Essential Films

1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 

1960 1961 1962  1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968  1969

1970 1971  1972 1973  1974 1975 19761977 1978  1979

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

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Essential Films List Year 1930

• Morocco (1930)
• Hell’s Angels (1930)
• Hell’s Heroes (1930)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Essential Films List Year 1931

• M (1931)
• Free Soul A (1931)
• Street Scene (1931)
• Public Enemy The (1931)
• Five Star Final (1931)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Little Caesar (1931)
• Champ The (1931)
• Dracula (1931)

Essential Films List Year 1932

• One Way Passage (1932)
• Trouble in Paradise (1932)
• Red Dust (1932)
• Mouthpiece The (1932)
• Freaks (1932)
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
• Love Me Tonight (1932)
• Most Dangerous Game The (1932)
• Sign of the Cross The (1932)
• Grand Hotel (1932)

Essential Films List Year 1933

• Footlight Parade (1933)
• Little Women (1933)
• Queen Christina (1933)
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
• She Done Him Wrong (1933)
• King Kong (1933)
• Penthouse (1933)
• Lady for a Day (1933)
• Bombshell (1933)
• Counsellor at Law (1933)
• Dinner at Eight (1933)
• 42nd Street (1933)

Essential Films List Year 1934

• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
• Thin Man The (1934)
• Imitation of Life (1934)

Essential Films List Year 1935

• Top Hat (1935)
• Tale of Two Cities A (1935)
• Lives of a Bengal Lancer The (1935)
• Anna Karenina (1935)
• The 39 Steps (1935)
• Alice Adams (1935)
• David Copperfield (1935)
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• Captain Blood (1935)

Essential Films List Year 1936

• San Francisco (1936)
• Swing Time (1936)
• Fury (1936)
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
• Libeled Lady (1936)
• My Man Godfrey (1936)
• Story of Louis Pasteur The (1936)
• Petrified Forest The (1936)
• The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
• These Three (1936)
• Camille (1936)
• Dodsworth (1936)
• Anthony Adverse (1936)

Essential Films List Year 1937

• Star is Born A (1937)
• They Won’t Forget (1937)
• Lost Horizon (1937)
• Topper (1937)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Good Earth The (1937)
• Stage Door (1937)
• Stella Dallas (1937)
• Captains Courageous (1937)
• Dead End (1937)
• Awful Truth The (1937)

Essential Films List Year 1938

• White Banners (1938)
• Jezebel (1938)
• The Lady Vanishes (1938)
• Pygmalion (1938)
• Four Daughters (1938)
• Holiday (1938)
• Merrily We Live (1938)
• Three Comrades (1938)
• Citadel The (1938)
• Bringing Up Baby (1938)
• Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
• Boys Town (1938)
• Adventures of Robin Hood The (1938)
• Dawn Patrol The (1938)

Essential Films List Year 1935

• Top Hat (1935)
• Tale of Two Cities A (1935)
• Lives of a Bengal Lancer The (1935)
• Anna Karenina (1935)
• The 39 Steps (1935)
• Alice Adams (1935)
• David Copperfield (1935)
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• Captain Blood (1935)

Essential Films List Year 1939

• Roaring Twenties The (1939)
• Wizard of Oz The (1939)
• Love Affair (1939)
• Wuthering Heights (1939)
• Stagecoach (1939)
• Four Feathers The (1939)
• Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
• Hunchback of Notre Dame The (1939)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• Midnight (1939)
• Gunga Din (1939)
• Ninotchka (1939)
• Women The (1939)
• Gone With the Wind (1939)
• Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)
• Dark Victory (1939)
• Destry Rides Again (1939)
• Bachelor Mother (1939)

Essential Films List Year 1940

• Letter The (1940)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• His Girl Friday (1940)
• Pride and Prejudice (1940)
• Sea Hawk The (1940)
• My Favorite Wife (1940)
• Philadelphia Story The (1940)
• Our Town (1940)
• Mortal Storm The (1940)
• Westerner The (1940)
• Foreign Correspondent (1940)
• Shop Around The Corner The (1940)
• Mark of Zorro The (1940)
• Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
• Great McGinty The (1940)

Essential Films List Year 1941

• Little Foxes The (1941)
• Lady Eve The (1941)
• Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
• Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
• High Sierra (1941)
• One Foot in Heaven (1941)
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
• Sergeant York (1941)
• Maltese Falcon The (1941)
• How Green Was My Valley (1941)
• Ball of Fire (1941)
• Devil and Miss Jones The (1941)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• Meet John Doe (1941)

Essential Films List Year 1942

• Pride of the Yankees The (1942)
• Gentleman Jim (1942)
• Palm Beach Story The (1942)
• Man Who Came to Dinner The (1942)
• Saboteur (1942)
• Major and the Minor The (1942)
• In Which We Serve (1942)
• To Be or Not to Be (1942)
• Talk of the Town The (1942)
• Kings Row (1942)
• Woman of the Year (1942)
• Now Voyager (1942)
• Magnificent Ambersons The (1942)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
• Random Harvest (1942)
• Casablanca (1942)

Essential Films List Year 1943

• Watch on the Rhine (1943)
• Ox-Bow Incident The (1943)
• Sahara (1943)
• Song of Bernadette The (1943)
• Human Comedy The (1943)
• More the Merrier The (1943)
• Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Essential Films List Year 1944

• To Have and Have Not (1944)
• Since You Went Away (1944)
• Gaslight (1944)
• Miracle of Morgan’s Creek The (1944)
• Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
• National Velvet (1944)
• Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)
• Double Indemnity (1944)

Essential Films List Year 1945

• Picture of Dorian Gray The (1945)
• Mildred Pierce (1945)
• Corn is Green The (1945)
• Brief Encounter (1945)

Essential Films List Year 1946

• Yearling The (1946)
• To Each His Own (1946)
• Notorious (1946)
• It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
• Humoresque (1946)
• The Razor’s Edge (1946)
• Postman Always Rings Twice The (1946)
• Big Sleep The (1946)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Essential Films List Year 1947

• Out of the Past (1947)
• Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
• Life With Father (1947)
• Brute Force (1947)
• Crossfire (1947)
• Double Life A (1947)
• Adam’s Rib (1947)
• Body and Soul (1947)
• Farmer’s Daughter The (1947)

Essential Films List Year 1948

• Johnny Belinda (1948)
• I Remember Mama (1948)
• Red Shoes The (1948)
• Search The (1948)
• Red River (1948)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre The (1948)
• Key Largo (1948)
• Command Decision (1948)

Essential Films List Year 1949

• They Live By Night (1949)
• White Heat (1949)
• Set-Up The (1949)
• Third Man The (1949)
• Stratton Story The (1949)
• Letter to Three Wives A (1949)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
• Madame Bovary (1949)
• Intruder in the Dust (1949)
• Heiress The (1949)
• Twelve O’Clock High (1949)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
• Battleground (1949)
• Champion (1949)
• All the King’s Men (1949)

Essential Films List Year 1950

• Sunset Blvd. (1950)
• Harvey (1950)
• Winchester ’73 (1950)
• Father of the Bride (1950)
• In A Lonely Place (1950)
• D.O.A. (1950)
• Asphalt Jungle The (1950)
• Born Yesterday (1950)
• All About Eve (1950)

Essential Films List Year 1951

• Lavender Hill Mob The (1951)
• Streetcar Named Desire A (1951)
• Mating Season The (1951)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• Place in the Sun A (1951)
• Ace in the Hole (1951)
• African Queen The (1951)
• Day the Earth Stood Still The (1951)

Essential Films List Year 1952

• Scaramouche (1952)
• Quiet Man The (1952)
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
• High Noon (1952)
• Come Back Little Sheba (1952)
• 5 Fingers (1952)
• Bad and the Beautiful The (1952)

Essential Films List Year 1953

• Shane (1953)
• Naked Spur The (1953)
• Stalag 17 (1953)
• Roman Holiday (1953)
• Julius Caesar (1953)

Essential Films List Year 1954

• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
• Star is Born A (1954)
• White Christmas (1954)
• Sabrina (1954)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Caine Mutiny The (1954)
• Executive Suite (1954)
• Dial M for Murder (1954)

Essential Films List Year 1955

• To Catch a Thief (1955)
• Rose Tattoo The (1955)
• Ladykillers The (1955)
• Picnic (1955)
• Night of the Hunter The (1955)
• Oklahoma! (1955)
• Mister Roberts (1955)
• Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
• Desperate Hours The (1955)
• Blackboard Jungle (1955)

Essential Films List Year 1956

• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
• King and I The (1956)
• Friendly Persuasion (1956)
• Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
• Ten Commandments The (1956)
• Harder They Fall The (1956)
• The Searchers (1956)
• Lust for Life (1956)
• Giant (1956)
• Killing The (1956)

Essential Films List Year 1957

• Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
• Paths of Glory (1957)
• Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
• Face In The Crowd A (1957)
• Designing Woman (1957)
• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• Enemy Below The (1957)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Essential Films List Year 1958

• I Want to Live! (1958)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Separate Tables (1958)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
• Big Country The (1958)
• Defiant Ones The (1958)

Essential Films List Year 1959

• North By Northwest (1959)
• Nun’s Story The (1959)
• Some Like it Hot (1959)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
• Ben-Hur (1959)
• Diary of Anne Frank The (1959)

Essential Films List Year 1960

• Spartacus (1960)
• Inherit the Wind (1960)
• Psycho (1960)
• Magnificent Seven The (1960)
• Elmer Gantry (1960)
• The Apartment (1960)

Essential Films List Year 1961

• Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
• Raisin in the Sun A (1961)
• One Two Three (1961)
• West Side Story (1961)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Essential Films List Year 1962

• Lolita (1962)
• Miracle Worker The (1962)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• Longest Day The (1962)
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962)
• Manchurian Candidate The (1962)
• Man Who Shot Liberty Valance The (1962)

Essential Films List Year 1963

• From Russia With Love (1963)
• Lilies of the Field (1963)
• Tom Jones (1963)
• Great Escape The (1963)
• Hud (1963)
• Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1963)

Essential Films List Year 1964

• Fall of the Roman Empire The (1964)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Topkapi (1964)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• Americanization of Emily The (1964)

Essential Films List Year 1965

• Ship of Fools (1965)
• Thousand Clowns A (1965)
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Essential Films List Year 1966

• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
• Fortune Cookie The (1966)
• The Good The Bad and the Ugly (1966)
• A Man For All Seasons (1966)

Essential Films List Year 1967

• Point Blank (1967)
• In Cold Blood (1967)
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
• In the Heat of the Night (1967)
• Dirty Dozen The (1967)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Essential Films List Year 1968

• Lion in Winter The (1968)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Essential Films List Year 1969

• The Wild Bunch (1969)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Essential Films List Year 1970

Essential Films List Year 1971

• Clockwork Orange A (1971)
• The French Connection (1971)
• Dirty Harry (1971)

Essential Films List Year 1972

• Sounder (1972)
• Frenzy (1972)
• Cabaret (1972)
• Deliverance (1972)

Essential Films List Year 1973

• Paper Moon (1973)
• American Graffiti (1973)
• Day of the Jackal The (1973)

Essential Films List Year 1974

Essential Films List Year 1975

• Man Who Would Be King The (1975)
• Jaws (1975)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Essential Films List Year 1976

• Network (1976)
• Outlaw Josey Wales The (1976)
• Rocky (1976)

Essential Films List Year 1977

• Star Wars (1977)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Essential Films List Year 1978

• The Deer Hunter (1978)

Essential Films List Year 1979

• Mad Max (1979)
• Breaking Away (1979)

Essential Films List Year 1980

• Ordinary People (1980)
• Raging Bull (1980)

Essential Films List Year 1981

• Chariots of Fire (1981)

Essential Films List Year 1982

• Victor/Victoria (1982)
• Tootsie (1982)
• Gandhi (1982)
• E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Essential Films List Year 1983

Essential Films List Year 1984

• Amadeus (1984)

Essential Films List Year 1985

• Color Purple The (1985)
• Back to the Future (1985)

Essential Films List Year 1986

• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Aliens (1986)

Essential Films List Year 1987

Essential Films List Year 1989

• Field of Dreams (1989)

Essential Films List Year 1990

• Dances With Wolves (1990)

Essential Films List Year 1991

• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Essential Films List Year 1992

Essential Films List Year 1993

Essential Films List Year 1994

• Forrest Gump (1994)

Essential Films List Year 1995

• Apollo 13 (1995)
• Braveheart (1995)

Essential Films List Year 1996

Essential Films List Year 1997

• Titanic (1997)

Essential Films List Year 1998

Essential Films List Year 1999