Significant Films

Since the early start of the cinema and movies piled up, one on top of each other but there were some films that have been considered milestones in the history of movie industry that spans over 100 years.

1. The Birth of a Nation (1915) :- A controversial, explicitly racist, but landmark American film masterpiece – the most important picture of the silent era.
2. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) :- This anti-war drama from Irish director Rex Ingram was adapted from Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s 1916 best-selling novel about the Great War. It proved to be Metro Pictures’ most expensive big budget film, with a production budget of almost $800,000.
3. The Public Enemy (1931) :- Tom Powers and Matt Doyle are best friends and fellow gangsters, their lives frowned upon by Tom’s straight laced brother, Mike, and Matt’s straight laced sister, Molly. From their teen-aged years into young adulthood, Tom and Matt have an increasingly lucrative life, bootlegging during the Prohibition era. But Tom in particular becomes more and more brazen in what he is willing to do, and becomes more obstinate and violent against those who either disagree with him or cross him. When one of their colleagues dies in a freak accident, a rival bootlegging faction senses weakness among Tom and Matt’s gang, which is led by Paddy Ryan. A gang war ensues, resulting in Paddy suggesting that Tom and Matt lay low. But because of Tom’s basic nature, he decides instead to take matters into his own hands.
4. It Happened One Night (1934) : – One of the greatest romantic comedies in film history, and a film that has endured in popularity. It is considered one of the pioneering “screwball” romantic comedies (noted for rapid fire dialogue) of its time, setting the pattern for many years afterwards.
5. Gone With the Wind (1939) : – The most beloved, enduring and popular film of all time – cinema’s greatest, star-studded, historical epic film of the Old South during wartime that boasted an immortal cast in a timeless, classic tale of a love-hate romance.
6. Citizen Kane (1941) : – A fresh, sophisticated, and classic masterpiece, and probably the world’s most famous and highly-rated film, with its many remarkable scenes and performances, cinematic and narrative techniques and experimental innovations (in photography, editing, and sound). Often considered the “greatest film ever made” on most ‘best of’ lists.
7. The Ten Commandments (1956) : – The blockbuster film (3 hours and 40 minutes long) made with VistaVision was produced with an exorbitant budget of $13 million – the costliest picture made to date.
8. Psycho (1960) : – The greatest, most influential Hitchcock horror/thriller ever made and the progenitor of the modern Hollywood horror-slasher film, based on Robert Bloch’s novel. The story included the untimely, violent murder of the main protagonist early in the film, a cross-dressing transvestite murderer, insanity, a stuffed corpse, and Oedipal Freudian motivations.
9. The Exorcist (1973) : – The Exorcist was notable for being one of the biggest box-office successes (and one of the first ‘blockbusters’ in film history, predating Jaws (1975)), and surpassing The Godfather (1972) as the biggest money-maker of its time (it eventually grossed $193 million domestically). And it remains one of the few horror films nominated for Best Picture.
10. Star Wars (1977) : – George Lucas’ space opera, made for $11 million, was released in theaters in mid-summer and grossed nearly $200 million on its first release, topping Jaws (1975) as the highest earning film to date. After adjusting for inflation, its US gross profit was second only to Gone with the Wind (1939). Until Jaws (1975) and then Star Wars (1977), the summer was typically Hollywood’s slow season — not true afterwards.

This is only short list of some of the most important films ever made and there are many other great films.