Confession time: I utterly failed with my Blind Spot Series in 2016. Epic fail. Miserable. Terrible. Kick-me-out-of-the-classic-movie-lovers-club awful. But I’m here to make amends in 2017…
(If you’re not familiar with the Blind Spot Series, you can find out more here.) I think one of my problems this year was choosing 21 films instead of 12. 12, 21… you can see how it could happen. Still, I only watched eight out of 21:
Intolerance (1916)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Faust (1926) APRIL 27
Sunrise (1927) JANUARY 31
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) JUNE 5
Children of Paradise (1945)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Gilda (1946) FEBRUARY 28
Johnny Guitar (1954) FEBRUARY 13
Pickpocket (1959) JANUARY 12
Floating Weeds (1959)
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
The Leopard (1963)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Persona (1966) AUGUST 26
Playtime (1967)
The Long Goodbye (1973) SEPTEMBER 3
Nashville (1975)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
So in 2017, I’ve only chosen six films:
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Brief Encounter (1945)
The Bad Seed (1956)
Peeping Tom (1960)
L’Avventura (1960)
My plan is to supplement that short list with at least six films from my 2016 list. It’s not a great solution, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.
I also have a list of at least 75 film noir movies that I’ve never seen. And I have a list of recommended movies from Martin Scorsese (not personally recommended; we’re not best buds, at least not yet). Some of these were on my list already:
All That Heaven Allows (1955) Douglas Sirk
America, America (1963) Elia Kazan
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Frank Capra
The Band Wagon (1953) Vincente Minnelli
Duel in the Sun (1946) King Vidor
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) Rex Ingram
Europa ’51 (1952) Roberto Rossellini
Faces (1968) John Cassavetes
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) Anthony Mann
The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) Roberto Rossellini
Forty Guns (1957) Sam Fuller
Health (1980) Robert Altman
Heaven’s Gate (1980) Michael Cimino
How Green Was My Valley (1941) John Ford
I Walk Alone (1948) Byron Haskins
The Infernal Cakewalk (1903) Georges Méliès
Journey to Italy (1954) Roberto Rossellini
Julius Caesar (1953) Joseph Mankiewicz
Kansas City (1996) Robert Altman
La Terra Trema (1948) Luchino Visconti
The Leopard (1963) Luchino Visconti
Macbeth (1948) Orson Welles
The Magic Box (1951) John Boulting, Roy Boulting
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Powell & Pressburger
The Messiah (1975) Roberto Rossellini
Mishima (1985) Paul Schrader
Nashville (1975) Robert Altman
One, Two, Three (1961) Billy Wilder
Othello (1952) Orson Welles
Paisa (1946) Roberto Rossellini
Peeping Tom (1960) Michael Powell
The Power and the Glory (1933) William K. Howard
The Rise of Louis XIV (1966) Roberto Rossellini
The Roaring Twenties (1939) Raoul Walsh
Rocco and his Brothers (1960) Luchino Visconti
Rome, Open City (1945) Roberto Rossellini
Secrets of the Soul (1912) Vincenzo Denizot
Senso (1954) Luchino Visconti
Shadows (1959) John Cassavetes
Shock Corridor (1963) Sam Fuller
Some Came Running (1958) Vincent Minnelli
Stromboli (1950) Roberto Rossellini
Tales of Hoffman (1951) Powell & Pressburger
The Trial (1962) Orson Welles
Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) Vincente Minnelli
I would also like to see 10 previously unseen films each starring:
Robert Mitchum
Humphrey Bogart
Barbara Stanwyck
Ida Lupino
It’s going to be a busy year…
Any other films you’d recommend adding to my Blindspot 2017 list, please let me know in the comments section below. In the meantime, you know where I’ll be…
Journeys in Darkness and Light 
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Well I hope “before you die” won’t be for a long, long time, so pace yourself! 🙂 Ozu himself is a real blind spot for me: I’ve only seen TOKYO STORY and need to see much more.
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I am trying to get through the “1001 Must See Movies Before You Die” book and sometimes I veer off the path, so I understand how busy it will be! I love Ozu movies so much, and I just had to write about this one!
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Thanks! It’s going to be a busy year! Nice to see you recently tackled FLOATING WEEDS. I must get to that one soon!
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What a list! There are some definite gems in this (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp being one standout for me). I also need to see Intolerance this year among many others!
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Thanks for stopping by! And thanks also for the suggestions. I have actually seen at least one film in each of your recommendations: The Lusty Men, In a Lonely Place, Deadline U.S.A., No Man of Her Own, The Mad Miss Manton, and Road House (all of which I really like) – as for the others I haven’t seen, I’ll seek them out. Thanks again!
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I haven’t seen your first pick but the other five are terrific films in varying ways.
That’s also a great list of other films you want to see, though I have to say I found Stromboli a real trial to make it through. All the other films Ingrid Bergman made with Rossellini are better movies, I particularly liked Fear.
I like that goal of seeing more of those four artists. I’ve been working on something similar-trying to see complete filmographies of certain performers. Not knowing what you have or haven’t seen I can suggest a few for each of the four that may be lesser known but are worth seeing.
Robert Mitchum-The Lusty Men, Second Chance, Home from the Hill
Humphrey Bogart-We’re No Angels, In a Lonely Place, Deadline U.S.A.
Barbara Stanwyck-My Reputation, No Man of Her Own, The Mad Miss Manton
Ida Lupino-The Man I Love, Road House, Ladies in Retirement
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Thanks, Ryan! I think some of my selections in 2016 often felt like assignments. The ones I have picked for 2017 are films I’m really eager to see. Hope you’ll stay tuned!
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Twelve seems like a totally manageable number, doesn’t it? And yet, it can seem so brutal sometimes. Hell, twice over this year I missed my own deadline.
Your list has some GLORIOUS selections on it, so I don’t think you can go wrong. And even if you do, just shrug it off and try again in 2018 🙂
No judgements in The Blindspot Series!
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