ambrosio L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe De Liguoro Pink-Slipped: What Happened to Women in the Silent Film Industries? - Jane Gaines
This is the 100th episode and just two weeks past the second anniversary of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever! It’s a special episode made even more so by Shelley Stamp, Distinguished Professor of Film & Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She literally wrote the book on Lois Weber so it makes sense that pioneering filmmaker’s landmark 1913 film factors into the conversation, but all of Shelley's picks reflect the rapid development of American film grammar and stand in for women’s representation in front of and behind the camera, as well as their fights for equality in “real life.” Shelley is also the author of Movie-Struck Girls: Women and Motion Picture Culture after the Nickelodeon . She curated the award-winning box set Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers . Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films mentioned: What 80 Million Women Want (1913) - Will Louis Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane Tucker A House Divided (1913) - Alice Guy-Blaché Suspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913) - Francis J. Grandon Hypocrites (1915) - Lois Weber The Perils of Pauline (1914) - Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie The Hazards of Helen (1914) - J.P. McGowan and J. Gunnis Davis The Exploits of Elaine (1914) - Louis J. Gasnier, George B. Seitz, Leopold Wharton, and Theodore Wharton What Happened to Mary (1912) - Ashley Miller and Charles Brabin Fantômas (1913) - Louis Feuillade The Lonely Villa (1909) - D.W. Griffith Shoes (1916) - Lois Weber The Merchant of Venice (1914) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley The Consequences of Feminism (1906) - Alice Guy-Blaché Making an American Citizen (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché Matrimony’s Speed Limit (1913) - Alice Guy-Blaché Falling Leaves (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché In the Hands of Impostors (1911) - August Blom A Busy Day (1914) - Charlie Chaplin Your Girl and Mine (1914) - Giles R. Warren
1913 is considered by many to be a milestone year in the development of film grammar and industry. And it perhaps is, as is set up by this context-setting introduction and the conversations with guests to come for this season! Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films mentioned: The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913) - Francis J. Grandon What Happened to Mary (1912) - Ashley Miller and Charles Brabin Fantômas (1913) - Louis Feuillade Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane Tucker The Artist’s Dream (1913) - John Randolph Bray The Evidence of the Film (1913) - Lawrence Marston and Edwin Thanhouser Suspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley
Although the 1912 season introduction asserted that “Hollywood was incoming,” the top picks for the year (fueled by a record number of submissions from guests!) is mostly made up of old power players, even if that power would recede in short order. Indeed, both that dynamic and the fact that all of the most popular selections are shorts may change in the near future! Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to see the list of every film submitted for 1912! Films mentioned: The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) - Wladyslaw Starewicz The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912) - Harold M. Shaw How a Mosquito Operates (1912) - Winsor McCay The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. Griffith The Conquest of the Pole (1912) - Georges Méliès Cleopatra (1912) - Charles L. Gaskill From the Manger to the Cross (1912) - Sidney Olcott Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912) - Lucius Henderson
Film historian and cultural critic Paul (PT) Klein’s work focuses on American filmgoing cultures. So even when discussing his sole foreign pick, the conversation dives into audience reception to his selections, then and now, in addition to the various aesthetic strengths of each of his movies. PT’s writing has appeared in Film Atlas, Film Matters, Foglifter, Metro Weekly, and more. His work can be found at ptklein.com . Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your top five for 1912! Films and resources mentioned: The Girl and Her Trust (1912) - D.W. Griffith The Grit of the Girl Telegrapher (1912) - J.P. McGowan Algie the Miner (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché The Invaders (1912) - Francis Ford and Thomas Ince In Night and Ice (1912) - Mime Misu Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) - F.W. Murnau The Lonedale Operator (1911) - D.W. Griffith The Hazards of Helen (1914) - J.P McGowan and J. Gunnis Davis Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Ang Lee Wild and Woolly (1917) - John Emerson The Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Peckinpah The Searchers (1956) - John Ford Stagecoach (1939) - John Ford Richard III (1912) - André Calmettes and James Keane Cleopatra (1912) - Charles L. Gaskill Queen Elizabeth (1912) - Louis Mercanton and Henri Desfontaines Saved from the Titanic (1912) - Étienne Arnaud Titanic (1997) - James Cameron Hollywood Remaking: How Film Remakes, Sequels, and Franchises Shape Industry and Culture - Kathleen Loock Girls Will Boys: Cross-Dressed Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908-1934 - Laura Horak
Silent film accompanist and composer Stephen Horne has already composed for or accompanied a couple of his five multinational picks for 1912. But besides discussing the general aesthetic pleasures of his selections, he also ruminates on how he could approach playing for both these grounded features and short trick films (they were still hanging in there!). Stephen is a house musician at London’s BFI Southbank. He released Silent Sirens , an album of solo piano pieces based on his silent film compositions, and has scored Stella Dallas, The Manxman, and many more films . Films mentioned: The Gardener (1912) - Victor Sjöström How a Mosquito Operates (1912) - Winsor McCay The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. Griffith The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) - Wladyslaw Starewicz The Conquest of the Pole (1912) - Georges Méliès The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920) - Paul Wegener and Carl Boese The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - Carl Theodor Dreyer L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan Oliver Twist (1912) - Thomas Bentley The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Robert Wiene A Ruined Life (1912) - Victor Sjöström The Abyss (1910) - Urban Gad The Phantom Carriage (1921) - Victor Sjöström The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) - Gordon Hessler The Mascot (1933) - Wladyslaw Starewicz A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) - Stanley Kramer Barbie (2023) - Greta Gerwig Metropolis (1927) - Fritz Lang
Marsha Gordon, Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University, mostly highlights two directors credited with advancing film narrative with four picks. But she also sings the praises of a certain work of stop-motion animation, one taking this season by storm for both guests’ and listeners’ submissions. Marsha is the author of Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott , Film, Form & Culture (with Robert Kolker), and Film is Like a Battleground: Sam Fuller’s War Films . She is currently writing a biography of the pioneering Hollywood director Dorothy Arzner. Films mentioned: Falling Leaves (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché Making an American Citizen (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché The Girl and Her Trust (1912) - D.W. Griffith The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. Griffith The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) - Wladyslaw Starewicz The Divorcee (1930) - Robert Z. Leonard Next Time We Love (1936) - Edward H. Griffith The Immigrant (1917) - Charlie Chaplin The Brutalist (2024) - Brady Corbet The Consequences of Feminism (1906) - Alice Guy-Blaché The Lonedale Operator (1911) - D.W. Griffith The Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. Griffith I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) - Mervyn LeRoy The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter Gangs of New York (2002) - Martin Scorsese Regeneration (1915) - Raoul Walsh Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909) - J. Stuart Blackton
As Founding Director of HippFest , Scotland’s first and only silent film festival, Alison Strauss is especially knowledgeable about the history of Scottish filmmaking and -going, as represented by three of her picks. But the conversation, which concludes with outlandish animation, also addresses the preponderance of short films in an era of increasingly long ones. Alison works as Falkirk Council’s Arts Development Officer (Film and Media), programming the Hippodrome year-round. Alison is the ‘face of the Festival’ and leads on the artistic programme, commissioning, funding, research and development, and touring. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1912! Films and resources mentioned: Bo’ness Fair 1912 (1912) - Louis Dickson Mairi: The Romance of a Highland Maiden (1912) - Andrew Paterson Herring Harvest at Yarmouth (1912) - unknown How a Mosquito Operates (1912) - Winsor McCay The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) - Wladyslaw Starewicz Annual Baby Parade, 1904, Asbury Park, N.J. (1904) - Alfred C. Abadie The Herring Harvest (1925) - unknown Drifters (1929) - John Grierson Patriotic Porkers (1918) - unknown Little Nemo (1911) - Winsor McCay and J. Stuart Blackton Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) - Winsor McCay Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - Robert Zemeckis To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly (1909) - F. Percy Smith The Tragic Error (1913) - Louis Feuillade The Mascot (1933) - Wladyslaw Starewicz The Cinema and Cinema-Going in Scotland, 1896-1950 - Trevor Griffiths Hippodrome Presentations
Tanya Goldman, Assistant Professor of Film at Missouri State University, has a strong interest in what could variably be called “nontheatrical movies,” “minor cinema,” “useful films,” and other such phrases, reflected by her two concluding picks dealing with sponsored films, whether by social progress groups or farm equipment manufacturers. But much of the conversation concerns morbid humor, whether in live action or animation, and all of the shorts demonstrate the offbeat character of 1912. https://www.tanyagoldmanphd.com/ focuses on media access, considering how the distribution of documentary + nonfiction film is a political and cultural taste-making practice. She is currently completing a monograph on the career of labor activist-turned-film distributor Thomas J. Brandon. Films and resources mentioned: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMK_3-16FMs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U424m8utJnA - https://youtu.be/QmwuL-98nYk?si=L9NTTfjUqEy2VVUm - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2rafjx1zoQ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bow99bzHfiM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd-IZvAUosc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKbUgu8rItQ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udr6wKr5tHk - https://letterboxd.com/film/we-carry-on/ - https://youtu.be/-KtGFyd9WVQ?si=BbzziQ1h3DFx_4th - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1FvpEeUBQo - https://youtu.be/8tLXkKsYFgc?si=SK-rrL8AFQtEnyM3 - https://youtu.be/gOHQOJaHTXo?si=mAXbMtUr5WSl4vCZ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_F%C3%A9e_aux_Choux - https://youtu.be/X8K7I0Jczi0?si=hLEtnllyFpAGEB4i - https://youtu.be/ZPp_t8fcL4o?si=kTY-g57IKd-DEJT7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igh5ohb2_oU - https://youtu.be/6hs_FAKJTSc?si=ndphj4s69UdlmgAX - https://benaturalthemovie.com/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tgam3nXUPU - https://hmharchive.com/vnsny-visiting-nurse-service-of-new-york/ - https://vimeo.com/16838597 - https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/golden-gate-girls?frontend=kui - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SqvD1-0odY - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIyCMicwvU4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjhb7KtZZj4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gCeu3BRvuk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYlYTrni4-Q - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSntDDpk0-k - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpTWbuXhqfs - https://youtu.be/wq7hMuiz1mI?si=_K4Saxl7o_azhusk - https://youtu.be/32pzHWUTcPc?si=cj9kzS_63r0ywT-V - https://youtu.be/ebtiJH3EOHo?si=F1M8SuY4mexjrZAC - https://youtu.be/QTrBrDWxjg8?si=rn_PrVbYqvDzDNKk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptUAAiMu9LA - https://harvardfilmarchive.org/collections/preserved-films - https://youtu.be/J0Ncv2OEhpc?si=g7xIGbXzhJIyC4AO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbigdjDw1PY - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM_QiYh4bsw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiMjXYQ4dp8 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is57lyOYSss - https://youtu.be/1CVLz1_MrCk?si=5i8kOdhdNpijAIhD - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WPouUzryNU - https://www.amateurcinema.org/index.php/film/americas-disinherited - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uEwGmjhquU - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_wKmMj5Bn4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vBmN4bYITc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwmOPPqXcgI - https://youtu.be/gOWicOwtHa8?si=fJ7tlYr5rUkmnkTE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrooRi4_RFc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dmMPN3ihC8 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afA0M0rO72I - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELsgPvgDBoY - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewdFqTwM4KQ - https://kinolorber.com/product/pioneers-first-women-filmmakers-dvd-1 - https://www.dukeupress.edu/useful-cinema - https://www.filmpreservation.org/dvds-and-books/the-field-guide-to-sponsored-film - https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Movie-Theater-Sponsors-Audiences/dp/0520391500 - https://digital.hagley.org/2017227 - https://mediahistoryproject.org/
1912 seems to offer more threads of industrial, technological, and social changes in the global film industry than the previous few years, but maybe just because a few still recognizable names can essentially “headline” this season. The threads introduced in this intro, and many more, will be picked up by five guests to explore just how exciting the period is becoming. Films mentioned: Queen Elizabeth (1912) - Louis Mercanton and Henri Desfontaines Oliver Twist (1912) - unknown Oliver Twist (1912) - Thomas Bentley Richard III (1912) - André Calmettes and James Keane Cleopatra (1912) - Charles L. Gaskill Lorna Doone (1912) - Wilfred Noy What Happened to Mary (1912) - Ashley Miller and Charles Brabin Shree Pundalik (1912) - Dadasaheb Torne Saved from the Titanic (1912) - Étienne Arnaud An Unseen Enemy (1912) - D.W. Griffith With Our King and Queen Through India (1912) - unknown
The introduction to this 1911 season made a big point (or did it?) that the features have begun, and although the majority of the five most selected films from guests and listeners indeed operate in that mode, the vast majority of selections in general still conform to the time’s global film industry norm of one or two reelers. They reflect, or foreshadow, how quickly the cinematic form was evolving throughout the early and middle years of the 1910s decade. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to see the most selected films and the list of every one submitted! Films mentioned: The Strange Bird (1911) - Urban Gad Animated Putty (1911) - Walter R. Booth Temptations of a Great City (1911) - August Blom L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan Little Nemo (1911) - Winsor McCay and J. Stuart Blackton The Automatic Motorist (1911) - Walter R. Booth The Roman Orgy (1911) - Louis Feuillade L’Odissea (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan
Casper Tybjerg, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Copenhagen, selects five films that reflect the advancement of narrative cinematic drama. Whether they offer visual and emotional spectacle or crusading social messages, his picks demonstrate the international refinement of the cinematic medium. A scholar of Danish and international silent film, Casper is the co-editor of the anthology Danish and German Silent Cinema: Towards a Common Film Culture . He was awarded the Dr. Phil. (Habilitation) degree for his forthcoming book, The Historiography of Filmmaking – through the Lens of Carl Th. Dreyer. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1911! Films mentioned: The Lonedale Operator (1911) - D.W. Griffith The Golden Wedding (1911) - Arturo Ambrosio and Luigi Maggi The Defect (1911) - Louis Feuillade The Hauler (1911) - Léonce Perret Temptations of a Great City (1911) - August Blom The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - Carl Theodor Dreyer The Phantom Carriage (1921) - Victor Sjöström Häxan (1922) - Benjamin Christensen Mikaël (1924) - Carl Theodor Dreyer The Life of a Butterfly (1911) - Roberto Omegna Il tamburino sardo (1911) - Umberto Paradisi L’Odissea (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe De Liguoro The Fall of Troy (1911) - Giovanni Pastrone and Luigi Romano Borgnetto L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe De Liguoro The Vipers (1911) - Louis Feuillade L’Atalante (1934) - Jean Vigo La belle Nivernaise (1924) - Jean Epstein The Swallow and the Titmouse (1920) - André Antoine The Ballet Dancer (1911) - August Blom Les misérables (1912) - Albert Capellani The Abyss (1910) - Urban Gad
Eva Hielscher, head of film-related collections at Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum , selects a wholly international survey of 1911 films, jumping from country to country and genre to genre. This heterogeneous view of the year ranges from French comedy and animation experiment shorts to an Italian epic and German feature…and a document of a historic expedition! Eva is also co-artistic director of the Bonn International Silent Film Festival . She is co-editor of The City Symphony Phenomenon: Cinema, Art, and Urban Modernity between the Wars and Color Mania – The Material of Color in Photography and Film . Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1911! Films and resource mentioned: Rosalie and Her Phonograph (1911) - Romeo Bosetti The Strange Bird (1911) - Urban Gad The Third Fram Expedition to the South Pole (1911) - Leon Amundsen L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan Little Nemo (1911) - Winsor McCay and J. Stuart Blackton Rosalie and Léontine Go to the Theatre (1911) - Romeo Bosetti The Abyss (1910) - Urban Gad The Great White Silence (1924) - Herbert Ponting Atlantis (1913) - August Blom The Conquest of the Pole (1912) - Georges Méliès Sentimental Value (2025) - Joachim Trier Timeline of Historical Film Colors in Photography and Film
Thomas Christensen is Curator at the Danish Film Institute, so it stands to reason that all of his selections hail from Denmark. All but one of them come in at “feature length” (and from the same director) as well, reflecting the country’s place in advancing film grammar, subjects, and character psychology at a crucial transitional time. Thomas also serves on the Executive Committee of the European Cinematheque Association and served on the FIAF Technical Commission from 2003 to 2015. He has recently been involved in a project digitizing all surviving Danish silent films from 1896 to 1929. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1911! Films and resources mentioned: The Black Dream (1911) - Urban Gad Temptations of a Great City (1911) - August Blom In the Hands of Imposters (1911) - August Blom The Price of Beauty (1911) - August Blom The Girl Behind the Counter (1911) - August Blom The Execution (1903) - Peter Elfelt The Abyss (1910) - Urban Gad L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan Lion Hunting (1907) - Viggo Larsen The Ballet Dancer (1911) - August Blom The Two Gold Diggers (1909) - Viggo Larsen The White Slave Trade (1910) - Alfred Cohn The White Slave Trade (1910) - August Blom The Dangerous Age (1927) - Eugen Illés Double Indemnity (1944) - Billy Wilder The Clown (1917) - A.W. Sandberg Love One Another (1922) - Carl Theodor Dreyer Silent Film Festival 2026
Patrick Friel, educator and programmer, is very interested in non-narrative and experimental film. Therefore, his five selections totally fit into those designations (well, with one semi-exception), but each of them offer totally different visual experiences and intentions. Patrick is currently an Adjunct Professor of Instruction at Columbia College Chicago and has previously taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was also the former Program Director at Chicago Filmmakers and the Festival Director and Programmer of the Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your top five for 1911! Films and resources mentioned: Little Nemo (1911) - Winsor McCay and J. Stuart Blackton I.P. Müller (1911) - Peter Elfelt The Carrot Caterpillar (1911) - unknown The Two Obadiahs (1911) - unknown Technical Color Tests (1911) - Luca Comerio Eureka (1979) - Ernie Gehr Quo Vadis (1913) - Enrico Quazzoni Cabiria (1914) - Giovanni Pastrone L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) - Winsor McCay The Centaurs (1921) - Winsor McCay The Municipal Hospital - A Boy with a Seizure (1907) - Peter Elfelt I.P. Müller. Mit System (1906) - Peter Elfelt Sandow (1894) - William K.L. Dickson Olympia (1938) - Leni Riefenstahl The Life of a Butterfly (1911) - Roberto Omegna Under the Skin (2013) - Jonathan Glazer Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper (1972) - David Rimmer Daisies (1966) - Věra Chytilová Timeline of Historical Color
