What is the greatest movie ever made? Obviously, Potemkin. Unless, of course, it is Citizen Kane. Then again, it might be Seven Samurai. Fellini's 8 1/2 once won a poll on this topic. Two Chaplin films, The Gold Rush and Modern Times, might also be considered.
Being a great admirer of Jim Jarmusch, as well as a frequent voter for fringe candidates (don’t blame me: I voted for Hollis and Chester), I might, if given a real ballot, write in Night on Earth, a film that I consider a great masterpiece - and another case of the critics being idiots. Another personal favorite (highly rated, but still in my opinion not rated highly enough) in that vein is The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari.
Let me propound a question difficult to word and to answer. What movie rates the highest on the following combined measures:
Some time ago, while browsing at Videosmith (now unfortunately part of West Coast Video), I found a film with a quote from a critic "may be the greatest film ever made". Impressed but (never having heard of the film or the director) dubious, I took it out - and was amazed. Though it probably would not even make my own personal top ten list, it is a truly great movie and makes a pretty good answer to my somewhat stupid question:
It was Jean Vigo's L'Atalante.
(Truthfully, this is a relatively well known film among the cognoscenti. So if you're already familiar with it, you can just skip to the end of this page and e-mail me a vote for a better answer.)
This 1934 film, one of only four made by Vigo, was a commercial failure. Vigo died a few weeks after its release, at the age of 29. The film was fortunately restored in 1990, for its visual beauty would in itself make it a great work.
Like The Gold Rush, Jean Vigo's L'Atalante is a conventional and sentimental love story. It takes place on a barge on the river Seine. This unique and fascinating setting gave Vigo the opportunity, seized at the maximum, for depicting "life as it is" and displaying scenic beauty. (All the critics refer to Vigo's blend of "surrealism and realism".)
What makes a film great? Direction, acting, cinematography - - - this film has it all in the highest degree. Granted, if you judge films by their philosophical depth, it does not get a top score (compared to, say, Bergman) on that criterion. Vigo was an anarchist; and, if you rate films politically, you will not put it at the top in this regard, either, if you are right-wing.
Overall L'Atalante rates as many stars as your rating system has. (Mine gives it six out of six, CineBooks five out of five.) Particularly notable is the amazing performance - arguably one of the best on file - of Michel Simon as the barge hand, who reunites the separated lovers.
Looking for a thesis topic or an article for a film journal? Here is a free tip: The chartacter played by Simon, a famous actor of his time and the headliner of the bill, is, also according to the critics, the hero of the film, as opposed to the more conventional husband, played by Jean Daste. But try this: The real hero is the barge. I'll bet no one else has thought of that idea, and it is offered here free to the world of scholarship, although you should of course credit this space if you use it.
Worthy of note is the musical score by Maurice Jaubert. One might also note, from the point of view of either trivia or of critical history (paging Lipstick Traces), the cameo appearance of the surrealist poet Jacques Prévert and his brother, filmmaker Pierre.
Videosmith also has Vigo's Zero for Conduct. This short (42 minutes) film is also a mixture of realism, surrealism and anarchy. It certainly rates as great, though the print I rented was so poor as to not to permit me to verify the enormous poetic visual beauty that the critics report for it and that is such a hallmark of L'Atalante.
Hey Videosmith, if you still exist, get on the Net!
Do you have a better answer to my question? If so, contact me
here:
For some links on this topic, click here: 
To return to my index page, click here: 
As this page goes to publication, I find that I have an unbelievable number of pits to spare. Just to fill up a little more space, I am following the Internet tradition of "know-it-all-ism" and announcing a further set of "greatest"s:
Greatest novel: James Joyce, Ulysses
Greatest play: William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Greatest epic poem: Dante Alighieri, Comedia
Greatest short poem: Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode
to the West Wind"
Greatest work of music: Ludwig van Beethoven, Quartet No. 16
Greatest song: Franz Schubert, "Die Fiorelle"
Greatest aria: Johann Sebastian Bach, "Mache dich, mein
Herze rein" (St. Matthew Passion)
Greatest chorus: Johann Sebastian Bach, "Wir
setzen uns" (St. Matthew Passion)
Greatest jazz album: John Coltrane, Ascension
Greatest rock album: X-Ray Specs, Germfree Adolescents
Greatest love: Cathy and Jim
Obviously, any such list is predominantly a matter of opinion. If you disagree, post your own version.
(c) James Murphy, 1997. Last updated May 31, 1997.