The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

Tristan Ettleman
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Film History
  • Updated Weekly

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. 6d ago

    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)

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Sep 2

    1914 E6 - Bret Wood

    Whether he had a hand in their restoration or not, Bret Wood, filmmaker, author, and SVP and Producer of Archival Releases at Kino Lorber, selects five films that hold some personal connections for him. While they shift back and forth from epic drama and short comedy, these picks also highlight some representative traits of American film in 1914. Among the many projects Bret has worked on at Kino are Pioneers of African-American Cinema and Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers. His films include Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films and he is the author of Tod Browning: une vie avec les freaks. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914! Media mentioned: Bill Joins the W.W.W.’s (1914) - Edward DillonThe Death Mask (1914) - Thomas InceThe Professional Scapegoat (1914) - Sidney DrewThe Avenging Conscience (1914) - D.W. GriffithJudith of Bethulia (1914) - D.W. GriffithQueen Kelly (1929) - Erich von StroheimThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterHome, Sweet Home (1914) - D.W. GriffithThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithIntolerance (1916) - D.W. GriffithThe King of Kings (1927) - Cecil B. DeMilleA Corner in Wheat (1909) - D.W. GriffithThe Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. GriffithL’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo PadovanCabiria (1914) - Giovanni PastronePhantom of the Paradise (1974) - Brian De PalmaDeath’s Marathon (1913) - D.W. GriffithThe Devil’s Needle (1916) - Chester WitheyCurb Your Enthusiasm (1999-2024)Freaks (1932) - Tod BrowningThe Unholy Three (1925) - Tod BrowningThe Devil-Doll (1936) - Tod BrowningAlien (1979) - Ridley ScottAnimal House (1978) - John LandisRodan (1956) - Ishirō HondaStar Wars (1977) - George LucasThe Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) - John Emerson and Christy CabanneCinema’s First Nasty Women

  6. Aug 26

    1914 E5 - Beja Margitházi

    The selections from Beja Margitházi, assistant professor at Eötvös Loránd University's Department of Film Studies, begin in Canada and move eastward. They also jump between genres and culminate in an early directorial effort from Michael Curtiz and a representation of the cinema of her native Hungary. Beja is editor of the film theory and history journal Metropolis. She is also the author of The Cinema of the Face: Close-up and Film Style and co-editor of the anthology Visual Communication. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914! Media mentioned: The Undesirable (1914) - Michael CurtizBlue Blood (1914) - Nino OxiliaFantômas (1914) - Louis FeuilladeDaisy Doodad’s Dial (1914) - Florence TurnerIn the Land of the Head Hunters (1914) - Edward S. CurtisThe Student of Prague (1913) - Stellan RyeAtlantis (1913) - August BlomIngeborg Holm (1913) - Victor SjöströmCabiria (1914) - Giovanni PastroneNanook of the North (1922) - Robert J. FlahertyFred Ott’s Sneeze (1894) - William K.L. DicksonThe Kiss (1896) - William HeisePhotographing a Female Crook (1904) - Wallace McCutcheonThe Abyss (1910) - Urban Gad

  7. Aug 19

    1914 E4 - Brian Darr

    Library professional Brian Darr once maintained a blog about the San Francisco Bay Area screening scene called Hell On Frisco Bay, an alias he still uses on Bluesky and Letterboxd. So some aspect of the theatrical experience, whether he caught a screening or not, comes into the conversation about each of his five picks (all from a different country!) in addition to their aesthetic recommendations. Brian has written on media history for outlets like Senses of Cinema, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, SFGate, Screen Slate, the Independent Lens blog and The Maine Playweek. He's performed several audiovisual presentations at San Francisco's Other Cinema showcase and elsewhere on media history subjects from blacklisted directors to experimental music label Opus One. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914! Films and resources mentioned: The Masquerader (1914) - Charlie ChaplinDaisy Doodad’s Dial (1914) - Florence TurnerChild of the Big City (1914) - Yevgeni BauerFantômas (1914) - Louis FeuilladeCabiria (1914) - Giovanni PastroneL’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe De LiguoroIntolerance (1916) - D.W. GriffithMetropolis (1927) - Fritz LangMaciste in Hell (1925) - Guido BrignoneThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithLes Vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeJudex (1916) - Louis FeuilladeTih Minh (1918) - Louis FeuilladeFantômas (1920) - Edward SedgwickThe Cameraman (1928) - Edward Sedgwick and Buster KeatonSpite Marriage (1929) - Edward Sedgwick and Buster KeatonMan with a Movie Camera (1929) - Dziga VertovWhere the Winds Blow (1910) - Laurence TrimbleThe Tramp (1915) - Charlie ChaplinHis Trysting Place (1914) - Charlie ChaplinThe Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914) - Charlie ChaplinHollywood Babylon - Kenneth AngerKino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film - Jay Leyda“1,000 Favorites: A Personal Canon” - Jonathan RosenbaumCinema’s First Nasty Women

  8. Aug 12

    1914 E3 - Elyse Singer

    Elyse Singer, Lecturer in the Department of Theater at Dartmouth College, selects a wide range of forms and genres for her five picks of 1914, from short comedy to serial action to epic tales (one historically dramatic and the other perhaps the first feature comedy). At least two relate to her recent research in female madness in film and the agency of women in serials of the time. Elyse has also taught at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at CUNY and NYU Tisch. Her work has been published in Cinematic Explorations of the Mind, The Routledge Companion to Performance and Science, Faces on Screen, Feminist Media Histories, and Domitor’s Crafts, Trades, and Techniques of Early Cinema. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914! Films and resources mentioned: Cabiria (1914) - Giovanni PastroneTillie’s Punctured Romance (1914) - Mack SennettFantômas (1914) - Louis FeuilladeThe Perils of Pauline (1914) - Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzieDaisy Doodad’s Dial (1914) - Florence TurnerTrouble in Paradise (1932) - Ernst LubitschPhotographing a Female Crook (1904) - Wallace McCutcheonLaughing Gas (1907) - Edwin S. PorterBlack Panther (2018) - Ryan CooglerWoman Warrior White Rose (1929) - Zhang HuiminLes Vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeThe Violin (1908) - Louis FeuilladeTih Minh (1918) - Louis FeuilladeMetropolis (1927) - Fritz LangLillian Gish: The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me - Lillian GishSpecters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes - Maggie Hennefeld“In Your Face: Physiognomy, Photography, and the Gnostic Mission of Early Film” - Tom Gunning

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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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