Hmm. Ten might be a tall task, but here goes. All of these are highly recommended.
Charade (1963). dir. Stanley Donen, starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Mathau, George Kennedy and James Coburn. A lively homage to the Hitchcock suspense-thriller. One of my favorite movies of the early 60s.
Der Untergang (2004).
Downfall in English. dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, starring the great Bruno Ganz, Ulrich Matthes, Alexandra Maria Lara, and Corinna Harfouch. The final days of Adolf Hitler in the Wolf's Den, from the perspective of his secretary Traudl Junge. Ganz deserved an Oscar nomination for his performance.
The Night of the Hunter (1955). dir. Charles Laughton, starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish and Peter Graves. Initially, this film was panned by critics, and the negative press was so injurious to Charles Laughton that he never directed again. Now it's consider a classic. One of Mitchum's greatest, most unnerving performances.
The Asphalt Jungle (1950). dir. John Huston, starring Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, and the one of the first credited performances by Marilyn Monroe. Classic noir film. I've been petitioning Warner Brothers to release this film on Blu-ray through their Warner Archives Collection. It deserves to be in any classic film enthusiast's library.
The Public Enemy (1931). dir. William A. Wellman, starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow. Initially cast in the lesser role of Matt Doyle, director Wellman saw one of Cagney's stage performances, and knew he was better fit for the Tom Power lead role; it served as a career breakthrough for Cagney. Silent film star Louise Brooks was cast to play the lead female part of Gwen Allen, but she refused. It fell to a then 20 year old Jean Harlow. While she'd not yet perfected her craft as an actress, "Baby's" screen presence was already undeniable. Together with Edward G. Robinson's
Little Caesar,
The Public Enemy set the blueprint for prohibition era gangster movies.
Paths of Glory (1957). dir. Stanley Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker and Adolphe Menjou. Kubrick's fourth feature is an unnerving anti-war film set in the trenches of World War I. Douglas, a French army colonel, is forced to defend his men against charges of cowardice, and refusal to obey orders, when they retreat rather than attempt a suicidal rush of a German fortification.
Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993). dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, starring Juliette Binoche, Benoît Régent, Emmanuelle Riva, Julie Delpy. The first film in Polish auteur Kieślowski's
Three Colors trilogy,
Blue is a powerful drama about a woman who is forced to go on after surviving a car crash that takes the life of her husband, a world renowned composer, and her young daughter. For anybody who has never experienced Kieślowski's work before, this is a great starting point. His work of light, and color, is incredibly poetic. Watching a Kieślowski film makes you shake your head when contemplating the crap coming out of Hollywood now.
I'll think up three more for later today. Right now, I need some sleep.
