The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

Tristan Ettleman
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The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever features experts and enthusiasts and, well, their favorite films of every year ever. Host Tristan Ettleman sits down with a new guest every week to dive into the history and beauty of some of the best movies to ever come out of the cinematic medium.

  1. 1d ago

    1915 E7 - The Death of a Canon

    At the risk of defining 1915 by Griffith and The Birth of a Nation (and spoiling, a bit, the most selected films): this season finale and the films guests and listeners chose to highlight buck this canonical entry which looms large. Indeed, the biggest group of submitters in the show’s history chose to uplift similarly epic, and relatively canonical, picks as well as lesser known works. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to see the full list of selected films! Mentioned media: Les Vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeRegeneration (1915) - Raoul WalshHypocrites (1915) - Lois WeberThe Italian (1915) - Reginald BarkerAlias Jimmy Valentine (1915) - Maurice TourneurThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithThe Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleBy the Sea (1915) - Charlie ChaplinThe Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy (1915) - Willis H. O’BrienKing Kong (1933) - Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. SchoedsackThe Tramp (1915) - Charlie ChaplinFantômas (1913) - Louis Feuillade

  2. Oct 21

    1915 E6 - James Harrison

    James Harrison, BBC Archives Researcher, puts that expertise to good use with his ultimate pick reflecting his interest in British moving image (and war) history. But on the way, he also discusses European innovation in defiance of World War I’s intensification and American narrative development. James is also the co-director of South West Silents and Film Noir UK. He has written many articles about classic cinema and was a graduate of the Giornate del Cinema Muto Collegium. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1915! Mentioned media:Britain Prepared (1915) - Charles UrbanA Fool There Was (1915) - Frank PowellThe Italian (1915) - Reginald BarkerRegeneration (1915) - Raoul WalshLes Vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeThe World at War (1973-1974)Hollywood (1980)Metropolis (1927) - Fritz LangNosferatu (1922) - F.W. MurnauHave I Got News for You (1990-present)Antiques Roadshow [UK] (1979-present)Antiques Roadshow [US] (1997-present)Hamlet (1921) - Svend Gade and Heinz SchallFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeVendémiaire (1918) - Louis FeuilladeJudex (1916) - Louis FeuilladeThe Godfather (1972) - Francis Ford CoppolaThe Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. GriffithThe Public Enemy (1931) - William A. WellmanAngels with Dirty Faces (1938) - Michael CurtizGoodfellas (1990) - Martin ScorseseRegeneration (1991) - Pat BarkerThe Godfather Part II (1974) - Francis Ford CoppolaThe Godfather Part III (1990) - Francis Ford CoppolaTraffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane TuckerCleopatra (1917) - J. Gordon EdwardsBeyond the Rocks (1922) - Sam WoodLondon After Midnight (1927) - Tod BrowningThe Unchastened Woman (1925) - James YoungThe Great War (1964)Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897 - 1925 - Luke McKernanThe Battle of the Somme (1916) - Geoffrey MalinsThe Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks (1917) - Geoffrey MalinsThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Robert Wiene

  3. Oct 14

    1915 E5 - Scout Tafoya

    Filmmaker, critic, and author Scout Tafoya brings some of his “unloved” sensibilities, as demonstrated in his titular video essay series, to his selections for 1915, although a couple of his picks overlap with films that have come into view as undeniably impactful for this season. Scout, in addition to directing numerous feature films, is the author of books on Tobe Hooper, John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Christophe Gans. His ongoing work can be supported on Patreon. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1915! Mentioned media: Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915) - Maurice TourneurThe Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleRegeneration (1915) - Raoul WalshRapsodia Satanica (1915) - Nino OxiliaTrilby (1915) - Maurice TourneurBrotherhood of the Wolf (2001) - Christophe GansThe Devils (1971) - Ken RussellPan’s Labyrinth (2006) - Guillermo del ToroCity of God (2002) - Fernando MeirellesSilent Hill (2006) - Christophe GansBeauty and the Beast (2014) - Christophe GansReturn to Silent Hill (2026) - Christophe GansThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Robert WieneDracula (1931) - Tod BrowningThe Tramp (1915) - Charlie ChaplinThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithThe Cameraman (1928) - Edward Sedgwick and Buster KeatonSherlock Jr. (1924) - Buster KeatonThe General (1926) - Buster Keaton and Clyde BruckmanCameo Kirby (1923) - John FordHell Bent (1918) - John FordSafe Conduct (2002) - Bertrand TavernierLa Main du diable (1943) - Maurice TourneurAppointment in Honduras (1953) - Jacques TourneurThe Blue Bird (1918) - Maurice TourneurSvengali (1931) - Archie MayoNosferatu (1922) - F.W. MurnauCabiria (1914) - Giovanni PastroneL’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo PadovanThe Man Who Laughs (1928) - Paul LeniGangs of New York (2002) - Martin ScorseseThere Are Not Thirty-six Ways of Showing a Man Getting on a Horse (2020) - Nicolás ZukerfeldThe Big Country (1958) - William WylerTrack of the Cat (1954) - William A. WellmanSunset Boulevard (1950) - Billy WilderAce in the Hole (1951) - Billy WilderKiss Me, Stupid (1964) - Billy WilderScarface (1932) - Howard HawksLittle Caesar (1931) - Mervyn LeRoyThe Sign of the Cross (1932) - Cecil B. DeMilleThe Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - David LeanAn Actor’s Revenge (1963) - Kon IchikawaThe Hot Rock (1972) - Peter YatesMrs. Soffel (1984) - Gillian ArmstrongThe Tutor (2023) - Jordan RossBlackhat (2015) - Michael MannThe Public Enemy (1931) - William A. WellmanManhattan Melodrama (1934) - W.S. Van DykeThe Last of the Mohicans (1920) - Maurice Tourneur and Clarence BrownThe Twilight Zone (1959-1964)“Billy Wilder 1961-1981 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 9)” - You Must Remember This

  4. Oct 7

    1915 E4 - Daisuke Miyao

    Daisuke Miyao, Professor and the Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of California, San Diego, is the author of Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom. His ultimate selection factors greatly into that book, but also picks an international array of differing genres and forms. Daisuke is also the author of Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy, Le Samouraï: BFI Film Classics, Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema, Cinema Is a Cat: A Cat Lover’s Introduction to Film Studies, and The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema. He is also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Cinema and the co-editor of The World of Benshi with Michael Emerich and Transnational Cinematography Studies with Lindsay Coleman and Roberto Schaefer. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1915! Mentioned media:The Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleThe Tramp (1915) - Charlie ChaplinLes Vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeThe Golem (1915) - Paul Wegener and Henrik GaleenAssunta Spina (1915) - Gustavo SerenaThe Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - David LeanThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithCarmen (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleCabiria (1914) - Giovanni PastroneThe Last Diva (1982) - Gianfranco MingozziThe Last Days of Pompeii (1913) - Eleuterio RodolfiThe Golem: How He Came into the World (1920) - Paul Wegener and Carl BoeseThe Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917) - Paul Wegener and Rochus GlieseKing Kong (1933) - Merian C. Cooper and Ernest SchoedsackFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeIrma Vep (1996) - Olivier AssayasIt’s Tough Being a Man (1969) - Yoji YamadaThe Circus (1928) - Charlie ChaplinThe Ten Commandments (1956) - Cecil B. DeMilleSunset Boulevard (1950) - Billy WilderTemptation (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Robert WieneA Page of Madness (1926) - Teinosuke KinugasaDragnet Girl (1933) - Yasujirō OzuThe Kumamoto Cat (1915) - unknownHouse (1977) - Nobuhiko ObayashiCecil B. DeMille's Hollywood - Robert S. Birchard

  5. Sep 30

    1915 E3 - Jeremy Mathews

    Filmmaker, musician, and writer Jeremy Mathews takes a couple tacks in his selections for 1915. In addition to a couple National Film Registry entries and another widely praised American drama, he selects an offbeat short comedy and a surreal, macabre, and underseen Russian horror, of a kind. Jeremy’s film criticism has appeared in Eye for Film in the UK and Paste Magazine in the US. He fronts the indie band NSPS as singer, songwriter and guitarist, with upcoming projects including the new NSPS album, No Truth Left to Tell, and a short film called Seize the Initiative, which he directed and edited. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1915! Mentioned media:The Italian (1915) - Reginald BarkerAfter Death (1915) - Yevgeni BauerHypocrites (1915) - Lois WeberRegeneration (1915) - Raoul WalshFox Trot Finesse (1915) - Sidney DrewSunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) - F.W. MurnauThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithThe Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleCarmen (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleBurlesque on Carmen (1915) - Charlie ChaplinSuspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips SmalleyThe Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. GriffithBeauty and the Beast (1991) - Gary Trousdale and Kirk WisePulp Fiction (1994) - Quentin TarantinoHouse of Gucci (2021) - Ridley ScottMetropolis (1927) - Fritz LangRosemary’s Baby (1968) - Roman PolanskiThe Last Laugh (1924) - F.W. MurnauVampyr (1932) - Carl Theodor DreyerThe Crowd (1928) - King VidorThe Iron Horse (1924) - John Ford“The 100 Best Silent Films of All Time” - Jeremy MathewsThe Silent Clowns - Walter KerrMy Mamie Rose: The Story of My Regeneration - Owen KildarePerils of the New Land: Films of the Immigrant Experience (1910-1915)

  6. Sep 23

    1915 E2 - Anthony Slide

    Anthony Slide, prolific film historian, author, and archivist, personally knew a few people who acted in his selections of 1915. This secondhand view of their production is combined with his wide historical knowledge of their significance to bring valuable insight to the year and period. Anthony is the author of numerous books since 1970 and has served as archivist at the American Film Historian and resident film historian for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Perhaps his most relevant book to this conversation is American Racist: The Life and Films of Thomas Dixon and his works can be found at his site. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1915! Mentioned media:The Battle Cry of Peace (1915) - Wilfrid North and J. Stuart BlacktonThe Warrens of Virginia (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleHypocrites (1915) - Lois WeberThe Vampire (1915) - Alice Guy-BlacheThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithIntolerance (1916) - D.W. GriffithA Fool There Was (1915) - Frank PowellDracula (1931) - Tod BrowningNosferatu (1922) - F.W. MurnauThe Struggle (1931) - D.W. GriffithWhere Are My Children? (1916) - Lois Weber and Phillips SmalleyThe Squaw Man (1914) - Cecil B. DeMilleThe Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleThe Cheat (1931) - George AbbottAnna Christie (1923) - John Griffith WrayThe Painted Lady (1912) - D.W. GriffithGone with the Wind (1939) - Victor FlemingThe Little American (1917) - Cecil B. DeMille and Joseph LeveringHearts of the World (1918) - D.W. GriffithThe Italian (1915) - Reginald BarkerRegeneration (1915) - Raoul WalshEarly American Cinema - Anthony SlideThe Cinema and Ireland - Anthony SlideThe Big V: A History of the Vitagraph Company - Anthony SlideInside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers - Anthony SlideHollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players, and Stand-Ins - Anthony Slide"It's the Pictures That Got Small": Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age - Anthony SlideThe Memoirs of Alice Guy Blaché - Anthony SlideButter with My Bread - Olga PetrovaLois Weber: The Director Who Lost Her Way in History - Anthony Slide

  7. Sep 16

    1915 E1 - The White-Hooded Elephant in the Room

    To borrow a phrase from an upcoming guest of this season, Jeremy Mathews: 1915 has a white-hooded elephant in the room. D.W. Griffith’s racist epic The Birth of a Nation has to be mentioned when discussing film in this year, and although (spoiler) it was only selected by one guest, its shadow is cast somewhere into each of the conversations and diverse picks to come, addressing both its good and bad influence. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1915! Media mentioned:The Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. Griffith

  8. Sep 9

    1914 E7 - Wartime Modernity

    While the 1914 season introduction promised the omnipresence of “The Great War,” World War I, if still at least mentioned in every episode, didn’t dominate the conversations. Even still, its representation of sudden disruption, evolution, and modernity is still thematically connected to the aesthetic and industrial developments in film of the year. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to see the list of every submitted film! Mentioned media: Cabiria (1914) - Giovanni PastroneTillie’s Punctured Romance (1914) - Mack SennettFantômas (1914) - Louis FeuilladeDaisy Doodad’s Dial (1914) - Florence TurnerGertie the Dinosaur (1914) - Winsor McCayKid Auto Races at Venice (1914) - Henry LehrmanCaught in the Rain (1914) - Charlie ChaplinMaking a Living (1914) - Henry LehrmanThe Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) - J. Farrell MacDonald

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The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever features experts and enthusiasts and, well, their favorite films of every year ever. Host Tristan Ettleman sits down with a new guest every week to dive into the history and beauty of some of the best movies to ever come out of the cinematic medium.

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