1. The Birth of a Nation
The Clansman was the working title of The Birth of a Nation, a 1915 American wordless epic drama film starring Lillian Gish and directed by D. W. Griffith. The Clansman, a 1905 drama and novel by Thomas Dixon Jr., was the inspiration for the screenplay. Despite its controversy, The Birth of a Nation was a major commercial success across the country, grossing more than any other film, and it had a significant impact on both the movie business and American culture.
In 1992, the Library of Congress chose the movie for preservation in the National Film Registry because it was “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
2. Battleship Potemkin
This 1925 Soviet silent drama film created by Mosfilm, Battleship Potemkin is also known as Battleship Potyomkin. It dramatizes the mutiny that took place in 1905 whenever the crew of either the Russian battleship Potemkin revolted against its officers and was directed as well as co-written by Sergei Eisenstein.
At the 1958 World Expo, the audience ranked the movie first on the renowned Brussels 12 list. The movie Battleship Potemkin is regarded as one of the best movies ever made. It was ranked as the eleventh-greatest movie of all time in the 2012 Sight and Sound critics’ poll and consistently placed in the top 10.
3. Metropolis
Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang collaborated to write the screenplay for Fritz Lang‘s 1927 German expressionist science-fiction drama Metropolis, which they both adapted from von Harbou’s 1925 novel of the same name. The dystopian future metropolis of Metropolis depicts the efforts of Maria, a saint figure to the workers, and Freder, the affluent son of the city ruler, to bridge the enormous class gap in their city and bring the workers and Joh Fredersen, the city master, together.
Given its current status as one of the finest and most influential movies ever created, Metropolis was ranked 35th in Sight & Sound’s 2012 critics’ poll. The movie became the first to be recognized in this way when it was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2001.
4. The Jazz Singer
Alan Crosland filmed the musical drama The Jazz Singer in 1927. It is the first full-length feature film to have lip-synced singing and speaking in addition to a synchronized recorded music score. Warner Bros. produced it. The Jazz Singer has been chosen as one of the “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” movies to be preserved in the National Film Registry. The movie came in at number 90 in the American Film Institute’s poll in 1998 that determined the finest American movies of all time.
5. Steamboat Willie
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks co-directed the 1928 American animated short film Steamboat Willie. Walt Disney Studios produced it in black and white, and Celebrity Productions distributed it. Mickey Mouse and his lover Minnie were first seen in the cartoon, even though they both had an appearance in a Plane Crazy test screening months previously.
Steamboat Willie was ranked 13th in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons, which featured a list of all the great cartoons, by members of the animation industry in 1994. The movie was chosen in 1998 to be preserved in the National Film Registry of the United States.
6. Dracula
The 1931 American pre-Code paranormal horror film Dracula, with Bela Lugosi in the title role, was directed as well as co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay by Garrett Fort. It is based on the 1924 stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, written by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. In his role as Count Dracula, played by Bela Lugosi, the vampire leaves Transylvania for England where he feeds on the blood of living people, along with a young man’s fiancee. The American Library of Congress chose the movie in 2000 to be preserved in the National Film Registry.
7. Triumph of the Will
Leni Riefenstahl is credited with directing, producing, editing, and co-writing the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will in 1935. It details the Nuremberg Nazi Party Congress of 1934, which over 700,000 Nazi followers attended. The opening titles feature Hitler’s name; he commissioned the movie and functioned as an unauthorized executive producer.
The main idea of the movie is that Hitler would lead Germany back to being a great power and will provide honor to the country. It was premiered in 1935 and quickly rose to prominence as a notable example of a propaganda film. The movie gained popularity in Nazi Germany and has since influenced other movies, documentaries, and advertisements.
8. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
A 1937 American animated musical fairytale film called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was created by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. This is the first full-length historically animated feature film and the very first Disney animated feature film, both of which are based on the Brothers Grimm’s 1812 German fairy tale.
In 1938, Snow White received an Academy Award nomination for Best Musical Score, and the following year, producer Walt Disney received an honorary Oscar for the picture. In 2008, the American Picture Institute declared it the best American animated film of all time and included it in its list of the 100 greatest American movies. The cultural impact of Disney’s interpretation of the fairy tale has led to the creation of well-liked theme park attractions.
9. The Wizard of Oz
American musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939 and was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. An adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a 1900 children’s fantasy book by L. Frank Baum. The movie, which won in two categories for Best Original Song for “Over the Rainbow” as well as Best Original Score by Stothart, was hailed as a critical success and received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
It was chosen in 1989 as one of the first 25 movies to be preserved in the American National Film Registry by the Library of Congress because it was “culturally, historically, especially aesthetically significant.” One of the few movies listed on the Memory of the World Register by UNESCO is also.
10. Fantasia
Walt Disney and Ben Sharpsteen oversaw the development of the 1940 American animated musical anthology film Fantasia, which was written and directed by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer. The theatrical roadshow version of Fantasia was first shown between 1940 and 1941 in 13 different American cities; the first performance took place there at Broadway Theatre in New York City on Nov 13, 1940.
In their 1998 publication 100 Years…100 Movies, the American Picture Institute ranked it as the 58th best American film and the fifth greatest animated film, respectively. Fantasia was chosen by the Library of Congress in 1990 to be preserved in the United States National Film Registry.
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