http://eddieonfilm.blogspot.com/2005/12/foreign-art.html
It seems like forever ago I voted for this list, I only wish I had saved my votes so I could tell you conclusively that all of mine made the final cut. As much as I want to go into a long tirade on placement, omissions and films that shouldn’t be there, I’m ashamed to say I’ve probably seen less than 50% of the included list and otherwise, I’m fairly satisfied with the result. I can only really comment on the top 20, as I’ve seen most of those (with the exception of, the Rules of the Game, the Seven Samurai, Persona, The Battle of Algiers, The 400 Blows, Tokyo Story, and Ikiru) … maybe most was a bit of an overstatement. Again though, I’m happy to see what would be my top 3 included so high; Fanny and Alexander, 8 1/2 and Jules et Jim. While on the other hand I personally would not rank either Rashomon or Ran so highly. La Grande Illusion is a great inclusion, and rather a surprising one. I expected it to make the list, but never so high.
As I don’t have much else to say, here is a short list of 10 great foreign-language films that did not make the list, I can’t argue that they deserve to be included though, as I mentioned earlier I’ve seen so few on the actual list.
Le Notti Bianche (Visconti, 1957)
The Virgin Spring (Bergman, 1960)
Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997)
Diary of a Chambermaid (Bunuel, 1964)
Nosferatu (Herzog, 1979)
Pépé le Moko (Duvuvier, 1937)
Le Quai des brumes (Carne, 1938)
Black Orpheus (Camus, 1959)
Divorce Italian Style (Germi, 1961)
La Notte (Antonioni, 1961)
