Sight & Sound Poll

[Peter Tonguette]

All,

Over the years, I've read of references to a Sight & Sound poll in which Welles was voted the greatest director in history. I'm not referring to the poll S&S conducts every ten years to determine the greatest FILMS, but rather one which voted on filmmakers. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or (better yet) know which issue of S&S the results appeared in and who the runner-ups to Welles were?

Thanks,

Peter

[colwood]

The only thing I can think of is the "top ten directors" links at the URL below,

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/

[Glenn Anders]

Yes, Sight and Sound began in 1992 to have a selection of the the World's film directors pick the ten best films ever made. They picked CITIZEN KANE for Number One, confirming what critics had been saying for several decades in their poll, though the directors had a more diverse list, overall. The second decade of the Directors' Poll was anticipated because it was thought that THE GODFATHER, for instance, might overtake . . . KANE. In the event, CITIZEN KANE won again, raising cries of stodginess and boredom, but many of the 42 directors who voted for Welles' film said they simply had no choice. CITIZEN KANE, all in all, was the most distinguished accomplishment in Cinema History.

"Wait until next decade," was the cry that went up from fans of Baz Lurhmann and Quentin Tarantino!

[Peter Tonguette]

colwood,

Thanks. But I wonder if S&S didn't at one point actually poll critics around the world as to specific question of who was the greatest filmmaker. Here they've just assembled a "greatest filmmaker" list based on the results of their poll for the greatest movies. Oh well. I'll keep looking.

Peter

[Glenn Anders]

Dear Peter: Perhaps, we don't really understand what you want, but that URL which Colwood provides you does give you the Sight and Sounds Critics Poll to determine, in their opinion, the World's Greatest Director(s), as of 2002:

1 Orson Welles

1 Alfred Hitchcock

3 Jean-Luc Godard

4 Jean Renoir

5 Stanley Kubrick

6 Akira Kurosawa

7 Federico Fellini

8 John Ford

9 Sergei Eisenstein

10 Francis Ford Coppola

10 Yasujiro Ozu

To select the World's Greatest Director in the abstract might prove very difficult. For instance, on the basis of the extraordinary number of excellent, successful and entertaining films he created in several genres, I might pick John Huston. Or because of my love of Jeanne D'Arc, I might go for Carl Dreyer, even though only few of his great pictures are known beyond a relatively small number of people.

I'm afraid that Welles might have a harder time in the abstract to be selected Greatest Director because the Critics would have to wrestle with the fact that, aside from CITIZEN KANE, TOUCH OF EVIL and F FOR FAKE, his potentially greatest films were maimed, and thus become the subject of special pleading.

Perhaps, that is why Sight and Sound decided to add up the points for Greatest Film to determine the Greatest Director.

Glenn

[Lance Morrison]

That is a strange list. But the directors' top ten directors is even stranger.

[Glenn Anders]

Well, Lance, I believe the Directors' List is a more conventional one, but both top tens are reasonable enough. I rather like the Directors' the better of the two. Over time, I should say though, that I might want Eisenstein or Michael Powell in the place of Martin Scorsese, who now seems to have run his mean streets into the asphalt. His attempts to get outside that mold have been deadlly. In fact, in my opinion, most of what he has done in the last ten years has been dull.

What would your choices be like?

Glenn

[Peter Tonguette]

Glenn,

The list colwood linked to (and you pasted) actually could be the one I was referring to having heard about. I'm just not positive. I suppose it's conceivable that S&S conducted a poll to determine - in abstract - the greatest directors in history, but it sure doesn't look like it's on their site.

Oh, and I agree that I wouldn't know where to begin such a list personally. It's much easier for me to list my favorite films and then infer from that list my favorite filmmakers - as S&S did in the poll cited.

Peter

[Glenn Anders]

Dear Peter: I think we are in agreement.

Glenn

[Lance Morrison]

Glenn: I guess I feel there isn't enough diversification, but maybe that's just an excuse and I'm just dissatisfed 'cause there aren't some of the people I like on the lists, hehe......... I do know that I'm sad Buñuel isn't on there after his nearly 50 years of wonderful movies in many different styles. Of course seeing Godard at #3 on the critics' almost makes me forget any problems I have with the lists

[mteal]

Coppolla and Ozu are more accomplished then Ingmar Bergman? That's a bit of a joke, IMO.

[DexyMan]

Yeah I agree Mteal, any top 10 list without Bergman is an incomplete list.

[Welles Fan]

This is why I just cannot get into "lists". I am always happy to see Welles and Kane atop many such lists, but some inclusions strike me as ludicrous, and some exclusions are unjust.

I recently bought the Fox Studio Classics DVD of John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. This movie was best picture of the year at the oscars in the same year that included Citien Kane. Pity they had to choose only one...

[Narshty]

How Green Was My Valley's received an extremely raw deal over the years, simply for the great crime of "robbing" the best picture and director Oscar from Kane, as if it was directly responsible. Valley is a genuinely great film in its own right; a moving, beautiful farewell to a lost society of noble simplicity. It's a bit sappy the first time you see it, but it achieves a real profundity on repeat viewings.

Is it as good as Kane? Well, no, but it's still my favourite John Ford picture and deserves one hell of a lot more props than it gets.