An evolving list of ★★★★ / ★★★★★ films released before 1950. The following are my awards (as they currently stand):

Hutch d’Or (Best Film):
Sherlock Jr. (Directed by: Buster Keaton) and The Passion of Joan of Arc (Directed by: Carl Theodor Dreyer)

Best Director:
Carl Theodor Dreyer for The Passion of Joan of Arc

Best Actor:
Cary Grant for Notorious

Best Actress:
Maria Falconetti for The Passion of Joan of Arc

Best Supporting Actor:
Michel Simon for L’Atalante

Best Supporting Actress:
Barbara Stanwyck for Double Indemnity

Best Screenplay:
Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane

Best Cinematography:
Gregg Toland for Citizen Kane

Best Original Score:
Bernard Herrmann for Citizen Kane

Best Documentary:
The Great White Silence (Directed by: Herbert Ponting)

Best Short:
Un Chien Andalou (Directed by: Luis Bunuel)

Best Animation:
The Cameraman’s Revenge (Directed by: Wladyslaw Starewicz)

Special Award:
Buster Keaton for his extraordinary physical comedy and pioneering cinematic vision. 

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A Brief Review of the Early Years:

Only five ★★★★★ films, fewer than in any subsequent decade, out of around 200 watched covering a period of a little over 30 years. Because of these low numbers, I’ve decided not to do my usual best by decade list for this period. Maybe in time I’ll be able to break it out into its constituent decades.

I’m a novice when it comes to appreciating the rich history of cinema before 1950. My entry point was Buster Keaton and I was fortunate to be living in London in the ‘90’s when a major retrospective of his work was undertaken by the BFI. I also got to enjoy the great jazz guitarist Bill Frisell’s band performing original scores to screenings of some of his works. Sherlock Jr. amazes me, even to this day.

Beyond Buster, my appreciation of silent film is sketchy, although I have enormous admiration for the artistry of filmmakers like Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau and Jean Vigo, and of course the extraordinary Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer, with its virtuosic direction and unforgettable lead performance by Maria Falconetti. Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou is a film of wonderful imagination and is a fine example of the playfulness and inventiveness of a lot of the best silent cinema. Herbert Ponting’s miraculous rendering of Scott’s fated expedition to the South Pole in The Great White Silence is simply one of the greatest documentaries I’ve ever seen. I’ve got the bug and am making an effort to explore the work of Charlie Chaplin, Erich von Stroheim, Victor Sjostrom and other silent greats, so I expect to make many additions to this list in the years to come.

My knowledge of the films of the ‘30’s and ‘40’s is possibly even worse than that of the ‘20’s. Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane looms large, often cited as the greatest film ever made. I admire its technical qualities greatly, but it doesn’t move me. I’m more drawn to the screwball comedies of Frank Capra and the noir films of Billy Wilder and others. Possibly my favourite talkie of the era is the supremely stylish Alfred Hitchcock classic, Notorious, with a young Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. The emergence of Welles, Wilder and Hitchcock seemed to open up the possibility of film as serious art in an entertainer’s cloak, as the ‘50’s loomed.

Best Films pre-1950 >>> Best Films of the 1950s