Missing Titles
Although Peary’s book covers the vast majority of “must see” feature-length films released during or prior to 1986, there are some noticeable gaps: titles he accidentally left out; movies he may never have seen (I Am Cuba, for instance, wasn’t released in the United States until 1995); and movies that have since become certified cult classics (i.e., Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or National Lampoon’s Vacation).
The following list contains additional pre-1987 movies I think all film fanatics should see, with hyperlinks to my own reviews when available.
Additional “Must See” Titles
- Actor’s Revenge, An (1963; d: Kon Ichikawa)
- Adventures of Prince Achmed, The (1926; d: Lotte Reiniger)
- Annie (1982; d: John Huston)
- At Close Range (1986; d: James Foley)
- Auntie Mame (1958; d: Morton DaCosta)
- Autumn Leaves (1956; d: Robert Aldrich)
- Baby Face (1933; d: Alfred E. Breen)
- Black God, White Devil (1964; d: Glauber Rocha)
- Boucher, Le / Butcher, The (1970; d: Claude Chabrol)
- Cairo Station / Bab el Hadid (1958; d: Youssef Chahine)
- Calamity Jane (1953; d: David Butler)
- Ceddo (1977; d: Ousmane Sembene)
- Cloud-Capped Star, The / Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960; d: Ritwik Ghatak)
- Color of Pomegranates, The (1969; d: Sergei Parajanov)
- Courtship of Eddie’s Father, The (1963; d: Vincente Minnelli)
- Deception (1946; d: Irving Rapper)
- Decline of the American Empire, The (1986; d: Denys Arcand)
- Elevator to the Gallows (1958; d: Louis Malle)
- Female on the Beach (1955; d: Joseph Pevney)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986; d: John Hughes)
- Fires Were Started (1943; d: Humphrey Jennings)
- Flash Gordon (1980; d: Mike Hodges)
- Gaav (1969; d: Dariush Mehrjui)
- Golem, The (1920; d: Carl Boese, Paul Wegener)
- Good Morning (1959; d: Yasujiro Ozu)
- Great McGinty, The (1940; d: Preston Sturges)
- Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The (1968; d: Robert Ellis Miller)
- Heaven and Earth Magic (1957/1962; d: Harry Smith)
- Hill, The (1965; d: Sidney Lumet)
- Hombre (1967; d: Martin Ritt)
- Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964; d: Robert Aldrich)
- I Am Cuba (1964; d: Mikhail Kalatozov)
- I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977; d: Anthony Page)
- Killer of Sheep (1977; d: Charles Burnett)
- Kiss of Death (1947; d: Henry Hathaway)
- Legend (1985; d: Ridley Scott)
- Little Fugitive (1953; d: Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, and Ruth Orkin)
- London After Midnight (1927; d: Tod Browning)
- Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short, The (1965; d: Andre Delvaux)
- Man You Loved to Hate, The (1979; d: Patrick Montgomery)
- Manila in the Claws of Brightness (1975; d: Lino Brocka)
- Manon of the Spring (1986; d: Claude Berri)
- Mother India / Bharat Mata (1957; d: Mehboob Khan)
- Murder By Death (1976; d: Robert Moore)
- Nanny, The (1965; d: Seth Holt)
- Night and Fog (1955; d: Alain Resnais)
- Poor Little Rich Girl, The (1917; d: Maurice Tourneur)
- Sadie Thompson (1928; d: Raoul Walsh)
- Samourai, Le (1967; d: Jean-Pierre Melville)
- Send Me No Flowers (1964; d: Norman Jewison)
- Show People (1928; d: King Vidor)
- Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947; d: Stuart Heisler)
- Soylent Green (1973; d: Richard Fleischer)
- Stolen Life, A (1946; d: Curtis Bernhardt)
- Sudden Fear (1952; d: David Miller)
- Thief of Bagdad, The (1924; d: Raoul Walsh)
- This is Cinerama (1952; d: Merian C. Cooper and others)
- Time to Live and the Time to Die, The (1985; d: Hsiao-hsien Hou)
- Tokyo Olympiad (1965; d: Kon Ichikawa)
- Towering Inferno, The (1974; d: John Guillermin)
- Travelling Players, The (1975; d: Theodoros Angelopoulos)
- Trog (1970; d: Freddie Francis)
- Trou, Le / The Hole (1959; d: Jacques Becker)
- Vacation (1983; d: Harold Ramis)
- Vij (1967; d: Georgi Kropachyov)
- Visages d’Enfants (1925; d: Jacques Feyder)
- Wall, The / Deewaar (1975; d: Yash Chopra)
- Waterloo Bridge (1931; d: James Whale)
- Who Are the DeBolts? [And Where Did They Get 19 Kids?] (1977; d: John Korty)
- When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960; d: Mikio Naruse)
- Working Girls (1986; d: Lizzie Borden)
Below are additional recommended titles not mentioned in Peary’s book; while not must-see, they’re certainly worth a look:
- Agnes of God (1985; d: Norman Jewison)
- All My Babies (1953; d: George C. Stoney)
- Annie Get Your Gun (1950; d: George Sidney) *
- Beau Mariage, Le (1982; d: Eric Rohmer)
- Cruel Story of Youth (1960; d: Nagisa Oshima)
- Deathtrap (1982; d: Sidney Lumet)
- Europa ’51 (1952; Roberto Rossellini)
- Highlander (1986; d: Russell Mulcahy)
- I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955; d: Daniel Mann) *
- Inferno (1953; d: Roy Ward Baker)
- Johnny Dangerously (1984; d: Amy Heckerling)
- Kid Brother, The (1927; d: Ted Wilde et al.)
- Ladybug Ladybug (1963; d: Frank Perry)
- Land of Silence and Darkness (1971; d: Werner Herzog)
- Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977; d: Jon Jost)
- Marie Antoinette (1938; d: W.S. Van Dyke) *
- Min and Bill (1930; d: George W. Hill) *
- Morning After, The (1986; d: Sidney Lumet)
- Passenger (1963; d: Andrzej Munk)
- Plaza Suite (1971; d: Arthur Hiller)
- Plenty (1985; d: Fred Schepisi)
- Pressure Point (1962; d: Hubert Cornfield)
- Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate (1986; d: Kirby Dick)
- Quiet Earth, The (1985; d: Geoff Murphy)
- Rooster Cogburn (1975; d: Stuart Millar)
- Sorry, Wrong Number (1948; d: Anatole Litvak)
- Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The (1946; d: Lewis Milestone)
- Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967; d: George Roy Hill)
- !Three Amigos! (1986; d: John Landis)
- Thunderbolt (1929; d: Josef von Sternberg) *
- UTU (1983; d: Geoff Murphy)
- What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969; d: Lee H. Katzin)
- Young One, The / La Joven (1960; d: Luis Bunuel)
* These starred titles are non-GFTFF movies listed by Peary in his Alternate Oscars book; while I don’t happen to agree they are “must see”, I’ll be reviewing them on my site as well, simply to be complete in my coverage of all Peary-recommended titles.
These would be my additional “must see” titles (listed alphabetically):
Aniki Bobo (1942, d: Manoel De Oliveira)
Ascent, The (1977, d: Larisa Shepitko)
As Filhas do Fogo (1978, d: Walter Hugo Khouri)
Bhuvan Shome (1969, d: Mrinal Sen)
Bienvenido Mister Marshall (1953, d: Luis Garcia Berlanga)
Blanche (1971, d: Walerian Borowczyk)
Boy in the Tree, The (1961, d: Arne Sucksdorff)
Bridal Party in Hardanger (1926, d: Rasmus Breistein)
Cafajestes, Os (1962, d: Ruy Guerra)
Check-up on the Road/Proverka na dorogakh (1971, d: Aleksey German)
Come and See (1985, d: Elem Klimov)
Corruzione, La (1963, d: Mauro Bolognini)
Current (1964, d: Istvan Gaal)
Enchanted Desna, The (1964, d: Yuliya Solntseva)
Fall of the House of Usher, The (1928, d: Jean Epstein)
Federale, Il (1961, d: Luciano Salce)
Filibus (1915, d: Mario Roncoroni)
Forest of the Hanged (1965, d: Liviu Ciulei)
Ganga Bruta (1932, d: Humberto Maura)
Gate to Paradise (1968, d: Andrzej Wajda)
Go, Go, Second Time Virgin (1969, d: Koji Wakamatsu)
Girl must Live, A (1939, d: Carol Reed)
Great Silence, The (1968, d: Sergio Corbucci)
Herd, The/Suru (1979, d: Zeki Okten, Yilmaz Guney)
House on Trubnaya Square (1928, d: Boris Barnet)
Intimate Lighting (1965, d: Ivan Passer)
July Rain (1967, d: Marlen Khutsiev)
Miracle in the Rain (1956, d: Rudolph Mate)
Mother Joan of the Angels (1961, d: Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
Non Coupable (1947, d: Henri Decoin)
Occupe-toi d’Amelie (1949, d: Claude Autant-Lara)
Out 1: Noli me Tangere (1971, d: Jacques Rivette)
Pere Noel a les Yeux Bleu, Le (1966, d: Jean Eustache)
Provincial Actors (1979, d: Agnieszka Holland)
Rapsodia Satanica (1917, d: Nino Oxilia)
Rapt (1934, d: Dimitri Kirsanoff)
Red Angel (1966, d:Yasuzo Masumura)
Remorques (1941, d: Jean Gremillon)
Report on the Party and the Guests (1966, d: Jan Nemec)
Ring, The (1952, d: Kurt Neumann)
Roue, La (1923, d: Abel Gance)
Round-Up, The (1966, d: Miklos Jancso)
Saturday’s Hero (1951, d: David Miller)
Serie Noire (1979, d: Alain Corneau)
Si une jolie petite plage (1949, d: Yves Allegret)
Slander (1957, d: Roy Rowland)
Sun in a Net, the (1962, d: Stefan Uher)
Symphonie Pastorale, La (1946, d: Jean Delannoy)
Tema (1979, d: Gleb Panfilov)
Tess of the Storm Country (1922, d: John S Robertson)
Traque, La (1975, d: Serge Leroy)
Venus Aveugle (1941, d: Abel Gance)
Vie a l’Envers (1964, d: Alain Jessua)
Voici ies temps des assassins (1956, d: Julien Duvivier)
And additional “Recommended” films:
Adventures of Martin Eden, The (1942, d: Sidney Salkow)
Alucarda (1977, d: Jose Lopez Moctezuma)
Amphitryon (1935, d: Reinhold Schunzel)
Bang! You’re Dead (1954, d: Lance Comfort)
Beach Guard in Winter (1976, d: Goran Paskaljevic)
Beauty and the Beast (1978, d: Juraj Herz)
Blockhouse, The (1973, d: Clive Rees)
Borghese Picolo Picolo, Un (1977, d: Mario Monicelli)
Born to be Loved (1959, d: Hugo Haas)
Capricious Summer (1968, d: Jiri Menzel)
Cast a Dark Shadow (1955, d: Lewis Gilbert)
Castle of Purity, The (1973, d: Arturo Ripstein)
Corpo d’Amore (1972, d: Fabio Carpi)
Darling, How Could You! (1951, d: Mitchell Leisen)
Debut / Nachalo (1970, d: Glen Panfilov)
Delfini, I (1960, d: Francesco Maselli)
Devil’s Angels, The (1967, d: Daniel Haller)
Diable au Corps, Le (1947, d: Claude Autant-Lara)
Divided Heaven, The (1964, d: Konrad Wolf)
Ear, The (1970, d: Karel Kachyna)
Emil and the Detectives (1931, d: Gerhard Lamprecht)
Fabiola (1948, d: Alessandro Blasetti)
Femmes Femmes (1974, d: Paul Vecchiali)
Fete a Henriette, La (1952, d: Julien Duvivier)
Fin du Jour, La (1939, d: Julien Duvivier)
FTA (1972, d: Francine Parker)
Garde a Vue (1981, d: Claude Miller)
Girls of the Road (1940, d: Nick Grinde)
Golden Thread, The / Subarnarekha (1965, d: Ritwik Ghatak)
Gout de la Violence, Le (1961, d: Robert Hossein)
Goyokin (1969, d: Hideo Gosha)
Grandes Familles, Les (1958, d: Denys de la Patelliere)
Hell Bound (1957, d: William J. Hole jr)
Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929, d: Charles Reisner)
Hunting Party, The (1971, d: Don Medford)
If I had a Gun (1971, d: Stefan Uher)
If I should die before I wake (1952, d: Carlos Hugo Christensen)
I Love a Soldier (1943, d: Mark Sandrich)
Interlude (1968, d: Kevin Billlington)
I was a Prisoner on Devil’s island (1941, d: Lew Landers)
Uninvited, The/ Invitata, L’ (1969, d: Vittorio De Seta)
Io e Dio (1969, d: Pasquale Squitieri)
Jeux de l’Amour, Les (1960, d: Philippe de Broca)
Kremlin Letter, The (1970, d: John Huston)
Landscape After Battle (1970, d: Andrzej Wajda)
Laugh for Joy / Risate di Gioia (1960, d: Mario Monicelli)
Little Princess, The (1917, d: Marshall Neilan)
Lonesome (1928, d: Pal Fejos)
Lost Boundaries (1949, d: Alfred Werker)
Loyalties (1933, d: Basil Dean)
Lust for Gold (1949, d: S.Sylvan Simon)
Madchen Rosemarie, Das (1958, d: Rolf Thiele)
Malombra (1942, d: Mario Soldati)
Meet me at Dawn (1947, d: Thornton Freeland)
Milano Calibro 9 (1972, d: Fernando Di Leo)
Mill on the Po (1949, d: Alberto Lattuada)
Miracle des Loups, Le (1924, d: Raymond Bernard)
Mille Milliards de Dollars (1983, d: Henri Verneuil)
Mouthpiece, The (1932, d: James Flood and Elliott Nugent)
Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians, The (1981, d: Oldrich Lipsky)
Narrow Corner, The (1933, d: Alfred E. Green)
1922 (1978, d: Nikos Koundouros)
No Room at the Inn (1948, d: Daniel Birt)
Nuisance, The (1933, d: Jack Conway)
Objectif: 500 Millions (1966, d: Pierre Schoendoerffer)
Optimists of Nine Elms, The (1973, d: Anthony Simmons)
Papillon sur l’Epaule, Un (1978, d: Jacques Deray)
Party Crashers, The (1958, Bernard Girard)
Poison for the Fairies (1984, d: Carlos Enrique Taboada)
Prairie, The (1947, d: Frank Wisbar)
Red Snowball Tree, The (1974, d: Vasiliy Shukshin)
Rendez-vous at Bray (1970, d: Andre Delvaux)
Roman d’un Tricheur, Le (1936, d: Sacha Guitry)
San Diego, I Love You (1944, d: Reginald Leborg)
Sea and Poison, The (1986, d: Kei Kumai)
Secrets of the French Police (1932, d: A. Edward Sutherland)
See You in Hell, Darling! (aka An American Dream) (1966, d: Robert Gist)
Sensualidad (1951, d: Alberto Gout)
Seven Sinners (1936, d: Albert De Courville)
Shadow of Angels (1976, d: Daniel Schmid)
Shocking Miss Pilgrim, The (1947, d: George Seaton)
Silvestre (1981, d: Joao Cesar Monteiro)
Sleeping City, The (1950, d: George Sherman)
Small World of Sammy Lee, The (1963, d: Ken Hughes)
Snow Flurry, The (1959, d: Keisuke Kinoshita)
Something to live for (1952, d: George Stevens)
Sorciere, La (1956, d: Andre Michel)
Soupirant, Le (1962, d: Pierre Etaix)
Teesri Manzil (1966, d: Vijay Anand)
They’ve Changed Faces (1971, d: Corrado Farina)
Three Godfathers (1935, d: Richard Boleslawski)
Trade Winds (1938, d: Tay Garnett)
Tre Volti, I (1965, d: Michelangelo Antonio, Mauro Bolognini, Franco Indovina)
Tutti a Casa (1960, d: Luigi Comencini)
Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees (1975, d: Masahiro Shinoda)
Under the Bridges (1946, d: Helmut Kautner)
Upstage (1928, d: Monta Bell)
Vampires, Les (1915, d: Louis Feuillade)
Vista, La (1963, d: Antonio Pietrangeli)
Wonder Bar (1934, d: Lloyd Bacon)