There are certainly many classics that nearly every serious film fan has seen; films like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Rear Window have attained a status that makes them required viewing for anyone interested in film history. Not only are these masterpieces that have stood the test of time, but they are responsible for setting trends that would spawn countless imitators.

However, there are some films considered classics that have been lost to time. Some were considered noteworthy at the time, but have lost the favor of renowned critics or slipped into obscurity. These films are deserving of immense praise, as they introduced new cinematic voices and told breakthrough stories. Here are ten movie classics you may have missed.

10. Gods and Monsters (1998)

Bill Condon may not be among any list of the greatest directors due to the critical failure of many of his recent films, but he’s also responsible for many brilliant films, including Kinsey, Dreamgirls, and Mr. Holmes. Condon’s best film to date is one that fans of classic cinema will want to check out, as it is a biographical film centered around James Whale, the man who helmed such films as Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein. Whale is played by Condon’s frequent collaborator Ian McKellen, who delivers the best performance of his career.

Condon’s film explores how the images and themes of Whale’s films continue to haunt him as he faces his own mortality; through a new muse, his groundskeeper Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser), Whale finds someone with whom he can share his real feelings about the way the film industry has gone and the intentionality of his work. Not only is it a clever window into the classical era of filmmaking, but it is also an emotionally riveting story of an artist watching their legacy emerge at the end of their life.

9. Hard Eight (1996)

Paul Thomas Anderson is renowned as one of the greatest filmmakers of his time, and films such as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Punch-Drunk Love have emerged as well regarded modern classics. One film that tends to get lost in the shuffle is Anderson’s debut Hard Eight, an exercise in formal brilliance that follows Sydney Brown (Phillip Baker Hall), a veteran gambler who mentors the young man John Finnegan (John C. Reilly) as the two travel to Las Vegas to score some bets.

Compared to the vast scope and visual invention of Anderson’s later work, Hard Eight is much more intimate and confined, with long sections of dialogue occuring in smaller locations. It’s as brilliantly written as anything Anderson has ever done, particularly as he builds to a twist involving Baker Hall’s character and the secrets that he holds. The central dynamic between Baker Hall and Reilly is quite touching, but watch out for some scene stealing supporting turns from Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson.

8. Empire of the Sun (1987)

A recurring theme within Steven Spielberg’s films is the idea of exploring complex and dramatic events through the lense of a child’s eyes, and one of the more undervalued works within his filmography is the coming of age war epic Empire of the Sun. Christian Bale gives a brilliant child performance as Jamie Graham, a privileged British child who is thrust into a Japanese internment camp in the heights of World War II.

Spielberg is occasionally criticized for being overtly schmaltzy, but it’s this sensitive spirit that makes Empire of the Sun so magnetic; Jamie can’t come to grips with the hardship and death he is witnessing, so he attempts to explain the world in a way that would make sense to a child. As always, the beautiful score from John Williams emphasizes all the most important emotional beats.

7. The Outsiders (1983)

Francis Ford Coppola’s run of films in the 1970s is a nearly unmatched string of all-time masterpieces, and while Coppola was never able to attain the same heights again, he does have a number of underrated hits sprinkled amidst the rest of his career. One such film is The Outsiders, an adaptation of the famous novel by S. E. Hinton that explored and deconstructed youth culture, social groups, and wealth differences.

Of all things, The Outsiders is perhaps best known for launching the careers of many of the finest young actors of the 1980s; actors such as Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, and C. Thomas Howell star as a group of greasers living outside of Tulsa that experience a transformative summer of violence and change. Just as the original novel proved to be controversial and provocative, Coppola’s film proved to be an untraditional and challenging young adult film.

6. Serpico (1973)

Sidney Lumet’s 1973 masterpiece proved to be an instant neo-noir crime classic, and remains high on the list of the greatest undercover cop dramas ever made. Released between The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II, the film starred Al Pacino in one of his best roles as Officer Frank Serpico, a NYPD officer who went undercover to investigate corrupt cops. On top of being a riveting and suspenseful thriller, the film opened the conversation about corruption within the police force.

Pacino would later be known as an actor who delivers eccentric, over the top performances, but Serpico saw him in a much more nuanced, subtle role, as Serpico is a character whose good morals are tested by the extremity of the situations he experiences. The film was fearless in exploring the pressures Serpico faced during the course of his mission, and ends on an ambiguous note that questions what change would actually occur.

Other than the fantastic Criterion Channel, which is unfortunately unavailable outside the USA and Canada, and UK’s streaming service BFI Player, Amazon Prime is the best place for lovers of older, classic movies. From 1920s silent films to forgotten gems of the 1990s, Amazon Prime’s vast catalogue has a surprising amount of classic films, yet most of them are buried beneath the endless amount of more recent films.

The titles presented on this list are by no means obscure classics that no one has ever heard about, yet they are still not talked about enough, and chances are you’ve never watched some of them. In no particular order, here are our choices for 10 great movie classics on Amazon Prime you may have missed.

1. The Circus (1928)

This early Charlie Chaplin silent movie was released between two of his more famous works, 1925’s “The Gold Rush” and 1931’s “City Lights”, and has been rather overshadowed by the aforementioned films. “The Circus” features Chaplin’s iconic Tramp as he gets hired as a clown in a traveling circus and falls in love with the circus owner’s daughter, a beautiful bareback rider.

Even though it is not Chaplin’s best work, “The Circus” is definitely worth a watch. Technically innovative, filled with energetic slapstick, constantly entertaining, and containing some of Chaplin’s funniest gags, the film might lack the depth of “City Lights”, but when it comes to pure comedy, it is just as great.

2. Love And Death (1975)

One of Woody Allen’s silliest films, “Love And Death” is a funny parody of 19th century Russia in the vein of the films of Mel Brooks or Monty Python.

Set in the czarist Russia, the film stars Allen as Boris, a coward intellectual who becomes a soldier, accidentally gets decorated as a war hero, falls in love with his beautiful and pretentious cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton), and devises a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

Entertaining, filled with over-the-top gags, zany characters, quotable one-liners, and moments of characteristic philosophical debate, “Love And Death” is much more cartoonish than Allen’s more famous films, but clever enough not to fall in the category of mindless comedies.

3. The Long Goodbye (1973)

Perhaps the most known film on this list, Robert Altman’s adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel 1953 “The Long Goodbye” is a suspenseful neo-noir that stars Elliot Gould as the charismatic Philip Marlowe, a private detective who finds himself in the middle of a mysterious case that includes a missing man, a murdered wife, violent gangsters, and corrupt Mexican cops.

Set in the moody backdrop of 1970’s Los Angeles, Altman’s film is filled with night scenes, cigarette smoke, and quirky characters. Even though at its base a murder mystery, “The Last Goodbye” subverts genre expectations and takes its plot in unexpected directions. The result is a unique film that is as much a hard-boiled detective story as it is a dark comedy, an examination on the frailty of friendship and trust or, as Altman himself called it, “a satire in melancholy”.

4. The Birdcage (1996)

Mike Nichols’ remake of the 1978 French comedy “La Cage aux Folles” is a funny, flamboyant, heartwarming, and surprisingly progressive film that stars Robin Willilams as Armand Goldman, the gay owner of a South Miami Beach nightclub, and Nathan Lane as Albert, his longtime drag queen lover.

When their son Val decides to get married to a woman with ultraconservative parents (played by Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest), Armand has to pretend to be straight while meeting his soon-to-be inlaws, while Albert presents himself as Val’s straight uncle. The results are, as expected, hilarious.

5. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

An aging Chinese chief has to come to terms with old age, while his three daughters try to make their way in life and romance in “Eat Drink Man Woman”, the third film in Ang Lee’s “Father Knows Best” trilogy.

Perfectly balancing comedy with drama, the movie touches many important themes, from the generational gap and the divergence of moral values between parents and children to family and gender roles, death and aging, religion, and globalization. However, the film’s powers reside in its well-constructed, real-like, and very likable characters. Rarely does a film with multiple protagonists manage to keep each one’s story interesting, yet Ang Lee’s characters are authentic, with quirks that make them so different from the usual Hollywood protagonists, and it’s practically impossible not to root for them all.

Overshadowed by Lee’s more acclaimed films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Brokeback Mountain” or “Life Of Pi”, “Eat Drink Man Woman” has become somewhat of a hidden gem in the director’s catalogue, so if you’ve missed it, we strongly suggest you check it out. Just make sure not to be on an empty stomach: there is so much food in this film and it all looks so great!

It’s always a good time to sit down to a seriously great film, right? And we all have dry spells where we seem to find anything but, too. So, why not make things a little easier, simplify them a bit, and narrow things down to ten incredible movies that you should check out in any way possible? Enough delaying, let’s just get started…

1. Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008)

To put things simply from the very start of this list, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a cinematic master like very few others. The control that he has over his form, and in turn over the emotions of his audience, is almost unprecedented. Maybe there’s some kind of mythical cinematic power given to the name Kurosawa, who knows? But putting cosmic coincidences to one side, lt’s look at Tokyo Sonata.

This film was a quite drastic switch up for Kiyoshi, seeing him flip his style and alter his approach from a notorious director of horror and (really) dark thrillers, such as Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997) (both of which are seriously excellent!) to taking on a more domestic approach to fit the context of the financial struggles strangling and suffocating Japan at the time of production.

Still channelling plenty of darkness and discomfort in the process, Tokyo Sonata is one of the greatest and most overlooked films of the 21st century, and maybe even of all time, with the perfect mix of fantasy and realism, the delicate juggling of horror and drama and the incredible ensemble cast who manage to portray everything so clearly despite the difficulties in expressing the shame and fear that they’re experiencing.

Starting off as unbearably real and gradually becoming increasingly surreal as it continues, Tokyo Sonata is a rarely emotional film focused on the effects of unemployment and financial insecurity. Kiyoshi directs it like a master of his craft, because he is one, and takes his formal game up a level by testing the waters of the family genre (it makes a lot of sense that he now makes a lot of films focused on relationships at the centre of a conflict).

2. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Carl Koch and Lotte Reineger, 1926)

The very first fully animated feature length film just happened to be one of the greatest ever made. Utilising some of the most beautiful mixes of colours ever put to screen, as well as working with a gorgeous style that is gifted to the film by Lotte Reiniger’s wonderfully impressionistic use of shadows and silhouettes cut from cardboard, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a breathtaking film that shows how early on animated films had intense visual power, something that can still be seen (in the right films, at least) even today, almost a hundred years later. There’s not too much to be said for this one, as its power is almost entirely to be seen in the beauty of the animated visuals, but do see it anyway!

3. Pauline at the Beach (Eric Rohmer, 1983)

Okay, admittedly, most of us probably know Rohmer and his films quite well, but still, Pauline at the Beach is so wonderful that it won’t hurt to talk about it a little. One of Rohmer’s funniest and lightest films, Pauline at the Beach is a brilliant cause and effect comedy that follows the dysfunctional relationships between a group of people holidaying together.

The story has such a flow to it that it’s almost impossible not to enjoy the freewheeling attitude it has towards everything that happens, and even when it does become more serious it maintains enough of the silliness to never veer completely off road and become something else entirely. The locations add an extra layer of beauty to the film, as does the cast, with the overall movie certainly having the energy of being a true comfort film.

Few feel quite like it, with the overwhelming feeling of comfort despite some of the more serious consequences of the events as they continue to get worse through the continued misunderstandings of the characters. It’s a uniquely pleasant movie, one that doesn’t feel consequential enough to be truly dramatic or distressing – it’s one of those shockingly scarce films that feels just right.

4. The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh, 1939)

Raoul Walsh is a total veteran. Having made so many terrific films, with the most well known of them all likely being White Heat. The Roaring Twenties works as something of a spiritual predecessor to White Heat, also utilising James Cagney in the lead and both films following the perspective of a criminal, however, The Roaring Twenties may be the better character study. Looking deeply into the troubling context of the 1920s for Americans, the post-war poverty that crippled so many, and how this led to increases in crime and, in turn, increases in lust for power.

Surely a huge inspiration for Martin Scorsese in terms of style, with the stylistic newspaper archive edits being used to lay out the exposition and context and Cagney’s anti-hero being framed in so many contradictory ways to the point that the audience has to question his character, but also themselves and their reception of such a character. To put it simply, The Roaring Twenties is a phenomenal film that really manages to capture the troubles faced in 1920s America, whilst also serving as another excellent gangster classic for those who like those, too.

5. Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971)

Peter Watkins generally has produced a good number of the most overlooked films ever made, from his absolutely astonishing La Commune, 1871 to his more mainstream films like Privilege that still somehow missed the mark (or, if they did hit the mark when they came out, have certainly been forgotten almost entirely), and Punishment Park is no exception even if it is one of his more popular works.

Taking the faux documentary style that Watkins played a huge part in popularising (along with directors like Robert Flaherty) and applying it to the heavy political contexts that were everywhere in the early 1970s (such as the civil rights movement and protests against the Vietnam war, for example), Watkins makes a really astonishing film by focusing so intently on realism whilst merging it slightly with a feeling of totalitarian dystopia, just enough so that it still feels real. It’s a real shocker of a film, something that works within its own genre that will probably never be seen again.

Classics tend to be the films that have (or will) stand the test of time – films that shaped culture or defined it, films that solidified cinematic language, films that told stories for generations to come. At this point, there’s a general cinematic canon that people consider to be all-time “classics” – whether that’s determined through lists like Schneider’s “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die,” IMDb’s ever-changing top 250, the word of great critics like Ebert, or even popular opinion on internet forums and social media. But because of this saturation of opinions telling us what is and is not an undeniable masterwork, the word “classic” has become increasingly devoid of meaning or weight.

And because certain films pop up in this discourse of what is “classic” more frequently than others, films that are arguably just as great as the big names lose the spotlight they deserve. With that in mind, here’s a list of ten underappreciated classics that are worth checking out (and if you have already seen them, more power to you!).

1. Vampyr (1932, Carl Theodor Dreyer)

Vampyr is a horror-fantasy film directed by Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer, most notable for directing The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). Originally, the film was received with generally negative reception, but where Vampyr lacks in plot ingenuity, it makes up for in gorgeous black and white cinematography and gloomy atmosphere.

The film follows an occult-obsessed traveller named Allan Gray, who arrives in the town of Courtempierre on a dark, dreary night. While sleeping in an inn, Gray is abruptly awoken by a mysterious old man, who leaves him a packet with an inscription ordering Gray to open upon the old man’s death. Gray leaves the inn in search of answers; what ensues is a classic vampire hunting tale.

With its roots in German Expressionism, Vampyr has an irresistibly gothic, fable-like atmosphere – a film of creeping shadows and hazy moonlit fields. The simplistic pulpiness of its premise allows leeway for the film’s eerie aesthetics to shine bright; Vampyr is one of the most underappreciated horror classics of the 1930s and a true visual masterpiece of the era.

2. Fires on the Plain (1959, Kon Ichikawa)

Alongside the greats of classic Japanese cinema like Ozu and Kurosawa, Kon Ichikawa is a gifted and lyrical director whose filmography has unfortunately been overshadowed by his contemporaries. Ichikawa’s unsung masterwork, Fires on the Plain, is one of the most sobering and bleak war films to come from the era.

Taking place on the eve of WWII, the film follows a Japanese soldier, Tamura, stranded in the Philippines and cut off from aid or support by the Allied Forces. Tamura and his fellow soldiers, completely disoriented and demoralized, face sickness, starvation, and insanity on the island. The film follows Tamura’s grueling tale of survival.

Especially for the time it was released, Fires on the Plain is an incredibly cruel and violent film. Ichikawa is unafraid to display the bloody horrors of war and the demoralizing taboos faced by soldiers caught in the midst of it: most notoriously in this film, cannibalism. Fires on the Plain is a film that believes in the human spirit and its determination to survive against all odds, but Ichikawa identifies the elephant in the room: at what cost? How much humanity can one lose to survive? It’s a harrowing and absolutely unforgettable war film, completely ahead of its time and a true classic of Eastern cinema.

3. Playtime (1967, Jacques Tati)

Playtime is a comedy film directed by the great French filmmaker Jacques Tati. Not unlike Charlie Chaplin and his “Tramp” character, Tati directs and stars in his films as a recurring character called Monsieur Hulot. And not unlike Chapman, Tati is a master of using comedy of errors as a means of identifying a greater discrepancy or truth in contemporary society.

The film takes place in a near-future Paris over the course of a day. Across the film’s runtime, Monsieur Hulot stumbles and bumbles around this modern, high-tech megalopolis, attempting to make sense of the city. Meanwhile, an American tourist visiting Paris crosses paths with Hulot. Hijinks ensue.

Shot in 70mm, Tati’s vision of the near future has a distinctly mid-century modern tinge of retrofuturism that is unbelievably gorgeous to look at – the sets are elaborate and the world-building is fully realized. But the film’s mechanical, tech-driven environment and the slapstick visual comedy that results is really no laughing matter.

Tati’s vision of the future is one where people are unable to communicate; where technology and industry (quite literally) blocks humans from building meaningful connections and understanding one another. In this way, Playtime is more relevant in the digital age than ever before, a film that is playfully wary of our increasingly detached and distracted Western culture. It is equal parts a classic of visually-driven comedy as it is a classic of socially-aware science fiction.

4. Wake in Fright (1971, Ted Kotcheff)

Wake in Fright is an Australian psychological thriller directed by Ted Kotcheff, who would later go on to direct popular American classics like First Blood (1982) and Weekend at Bernie’s (1989). Although it was welcomed to positive critical reception upon release, the film’s objectionable content (notably a harrowing scene involving hunting live kangaroos) resulted in its financial failure. And because the film’s master negative went missing, for the remainder of the 20th century Wake in Fright became unavailable to view in its original unedited form.

It wasn’t until the film was resurrected and restored in 2009 that audiences were able to experience the film as it was originally intended to. The film follows an Australian school teacher, John, forced to teach in the outback of Australia on financial bond. As the holidays approach, John plans to catch a plane and visit his girlfriend in Sydney, but is stranded in a small town called The Yabba en route. What initially appears to be a minor setback becomes psychological and physical hell as John is unable to leave the rudimentary, drunkard town.

If there was ever a film that made you want to grab a beer… Wake in Fright is not it. It is one of the quintessential films whose horror is founded in intoxication; total disorientation and a loss of self. Few films have captured an individual’s downward spiral into moral degradation, violence, helplessness and hedonism with such stomach-churning brilliance. Wake in Fright is an earth shattering thriller in the best ways possible, and a true forgotten classic of the Australian New Wave.

5. Tale of Tales (1979, Yuri Norstein)

Tale of Tales is a short Soviet animated film by Yuri Norstein. When it was released, Tale of Tales was deemed by several sources to be the greatest animated film ever created. Of course, many animated films have been released since 1979 that could just as easily contend for the title, but Tale of Tales is still undoubtedly a masterpiece not just of animation, but of filmmaking in any genre.

Not unlike the works of other great Russian filmmakers like Tarkovsky, Norstein uses his film as a means of exploring memory through vignettes and iconography – the memories of a nation, of childhood, and a loss of innocence. In this way, the film does not have a chronological plot in a traditional sense. The film floats back and forth between abstracted, even nostalgic images of wartime, nature, and family in Russia, almost all with a curious little grey wolf at its center. Norstein combines stop motion with paper puppetry and photography to a truly luminous, haunting effect.

The entire film has a deep sense of loss and longing – remembering, in small blurs, gentle lullabies of the past, empty homes and streetlights, the dying embers of a fire. The eyes of the little wolf were allegedly created using cutouts of an old photo of a half-drowned kitten; the wolf guides us on this path of lost innocence, himself a relic of something innocent and precious on the verge of being lost. Norstein’s masterpiece is a lyrical, spectral and completely unforgettable classic of Soviet animated filmmaking.

It is probably easier to win a woman’s heart than assuring that a film would be seen and appreciated by a large number of people, even though social scientists seem to prefer the contrary. Every year, thousands of films are released and it is the biggest gamble a person can ever take to think that their film will stand out for a lot of people; certainly, they should be a big optimist. Viewers tend to follow the recommendation of a particular favorite critic and writer, and there is always a pattern in the ‘best of the year’ lists. A writer can’t demand everyone watch every good film out there; a large number of factors interfere in the selection and typically, the casual viewer misses many good films that deserve to be seen.

Hopefully, the film culture is not bound to the ‘year’s best’ lists from several publications. Film fans are there to quickly point out underseen good films to each other and sometimes, they grow to be a cult favorite over time. This list wishes to do the same, to suggest many good films to its readers that may have gone under the radar for them. Without further ado, here are 10 movies you have probably never seen.

1. Days and Nights in a Forest

Akira Kurosawa said about Satyajit Ray, “Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.” Still, apart from a few well-known titles from the master, Western society is noticeably unaware of this prolific filmmaker’s other career-best works. One of them is “Days and Nights in a Forest,” which has hopefully grown to be a favorite of the Western critics who now demand it to be one of Ray’s best films.

“Days and Nights in a Forest” is a carnivalesque drama in plain sight, a technique Ray learned from his teacher Jean Renoir to subtly hide the scathing criticism of urban life under this. Ray observes his urban characters, brutally exposes their psychological weaknesses over the uneducated tribal love and the suppressed intense passion of the educated upper-middle class. He also criticizes the hedonism and the casual manner by which this growing urban population has lost with its roots, but this truth has to be recovered by the diligent viewer hiding under layers.

There is also a fantastic memory game situation where Ray gives us a hint of every character by the choices they present in the game. A grain of buddy road film mixed with the clever exposition of the middle-class insecurity, “Days and Nights in a Forest” deserves to be watched.

2. One False Move

A neo-noir surrounding the life of people of color in the United States, “One False Move” easily underlines the uncomfortable social equation in the background. The direction style is simple, but the unblinking violence never sets the audience free from the grim social reality of the neglected population. “One False Move” is a sympathetic humane film whose plot doesn’t make total sense, but the screenplay forces the audience to care for the unlucky protagonists of the film.

The crime genre trappings are all present, but when the peeling of layers is all over, the wounds of racism take the center seat. All of the action and staging is meticulously decided, which was necessary for this tightly written film’s progression, and it also cleverly disguises its moral core under the stereotype of the black crime film. There is also a great emotional subplot involving a country sheriff and his ambitions to become a high-class city police officer. The climax is powerful enough to bring some people to tears.

3. Phase IV

“Phase IV” is a difficult film to recommend because it is weird and not for everyone’s taste. But a chance should be given to this film, which is eschewed of any traditional narrative, per se, but totally balances with its delirious visuals. The film is full of ideas and can be enjoyed mostly without any explanation. The intensity of this experimental sci-fi film destined it to be a bad chaotic nightmare that garnered it a smooth cult following over the years.

With a deliberate slow-building pace and capricious lighting, “Phase IV” gives a “2001: A Space Odyssey” kind of trip, albeit in an ant world. Sometimes, the environmental concern of the film is far from clear, but the brutal, haunting imagery demands attention, not unlike what Luis Bunuel did with his “Un Chien Andalou” and Bergman did in his “Persona” opening sequence.

4. Foolish Wives

In his primetime, Erich von Stroheim enjoyed the undivided attention of Hollywood, and “Foolish Wives” was the first million-dollar movie to come out of Hollywood. Some eccentric demands of von Stroheim were not kept, though who want “Foolish Wives” to run between 6 to 10 hours in two respective evenings, but the re-edited 117 minutes release or the restored 142 minutes cut promises a great tragicomedy for the curious viewer.

Like all good silent intertitled films, “Foolish Wives” is best between the appearance of the title cards. Von Storheim is extremely powerful in the perverse role of Count Wladislaw, Sergius Karamzin, and his seducing techniques are dated but fearful. Von Stroheim created Monte Carlo in the Hollywood backlot and the enormous set and detailing is another thing to marvel at.

In the perverse world created by von Stroheim, there is little difference between the marvelous and grotesque. The world of “Foolish Wives” is hopelessly dark, and this 1922 erotic drama film predates the noir films that would come out decades later. This is the work of a pornographer from the material of a Shakespearean comedy.

5. The House is Black

“The House is Black” is the only work of the iconoclast modernist Iranian poet and filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad, whose literary work was long banned by the Iranian authorities for its raw emotional power. This power was well extended to this documentary, which dealt with the life of the lepers in a leper colony. Poetry infuses with brutal practicality in “The House is Black” and Farrokhzad observes the daily lifestyle of the lepers from a close distance.

This film criticizes both the Koran and the Old Testament for the suffering of these people, and that is one of the reasons it didn’t go well for the Iranian government. There are not enough essay films in the otherwise brilliant Iranian New Wave movement. “The House is Black” filled the gap in the ‘60s with the brilliant narration done by the filmmaker herself. Her leper friends do pretty normal tasks with absolutely no problem, and it is extremely painful to watch when she zooms into their deformities to question us about their suffering. Long after the film is over, the visuals and ideas of it would remain in the mind of the viewer.

The following films are of amazing narrative and aesthetic quality. Most of them have been Oscar-nominated, or at the very least, swept the National Awards of the respective countries of their production.

For one reason or another, they have been unjustly semi-forgotten or relegated to a kind of second-tier of cinematic achievement by many critics and film historians.

1. Bye-Bye (1995, Karim Dridi)

The 25-year-old Ismael and 14-year-old Mouloud move from Paris to their benevolent uncle’s crowded house, in a working-class neighborhood of Marseille. Ismael and Mouloud don’t just leave Paris behind, but they also try to escape their past,  as a tiny bit of subtle dialogue alludes to a tragedy that occurred while in they lived in France’s capital.

The parents – immigrants from Tunisia, Northern Africa – return for good to the old country, while they instruct Ismael to send over Mouloud after some time in Marseille. While Ismael scores a job on the docks of Marseille and befriends Jacky, the owner’s son, major complications throw both brothers’ lives into turmoil. Ismael falls for his new buddy’s girlfriend, precipitating Jacky’s older brother’s blatant racism into violence; while Mouloud, unwilling to return to Tunisia, ends up being recruited by Renard, a paranoid crackpot and sociopathic heroin dealer.

The film captures an extremely atmospheric Marseille, while also offering an entertaining exploration of relevant contemporary social issues in France (racism toward the North African community, the difficulty of social integration and coping with accidental tragedy) all presented in a fresh and intoxicating manner. However, the storytelling is somewhat fragile.

2. Machuca (2004, Andres Wood)

An elite all-boys school in Santiago, Chile during a time of great political volatility, the early 1970s. The 11-year-old Gonzalo, belonging to an upper-class Santiago family, forges a genuine friendship with Pedro, a courageous and determined shantytown kid, who was brought to the elite school by the integrative vision and no-nonsense character of Father McEnroe, the school Master.

Gonzalo is an intelligent kid on the verge of adolescence with an affectionate but snobbish mother, who despises the poor, and a cool and permissive Dad (who is mostly absent.) Gonzalo doesn’t buy into his classmates’ hostility for the recently integrated peers, who come from extremely poor families. Also, Gonzalo instinctively can’t stand his sister’s violent zombie crypto-fascist boyfriend.

Gonzalo’s innocence and benevolent nature don’t disintegrate despite being subject to bullying on the school patio, and even after accompanying his mother to an embarrassing rendezvous with an older rich guy who tries to both keep Gonzalo entertained and buy his complicity by offering him Lone Ranger comics. The friendship with the new school peer, Pedro, somehow transcends all the rigid caste beliefs of the Chilean upper class, as the new classmate goes to play at Gonzalo’s house and is finally accepted as a friend.

The director Andres Wood allows the historical facts to speak for themselves, yet manages to keep the friendship at the forefront of the story and the rising political temperatures in the background. The cinematography and the period details are extremely realistic, while the weather, mostly overcast and somber, succeeds in suggesting a bleak “all is falling apart” mood.

The brutality unleashed by Pinochet and the junta completely destroys the slums where Pedro and his family live, under the pretext of “reinstalling order” and “hunting down communists.”All of the kids from the slums are thrown out of the school by the soldiers, while Father John declares that the place has been desecrated and is arrested. Shortly after, Gonzalo is reciprocating Pedro visits by playing at Pedro’s parents’ house, during another intervention of the army.

Not only does Gonzalo witness firsthand the army’s arbitrary dragging out of people from their homes, but he barely saves himself with his wits and a piece of brilliant improvisation, asking a soldier to look at his face and at his fancy sport shoes, in order to signify his belonging to a very different socio-economic class.

The soldier, who is no doubt familiar with Chilean society’s extreme “classism,” has a moment of utter perplexity and then releases Gonzalo. The official propaganda claims the next day, with a mix of typical right-wing ludicrous euphemisms and mindless junta triumphalism, “that order is restored and everything is perfectly normal.”

The children’s performances are extremely convincing and almost flawless. The film holds extremely well, while the portrayals are nuanced and well balanced. Gonzalo’s father, a member of the upper class, is a laid-back, hedonistic guy and a sincere believer in “equality of opportunities” while Pedro’s father is a cynical alcoholic.

The children’s limited comprehension of the darkest hour in Chilean history is compensated by virulent emotions and a lack of adherence to adult dominant values (ambition, hypocrisy, and opportunism). Also remarkable is the fact that the children never fall into Hollywood black-and-white heroism.

3. Four Days in September (1997, Bruno Baretto)

The true story of a group of idealistic middle-class students in Sao Paulo that, in July 1969, kidnap the American ambassador in order to circumnavigate the severe censorship of the press and call attention worldwide to the brutality of the Brazilian military dictatorship.

Three college students discuss their views on the dictatorship in Brazil and possible involvement with MR 8, an underground organization fighting the military dictatorship.

Fernando is a talented speechwriter but certainly no ”guerilla warfare material” as he’s hopelessly uncomfortable and inept with guns, while his chubby buddy Cesar is a naive seminar student completely unaware that he will be soon in something well over the top of his head.

After an anonymous bank expropriation that no one finds out about, Fernando, now rebaptized “Paolo” inside the communist guerilla group, has a “brilliant” idea – to kidnap the U.S. ambassador in order to force the military junta into ”collaboration” and pass all the revolutionaries’ messages on national TV, in order to avoid the killing of the American diplomat.

A smart, nuanced and well-written political thriller, Bruno Barreto’s “Four Days in September” was a well deserved Brazilian entry for the Oscars and certainly carries the “gravitas” of a real story.

4. Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998, Julio Medem)

A lush, mesmerizing, and ravishingly beautifully shot love story. A complex poetic vision encompassing Basque director’s Julio Medem’s vision of destiny.

Anna and Otto meet at the age of eight as they attend the same school. Later, as teenagers, they become siblings as their single parents fall in love and move together. Finally, they are reunited in their mid-20s in a hut in Finland, precisely the mythical and geographic place crossed by the imaginary line of the Arctic Circle.

Medem nonchalantly plays with the unfolding of the story, as time flashes forward and then we go back in time to experience the same scene through the eyes of a different character. Both Anna and Otto have comprehensive voice-over narration that border on excessive at times. Even so, these film passages are rendered intoxicating by the very fluid mise en scene and Medem’s particular brand of delirious melancholy.

5. Exiled (2006, Johnnie To)

Two mob squads arrive in Macau before the island will be returned by the Portuguese to China, in the very late 1990s. Wo is a former hitman who retired from the mob and live a quiet existence with his wife and infant child (at least, before the arrival of mob former buddies). While one squad comes to claim Wo’s head for having retired without the blessing of mob’s boss Fay, there is another squad, composed of old buddies, that come to warn and protect Wo.

After an initial fight, all of the participants clean up the place and sit down to a feast as Wo apparently agrees to the last hit of his career, in order to generate enough income for his family.

The plot doesn’t have any great depth or any mind-boggling twists. However, what catapulted Johnnie To’s film to the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, as well as the hearts of scores of fans worldwide, is the wild, extravagant, and extremely polished mise en scene. Style over substance? Yes, unfortunately, up to a certain degree!

While the characterization might have had more depth and the plot might have been elevated by a bit of either black humor or absurd detail, the cinematic experience is still absolutely phenomenal. The wind blows through open windows during the Antonioni-esque shootout while wide-angle highly stylized spaces give the arena, where extremely choreographed confrontations occur, a spectacular feeling.

A really amazing tour de force in the crime genre with superbly crafted camera work, highly suggestive framing, and a consistent hard-boiled mood that suits the tough and violent lives of the hitmen. Johnie To’s film is in tune with the subtle and complex codes of the Hong Kong crime genre. Yet “Exiled” is not a cold and virtuoso masterpiece in terms of mise en scene, but also really engages the audience emotionally. Another fascinating aspect is that the characters’ emotional bonds and childhood friendship still somehow at times transcends loyalty to the mob.

No matter how often we watch movies, the feeling of knowing that there are still many good movies that we haven’t seen can sometimes be relaxing. Today, it is not so easy to find special films in cinema, which is a medium that has the potential to evolve into something new, especially with the changing habits of modern people.

Fortunately, plenty of classic films that give a sense of pure cinema are still waiting to be explored. Besides, it’s a great reason to stay positive.

Here are 10 great movie classics you’ve probably never seen:

10. The Silence (1963)

“The Silence” is one of Ingmar Bergman’s most personal films, and it is the first one of his bleak trilogy.

It focuses on the emotional bond between two sisters, Ester and Anna, who are becoming increasingly distant from each other. The two women, along with Anna’s 10-year-old son, set out to a central European country on the verge of war.

However, Ester’s illness during the journey forces their plans to change. They have to settle in a hotel in a small town called Timoka, and face unexpected situations.

This black-and-white masterpiece, which has a totally different sound in its silence, leads the audience into a suffocating atmosphere, and questions the need to create new and cleaner aspects in our own world.

Tystnaden’s lack of monologue and dialogue and the gaps in the script are entirely the steps of endless search and exploration.

It’s a quite hard and sometimes unbearable film that pushes the audience’s limits and forces inevitable self-questioning. But obviously, it’s also a great stop for the ones who admire Bergman’s unique cinematography.

9. Seventh Continent (1989)

Haneke, who loves to reflect the ideology of the social structure through the smallest but most important representative family, shows that he will be the bogy of Europe from his debut feature film. It is also the first of his glaciation trilogy.

The couple Georg and Anna, despite their normal and silent appearance, cannot experience any significant pleasure in their lives and live completely indifferent. Their child Evi is most affected by this situation.

Evi pretends to be blind as punishment for the indifference of his parents. Seeing this, Georg and Anna realize the meaninglessness of their lives and enter a quite pessimistic process.

This monotone and dark story acts as a mirror to modern society by presenting the daily life of an ordinary family that is forced to live behind closed doors.

The film, which is based on a newspaper report, is a call for help from the robotic modern man who has an unconscious longing for a nonexistent seventh continent.

Haneke manipulates the traditional understanding of film with the screen that is darkened for a long time to show time shifts and emotional transitions. The audience is free to reflect on the film and draw their own conclusions.

8. Rebels of the Neon God (1992)

Taiwanese director Tsaï Ming-liang, one of the underappreciated names even among cinephiles, has made flawless films like “What Time Is It There?”, “Goodbye, Dragon Inn” and “Vive L’Amour.” In “Rebels of the Neon God,” which is his first feature film, he takes us on a special revenge story.

The introverted Hsiao Kang feels cooped up at home. A high school dropout, he spends his days killing time. He has no friends to speak of. When petty criminal Ah-Tze turns up on his motorcycle and damages Hsiao Kang’s father’s taxi, he begins to stalk him and his girlfriend with a mixture of doggedness and fascination. Ah-Tze’s motorcycle becomes an obsession for him.

Tsai allows us to enter the world of this character with a convincing atmosphere. And of course, Lee Kang-sheng’s superb performance is one of the key elements of its success.

Hypnotic and visually stunning scenes build the exquisite cinematography and that just that is enough to prove why Tsai Ming-liang is underappreciated.

7. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)

“The Wind Will Carry Us” takes its name from the poem of the same name by the Iranian female poet Forough Farrokhzad. The film, which has a still atmosphere like the other films of Abbas Kiarostami, is one of the best works of the master director.

This marvelous masterpiece, which conveys a combination of life and death with poetic purity, is one of the films where the symbolic narrative structure of Iranian New Wave cinema can be seen most clearly.

It stands out with its structure that reveals the clash between the traditional and ritual and the modern and the differences between the urban and peasant perspectives. “The Wind Will Carry Us” is intensely fed on life and death poems by Farrokhzad and Omar Khayyam.

It emphasizes that we must take a journey toward life by feeding the darkness with light throughout the film. And it turns into a masterpiece in which a constant search, a desire for hope and rebirth, are delicately assembled.

The images that direct the symbolic and poetic narrative, and constantly repeat, stand out as the characteristic of the film.

It was nominated for the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival, and won the Grand Special Jury Prize (Silver Lion), and the FIPRESCI Prize at the festival.

6. Touki Bouki (1973)

Djibril Diop Mambéty is the screenwriter and director of this flawless Senegalese classic.

Mory and Anta, who have crossed paths, find money in a way, and embark on a journey with vague thoughts in their minds and many different and similar hopes in their hearts. This journey is headed for Paris, where they hope to make money and live a better life.

This journey is also the character’s inner journey and contains great visual magic. This epic journey, where nature, man, god and money are intertwined, ends with a satisfactory finale.

This film is some of the best evidence that cinema has no time, place, nation or language, and that this journey is unidentified and will affect anyone wherever it takes place in the world.

An anarchist narrative technique and bold visual world position the film in a very original place in cinema history.

While many films, like Citizen Kane and Chinatown, become considered classics immediately upon their release, others aren’t appreciated until they’re rediscovered many years later. The following list is a selection of films that just might be considered on par with films like The Godfather upon reevaluation.

1. Bigger than Life (1956)

A young Jean-Luc Godard listed Nick Ray’s Bigger Than Life (1956) as the 7th greatest American film of the sound era. Godard’s praise is certainly no exaggeration; Ray’s masterful portrayal of drug addiction was far ahead of its time. It has been replicated many times, but its sheer quality has never been surpassed.

Bigger than Life tells the story of a middle-aged schoolteacher, played by James Mason, who is diagnosed with a rare disease that is likely to take his life within a few years. His doctors put him on an experimental new medication called cortisone. The medication quickly improves Mason’s physical health, but not without serious mental side effects.

From the gradual development of Mason’s addiction to the immensely suspenseful climax, Bigger Than Life paints a painful portrait of the toll that drug addiction can take on one’s domestic life. Apart from the gripping story the film tells, the awe-inspiring CinemaScope photography and absorbing DeLuxe color only add to the spectacle that is Nicholas Ray’s Bigger Than Life.

Comparisons can also be made between the film and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). Both films show a father, who is in both cases an English teacher, slowly descending into madness, culminating in a dramatic attempt at violence towards his family. It makes one wonder whether this influence is intentional on Kubrick’s part or if the similarities are merely coincidental. In any case, Bigger Than Life deserves far more recognition than it generally gets for being a rare classic Hollywood film that tackles a serious issue in such a direct manner.

2. Next Stop Greenwich Village (1979)

Authentic and genuine portrayals of counterculture life in the 1950s are incredibly hard to come by, but director Paul Mazursky’s magnum opus is a rare exception.

It can’t quite be referred to as plotless, but it’s the little moments in the film that tend to stick out more than the actual story. The film follows an aspiring Jewish actor, Larry Lapinsky played by the late Lenny Baker, along with his fascinating group of friends which includes his girlfriend (Ellen Greene) and Robert Fulmer (Christopher Walken).

The strong point in every one of Mazursky’s film is his rare ability to seam laugh-out-loud comedy and intense, emotional drama within the same film. As a result, his films end up being very balanced in their tone. They paint a far more realistic picture of life, not just showing the positive or negative sides. In a film by any other director, it may seem strange to jump from lighthearted antics between friends to displaying a tragic suicide. How many “comedies” are able to pull that off? But in a Mazursky film, his goal always seems to be to portray the full spectrum of life. And more often than not, he succeeds.

3. Europa ’51 (1951)

Though it’s not his best-known film, Roberto Rossellini’s Europa ’51 is undoubtedly one of his greatest achievements.

The film begins with Ingrid Bergman’s young son jumping to his death from a stairway in their luxury apartment building, during one of his mother’s dinner parties. What follows in the film is rather unexpected.

At first, Bergman understandably suffers from crippling depression, unable to eat or leave her bed. As the film progresses, though, she takes an interest in helping less fortunate families, at the suggestion of a Communist friend.

Bergman is shocked and bewildered by both the living and working conditions of Italy’s lower-class families. She spends much of her time helping those families in every way possible but neglects to tell her own family about this. Shockingly, she ends up declared insane for helping those trapped in post-war poverty. But in the end, those who were helped by her see her as a sort of “patron-saint,” an almost Christ-like figure.

Europa ’51 is quite close to being Bergman’s greatest performance, though naturally it cannot quite compare with her stunning late career performance in Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata.

Rosselini’s other famous films seem to deal with either the rich or the poor. Whereas Journey to Italy follows a wealthy couple who are entirely bored with each other and their lives, Germany Year Zero portrays the other side of post-war Europe, those who truly suffered. But in Europa ’51 it’s almost as though these two films have been combined, showing a brilliant contrast between the social classes and making ultimately making powerful statement against society in its finale.

4. Safe (1995)

One of the greatest depictions of mental illness in film history, Todd Haynes’ Safe shows a far different kind of mental illness than what is usually shown in films. Julianne Moore’s character doesn’t suffer from any of the usual suspects- depression, anxiety, suicidal behavior- but rather an extreme form of OCD and paranoia, while she genuinely believes she suffers from a “chemical sensitivity.”

What makes this film so utterly fascinating is that the point-of-view is essentially from Julianne Moore’s perspective. The viewer begins to feel both like they are experiencing everything she is, but at the same time, one feels they are enabling her illness by watching her slowly descend into madness. It is a very rare and powerful thing for the viewer to feel as though they are almost a part of a film, and Todd Haynes pulls this off masterfully.

5. Confidential Report (1955)

Unpopular opinion: The “Confidential Report” cut of Mr. Arkadin is Orson Welles’s best film. To put it simply, this film is cinema in its purest form- crafted meticulously by a man who some might say singularly embodies cinema more than any other figure.

Regardless of how one feels about Welles himself, Confidential Report is constantly interesting and wildly unpredictable. Sure, it requires multiple viewings for the plot to really come together for the viewer, but it’s far more rewarding when rewatched.

Its strengths lie in Welles’s masterful abilities as a visual storyteller. Every single camera angle works to help the viewer understand the character currently on screen. Welles isn’t merely filming his actors. Instead he brings these magnificent characters to life, making them unforgettable.

Though it was unknown by most at the time of its release, the French critics from Cahiers Du Cinema praised it. Eric Rohmer (My Night at Maude’s, La Collectionneuse) listed it as his #1 favorite film of 1956 and Jean-Luc Godard featured it on his same list of American sound films that also featured the aforementioned Bigger Than Life.

A list like this will always attract two groups of people: one group looking to count the movies they’ve already seen, and another hoping to discover ones they haven’t. The most passionate film fans will rarely be surprised by any suggestion, but those with more diverse interests are likely to unearth a hidden gem which reflects their taste.

Here are ten lesser-known films which are usually found only through active search or outside recommendation; they are, each in their way, classics worthy of your time.

1. I Walk the Line (1970) – John Frankenheimer

Witness Gregory Peck as you’ve never seen him before in this underrated film by the legendary John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate). Peck plays a small-town sheriff who is feeling restless in his marriage and develops a relationship with a younger local woman.

This, of course, leads the lawman into a series of complicated and compromising positions relating to his family and his job. Watching the usually upstanding Peck live a double life while operating on both sides of the law is a treat too good to pass up, and Tuesday Weld is perfect as his love interest. Throw in a soundtrack by Johnny Cash, and I Walk the Line comes easily recommended as worthwhile viewing.

2. The Prisoner (1955) – Peter Glenville

Witness two titans of cinema going head to head in this psychological duel of a film featuring Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins. These two legends are not only the stars, but also the only main characters in the movie. Guinness plays a devout Cardinal who’s been imprisoned under accusation of treason; Hawkins is a tenacious Communist interrogator determined to break the will of the Cardinal and exact a confession.

Through harsh questioning and sleep deprivation, the Cardinal’s faith and resolve are severely tested. The Prisoner is an intelligent film featuring two supremely intelligent actors at the peak of their powers, and it’s a perfect showcase for their considerable talents.

3. Pretty Poison (1968) – Noel Black

Pretty Poison is an underrated cult thriller always deserving of more attention. Anthony Perkins plays Dennis Pitt, a disturbed young man who’s recently left a mental institution. He passes himself off as a secret agent in order to impress a local girl, played by Tuesday Weld, and the two set off on a series of fake missions.

But when one of their adventures escalates, with disastrous consequences, Dennis’s fake identity leads him into a world of trouble. Torn between protecting his love interest and saving his own skin, his life spirals out of control to a point where the only escape may be a life of crime which he never wanted. Perkins and Weld are in top form, and are unforgettable in Pretty Poison.

4. The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) – Wim Wenders

From a story by Bono and Nicholas Klein comes the artsy, eccentric film The Million Dollar Hotel. Director Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire) was the perfect person to helm this project, which centers around a group of mentally ill people living in a dilapidated hotel. When one of their own turns up dead, it’s unclear whether the cause is suicide or murder.

Enter a mysterious FBI agent, played by Mel Gibson, who’s determined to get to the bottom of the case. Gibson rounds out this quirky cast with a performance unlike any he’s ever given. Could the residents of the Million Dollar Hotel be more sane and conniving than it seems, or have they maintained innocence in their world gone mad? Featuring original music by U2, this is an offbeat and memorable film.

5. The Belly of an Architect (1987) – Peter Greenaway

An artistic film about Art, The Belly of an Architect is a unique viewing experience. Brian Dennehy plays Stourley Kracklite, an American architect constructing an exhibition in Rome. While dedicating enormous time and energy to his work, Kracklite’s health starts to deteriorate in ways that eerily mirror the life of the 18th century architect whose style he is emulating.

In addition, his marriage begins to crumble, and the architect feels that he may be accomplishing his Art at the cost of his very life. Filming with a beautifully symbolic style, director Peter Greenaway has created a classic film which is also a tribute to the creative process of the Artist.

We lead busy lives. We watch a lot of great new movies and we miss a lot of great old ones. This is just how it is.

The history of the cinema goes way, way back, though. Even pre-1980 way back. It goes so far back that there was a time when movies had no sound, no colour and not even any competition from Netflix.

From a visually bravura film co-written by a Russian poet to a plotless comic masterwork that bankrupted its’ creator to a chilling film noir set in a carnival, each one of these films is a classic that will leave you wondering why it took you so long to see them.

1. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)

Inspired by the cinema clowns of the silent era, French filmmaker, Jacques Tati, fashioned a remarkable career out of the combined magic of movement, disorder and a well placed camera.

In his last great film, Tati, as his most famous creation – M. Hulot – gets lost in an unrecognizable Paris of steel and glass. He misses an appointment, runs into old friends, and ends up wandering into the grand opening of a swanky new restaurant that is not quite ready to be grand or opening.

Witty observation after witty observation fall like dominoes in a carefully and masterfully shot visual comedy that manages to democratize the form as a cast of hundreds gets to join in on the fun. Tati uses the entirety of the 70mm frame to comment on the blandness and sameness of modern architecture, the homogenization of culture, the disappearance of the old world, the ridiculousness of consumer culture and how tiring and funny it is scrambling to maintain an illusion of order.

Audiences raised on sight-gag comedy that was loud and in your face will have to keep their eyes moving to spot the mini moments of mirth that populate the edges of this relaxed and mischievous gem.

2. I Am Cuba (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964)

Propaganda never looked so good.

A Soviet-Cuban co-production, this film, shot shortly after Castro’s revolution turned Cuba red, is split up into a series of stunning vignettes that depict the brutal exploitation of Capitalism at its worst and the slowly simmering anger of the people and the eventual explosion that would lead to Batista’s ouster. The politics are clunky and simplistic – that’s how propaganda works. The filmmaking, however, is fluid and wondrous.

A feast for the eyes, this sprawling, anti-Capitalist wonder epic dazzles you with some of the most beautiful and visually inventive black and white cinematography you’ve ever seen. In the hands of master shooter Sergey Urusevsky, the camera soars and swoops and stalks its’ scenes in long takes that deftly capture the emotional essence of each carefully considered and artfully staged segment.

It opens with a God’s eye swoop down from the heavens, off of the water and into a gradually closing sweep over the lush palm tree plentiful island. A voice, claiming to be Cuba’s own, speaks out in quiet anguish at the crimes that it has suffered at the hands of foreign invaders throughout the centuries.

No wonder both Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola agreed to lend their names and their reputations to aid in the film’s resurrection some thirty years after it’s disastrous release in both Cuba and the Soviet Union.

A perfect illustration of how sublime art can transcend political considerations, “I Am Cuba” is secretly, an ode to the heights that cinema can reach when in the hands of genius.

And that’s no propaganda.

3. The World of Henry Orient (George Roy Hill, 1964)

Man, Peter Sellers was busy in the 60s.

Two 14 year old girls (Merrie Spaeth and Tippy Walker) become fast friends and make Peter Sellers’ wanna be casanova concert pianist, Henry Orient, their obsession, in this spirited, goofy and ultimately moving sunday afternoon of a film.

Comparing dental contraptions and their shared hatred of certain teachers, Gil and Val click cute and we’re off. Fueled by Val’s “adventuring”, the girls make New York City their playground – jumping fire hydrants and garbage cans, racing through Central Park on super duper secret missions and pulling pranks on unsuspecting citizens.

Sellers is a hoot as a concert pianist and nervous Romeo who needs a lot of practice with both. His hair is a perfectly coiffed soft black helmet. His voice varies – when he’s unsuccessfully seducing his married mark (Paula Prentiss), he puts on airs as an International lothario, but, when he wakes up in bed, alone, in his apartment, his opposite side of the ocean accent drops and he’s just your average horny New Yorker.

A paean to the giddy wonders of childhood friendships and the joys and pains of escaping in them, “The World of Henry Orient” bounces along with plenty of exuberance and opportunities for Sellers to flex his comic chops.

4. Nightmare Alley (Edmund Goulding, 1947)

Guillermo del Toro is remaking this one with Bradley Cooper. See the dark and desperate original first.

Tyrone Power plays Stanton Carlisle, an assistant to a mind reading act at a small time carnival. Fueled by a hunger for bigger things, Carlisle torches friendships, left and right, on his way to the big time swindling high society with an act that gets bolder by the minute.

A personal project of Power’s, this film took him to dark places. A born sweet talker and cruelly ambitious, Carlisle pounces on his target’s weak spots and hammers away until they are putty in his hands. His cyanide charm and above the title good looks are a lethal combination. Mark after mark falls for his act with alarming ease. When he joins forces with a psychiatrist (Helen Walker), Carlisle takes his act to another level with devastating consequences.

Power is really a sight to behold here. All dashing and deceitful in equal measure. Whether pulling the rancid wool over the eyes of a naive lover or over the eyes of an elderly woman desperately hoping to make contact with her dead daughter, Power, as Carlisle, shows us the piercing power inherent in a pretty face and an absent conscience.

Here, ambition is a rabid dog who breaks free from its leash to devour its owner.

5. A Nous La Liberte (Rene Clair, 1931)

“Liberty is the happy man’s due. He enjoys love and skies are blue.”
– Lyrics of a song from, “A Nous La Liberte.”

Cell mates, Louis and Emile, hatch a plan to break out of prison. Louis makes it over the wall, but, Emile doesn’t.

Years later, Louis has built a phonograph empire – you could in those days. Meanwhile, Emile finally escapes from prison and ends up taking a job in one of his old friend’s factories. Trouble is, Louis’ factory looks and runs just like a prison – monotonous assembly line work, mean looking guards watching over workers as if they were prisoners and uncaring bosses unconcerned with their workers’ happiness.

Whimsical and fanciful, a playful indictment of the drudgery of modern mechanized work and the tyrannical bosses who keep everyone in line, Rene Clair’s ode to humanity’s hunger for liberty is an absolute delight.

Full of witty sing-song dialogue, visual flair and a narrative chock full of clever comparisons and visual motifs, “A Nous La Liberte” is a breezy and dreamy lark of a film.

It made such an impression on Charlie Chaplin that he swiped its’ spirit and at least one very memorable sequence on an assembly line.