Serious Film History: 101 Important Auteurs Who Are Often Studied on Film Courses

Note that this is not a list of the greatest directors; it’s a list of auteurs who get a lot of critical attention from serious film history books. It leaves out such populists as Frank Capra, Billy Wilder and Woody Allen, to name just three, and it leaves in many silent-era directors and experimental film-makers whose films are seen by few people except academics.

I’ve included Brian De Palma but not Steven Spielberg, Ernst Lubitsch but not George Cukor, because I’m trying to give the very selective, highbrow flavour of academic film courses, with their focus on directors who are independents or iconoclasts, recognised foreign masters, politically committed film-makers, or important from a genre-studies point of view.

I’ve concentrated on directors whose status is well-established and I’ve left out anyone who came to prominence since 1980.Country given is where they established their reputation, regardless of country of birth.

1.   Abel Gance (Fr.)

2.   Agnes Varda (Fr.)

3.   Akira Kurosawa (Jap.)

4.   Alain Resnais (Fr.)

5.   Albert and David Maysles (U.S.)

6.   Alexander Dovshenko (U.S.S.R.)

7.   Alfred Hitchcock (U.K.)

8.   Andrei Tarkovsky (U.S.S.R.)

9.   Andrzej Wajda (Pol.)

10. Anthony Mann (U.S.)

11. Bernardo Bertolucci (It.)

12. Brian De Palma (U.S.)

13. Buster Keaton (U.S.)

14. Carl Theodor Dreyer (Den.)

15. Chantal Akerman (Belg.)

16. Charles Burnett (U.S.)

17. Charles Chaplin (U.K.)

18. Chris Marker (Fr.)

19. Claude Chabrol (Fr.)

20. Constantin Costa Gavras (Greece)

21. D. W. Griffith (U.S.)

22. Douglas Sirk (U.S.)

23. Dziga Vertov (U.S.S.R.)

24. Eric Rohmer (Fr.)

25. Erich Von Stroheim (U.S.)

26. Ernst Lubitsch (U.S.)

27. F.W.Murnau  (Ger.)

28. Federico Fellini (It.)

29. Francois Truffaut (Fr.)

30. Frank Tashlin (U.S.)

31. Frederick Wiseman (U.S.)

32. Fritz Lang  (Ger.)

33. G.W.Pabst  (Ger.)

34. George A.Romero (U.S.)

35. Georges Melies (Fr.)

36. Henri-Georges Clouzot (Fr.)

37. Howard Hawks (U.S.)

38. Humphrey Jennings (U.K.)

39. Ingmar Bergman (Swed.)

40. Jacques Rivette (Fr.)

41. Jacques Tati (Fr.)

42. Jacques Tourneur (U.S.)

43. James Whale (U.S.)

44. Jean Cocteau (Fr.)

45. Jean Luc Godard (Fr.)

46. Jean Pierre Melville (Fr.)

47. Jean Renoir (Fr.)

48. Jean Vigo (Fr.)

49. John Cassavetes (U.S.)

50. John Ford (U.S.)

51. John Waters (U.S.)

52. Josef Von Sternberg (U.S.)

53. Ken Loach (U.K.)

54. Kenji Mizoguchi (Jap.)

55. Kenneth Anger (U.S.)

56. Kon Ichikawa (Jap.)

57. Krzysztof Kieslowski (Pol.)

58. Leni Riefenstahl (Ger.)

59. Luchino Visconti (It.)

60. Luis Bunuel (Spain)

61. Mack Sennett (U.S.)

62. Manoel De Oliveira (Port.)

63. Marcel Carne (Fr.)

64. Max Ophuls (Fr.)

65. Maya Deren (U.S.)

66. Michael Powell (U.K.)

67. Michelangelo Antonioni (It.)

68. Mikio Naruse (Jap.)

69. Miklos Jancso (Hung.)

70. Nagisa Oshima (Jap.)

71. Nicholas Ray (U.S.)

72. Orson Welles (U.S.)

73. Ousmane Sembene (Senegal)

74. Pier Paulo Pasolini (It.)

75. Preston Sturges (U.S.)

76. Rainer Werner Fassbinder  (Ger.)

77. Raoul Walsh (U.S.)

78. Rene Clair (Fr.)

79. Robert Aldrich (U.S.)

80. Robert Bresson (Fr.)

81. Robert Flaherty (U.S.)

82. Roberto Rossellini (It.)

83. Roman Polanski (Pol.)

84. Sam Peckinpah (U.S.)

85. Samuel Fuller (U.S.)

86. Satyajit Ray (India)

87. Sergei Eisenstein (U.S.S.R.)

88. Stan Brakhage (U.S.)

89. Stanley Donen (U.S.)

90. Stanley Kubrick (U.S.)

91. Terence Malick (U.S.)

92. Theo Angelopoulos (Greece)

93. Tod Browning (U.S.)

94. Tomas Gutierrez Alea (Cuba)

95. Vincente Minnelli (U.S.)

96. Vittorio De Sica (It.)

97. Volker Schlondorff  (Ger.)

98. Vsevolod Pudovkin (U.S.S.R.)

99. Werner Herzog  (Ger.)

100. Wim Wenders  (Ger.)

101. Yusujiro Ozu (Jap.)

20 Movies about Foreigners in Italy (with Video)

1.  The American (US, 2010) An American hitman hides out in rural Italy

2.  The Belly of An Architect (UK, 1987) An American architect goes to Rome

3.  Certified Copy (Fr, 2010) A British writer and a French antiques dealer in Tuscany

4.  Death in Venice (It, 1971) An elderly German man becomes obsessed with a teenaged boy in Venice

5.  Don’t Look Now (UK, 1973) A British couple go to Venice after their young daughter’s death

6.  The English Patient (UK, 1996) A badly-burned Hungarian is cared for by a French-Canadian Nurse in an Italian Monastery during World War Two

7.  Genova (UK, 2007) A man moves from the US to Italy with his two daughters after the death of his wife

8.  The Italian Job (UK, 1969) A gang of British thieves pull a heist in Turin

9.  Nostalghia (Rus, 1983) A Russian writer travels to Italy

10.Roman Holiday (US, 1953) The princess of an unspecified country and an American reporter meet in Rome

11.A Room With A View (UK, 1985) English tourists on holiday in Italy during Edwardian times

12.Stealing Beauty (It, 1996) A young American girl stays in the Tuscan villa of family friends

13.Stromboli (It, 1950) A Lithuanian woman marries an Italian and moves to his home island

14.Summertime (US, 1955) An American woman on holiday in Venice

15.The Talented Mr. Ripley (US, 1999)/Plein Soleil (1960) Americans in Italy in the 1950s

16.Tea With Mussolini (UK, 1999) A young boy in Florence is guided through life by various English and American women in the 30’s and 40’s

17.Three Coins in the Fountain (US, 1954) Three American girls look for romance in Rome

18.Under the Tuscan Sun (US, 2003) An Amercian writer goes to Italy after a divorce

19.Von Ryan’s Express (US, 1965) American and British POWs in Italy during World War Two

20.Voyage in Italy (It, 1954) An English couple on holiday in Naples and Pompeii

20 Films about Japan Made by Foreigners (with Video)

1. House Of Bamboo (US, 1955, Samuel Fuller) Robert Ryan crime adventure
2. Teahouse Of The August Moon (US, 1956, Daniel Mann) The US army in post-war Okinawa
3. Hiroshima Mon Amour (France, 1959, Alain Resnais) Arthouse classic about an affair between a French woman and Japanese man in Hiroshima
4. The Koumiko Mystery (France, 1965, Chris Marker) Life of a young Japanese woman, as seen by the famed French maker of documentaries and essay films
5. You Only Live Twice (UK, 1967, Lewis Gilbert) James Bond adventure
6. The Yakuza (US, 1975, Sydney Pollack) Robert Mitchum up against Japanese gangsters
7. Sans Soleil (France, 1983, Chris Marker) Documentary/essay film mainly about Japan
8. A.K. (France, 1985, Chris Marker) Documentary about Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and his film ‘Ran’
9. Mishima (US, 1985, Paul Schrader) Unconventional biopic of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, set to Philip Glass’ famous score
10. Tokyo-Ga (Germany, 1985, Wim Wenders) Documentary about Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu
11. Black Rain (US, 1989, Ridley Scott) Michel Douglas and Andy Garcia in Osaka-set action thriller
12. The Pillow Book (UK, 1996, Peter Greenaway) Typically impenetrable Greenaway nonsense involving Ewan McGregor and Japanese body-calligraphy
13. Fear And Trembling (France, 2003, Alain Corneau) Film about a young Belgian woman who speaks fluent Japanese trying to exist in the Japanese corporate world
14. Kill Bill Vol 1 (US, 2003, Quentin Tarantino) Uma Thurman slaughters her way through 100’s of Japanese enemies
15. The Last Samurai (US, 2003, Edward Zwick) Tom Cruise learns the samurai code in 19^th Century Japan
16. Lost In Translation (US, 2003, Sofia Coppola) Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson have a bittersweet relationship in modern-day Tokyo
17. Arakimentari (US, 2004, Travis Klose) Documentary about controversial Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki.
18. The Sun (Russia, 2005, Alexander Sokurov) Biographical film about Emperor Hirohito
19. The Cove (US, 2009, Louis Psihoyos) Documentary about the killing of dolphins in Japan
20. Enter The Void (France, 2010, Gasper Noe) A young American brother and sister in Tokyo

50 Notable Films Made by British Directors in the USA (and Set in the USA)

Alan Parker

1.      Shoot the Moon (1982)

2.      Birdy (1984)

3.      Mississippi Burning (1988)

Alfred Hitchcock

4.      Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

5.      Strangers on a Train (1951)

6.      Rear Window (1954)

7.      Vertigo (1958)

8.      North by Northwest (1959)

9.      Psycho (1960)

10.  The Birds (1963)

Charles Laughton

11.  The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Charlie Chaplin

12.  The Circus (1928)

13.  City Lights (1931)

14.  Modern Times (1936)

Christopher Nolan

15.  Memento (2000)

16.  Batman Begins (2005)

17.  The Dark Knight (2008)

Danny Boyle

18.  127 Hours (2010)

Donald Cammell

19.  Demon Seed (1977)

Edmund Goulding

20.  Nightmare Alley (1947)

John Boorman

21.  Point Blank (1967)

22.  Deliverance (1972)

Jon Amiel

23.  Copycat (1995)

Ken Loach

24.  Bread and Roses (2000)

Kevin MacDonald

25.  State of Play (2008)

Lindsay Anderson

26.  The Whales of August (1987)

Matthew Vaughn

27.  Kick-Ass (2010)

Michael Apted

28.  The Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

Mick Jackson

29.  L.A.Story (1991)

Mike Figgis

30.  Internal Affairs (1990)

Mike Newell

31.  Donnie Brasco (1997)

Nicholas Roeg

32.  The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Nick Broomfield           

33.  Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)     

34.  Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995)    

35.  Kurt & Courtney (1998)       

36.  Biggie and Tupac (2002)

Paul Greengrass

37.  United 93 (2006)

Peter Yates

38.  Bullitt (1968)

39.  The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

Richard Attenborough

40.  Chaplin (1992)

Ridley Scott

41.  Blade Runner (1982)

42.  Thelma & Louise (1991)

43.  American Gangster (2007)

Sam Mendes

44.  American Beauty (1999)

Stephen Daldry

45.  The Hours (2002)

Stephen Frears

46.  The Grifters (1990)

Terence Davies

47.  The House of Mirth (2000)

Tony Richardson

48.  The Loved One (1965)

Tony Scott

49.  True Romance (1993)

50.  Enemy of the State (1998)

80 American Remakes of Foreign Films (Including a Few Loose Remakes)

 

The American remake, which is usually better known, is given first for easy reference purposes; the original follows after a slash.

This list is supposed to be about re-makes of films, not ‘American versions of foreign literary works which have already been filmed in their own countries’. It was hard to know what to include and exclude in this respect, since so many films can be traced back to novels or plays. But in the end I decided to leave in the likes of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo but leave out the likes of Cyrano De Bergerac and Dangerous Liaisons, because the latter had multiple film versions going back into the silent era.

I have also left out a few examples of foreigners making a film of an American novel first, such as the Italian film Ossessione, which preceded The Postman Always Rings Twice (US, 1946) (from James Cain’s novel) or the French film Plein Soleil, which preceded The Talented Mr Ripley (US, 1999)(from Patricia Highsmith’s novel)

1. A Fistful Of Dollars (1964) and Last Man Standing (1996) / Yojimbo (Jap, 1961)
2. A Little Night Music (1977) / Smiles Of A Summer Night (Swed, 1955)
3. A Walk In The Clouds (1995) / Quatro Poassi Fra Le Nuvole (It, 1942)
4. Algiers (1938) / Pépé Le Moko (Fr, 1937)
5. And God Created Woman (1988) / Et Dieu... Créa La Femme (Fr, 1956)
6. Bangkok Dangerous (2008) / Bangkok Dangerous (Thai, 1999)
7. Blame It On Rio (1984) / Un Moment D'égarement (Fr, 1977)
8. Breathless (1983) / À Bout De Souffle (Fr, 1960)
9. Brothers (2009) / Brødre (Den, 2004)
10. Buddy Buddy (1981) / L'Emmerdeur (Fr, 1973)
11. City Of Angels (1998) / Wings Of Desire (Ger, 1987)
12. Criminal (2004) / Nine Queens (Arg, 2000)
13. Dark Water (2005) / Dark Water (Jap, 2002)
14. Diabolique (1996) / Les Diaboliques (Fr, 1955)
15. Dinner For Schmucks (2010) / Le Dîner De Cons (Fr, 1998)
16. Down And Out In Beverley Hills (1986) / Boudu Sauve Des Eaux (Fr, 1932)
17. Edtv (1999) / Louis 19, Le Roi Des Ondes (Fr, 1994)
18. Everybody's Fine (2009) / Everybody's Fine (It, 1990)
19. Funny Games (2008) / Funny Games (Austria, 1997)
20. Godzilla (1998) / Gojira (Jap, 1954)
21. Human Desire (1954) / La Bete Humaine (Fr, 1938)
22. Insomnia (2002) / Insomnia (Norw, 1997)
23. Intermezzo (1939) / Intermezzo (Swed, 1936)
24. Intersection (1994) / Les Choses De La Vie (Fr, 1970)
25. Interview (2007) / Interview (Neth, 2003)
26. Jakob The Liar (1999) / Jakob The Liar (E.Ger, 1975)
27. Just Visiting (2001) / Les Visiteurs (Fr, 1993)
28. Last House On The Left (1972) / The Virgin Spring (Swed, 1960) Very Loosely
29. Let Me In (2010) / Let The Right One In (Swed, 2008)
30. M (1951) / M (Ger, 1931)
31. My Father The Hero (1994) / Mon Père, Ce Héros (Fr, 1991)
32. My Sassy Girl (2008) / My Sassy Girl (Kor, 2001)
33. Nightwatch (1997) / Nattevagten (Den, 1994)
34. Nine Months (1995) / Neuf Mois (Fr, 1994)
35. Nine (2009) / 8½ (It, 1963)
36. Original Sin (2001) / Mississippi Mermaid (Fr, 1969)
37. Point Of No Return AKA The Assassin (1993) / Nikita (Fr, 1990)
38. Pulse (2006) / Kairo (Jap, 2001)
39. Reservoir Dogs (1992) / City Of Fire ( HK, 1987) Very Loosely
40. Scarlet Street (1945) / La Chienne (Fr, 1931)
41. Scent Of A Woman (1992) / Profumo Di Donna (It, 1974)
42. Shall We Dance? (2004) / Shall We Dansu? (Jap, 1996)
43. Shutter (2008) / Shutter (Thai, 2004)
44. Solaris (2002) / Solaris (Russ, 1972)
45. Some Like It Hot (1959) / Fanfare d'Amour (Fr, 1935)
46. Sommersby (1993) / Retour De Martin Guerre (Fr, 1982)
47. Sorcerer (1977) / The Wages Of Fear (Fr, 1953)
48. Star Wars (1977) / Hidden Fortress (Jap, 1958) Very Loosely
49. Sweet Charity (1969) / Nights Of Cabiria (It, 1956)
50. Swept Away (2002) / Swept Away...By An Unusual Destiny In The Blue Sea Of August (It, 1975)
51. Taxi (2004) / Taxi (Fr, 1998)
52. The Birdcage (1996) / La Cage Aux Folles (Fr, 1978)
53. The Debt (2010) / The Debt (Israel, 2007)
54. The Departed (2006) / Infernal Affairs (HK, 2002)
55. The Eye (2008) / The Eye (HK/Thai, 2002)
56. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) / The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Swed, 2009)
57. The Good Thief (2002) / Bob Le Flambeur (Fr, 1956)
58. The Grudge (2004) / Ju-On: The Grudge (Jap, 2003)
59. The Lake House (2006) / Il Mare (Kor, 2000)
60. The Long Night (1947) / Le Jour Se Lève (Fr, 1939)
61. The Magnificent Seven (1960) / The Seven Samurai (Jap, 1954)
62. The Man Who Loved Women (1983) / The Man Who Loved Women (Fr, 1977)
63. The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) / Le Miroir À Deux Faces (Fr, 1958)
64. The Next Three Days (2010) / Anything For Her (Fr, 2008)
65. The Outrage (1964) / Rashomon (Jap, 1950)
66. The Ring (2002) / Ringu (Jap, 1998)
67. The Tourist (2010) / Anthony Zimmer (Fr, 2005)
68. The Uninvited (2009) / A Tale Of Two Sisters (Kor, 2003)
69. The Vanishing (1993) / Spoorloos (Neth, 1988)
70. The Woman In Red (1984) / Pardon Mon Affair (Fr, 1976)
71. Three Men And A Baby (1987) / Trois Hommes Et Un Couffin (Fr, 1985)
72. Tortilla Soup (2001) / Eat Drink Man Woman (Taiwan, 1994)
73. True Lies (1994) / La Totale (Fr, 1991)
74. Twelve Monkeys (1995) / La Jetée (Fr, 1962) Very Loosely
75. Unfaithful (2002) / La Femme Infidèle (Fr, 1968)
76. Vanilla Sky (2001) / Open Your Eyes (Sp, 1997)
77. Victor And Victoria (1982) / Viktor Und Viktoria (Ger, 1933)
78. Welcome To Collinwood (2002) / Big Deal On Madonna St (It, 1958)
79. Wicker Park (2004) / L'Appartement (Fr, 1996)
80. Yentl (1983) / Yiddle With His Fiddle (Pol, 1936) Loosely