The British Film Institute’s (BFI) Sight & Sound magazine does a Greatest Films of All Time list every ten years. They poll both critics around the world and directors and create two lists. They have been doing this since 1952 when Bicycle Thieves was voted the greatest film then. The following lists have almost always had Citizen Kane as the top film until this year’s list. Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo has bumped Citizen Kane down to the number two spot.
This year’s list was voted on by 846 critics and 358 directors for a total of 2,045 different films that were voted on. The complete list will be released online August 15, after the Sight & Sound magazine has had a chance to sell. But for now here is the director’s top ten list.
Directors:
1. Tokyo Story
2 (tie). 2001: A Space Odyssey
2 (tie). Citizen Kane
4. 8 1/2
5. Taxi Driver
6. Apocalypse Now
7 (tie). The Godfather
7 (tie). Vertigo
9. Mirror
10. Bicycle Thieves
And here’s the critics top 50 list.
Critics:
1. Vertigo
2. Citizen Kane
3. Tokyo Story
4. The Rules of the Game
5. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. The Searchers
8. Man with a Movie Camera
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc
10. 8 1/2
11. Battleship Potemkin
12. L’Atalante
13. Breathless
14. Apocalypse Now
15. Late Spring
16. Au Hasard Balthazar
17 (tie). Persona
17 (tie). Seven Samurai
19. Mirror
20. Singin’ in the Rain
21 (tie). L’Avventura
21 (tie). Contempt
21 (tie). The Godfather
24 (tie). In the Mood for Love
24 (tie). Ordet
26 (tie). Andrei Rublev
26 (tie). Rashomon
28. Mulhullond Dr.
29 (tie). Shoah
29 (tie). Stalker
31 (tie). The Godfather Part II
31 (tie). Taxi Driver
33. Bicycle Thieves
34. The General
35 (tie). Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du commerce Bruxelles
35 (tie). Metropolis
35 (tie). Psycho
35 (tie). Sátántangó
39 (tie). The 400 Blows
39 (tie). La Dolce Vita
41. Journey to Italy
42 (tie). Close-Up
42 (tie). Gertrud
42 (tie). Pather Panchali
42 (tie). Pierrot le fou
42 (tie). Play Time
42 (tie). Some Like it Hot
48 (tie). The Battle for Algiers
48 (tie). Histoire(s) du cinéma
50 (tie). City Lights
50 (tie). La Jetée
50 (tie). Ugetsu Monogatari
It’s interesting to see that Tokyo Story is on the top of director’s list with Vertigo at number 8. But when both lists are combined as the great people at the Home Theater Forum have done here, with the number votes, it’s still Vertigo that comes up on top.
HTF combination of the Sight and Sound Directors and Critics list:
| Rank | TITLE | DIRECTOR | YEAR | # of Votes | Country |
| 1 | Vertigo | Hitchcock, Alfred | 1958 | 222 | USA |
| 2 | Citizen Kane | Welles, Orson | 1941 | 199 | USA |
| 3 | Tokyo Story | Ozu, Yasujiro | 1953 | 155 | Japan |
| 4 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Kubrick, Stanley | 1968 | 132 | USA |
| 5 | 8 ½ | Fellini, Federico | 1963 | 104 | Italy |
| 6 | Rules of the Game | Renoir, Jean | 1939 | 100 | France |
| 7 | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | Murnau, F.W. | 1927 | 93 | USA |
| 8 | Apocalypse Now | Coppola, Francis Ford | 1979 | 86 | USA |
| 9 | Searchers, The | Ford, John | 1956 | 78 | USA |
| 10 | Singin’ in the Rain | Donen, Stanley | 1951 | 76 | USA |
| 11 | Godfather, The | Coppola, Francis Ford | 1972 | 74 | USA |
| 12 | Taxi Driver | Scorsese, Martin | 1976 | 72 | USA |
| 13 | Man With a Movie Camera | Vertov, Dziga | 1929 | 68 | USSR |
| 14 | Bicycle Thieves | De Sica, Vittorio | 1948 | 66 | Italy |
| 15 | Passion of Joan of Arc, The | Dreyer, Carl Theodor | 1927 | 65 | France |
| 16 | Battleship Potemkin | Eisenstein, Sergei | 1925 | 63 | USSR |
| 17 | Atalante, L’ | Vigo, Jean | 1934 | 58 | France |
| 18 | Breathless | Godard, Jean Luc | 1960 | 57 | France |
| 19 | Late Spring | Ozu, Yasujiro | 1949 | 50 | Japan |
| 20 | Au Hasard Balthazar | Bresson, Robert | 1966 | 49 | France |
| 21 | Persona | Bergman, Ingmar | 1966 | 48 | Sweden |
| 21 | Seven Samurai | Kuosawa, Akira | 1954 | 48 | Japan |
| 23 | Mirror | Tarkovsky, Andrei | 1974 | 47 | USSR |
| 24 | Avventura, L’ | Antonioni, Michelangelo | 1960 | 43 | Italy |
| 24 | Contempt | Godard, Jean Luc | 1963 | 43 | France |
| 26 | In the Mood for Love | Wong, Kar Wai | 2000 | 42 | Hong Kong |
| 26 | Ordet | Dreyer, Carl Theodor | 1955 | 42 | Denmark |
| 28 | Andrei Rublev | Tarkovsky, Andrei | 1966 | 41 | USSR |
| 28 | Rashomon | Kurosawa, Akira | 1950 | 41 | Japan |
| 30 | Mulholland Dr. | Lynch, David | 2001 | 40 | USA |
| 31 | Shoah | Lanzmann, Claude | 1985 | 39 | France |
| 31 | Stalker | Tarkovsky, Andrei | 1979 | 39 | USSR |
| 33 | Godfather Part II, The | Coppola, Francis Ford | 1974 | 38 | USA |
| 34 | General, The | Keaton, Buster & Bruckman, Clyde | 1926 | 35 | USA |
| 35 | Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Buxelles | Akerman, Chantal | 1975 | 34 | Belgium |
| 35 | Metropolis | Lang, Fritz | 1927 | 34 | Germany |
| 35 | Psycho | Hitchcock, Alfred | 1960 | 34 | USA |
| 35 | Sátántangó | Tarr, Bela | 1994 | 34 | Hungary |
| 39 | 400 Blows, The | Truffaut, Francois | 1959 | 33 | France |
| 39 | Dolce Vita, La | Fellini, Federico | 1960 | 33 | Italy |
| 41 | Journey to Italy | Rossellini, Roberto | 1954 | 32 | Italy |
| 42 | Close-Up | Kiarostami, Abbas | 1990 | 31 | Iran |
| 42 | Gertrud | Dreyer, Carl Theodor | 1964 | 31 | Denmark |
| 42 | Pather Panchali | Ray, Satyajit | 1955 | 31 | India |
| 42 | Pierrot le fou | Godard, Jean Luc | 1965 | 31 | France |
| 42 | Play Time | Tati, Jacques | 1967 | 31 | France |
| 42 | Some Like it Hot | Wilder, Billy | 1959 | 31 | USA |
| 48 | Battle of Algiers, The | Potecorvo, Gillo | 1966 | 30 | Italy |
| 48 | Histoire(s) du cinéma | Godard, Jean Luc | 1998 | 30 | France |
| 50 | City Lights | Chaplin, Charles | 1931 | 29 | USA |
| 50 | Jetée, La | Marker, Christopher | 1962 | 29 | France |
| 50 | Ugetsu monogatari | Mizoguchi, Kenji | 1953 | 29 | Japan |