With the coincidental deaths of Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman, I was reminded of another synchronistic moment the two shared at the magical close of the 1950s. This nouvelle golden age of film rose amidst the literary milestones Naked Lunch, Goodbye Columbus, Tin Drum and Sirens of Titan. The monumental films from that season could fill two top ten lists, including Avventura and Virgin Spring.
Though the TOONS online database is down momentarily, I was able to assemble this list. Have I omitted any?
L’Avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni
The Virgin Spring, Ingmar Berman
Black Orpheus, Marcel Camus
Never on a Sunday, Jules Dassin
La Dolce Vita, Federico Fellini
Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard
Rio Bravo, Howard Hawks
Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock
Spartacus, Stanley Kubric
The World of Apu, Satyajit Ray
Hiroshima mon Amour, Alain Resnais
The Magnificent Seven, John Sturges
The 400 Blows, Francois Truffaut
Touch of Evil, Orson Welles
Some like it Hot, Billy Wilder
Ben Hur, William Wyler
And for cineastes, these too:
Le Trou, Jacques Becker
The Young One, Luis Bunuel
The Cousins, Claude Chabrol
Kagi, Kon Ichikawa
Zazie dans le Métro, Louis Malle
Peeping Tom, Michael Powell
