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François Truffaut's The Films in My Life

108 films Ranked Updated 3 days ago
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Zéro de conduite
Jean Vigo 1933 48m 8.3

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.

L'Atalante
Jean Vigo 1934 1h 28m 8.5

Newly married couple Juliette and ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'Atalante along with the captain's first mate and a cabin boy.

Napoléon vu par Abel Gance
Abel Gance 1927 7h 5m 9.0

A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.

La tour de Nesle
Abel Gance 1955 2h

Under the reign of Louis X, the Tower of Nesle is the scene of murderous bacchanals, of which passing gentlemen are victims. The valiant Captain Buridan escapes the assassins and unmasks the instigator of these crimes.

Toni
5.

Toni

Jean Renoir 1935 1h 24m 9.0

In the 1920s, the Provence is a magnet for immigrants seeking work in the quarries or in the agriculture. Many mingle with locals and settle down for good — like Toni, an Italian who has moved in with Marie, a Frenchwoman. Even a well-ordered existence is not immune from boredom, friendship, romance, or enmity, and Toni becomes entangled in a we...

Partie de campagne
Jean Renoir 1936 41m 8.0

The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love to a man at the inn, where they spend the day.

La grande illusion
Jean Renoir 1937 1h 54m 8.1

Grand Illusion is a classic war film from French director Jean Renoir created without using images from the first World War.

La Marseillaise
Jean Renoir 1938 2h 11m

A film about the early part of the French Revolution, shown from the eyes of the citizens of Marseille, counts in German exile and, of course, the king Louis XVI, each showing their own small problems.

La bête humaine
Jean Renoir 1938 1h 38m 8.7

Séverine and her husband Roubaud kill their former employer in a train. Engineer Jacques watches them, but doesn't tell the police, because he's in love with Severine. But in an epileptic attack he kills her...

La règle du jeu
Jean Renoir 1939 1h 50m 7.8

Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game is a comedic drama about a Parisian aristocrat. The film was released shortly before the start of World War II.

Le carrosse d'or
Jean Renoir 1952 1h 45m 7.0

A small town of Central America in the eighteenth century. Camilla, the star of a theater company, hesitates between three men. The Vice King gives her his magnificent golden coach. A young Spanish officer suggests the two of them settle down together among Indians. Ramon, a torero, offers her a share of his glory.

French Cancan
Jean Renoir 1955 1h 42m 6.8

A comedy/drama about a world-weary impresario who transforms a laundress into a theatrical star.

Elena et les hommes
Jean Renoir 1956 1h 35m 6.0

Set amid the military maneuvers and Quatorze Juillet carnivals of turn-of-the-century France, Jean Renoir’s delirious romantic comedy Elena and her Men stars a radiant Ingrid Bergman as a beautiful, but impoverished, Polish princess who drives men of all stations to fits of desperate love. When Elena elicits the fascination of a famous general, ...

Le testament du Docteur Cordelier
Jean Renoir 1959 1h 35m 9.0

Dr. Cordelier, living in a suburb of Paris, withdraws from society to pursue research into the functioning of the human brain. His lifelong friend, Maître Joly, becomes concerned when Cordelier draws up a will that bequeaths his entire estate to a stranger, Monsieur Opale; he cannot understand why Cordelier defends him, considering Opale attacks...

Ordet
15.

Ordet

Carl Theodor Dreyer 1955 2h 5m 8.4

The three sons of devout Danish farmer Morten have widely disparate religious beliefs. Youngest son Anders shares his father's religion, but eldest son Mikkel has lost his faith, while middle child Johannes has become delusional and proclaims that he is Jesus Christ himself. When Mikkel's wife, Inger goes into a difficult childbirth, everyone's ...

The Great Dictator
Charlie Chaplin 1940 2h 5m 8.4

The Great Dictator is a cult film from Charlie Chaplin that satires German Nationalism and Adolf Hitler. The movie was filmed during the Nazi power and if Chaplin would have known what they were doing in German at the time he says he probably wouldn’t have made the film.

A King in New York
Charlie Chaplin 1957 1h 44m 6.7

Due to a revolution in his country, King Shahdov comes to New York - almost broke. To get some money he goes to TV, making commercials and meets the child from communist parents. Due to this he is suddenly a suspected as a communist himself and has to face one of McCarthy's hearings.

You Only Live Once
Fritz Lang 1937 1h 26m 7.8

Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a ...

While the City Sleeps
Fritz Lang 1956 1h 40m 9.3

Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer"

Scarface
20.

Scarface

Howard Hawks 1932 1h 33m 8.4

Scarface is a brutal gangster film from 1932 from director Howard Hawks that depicts the fall of a Chicago gangster.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Howard Hawks 1953 1h 31m 7.8

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a romantic comedy based on a successful musical and starring Marilyn Manroe in her last role in a film.

Land of the Pharaohs
Howard Hawks 1955 1h 45m 6.0

A captured architect designs an ingenious plan to ensure the impregnability of the tomb of a self-absorbed Pharaoh, obsessed with the security of his next life.

Jet Pilot
23.

Jet Pilot

Josef von Sternberg 1957 1h 52m 5.0

Air Force Colonel Jim Shannon is tasked to escort a defecting Soviet pilot who is scheming to lure Shannon to the USSR.

Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock 1954 1h 53m 9.0

Jefferies has had his leg in a cast for weeks and has nothing to do but watch his neighbors from his window. His voyeurism leads him to think that he’s witnessed a murder. Together with his girlfriend Lisa and his nurse Stella they try to solve the mystery and possibly a murder.

To Catch a Thief
Alfred Hitchcock 1955 1h 46m 7.9

A delightful Hitchcock film about an ex-burglar who must catch a thief who’s been copying this style before he gets accused of the wrong crimes. His time is running out as the police are close behind him yet he finds time for a little romance of course. A classic masterpiece starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant.

The Wrong Man
Alfred Hitchcock 1956 1h 45m 7.6

True story of an innocent man mistaken for a criminal.

The Birds
27.

The Birds

Alfred Hitchcock 1963 1h 59m 8.3

The Birds is a classic cult film from Alfred Hitchcock. His new horror elements made film history and one of hismasterpieces.

Frenzy
28.

Frenzy

Alfred Hitchcock 1972 1h 56m 7.9

Frenzy is the last film from Hitchcock and at the same time the first film that brought his emigration to the USA back to Great Britain.

Kiss Me Deadly
Robert Aldrich 1955 1h 46m 8.2

One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from the nearby lunatic asylum. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer returns to semi-consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer, both for vengeance and in hopes that "something big" i...

Vera Cruz
30.

Vera Cruz

Robert Aldrich 1954 1h 34m 7.4

After the American Civil War, mercenaries travel to Mexico to fight in their revolution for money. The former soldier and gentleman Benjamin Trane meets the gunman and killer Joe Erin and his men, and together they are hired by the Emperor Maximillian and the Marquis Henri de Labordere to escort the Countess Marie Duvarre to the harbor of Vera C...

The Big Knife
Robert Aldrich 1955 1h 51m 7.7

An unscrupulous movie producer blackmails an unhappy star - who opted for box-office success over art- into signing a new contract.

The Feathered Serpent
William Beaudine 1948 1h 8m

In order to learn the location of a fabled Aztec treasure, a professor kidnaps his colleague, the only man able to read the ancient Aztec script that is supposed to reveal the location of the treasure. Charlie Chan and his #1 and #2 sons journey to the jungles of Mexico to find the victim and bring the kidnapper and his gang to justice.

The Killer Is Loose
Budd Boetticher 1956 1h 13m 6.0

A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies teller Leon Poole as inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole swears vengeance against Wagner. Poole begins his plans to get revenge when he escapes his captors.

It Should Happen to You
George Cukor 1954 1h 26m 9.0

Gladys Glover has just lost her modeling job when she meets filmmaker Pete Sheppard shooting a documentary in Central Park. For Pete it's love at first sight, but Gladys has her mind on other things, making a name for herself. Through a fluke of advertising she winds up with her name plastered over 10 billboards throughout city.

Verboten!
35.

Verboten!

Samuel Fuller 1959 1h 33m 8.0

A young American serviceman, stationed in Germany after the fall of the Third Reich, jeopardises his..

Baby Doll
36.

Baby Doll

Elia Kazan 1956 1h 54m 8.0

Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll's 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro, who...

A Face in the Crowd
Elia Kazan 1957 2h 5m 8.4

"A Face in the Crowd" charts the rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell

Paths of Glory
Stanley Kubrick 1957 1h 28m 8.6

Paths of Glory Paths of Glory is an anti-war film from Stanley Kubrick starring Kirk Douglas. The film takes place during World War I.

The Night of the Hunter
Charles Laughton 1955 1h 33m 8.7

A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.

The Bad Seed
Mervyn LeRoy 1956 2h 9m 7.3

A woman realizes her daughter was born to kill.

Anastasia
41.

Anastasia

Anatole Litvak 1956 1h 45m 7.0

Russian exiles in Paris plot to collect ten million pounds from the Bank of England by grooming a destitute, suicidal girl to pose as heir to the Russian throne. While Bounin is coaching her he comes to believe she is really Anastasia. In the end the Empress must decide her claim.

Picnic
42.

Picnic

Joshua Logan 1955 1h 54m 8.0

Labor Day in a small Kansas farm town. Hal, a burly and resolute drifter, jumps off a dusty freight train car with the purpose of visiting Alan, a former college classmate and son of the richest man in town.

12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet 1957 1h 37m 9.2

12 Angry Men is the 1957 film debut for director Sidney Lumet. An interpretion from a Broadway show, this film is about 12 jurors who must decide whether an 18-year-old is guilty of killing his father.

The Barefoot Contessa
Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1954 2h 8m 8.4

The life of a Hollywood film star is recalled by the different men who knew, worked with, and loved her.

Men in War
Anthony Mann 1957 1h 42m 8.0

During the Korean War, a battle-worn lieutenant and his platoon are behind enemy lines, and have orders to march to Hill 465 for possible relief.

Fear Strikes Out
1957 1h 40m

True story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball.

Bonjour tristesse
Otto Preminger 1958 1h 34m 6.0

A spoiled teenager spends the summer at the French Riviera with her rich, widower, playboy father, but when his old flame resurfaces, she resolves to keep her frivolous lifestyle at all costs.

Johnny Guitar
Nicholas Ray 1954 1h 50m 8.3

On the outskirts of town, the hard-nosed Vienna owns a saloon frequented by the undesirables of the region, including Dancin' Kid and his gang. Another patron of Vienna's establishment is Johnny Guitar, a former gunslinger and her lover. When a heist is pulled in town that results in a man's death, Emma Small, Vienna's rival, rallies the townsfo...

Bigger Than Life
Nicholas Ray 1956 1h 35m 7.6

Bigger Than Life is an American film made in 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, who also co-wrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone.

Written on the Wind
Douglas Sirk 1956 1h 39m 8.8

Mitch Wayne is a geologist working for the Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family. While the patriarch, Jasper, works hard to establish the family business, his irresponsible son, Kyle, is an alcoholic playboy, and his daughter, Marylee, is the town tramp. Mitch harbors a secret love for Kyle's unsatisfied wife, Lucy -- a fact that leaves him exposed...

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