Sight and Sound's 2012 Poll Preview

Later today, British Film Magazine Sight and Sound will release the results of its 2012 Critics and Directors Poll of the Greatest Films of the All Time. By their very nature, lists of the greatest films of all time are kind of silly - and none are definitive. Having said that, the Sight and Sound list is the best of the bunch - the closest thing to definitive that we will ever get. I will give my extended thoughts on the 2012 list when it is released, but first I thought we`d look back at the previous Sight and Sound`s Critics surveys - done every 10 years since 1952 - and Director`s Surveys - done ever 10 years since 1992.

Critics Lists

1952

1. Bicycle Thieves
2. City Lights
2. The Gold Rush
4. The Battleship Potemkin
5. Intolerance
5. Louisiana Story
7. Greed
7. Le Jour se leve
7. The Passion of Joan of Arc
10. Brief Encounter
10. The Rules of the Game
10. Le Million

1962

1. Citizen Kane
2. L'avventura
3. The Rules of the Game
4. Greed
4. Ugetsu Monogatari
6. The Battleship Potemkin
7. Bicycle Thieves
7. Ivan the Terrible
9. La terra trema
10. L'Atalante

1972

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Rules of the Game
3. The Battleship Potemkin
4. 8½
5. L'avventura
5. Persona
7. The Passion of Joan of Arc
8. The General
8. The Magnificent Ambersons
10. Ugetsu Monogatari
10. Wild Strawberries

1982

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Rules of the Game
3. Seven Samurai
4. Singin' in the Rain
5. 8½ (14 mentions)
6. The Battleship Potemkin
7. L'avventura
7. The Magnificent Ambersons
7. Vertigo
10. The General
10. The Searchers 

1992
1. Citizen Kane
2. The Rules of the Game
3. Tokyo Story
4. Vertigo
5. The Searchers
6. L'Atalante
6. The Passion of Joan of Arc
6. Pather Panchali
6. The Battleship Potemkin
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey

2002

1. Citizen Kane
2. Vertigo
3. The Rules of the Game
4. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
5. Tokyo Story
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. The Battleship Potemkin
7. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
9. 8½
10. Singin' in the Rain (17 mentions)

And, now the two directors polls that were conducted.

1992
1. Citizen Kane
2. 8½
3. Raging Bull
4. La Strada
5. L'Atalante
6. The Godfather
6. Modern Times
6. Vertigo
9. The Godfather Part II
10. The Passion of Joan of Arc
10. Rashomon
10. Seven Samurai

2002

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
3. 8½
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. Dr. Strangelove
6. Bicycle Thieves
6. Raging Bull
6. Vertigo
9. Rashomon
9. The Rules of the Game
9. Seven Samurai

As you can, before this year, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane has dominated the list. After finishing just outside the top 10 in 1952, the first year of the survey, it has been in the top spot on every critics list, and both directors’ list since. When you hear that Citizen Kane is “widely regarded” as the greatest film ever made, a large part of that is because of this survey. The only other film to really compete with Citizen Kane every 10 years is Jean Renoir’s masterpiece The Rules of the Games, which squeaked onto the list in 1952, and then jumped up in 1962, and has been at number 2 or 3 every decade since.

Anyway, those were the previous results. Check back later today or tomorrow to see my reaction to the current list.