Wrong, Probo, and I have only seen one Elvis film  - 50+ years ago.

"Casablanca".  It was shown for a week twice a year during exams where I went to college.  The bar in the basement also has the same name.

"Sabrina", "Roman Holiday", "Love in the Afternoon" (Hmm?  all Billy Wilder) would be high on my list.  (You can tell what kind of girls I like.)

I suppose "Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf" should be on someone's list.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is probably not near "the greatest English-language movie", but it is also high on my list, better than the small Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee, for me, at least, that I read before the movie was released.  The settings and proper southern accents capture the period and region so well.

A great start, Myo, many thanks!

But are you quite sure that Billy Wilder had anything at all to do with 'Roman Holiday'?

Worried of Hove

No.  William Wyler.

I have something of an unusual taste when it comes to movies - while most people prefer the good, I like the bad and the ugly best. Therefore, my choice might look a bit strange to some.

By the way, almost all movies commercially released in Germany are fully dubbed (and I mean "dubbed" - not like in Poland or Russia where you have simply some guy speaking over the original soundtrack, playing all the roles more or less unenthusiastically). I guess, films that have originally been made in English are counting as valid here, right?

So, my favourite films in no particular order:

- "The Beast of Yucca Flats" (USA 1961). You must see it to believe it. Bald super-heavyweight Tor Johnson, a former wrestler most famous for his role in Ed Wood's masterpiece "Plan 9 from Outer Space", plays a defected Hungarian scientist from behind the Iron Curtain who, unfortunately, gets exposed to radioactivity during an A-bomb explosion at Yucca Flat (the real name is in singular) testing ground. He subsequently becomes a beast strangling motorists at will,  is finally shot by sheriffs Jim and Joe (!) and dies kissing a bunny. During the entire lenghth of this mega-low-budget flick, we have a narrator who tells us braindead things ("Boys from the city, not yet caught in the wheels of progress. Feeding soda pop to the thirsty pigs." - "Flag on the Moon. How did it get there?").

- "Operation Las Vegas" (USA 1989). It's hard to say what this film's plot is, because they forget it somewhere in the middle and quickly invent something new. Both plot lines are equally stupid. First, it's about some terrorists (with a training camp in the desert near Las Vegas, Nevada!) stealing plans for an atomic power plant from some government guy (by chopping off his hand, to which his briefcase is chained, with a machete from a motorbike in full speed right and simultaneously grabbing the desired object). Enter the nation's top agent, played by Richard Harrison, who defeats a bunch of Ninjas (!) single-handedly at his house's patio while reading a newspaper. Soon after he arrived in Las Vegas and met a run-down blonde woman, who turns out to be a super-mercenary fighting for the terrorists, the entire "power plant plans" thing is forgotten, and now the terrorist prefer to  blow up Hoover Dam with a stolen A-bomb. All ends well. Interestingly, this low-budget crap is much more entertaining in the German version: The German distributor obviously knew that as a serious film this was a mucker. So they had the director and the cutter speak offscreen, presumably in the studio's test screening room, satirically pointing to all the film's blunders.

- "Meet the Feebles" (NZ 1989). Imagine the Muppets. In evil. With blood, gore, faeces, sperm, syphilis, S/M, murder, adultery and lots of the darkest humour. Written, produces, and directed by Peter Jackson who would later make "Lord of the Rings". Need I say more?

- "Carry on Cleo" (GB 1964). I just have a fondness for the early "Carry On" films, and this one is my favourite. "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got in for me!"

- "Reefer Madness" (USA 2005). There's an actual anti-cannabis film named "Tell your Children" from 1936, funded by some American church group (and for a long time falsely thought to be produced by the US Government), which is rather ridiculous in its own right due to incredible clichés, low production values and horrifying acting. And this film was re-made ... as a musical! However, this version is making fun of everything that was holy to the makers of the original film. My personal favourite number: "Listen to Jesus, Jimmy" - see Jesus Christ dance and sing, accompanied by a bunch of sexy female angels in flimsy garbs (played by a troupe of striptease dancers, by the way).

I could list dozens and dozens more here. The weirder a movie is, the greater is the chance that I like it.

Very many thanks Oliver!

I've never seen any 'Carry On' movie although I've seen plenty of extracts including some of the lovely Amanda Barrie in the role of Cleo. What eyes!

At the moment you are the front runner.

Isn't this exciting?

Probo

I suppose it depends a lot on what you're looking for in a movie. Some people like a movie that's uplifting; others prefer something romantic, or something mentally stimulating.

For me, the greatest movies are those where I emerge from the cinema as a different person. No, not as in "Ribuck goes in, and Elvis comes out", but as in "the movie took me somewhere emotionally or intellectually that I wouldn't otherwise have gone".

In this sense, I would rate the greatest movie as Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange", which raises all kinds of questions about society, but also takes the viewer through a gamut of emotions broader than they may have thought they possessed.

IMDb - A Clockwork Orange
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/

I watched this again not too long ago, and was struck by how much film-making has changed in recent decades. Clockwork Orange has no rapid flitting between images; just a series of separate scenes each of a few minutes. Only a great movie can pull that off without resorting to attention-getting filmography.

Equally powerful emotinally (though without the cerebral angle of Clockwork Orange) is the sequel to The Exorcist:

IMDb - Exorcist II: The Heretic
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4097679104/tt0076009

This is in a different league to the original Exorcist movie, which I thought was quite trashy. Exorcist II is sometimes billed as "the scariest movie ever made". I don't agree with this statement at all. However, I would say that it is the scariest interesting movie ever made.

Back to thought-provoking films, what about "2001: A Space Odyssey". Again, it's made in slow-paced scenes. There is little dialogue, and the last twenty minutes comprise dated graphics and an incomprehensible ending, but the body of "2001" is compelling and thought-provoking.

IMDb - 2001: A Space Odyssey
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

[Aside: The depiction of "Pan Am space tours" in this movie seemed so obvious at the time. Who would have imagined back then that Pan Am would soon disappear, and that commercial space tourism would be promoted by a company called Virgin?]

While we're in the 60s, I should mention "Mary Poppins". Bear with me...

IMDb - Mary Poppins
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058331/

This movie is for pre-teen children. And yet, as an adult, there is a lot one can absorb if one is prepared to disregard the plot and just let it flow past. The upbeat psychidelic visuals are quite fantastic, the interplay of actors and cartoon characters is technically interesting, and Dick van Dyke's cockney accent is funny (though better than mine)! There is social commentary writ large: we see the folly of the bankers, the nature of the family, plus class warfare and human rights issues.

OK, my credibility has now been completely destroyed, so let me try to regain it with my final recommendation. Something more modern this time:

IMDb - Black Swan
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/

The blurb sounds so trite: "A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan, but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan."

No, it's not about that at all! It's about the messed-up mind of a young woman who grew up in a disfunctional family and ended up unable to feel any real emotions except through the intensity of extreme self-harm.


Looking back at this list, I see that these movies are from the 1960s and 1970s, apart from Black Swan (2010). I figure probo has already seen many older films, including Casablanca and most of the other greats of the black-and-white era.

The decades of the 60s and 70s were a time when movies had relatively big budgets, and were taking advantage of technological advances in color reproduction and widescreen projection. Color TV was not yet universal, and the screens were generally small, so there was an opportunity for the cinema to offer something genuinely different. It was also a time of social upheaval, which I think produced better movies than the more boring decades of the 1980s and 1990s.

Apart from "2001", none of these movies is well-suited to watching on TV. They require immersive watching, which is best done in the cinema. And the effects in "Exorcist II" really benefit from a cinema that has a sound system with really good deep bass. If you prefer to watch them without waiting for them to be shown at a retro cinema, find a house with a large TV, turn the lights down low, and eliminate all distractions before settling back to absorb them.

Regards,
ribuck

My next recommendation is not for probo, who would hate this film, but for Oliver:

"The population of a small town disappears and is replaced by aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain."

IMDb - "Bad Taste" (1987)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092610/

The making of the film was interesting because one of the scenes required a sheep to be exploded. The obvious way to do this would have been to detonate a sheep, but the animal rights lobby would have none of that.

Instead, the director Peter Jackson decided that they would visit the butcher's shop and buy all the component parts of a sheep: four legs of lamb, plus liver heart and lungs. Also lambs brain (still readily available in 1987) and lamb sausages in casings made from sheep's intestines. Next they bought a sheepskin rug, and stitched it back into the shape of a sheep, with all of the sheep meat inside. This was then detonated for the film.

This apparently placated the animal rights lobby, yet it's hard to see what the difference is (from the sheep's point of view) between being killed instantly in an abbatoir, and being killed instantly by an explosive charge on the film set.

If you were wondering, this is the same Peter Jackson who is now famous:

"Anyone who has seen Mr. Jackson's early work – specifically Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1989), and Dead Alive (1992) – cannot help but wonder how in the world he managed to score the director’s chair for the film versions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s massive epic about hobbits and Middle Earth."

CinemaRetro review - Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive"
http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/6595-BLU-RAY-REVIEW-PETER-JACKSONS-DEAD-ALIVE-1992.html

I see a generation gap here, accentuated by my very seldom going to the cinema.

"Smile when you say that!"

Oh, I did see Liz Taylor in "A Place in the Sun", when I was eleven or twelve, with my parents and older sisters.  The parents had read about all the Academy Awards and thought it would be a nice Sunday afternoon family outing at the Roxy Theater.  I must have read Life or Saturday Evening Post more carefully, and mentioned as we got tickets that I thought he drowns her.  We saw the film nonetheless.  He did.

My two favorite movies are A League of Their Own and Yours, Mine, and Ours. I've seen each multiple times and now they're comfort movies I watch when I'm not feeling well.

A League of Their Own
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694/

Yours, Mine, and Ours
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063829/

I would like to also mention the magnificent action epos "Future War" (USA 1997). Cyborgs from the future - who look like the Borgs' retarded cousins from Alabama doing some sort of reverse Whiteface Minstrel Show - have enslaved humans abducted from the past whom they terrorize by means of ... dinosaurs! Yes, indeed. Dinosaurs. Or rather, cheap toy models of dinosaurs - we'll come to that detail in a moment. Meanwhile, be it known to you that one of those enslaved humans flees with a Cyborg cross-time spaceship to the Los Angeles of the present. The fugitive meets a nun who has lost her faith, and together they try to escape the Cyborgs who chase them with their pet dinosaurs, which leads to many extremely pathetic fights. Since the makers of this silly excuse for a movie could not afford CGI effects, they just used toy dinosaurs straight from Toys'R'Us. These are held close in front of the camera, and the actors pretend to be near them and fight them. Additionally, the majority of these fights take place in factories that seem to produce nothing but enormous numbers of empty cardboard boxes. Judging from this film, LA is for cardboard boxes what Detroit is for automobiles.

The fact that such movies are made in the first place is astonishing enough. But to imagine that they are also professionally dubbed and released here in Germany - though only as instant bargain-bin material - is just mind-boggling.

Many thanks, Oliver, for your further contribution.

I'd never heard of this previously but a User at IMDB claims:

this movie deserves to be higher than #5 on the 100 worst movies ever. although words are inadequate to describe how bad this movie is, "wretched," "pitiful," "embarassingly horrible," and "p*** poor" all come to mind.

i can't imagine that the writer and director were serious when they made this. either they must have been joking, or they made this from inside their room in the asylum. actually, that would explain the lack of decent acting and props, too....

anyway, i watched this on MST3K, and even that couldn't get me to finish watching this movie. i got almost to the end, but i feared that if i watched the whole thing, my brain would explode, i would have to gouge out my eyes, or the universe would end... maybe all three.

if you are thinking about watching this movie without the MST3K guys, you should go see a doctor. the kind who sits you on a couch. if you really want to subject yourself to this with the MST3K guys, i'd suggest purchasing some beverages to go along with it. it's the only way you'll get through it.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113135/

Starting over: 

Hi Probo, 
Maybe this list of best films is interesting:
http://www.vip-webguide.de/Charts_Bestenlisten/Film_TV_DVDs_Kino/VIP_Die_besten_Filme_aller_Zeiten.html

In the F.A.Z. Feuilleton today, the first page headline is:
"Wer hat die zehn besten Filme gesehen?"

Author Verena Lueken's short list: 
Der Leopard (Visconti 1963)
L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
Der General (Buster Keaton 1926)
Kagemusha (Kurosawa, 1980)
Nacht und Nebel (Alain Resnais, 1955)
The Red Shoes ( Powell and Pressburger, 1948)
The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
Some Like it Hot (Wilder, 1959)
2001 (Kubrik, 1968)
Tropical Malady (Weerasethakul, 2004)

Oh, and Koyaanisqatsi:

"A movie with no conventional plot: merely a collection of expertly photographed scenes"

IMDb - Koyaanisqatsi
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/

It's still great, but see it before it becomes too dated.

Many thanks, Myo & Ribuck, for your further contributions which are much appreciated.

It's a great pity that neither of you are Researchers because, if you were, then Oliver and David would surely be sweating.

However, I intend to submit glowing testimonials to the Powers That Be that could prompt changes to your advantage.

If my recommendations are accepted, you should then be able to join The Elite by uploading scary caricatures of yourselves.  

I can't wait!

Probo

Bryan,

Here are two recent English language films I would like to recommend:

"The Artist" (2011, a silent movie, but including some short English sentences):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist_(film)

and

"The Ghost" (2010, called "The Ghostwriter" outside the UK):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_Writer_(film)

Best wishes,
q21

Where's pinkfreud when we need her?

\ Hello again Bryan, long time no talk.

 Could not help but put my oar in here as I find the question very interesting. Before I do add a couple that in my opinion are exceptional I must say the film  "The Searchers" ( starring John Wayne) listed above,  apparently as a great movie, has got to be one of the most ridiculous movies ever made and offensive as well!! 

  It has as its premise the story of a young girl( 11, 12 or 13 years old perhaps) kidnapped by savage Red Indians who had at the same time as the kidnapping killed her father  and apparently raped and killed her mother.

    This then leads to John Wayne going on a five year search for the young girl. The story then gets ridiculous as I say above as clearly it was made at a time ( 1956) when there was no need to rationalize anything in the story line and  rationale, logic and common sense, were not considered  necessary in any way.  Apparently as people back then did not demand it as they would in movies today

 For instance on seeking info about the girls whereabouts he stumbles upon someone who thinks he knows where she is who  then directs the Duke to the right area on the promise of a $5000 reward from John Wayne if found to be good information. A large sum of money from someone who appears to own nothing and do nothing  but hunt for the girl for 5 years. One would think the man possessing the info would be keen to see John Wayne successful, but no, as only a couple of nights later the info provider comes hunting John Wayne in the dead of night, approaching his camp fire quietly and drawing his gun so as to kill the Duke for absolutely no discernible logical reason at all  that I could ascertain, especially so  as on doing so he loses any chance to the $5000 that the Duke made clear he did not carry on him..

 Then John Wayne , who has already made it clear that in his opinion the only good Indian is a dead Indian learns that not only is the girl, now in her mid to late teens alive and well but considers herself meshed into the culture to the point that she should now be seen as an Apache Indian. On learning this the Duke decides that his quest has changed and is now to kill the young  (and now beautiful)  girl on sight!!! No questions asked or taken! The next hour of the film has this quest as it premise  clearly shown when upon sighting the girl at close quarters he instantly gets his six-gun out and aims directly at her from only 10 metres with the clear aim of murdering  the girl  in cold blood no matter she is just an innocent teenage girl growing up as an Indian.  He is only stopped by his off-sider placing his body in direct line of fire until John Wayne calms down for a while and enough time for the girl to run away.  Even in the last couple of scenes he is chasing her on foot with a view to killing her only to have a  last minute change of heart when she agrees to go back to the white world.

 At another point his mate is tricked into marrying an Indian woman he does not want. She speaks no English and does not  quite understand that he does not want her. No matter for the Duke and his mate as when she quietly goes to sleep alone in a sleeping bag (and causing no harm or scene)the "groom"  decides that she deserves to be kicked very forcefully without any warning at all (while she is asleep) with both feet  so that she rolls down a steep embankment in the sleeping bag,  some 15 or 20 metres. She survives unscathed,  Not that the Duke and his mate would know as they both were too busy laughing loudly at the poor  young woman's ordeal. I just saw it as disgraceful and  ridiculous and a few more adsuitable adjectives as well.

 As above just one of the most stupid,illogical,  nonsensical  and actually offensive films ever made. Cant imagine what the  real Indians of 1956 must have thought of it.

 John from Melbourne

The article in the German newspaper FAZ referred to earlier (Thu 10 May 2012 - 12:05 pm UTC) by myoarin:
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kino/lieblingsfilme-wer-hat-die-zehn-besten-filme-gesehen-11745383.html

and its Google translation:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.faz.net%2Faktuell%2Ffeuilleton%2Fkino%2Flieblingsfilme-wer-hat-die-zehn-besten-filme-gesehen-11745383.html&act=url

I would like to recommend another 2011 film (however, not merely English language, but English and Spanish):

"The Mill and the Cross"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mill_and_the_Cross

Trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2541066777/

>>she has serious reservations about an Australian actor playing the part of Curly....<<

Curly also starred in the Three Stooges Go to Mars!

It's a small world, Hollywood is.

Hi John from Melbourne,

From your description of "The Searcher", I have to agree with you, but it wasn't my list, and also down the list by a woman, who may have been: 
1)  infatuated with John Wayne,
2)  felt that John Ford had to be on the list;
3)  was absolutely taken by the story of a young girl being saved  (we'll leave out "white" and "from Redskins" to avoid racial implications).

OH, and unless you have put in a few km/miles on the Yarra Yarra (as I have), I take umbrage at anyone else's putting "my oar in" here.  :-)

Cheers,  Myo

Hi John From Melbourne

Great to hear from you again and many thanks for your caveats regarding 'The Searchers'. I guess that many of yesterday's movies are no longer considered politically correct but I've never been a fan of John Wayne. Or Marion Robert Morrison, to give him (or her?) his/her birth name. Maybe his/her parents weren't sure?

Of course, John is much more manly, as you well know.

Many thanks, q21, for your further contributions. You seem to have a flair for the unexpected. I don't want to be seen as giving you an unfair advantage but I feel that I must bring to your attention 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat' (1987)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093487/

I'd like to bet that Myoarin, David, Anonsi, JFM, Oliver and Ribuck will now all stick their oars in on this masterpiece.

Bryan From Hove

Since you insist:

 I am still rooting for "Casablanca", and not just because I have a weak spot for Ingrid Bergman.  (Any Australians should not misconstrue my use of the verb.)

"As Time Goes By" and the  - for a chorus singer -  delightful combination/competition singing of the "Marseillaise" and "Die Wacht am Rhein" in Rick's bar are also tops.

(It was only when I visited Casablanca that I understood that the rotating light the underground people duck was not from the airport, but rather from the lighthouse in the harbor, which is still there.)

Myoarin

Titanic

"Greatest" is not a word I would use in rating movies, and probably only because I don't view movies as an art form (I don't like "films"), but as an entertainment. Instead I would use "most enjoyable," or more precisely, "most enjoyable of all the movies I have ever seen at the time that I first saw it." Understood? :)

With that sole criterion in mind, here's my list:

1) Titanic
2) Forrest Gump
3) Raiders of the Lost Ark
4) Rainman
5) Auntie Mame
6) The French Connection
7) The Godfather
8) The Longest Day
9) She Wore a Yelllow Ribbon
10) Shot in the Dark

Thank you, Bryan. I didn't know that "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" is not only the title of a book but also of a opera and a film.


As Myoarin mentioned "Casablanca" I would like to recommend another film from the 1940s, "The Third Man":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man

"The Third Man" is famous for its music, too. Here are a few clips with the theme played by Anton Karas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8jN1treRKQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb-fpQ59yco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFz79SBnuk8

Thank you, himanshu143, and welcome to Uclue!

I haven't seen 'Titanic' (1997) but my younger daughter has and she tells me she prefers the earlier verion 'A Night to Remember' (1958).

According to IMDB, their users rated the 1997 as 7.5 whilst the 1958 scored 8.0.

Thank you also myoarin, q21 and nautico.

I can now see a possible winner among those that have been listed but, like everyone else, I am dying to see pinkfreud make her dramatic entry.

Why must women keep a gentleman waiting?

Probo

Hi All,

This is my first post! Exciting. :). Anyway, I watched this movie as a kid and I have never been able to shake how awesome it was/made me feel!

Cool Runnings (1993)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106611/

Kay C

Unfortunately, "The Firemen's Ball" is a Czech film, but it is delightful, sometimes hilarious, and also touching, and also a product of the Prag Spring uprising by Milos Forman:
  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061781/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fireman%27s_Ball

Well worth seeing, Probo, and available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.de/s/?url=search-alias%3Ddvd-de&field-keywords=The%20Firemen%20s%20Ball&tag=imdb-adbox-de-21

Hi, Kayckev, welcome to Uclue and many thanks for your suggestion.

Yes - it is EXCITING and I do hope that we see a lot more of you.

And thank you Myoarin as much for proposing Milos Forman as for identifying one of his films in particular.

I also agree that Casablanca is a worthy contender with a delightful cast including Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Claud Rains and that guy who wore a white tuxedo.

Of course, as we all know, Dooley Wilson couldn't play the piano - so why pretend?

For the record, I did enjoy 'The Man with Bogart's Face' (1980) which also starred the lovely Michelle Phillips, formerly one of 'The Mamas and the Papas':

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081110/

Another old favourite of mine is 'Laura' (1944) and not only because of Gene Tierney:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037008/

It's not too late to add a few more contenders.

Over to you!

Probo

Hey Oliver,

If you like terrible movies, you might like the Mystery Science Theater 3000 tv series from the 80s/90s. It's about this guy who is forced to watch these awful movies, so he builds robots to keep him company. He and the robots make fun of the movies as they're playing.

I don't think they've translated them into German.

Hi All and very many thanks for all your contributions which brought home to me how lucky I've been to have enjoyed so many great movies in the past with the prospect of even more to come.

My favourite genre is the Musical and my elder daughter's suggestion was 'Cabaret' (1972) which I have seen several times, and also on stage.

I had previously read 'Goodbye to Berlin' by Christopher Isherwood and I had seen the DVD of 'I Am a Camera' (1955) with Julie Harris. I had also became interested in Jean Ross (1911-1973) who had inspired Isherwood during their days in Berlin. Reportedly, Jean insisted that she was a much better singer than Sally Bowles but her family disagreed.

Of course, the introduction of the MC (Joel Grey) and the direction and choreography of Bob Fosse were also critical. No matter that Jean Ross was English whilst Liza is not.

However, when I read q21's proposal of 'The Third Man' I realised that he had struck gold!

So, q21, can you please hit your Answer Button?

Probo

PS I suspect that Anonsi's recommendation for Oliver will be far too highbrow for him.

Congratulations, Q21!

Great "winner".  Funny thing is that I have seen "The Third Man" often enough with dubbed German (Vienna and all that, too) that I forgot that is an English language film.

I still, however, prefer Ingrid and Audrey.

Myo

Thank you very much, Bryan, for your kind tip!

Myo, thank you for your kind comment!

In one of your earlier comments you mentioned the "delightful combination/competition singing of the 'Marseillaise' and 'Die Wacht am Rhein' in Rick's bar".

Did you know that this part was omitted in the version shown in West Germany during the 1950s and 1960s?
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(Film)#In_der_Bundesrepublik

And, Myo, did you know?

That - according to Ingrid Bergman -

In Paris, when the picture came out [Casablanca (1942)], they weren't too pleased with it. They didn't like the political point of view. The picture was taken off immediately and was never sold to television. A while ago, it was brought in and opened in five theatres in Paris, as a new movie. They had a big gala opening where I appeared and people were absolutely crazy about it.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000006/bio

Bryan

"a big gala opening where I appeared and people were absolutely crazy about it."

Ahh, they invited the usual suspects to the gala.  It is a little unclear what the people were absolutely crazy about, also the meaning of "crazy" in the context.

Q21,

I did not know that.  They were probably afraid that cinema audiences would join in singing "Die Wacht am Rhein".  When I was working on farm near Soest in 1961, at the end of minor social events, everyone joined hands and sang the song and then "Muß i' denn". 

I just got confirmation from the pastor who stopped the tradition, that the "Kaiserglocke"  - donated by Wilhelm Zwo to the Erlöserkirche here -  was rung on his birthday until about 30 years ago.

Cheers, Myo

Ah, Myo

"Muß i' denn"

Presumably that was before Elvis showed them how it should be sung?

And am I right that you now include this in your Tribute Act?

Cheers, Bryo

Yes it was, at least, where I was, and no: if I ever sang it, it would be with my best ("MY best") Schwabish dialect from a year in Ludwigsburg, maybe preceded or followed by this tongue-twister by August Lämmle:

„I han âmôl oen kennd khedd, der hôdd oene kennd khedd. Dui hôdd a Kend khedd, dees hôdd se abbr edd vo sällam khedd. Där hot nemlich nemme kennd khedd. Se hôdd abbr no an andârâ kennd khedd. Där hôdd no kennd khedd. Ond wenns se deen nedd khennd khedd hedd, nô hedd se koe Kend khedd.“

(Ich habe einmal einen gekannt gehabt, der hat eine gekannt gehabt. Die hat ein Kind gehabt, das hat sie aber nicht von diesem gehabt. Der hat nämlich nicht mehr gekannt gehabt. Sie hat aber noch einen anderen gekannt gehabt. Der hat [sie] noch gekannt gehabt. Und wenn sie diesen nicht gekannt hätte, dann hätte sie kein Kind gehabt.)

Wow, Myo, you are a Show Off!

But then, what's new?

Cin cin

Bryo

Just before this subject closes can I just quickly say that one great film that  engrossed me  more so that any other I can think of is, "NIGHT IS FALLING".   

A Canadian film with wonderful music, some of which is from Leonard Cohen, particularly at the surprise twist last 30 seconds of the movie( as the credits are rolling).  It is the story of a conservative 30 -something year old  female catholic teacher preparing to marry her long time fiancee.when fate intervenes and at the laundromat she mixes up her clothes with another 30 something woman being a black circus performer. The black woman returns the mixed up clothes stack back  to the catholic school teacher somehow and a friendship develops. The friendship is intense and is the best example I have seen of just how close and bonded two female friends can become and how that plays out in daily life. The black woman however is covertly gay and after intermittent close and ostensibly innocent hugs and embraces, that the school teacher sees as just  some  physical interaction  within a  normal close friendship, the black woman shocks the teacher with a passionate kiss!!  This cuts across all that the teacher holds dear in regards her religious upbringing, her catholic beliefs etc. However try as she may she cant get the kiss out of her mind and a full-on sexual relationship develops destroying her engagement and relationship with her male fiancee, who naturally is broken-hearted and cant believe his quite conservative religious -minded  straight-laced partner has gone that way.

The acting is great and  extremely realistic, the circus acts and music are great, the little white  dog who plays a key part is also great; just a great movie.  John From Melbourne  P.S  I think it won award for Best Canadian Film of that particular year

Also can I acknowledge  that yes I did use My Oar In's call sign inappropriately so I wont do that again  either. Also again  can I acknowledge  that in  relation to  the aforesaid  that  I understand that the lists he provided of best movies were  3rd person lists and did not represent movies that he personally considered as examples of " the best ever".

 JFM

More about the film "When Night Is Falling" (1995), mentioned by JFM:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Night_Is_Falling

and

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114916/

Yes sorry, I just looked it up and saw that I had title incorrect. However I did note( as shown  in the comments from  movie-goers from years ago  below) that someone else thought it was the best movie they had  ever saw,just as I did!!
 #

Lord!! I have to admit that the best lesbian sex scene is in this movie. Wow!! I love a movie that just has ANY two people showing their love for one another. 5 stars!!!!


#

I love this movie! One of the best I've ever seen. Love the soundtrack too! This movie is so beautifully done. I have looked for this movie for years. Thank you!

Sure, Probo, but just to counter rumours that I emulate Elvis.

John, you were, indeed, taken by the film  - and the music:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/204520.html

And long ago, 2003.

Cheers to all,  Myo (who will be incommunicado 31.5. - 1.6.

DUh, I'll be away from 21. 5.

Myo

Many thanks JFM, q21 and Myo for your further contributions.

However, in the absence of any word of explanation from Myo regarding his forthcoming absence ...

Where on earth will he be?

I would have thought that Wi-Fi was EVERYWHERE!

Curious of Hove

Well, I've missed the entire conversation. However, having arrived belatedly and not seen any mention of the films that came to my mind, I'll go ahead and submit one of them even though the question is officially closed.

Bearing in mind the criterion "greatest" rather than merely "favorite," which might yield different results, I suggest

A Beautiful Mind
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/

I found this film very striking for several reasons. First of all, it wasn't until it had been running for quite some time that I/the audience realized that what we had been watching was in fact the workings of a mad mind and not reality at all. And yet it all seemed so real at the start. I am still impressed by the storytelling technique that made the mind of a madman so accessible, so sympathetic, that made the world of the schizophrenic, no, of a person, someone other than "I," open and bare to believable to other minds. I have an understanding of schizophrenia now that I never would have had without this movie.

Secondarily, I was struck all over again by the incredible acting prowess of Russell Crowe. I've seen and heard this man in interviews and been far less than impressed. In my opinion he's not very articulate nor impressive - as himself. But give this man a script and a character to play, and he virtually becomes that other person, disappearing himself while bringing to life the character he plays. I think he is one of the most gifted actors of our time. I think his portrayal of John Nash was absolutely brilliant.

In addition to giving a heretofore unavailable  but readily accessible glimpse into the mind of a schizophrenic, the movie also provides a window into the effects of Nash's illness on his wife, students and others connected to his life. It resists the temptation to descend into mawkish sentimentality and merely and realistically depicts the devastating effects this illness has on human relationships.

Finally, by showing the way in which Nash was able to come to terms with his illness and be able to actually return to relatively normal function despite its continued influence on his mind, the movie gives hope to those dealing with the reality of a formerly hopeless condition.

I think it is a great movie.

Very many thanks, Byrd, for your contribution.

I now recall having seen and enjoyed this movie.

It is a great pity that Myoarin cannot be here to join me in welcoming you back but, as you may know, he's gone on one of his secret missions - on this occasion to try and sort out the banking crises.

However, just to be on the safe side, I've put all my money under the mattress where I know it will be safe.

But, please, keep this CONFIDENTIAL!

Best wishes

Bryan

I have been in Armenia, decoding the intricate interwoven decoration on "cross stones":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khachkar
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Khatchkar_at_Goshavank_Monastery_in_Armenia.jpg

No one (until me - at this moment) has recognized that the interwoven areas are codes based on the Hebraic numbers, but expanding and solving the greatest mysteries.  Unfortunately, I was not able to ask the two persons we found, who still make them, if they understood the significance of their work ...

Bryan, your money under the mattress will be safe, unless you are hoarding Euros.

13, 25, 15. 1, ...

Welcome back, Myo, and congratulations on your investigation of the codes on the 'cross stones'.

I'd like to bet that fp and his friends at GCHQ will soon be able to crack these and, if I may, I would like to join you when you return to Armenia to collect the hidden treasures.

However, I do hope that they are not simply hordes of near worthless Euros or Dollars. 

Cin cin

Bryan

Note to fp: Please mark your Question 'Private' - I would hate for Ribuck ever to find out what we are all up to.

Actually, there is an error in my previous posting  - or was it intentional, to conceal the true direction of my research?  I expect, however, that the linguists Q21 and Scriptor will recognize it, even if they don't have much acquaintance with the Armenian language.  The final decoding will, of course, require a knowledge of it and probably use of a concordance of the Armenian Bible (if there is one).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations_into_Armenian

(Ha, I'm almost beginning to believe this.  But it could be possible, or someone could make a more convincing argument that there is a code concealed in the interlacings.  And even if they couldn't, it would be the kind of intriguing story that tourists would love to hear, rather like the one we heard about the Armenian who discovered something significant about old Armenian music, but lost his notes  - or they were destroyed -  during the "genocide", when he escaped to Europe, but went mad.) 

Cheers, Myo

Myoarin

All things considered, you were very wise not to trust Wi-Fi on your recent secret mission.

Cheers

Probo

Bryan,

It looks like you knew that about a week ago I did catch a view of Armenia (from a plane, taking me to East Asia).

Freddy

Hi Freddy,

Hope you saw Ararat as clearly as we did.  The mountainous terrain is more impressive from the ground, sometimes driving through gulches, or "flying" over a couple with the new cableway: 
http://www.oochoo.com/2010/10/guinness-world-records-longest-cableway-in-armenia-video/

(The bottle in the corner of the vide0 is "Ararat" brandy, now owned by Martel, sweet but drinkable.)  The written description doesn't do justice to the cableway; it drops down over one valley, back up over a hill and then over a more impressive valley before rising to the bluff where the walled monastery is.

Mostly funded by an Armenian in Russia, we were told.  Stayed in two boutique hotels built by an American Armenian rug dealer and producer.

Cheers,  Myo

Sorry, Myo and Bryan, I made a mistake. The landscape I saw when the plane flew from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea is, of course, part of the countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan (not: Armenia).

Hi Freddy

It's great to see you here again!

It had occurred to me that you might have been shadowing Myoarin when you realised that he was on yet another of his treasure troves.

I had heard that Myo no longer travels under the pretence of doing his Elvis Tribute Act.

Maybe there had been complaints?

All the best

Bryan

I don't think that part of American culture got to Armenia, but there are Coca Cola and Pepsi umbrellas at all the outside watering holes in Yerevan.

You should, however, have heard our renditions of "Dona nobis pacem" in a couple of the churches.  At one church, there is a sign inviting visitors to appreciate the acoustics.  And my singing "Aufwiedersehn" to bid farewell to our guide  - and especially her young Praktikantin -  with the group joining in the chorus, was very well received  - by a musically uncritical audience.

I came up with 4 of my favorite movies of all time, and was surprised to realize that none of them are in English...

Gladiator is amazing.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator_(2000_film)


And personally i love Big fish.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_fish

Into the wild is also great by the way :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(film)

The soundtrack is amazing, I even went and buyed the vinyl!

Well I don't agree with ANY of these:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/news-on-the-march-citizen-kane-no-longer-the-best-film-ever/story-fnbk7kwa-1226441439584

I haven't seen Vertigo and a few of the others, but when I saw Citizen Kane I thought "What? This is supposed to be the greatest film ever?".

The only one from that list which I would describe as great is "2001: A Space Odyssey". I watched it again recently with my daughters, who thought it odd that the movie had so little dialogue. It's a reminder of the days when great movies could still be made for a "U" rating.

The entire list of the "Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time", as published on Wednesday, 1 August 2012, being the result of a vote among "846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors":
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time

The "Greatest Films of All Time poll" is a "once-a-decade" poll:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/unveiling-greatest-films-all-time
and
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/voting-sight-sound-poll-1962

The previous Top Ten films, since 1952:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_%26_Sound

Marlyn Monroe, who died August 5th, fifty years ago, deserves at least a special mention.

Even my very serious newspaper devoted a long article about her today, but it's that time of the year, the "silly season" or as the Germans call it: the "sour pickle season".

As Karl Valentin, the Bavarian comedian said (my paraphrasing): 
isn't it amazing that there is a enough news every day to fill the papers.

Many thanks Ribuck & Q21 - you are certainly among the brightest of Uclue's Brightest Sparks!

Ideally, I would have liked to have included Myoarin in this assessment but, on this occasion, he has sadly (and unusually) succumbed to what can only be described as the 'sour pickle season'.

He has clearly forgotten that, in 1983, it was revealed that “Government agents confine star in asylum for 22 years,”

This has been reported in The Telegraph - so it must be true:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9450091/Enduring-Love-Why-everyone-has-a-Marilyn-Monroe-fantasy.html

Anyhow, Best Wishes Marilyn wherever you are!

Has anyone else noticed the similarities in MARILYN and MYOARIN? - I suspect that he's a secret admirer. Oh well, à chacun son goût!

The Telegraph is indeed a trustworthy newspaper; it reports: 
"For the editors of supermarket tabloids, she never died at all. (“Government agents confine star in asylum for 22 years,” insisted the National Examiner in 1983.)"

Clever of you, Probo, to notice that similarity: a perfect anagram except for the exchange of L and O, which is, of course, of pertinent significance for those interested in finding such.  

Nothing secret about my post-pubescent taste.

"quam di diligunt adulescens moritur"

or perhaps

"quam deus vult perdere, dementat prius"

If Jacques Offenbach were still around, I am sure he could have written a operetta about the havoc MM has created among the Greek gods and half gods.
Great project for Andrew Lloyd Webber:  "MM in the Underworld" (financed by a candy maker) or "How MM changed the course of the Trojan War".

Many thanks, Myoarin, for your futher insights.

However, I am sure that - like me - many Ucluers will now be very confused because, to us, MM has always been shorthand for the 'Mighty Myoarin'.

Still, I do like the concept of 'MM in the Underworld' which conjures up visions of you sailing serenly down the Styx.

But, knowing you, I guess that you would be unable to resist warbling to The Lorelei and every other young lady who appeared en route.

Bon Voyage!

There is only one MM, Marilyn Monroe.

There may be more than more than one HH, but I'm thinking in Heinrich Heine, who so peotically explained that it was the Lorelei who warbled  - siren-like.

But, of course:  Ich weiss nicht, was es bedeutet.

Wow - another MM:

A Modest Myoarin!

Now, I've seen everything.

Forrest Gump! The absolute greatest film ever!

Welocme to Uclue, Anton87. 
 
Thank you for revitalizing one of Probo's entertaining questions.  For us "oldtimers" on Uclue, it is a little poignant to see the question pop up, since Probo, Bryan, passed away early this year.  It is a pity that we cannot have his comment to your choice and about the film. 

It would have been witty, maybe at my expense, since I would have commented that as a kid I knew Winne Groom, the author of "Forrest Gump".  His maternal grandparents in Mobile, Alabama, were Norwegians, as was my mother. 

Probo would have made something of that. 

Regards,  Myoarin

myo...Probo's gone, true enough. But we're fortunate to have you as such a dedicated and witty (and perhaps eternal!) fan of Uclue. If only there were more to comment on...

David

Hi David,

Probo and I - and others - "fought the good fight" for so many years. 
I know "Fight the good Fight" is a hymn, but someone's else lyrics under the title seem very appropriate: 
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/triumph/fightthegoodfight.html

I eschew all money accounts on the web, why I have resisted the temptation to post questions, usually serious ones.  Probo's big shoes are empty.

Myo