Sunday, September 6, 2009

Top Ranked Drama-Comedy Films and Other Dramas


These are the last of the drama genres from our survey of all the internet polls. Using IMDB's designations, there are 23 films mentioned listed as either drama-comedy or comedy-drama, with 16 in the top 1000.

Following this list are the remaining dramas from various other sub-genres: fantasy, mystery, legal, adventure - really just the miscellaneous remaining dramas that haven't been listed elsewhere yet; 20 of those mentioned, 15 in the top 1000.

Drama-Comedy Films
1. El Verdugo [Berlanga, Luis García, 1963 ] #497 - Spain-Italy
2. Le Plaisir [Ophüls, Max, 1951 ] #571 - France
3. I Was Born, But… [Ozu, Yasujiro, 1932 ] #626 - Japan
4. Stranger Than Paradise [Jarmusch, Jim, 1984 ] #627 - US
5. Goodbye Solo [Bahrani, Ramin, 2008 ] #717 - US
6. Underground [Kusturica, Emir, 1995 ] #758 - France-Germany-Hungary
7. Tulpan [Dvortsevoy, Sergei, 2008 ] #759 - Russia-Kaz
8. Firemen's Ball, The [Forman, Milos, 1967 ] #805 - Czechoslovakia
9. Phantom of Liberty, The [Buñuel, Luis, 1974 ] #836 - France
10. Naked [Leigh, Mike, 1993 ] #872 - UK

11. I'm Going Home [de Oliveira, Manoel, 2001 ] #884 - France-Portugal
12. Sun Shines Bright, The [Ford, John, 1953 ] #926 - US
13. You Can Count On Me [Lonergan, Kenneth, 2000 ] #955 - US
14. Savages, The [Jenkins, Tamara, 2007 ] #969 - US
15. Out 1: Spectre [Rivette, Jacques, 1974 ] #976 - France
16. La Collectionneuse [Rohmer, Eric, 1967 ] #985 - France
17. Léolo [Lauzon, Jean-Claude, 1992 ] #1054 - France
18. Happiness [Medvedkin, Aleksandr, 1934 ] #1059 - USSR
19. Sorpasso, Il [Risi, Dino, 1962 ] #1078 - Italy
20. Christmas Tale, A [Desplechin, Arnaud, 2008 ] #1091 - France
21. Man Without a Past, The [Kaurismaki, Aki, 2002 ] #1106 - Finland
22. Late Autumn [Ozu, Yasujiro, 1960 ] #1183 - Japan
23. Adaptation [Jonze, Spike, 2002 ] #1268 - US
El Verdugo is a nearly impossible movie to find or to view, or even find stills or posters. Only about 200 people have rated it at IMDB. Apparently it got buried with Franco.. or by the Generalissimo. I found the nearly constant brass band in Underground to be not only insane but a major distraction; for me, this would be the perfect musical accompaniment in hell. This would be the most effective form of torture known if put into practice.

Dramas from Other Sub-Genres
1. 8½ [Fellini, Federico, 1963] #37 - Italy [Fantasy]
2. 12 Angry Men [Lumet, Sidney, 1957] #124 - US [Legal]
3. Celine and Julie Go Boating [Rivette, Jacques, 1974] #141 - France [Mystery]
4. Pan's Labyrinth [del Toro, Guillermo, 2006] #154 - Mexico [Fantasy]
5. Donnie Darko [Kelly, Richard, 2001] #228 - US [Fantasy]
6. Oldboy [Park Chan-Wook, 2003] #380 - Korea [Mystery]
7. If… [Anderson, Lindsay, 1968] #534 - UK [Fantasy]
8. Marnie [Hitchcock, Alfred, 1964] #540 - US [Mystery]
9. Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The [Herzog, Werner, 1974] #572 - West Germany [Mystery]
10. Into the Wild [Penn, Sean, 2007] #588 - US [Nature]

11. Fast Runner, The [Kunuk, Zacharias, 2001] #621 - Canada [Fantasy]
12. Blood of a Poet, The [Cocteau, Jean, 1930] #693 - France [Fantasy]
13. Spider's Stratagem, The [Bertolucci, Bernardo, 1970] #730 - Italy [Mystery]
14. Kameradschaft [Pabst, G.W., 1931] #924 Germany [Adventure]
15. Kramer vs. Kramer [Benton, Robert, 1979] #994 - US [Legal]
16. Mother India [Khan, Mehboob, 1957] #1032 - India [Musical]
17. Hamlet [Olivier, Laurence, 1948] #1047 - UK [Play]
18. Missing [Costa-Gavras, Constantin, 1982] #1099 - US [Mystery]
19. Lost Highway [Lynch, David, 1997] #1117 - US [Mystery]
20. Rose Hobart [Cornell, Joseph, 1936] #1151 US [Art]

Fellini's autobiographical is really hard to classify, these are IMDB's genre listings. 12 Angry Men is unique, and stands alone among legal films.
Most true mystery films were listed as crime drama.

I recently saw Oldboy and liked it a lot, it's a very unusual story, creatively filmed. I also found Into the Wild riveting and rewarding, but I had a hard time watching both Pan's Labyrinth and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser.

Kramer vs Kramer is just about the worst film to ever win best picture, imo, a mundane and common story with no relevations, no artistic catharsis, not much really in the way of creativity. Now, had the kid just "seen some dead parents or divorce lawyers.."

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