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. 3d ago

    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

  2. Aug 5

    1914 E2 - Susan Potter

    Susan Potter, Senior Lecturer in the School of Art, Communication and English at the University of Sydney, wrote the book Queer Timing: The Emergence of Lesbian Sexuality in Early Cinema. While its scope is broader than any one year, and just one of Susan’s 1914 selections is referenced within it, she also mostly highlights female agency and subversion before and behind the screen with her picks. Susan’s research investigates the relation of cinema as modern mass medium to the intensification of sexuality since the late nineteenth century and audiovisual media's role in queer identity and culture formation. Their essay on Filibus (1915) is forthcoming in The Silent Film Companion: A Recovered and Expanded History, edited by (former guests!) Martin Johnson and Liz Clarke. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914! Films and resources mentioned: The Perils of Pauline (1914) - Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzieFantômas (1914) - Louis FeuilladeA Florida Enchantment (1914) - Sidney DrewMabel’s Strange Predicament (1914) - Mabel NormandKid Auto Races at Venice (1914) - Henry LehrmanPandora’s Box (1929) - G.W. PabstFilibus (1915) - Mario RoncoroniShoulder Arms (1918) - Charlie ChaplinThe Tramp (1915) - Charlie ChaplinFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeOne A.M. (1916) - Charlie ChaplinMabel’s Dramatic Career (1913) - Mack SennettMädchen in Uniform (1931) - Leontine SaganGilda (1946) - Charles VidorThe Hazards of Helen (1914) - J.P. McGowan and J. Gunnis DavisScreening Europe in Australasia: Transnational Silent Film Before and After the Rise of Hollywood - Julie K. AllenZones of Anxiety: Movement, Musidora, and the Crime Serials of Louis Feuillade - Vicki CallahanHokum! The Early Sound Slapstick Short and Depression-Era Mass Culture - Rob KingA Feminist Reader in Early Cinema - Jennifer Bean and Diane Negra, eds.Girls Will Be Boys: Cross-Dressed Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908-1934 - Laura Horak

  3. Jul 29

    1914 E1 - The Great War Begins

    The event that has been foreshadowed the past few seasons comes to pass in 1914: the Great War, or World War I. And while not every facet of the conversations this season relates back to the disruption of the film industry that ensued (to say nothing of the disruption of every other aspect of life), it certainly looms large and provides context for filmmaking language and industrial developments in this year and to come through at least the end of the decade. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914! Films mentioned: Life’s Shop Window (1914) - J. Gordon EdwardsMaking a Living (1914) - Henry LehrmanKid Auto Races at Venice (1914) - Henry LehrmanThe Squaw Man (1914) - Cecil B. DeMilleJudith of Bethulia (1914) - D.W. GriffithThe Merchant of Venice (1914) - Lois Weber and Phillips SmalleyTillie’s Punctured Romance (1914) - Mack SennettCabiria (1914) - Giovanni Pastrone

  4. Jul 22

    1913 E7 - Yes, a Milestone Year

    The 1913 season introduction episode’s title was “A Milestone Year?” And indeed, the guests for these past five episodes, as well as the representation of listeners based on their submission lists, made the case that it was artistically, industrially, critically, and popularly. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to see the full list of 1913 submissions! Films mentioned: Suspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips SmalleyFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeTraffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane TuckerA House Divided (1913) - Alice Guy-BlachéThe Student of Prague (1913) - Stellan RyeThe Night Before Christmas (1913) - Ladislas StarevichIvanhoe (1913) - Herbert BrenonThe Last Days of Pompeii (1913) - Eleuterio Rodolfi and Mario CaseriniQuo Vadis (1913) - Enrico Guazzoni

  5. Jul 15

    1913 E6 - Charlie Keil

    Charlie Keil, Professor in the Cinema Studies Institute and the Department of History at the University of Toronto, is the author of Early American Cinema in Transition. His periodization of the transitional era, as explored in that book, ends with 1913 and his take on the traits of the time and how it shifts from the beginning of the period in 1907 defines the conversation. Charlie has also published seven other books, the most recent being The Oxford Handbook of Silent Cinema, coedited with Rob King. His next book will be Observing Film Art: Themes from the Work of David Bordwell, co-edited with Murray Smith, and due December 2026. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resource mentioned: Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane TuckerSuspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips SmalleyDeath’s Marathon (1913) - D.W. GriffithThe Mothering Heart (1913) - D.W. GriffithThe Evidence of the Film (1913) - Lawrence Marston and Edward ThanhouserThe Story the Biograph Told (1904) - Wallace McCutcheon, Sr.Judith of Bethulia (1914) - D.W. GriffithThe Lonely Villa (1909) - D.W. GriffithThe Physician of the Castle (1908) - unknownMad Max: Fury Road (2015) - George MillerThelma and Louise (1991) - Ridley ScottCitizen Kane (1941) - Orson WellesIngeborg Holm (1913) - Victor SjöströmFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeFalling Leaves (1912) - Alice Guy-BlachéAmerican Cinema’s Transitional Era: Audiences, Institutions, Practices - Charlie Keil and Shelley Stamp, eds.

  6. Jul 8

    1913 E5 - Paul Gagliardi

    Paul Gagliardi, Teaching Associate Professor of English at Marquette University, selects almost entirely comedy shorts for his 1913 highlights, although they connect with his proto-expressionist feature pick in that they all contain morbid underbellies. And diving into the comic commentary of these works, intended or not, reflects a few things about audience reception to movies and politics of the time. Paul is the author of All Play and No Work: The Comic Plays of the Federal Theatre Project. His website is paul-gagliardi.com. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resources mentioned: A House Divided (1913) - Alice Guy-BlachéThe Student of Prague (1913) - Stellan RyeFatty Joins the Force (1913) - George NicholsCohen Saves the Flag (1913) - Mack SennettMabel’s Dramatic Career (1913) - Mack SennettThe Brutalist (2024) - Brady CorbetThe Jazz Singer (1927) - Alan CroslandSherlock Jr. (1924) - Buster KeatonThe Battle of Gettysburg (1913) - Charles Giblyn and Thomas InceMy Dinner with Andre (1981) - Louis MalleBy the Sea (1915) - Charlie ChaplinThe Cook (1918) - Roscoe ArbuckleMabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco (1915) - Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel NormandThe Round-Up (1920) - George MelfordNosferatu (1922) - F.W. MurnauFaust (1926) - F.W. MurnauGrease (1978) - Randal KleiserThe Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup - Jonathan Wilson

  7. Jul 1

    1913 E4 - Michael Gebert

    Michael Gebert is the founder and co-moderator of NitrateVille, the online discussion site about vintage films of the silent era through the 1950s. Looking ahead to the advancements soon to come, his selections of almost all features demonstrate editing and performance style shifts, which branched off in slightly different ways in countries like America, France, and Sweden. Michael is host of the NitrateVille Radio podcast, which talks to people doing "cool stuff" in the world of vintage film, from authors and filmmakers to the curators of retrospectives and festivals. He is also a food journalist in Chicago and the author of The Chicago Way: An Oral History of Chicago Dining. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resources mentioned: Ingeborg Holm (1913) - Victor SjöströmGerminal (1913) - Albert CapellaniThe Child of Paris (1913) - Léonce PerretTraffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane TuckerMabel’s Dramatic Career (1913) - Mack SennettThe Squaw Man (1914) - Cecil B. DeMilleThe Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMilleThe Conquest of the Pole (1912) - Georges MélièsThe Searchers (1956) - John FordSammy’s Scandalous Scheme (1915) - Gilbert P. HamiltonThe Extra Girl (1923) - F. Richard JonesUncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902) - Edwin S. PorterAlias Jimmy Valentine (1915) - Maurice TourneurThe Blue Bird (1918) - Maurice TourneurThe Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England (1914) - Maurice TourneurThe Miracle Man (1919) - George Loane TuckerMetropolis (1927) - Fritz LangSuspense (1913) - Lois Weber and Phillips SmalleyThe Lonely Villa (1909) - D.W. GriffithWeapons (2025) - Zach CreggerBreathless (1960) - Jean-Luc GodardThe Mystery of the Rocks of Kador (1912) - Léonce PerretLes Vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeTih Minh (1918) - Louis FeuilladeFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeThe Strike (1904) - Ferdinand ZeccaLes misérables (1912) - Albert CapellaniLes misérables (1925) - Henri FescourtLes misérables (1934) - Raymond BernardA Man There Was (1917) - Victor SjöströmThe Gardener (1912) - Victor SjöströmThe Phantom Carriage (1921) - Victor SjöströmGirl with Hyacinths (1950) - Hasse EkmanThe Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. GriffithThe Magician (1926) - Rex IngramThe Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) - Rex IngramCecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood - Robert S. BirchardCinema’s First Nasty WomenPordenone 2025 Report - Michael GebertThe Origins of FilmMaurice Tourneur: Weaver of Dreams - Christine LeteuxGeorge Loane Tucker: The First of the Immortals - Frank Thompson

  8. Jun 24

    1913 E3 - Julie K Allen

    Julie K. Allen, professor of Comparative Arts and Letters at Brigham Young University, is the author of Screening Europe in Australasia. So it makes sense that her selections, each from a different country, would embody the transnational dynamic of silent film just before the outbreak of World War I. Julie is also the author of Icons of Danish Modernity, Danish but Not Lutheran, and The Silent Muse: The Memoirs of Asta Nielsen. She is currently working on a book about the Danish cinema license system with the tentative title The Cultural Politics of Film Exhibition. Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1913! Films and resources mentioned: Quo Vadis (1913) - Enrico GuazzoniAtlantis (1913) - August BlomFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeTraffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane TuckerThe Suffragette (1913) - Urban GadThe Abyss (1910) - Urban GadWhat 80 Million Women Want (1913) - Will LouisLes misérables (1912) - Albert CapellaniNick Carter, le roi des détectives (1908) - Victorin-Hippolyte JassetLes Vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeJudex (1916) - Louis FeuilladeSaved from the Titanic (1912) - Étienne ArnaudDestiny (1921) - Fritz LangThe Phantom Carriage (1921) - Victor SjöströmBlind Justice (1916) - Benjamin ChristensenSealed Orders (1914) - Benjamin ChristensenHäxan (1922) - Benjamin ChristensenTitanic (1997) - James CameronNero (1909) - Luigi Maggi and Arturo AmbrosioL’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe De LiguoroPink-Slipped: What Happened to Women in the Silent Film Industries? - Jane Gaines

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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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