FLM 152 — The Ten Greatest Films of All Time: Part I
Quarter: Winter
Day(s): Tuesdays
Course Format: Live Online (About Formats)
Duration: 6 weeks
Date(s): Feb 13—Mar 19
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Feb 15
Unit: 1
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Tuition: $340
Instructor(s): Jonathan Crow
Class Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Winter
Date(s)
Feb 13—Mar 19
6 weeks
Refund Date
Feb 15
1 Unit
Fees
$340
Grade Restriction
No letter grade
Instructor(s):
Jonathan Crow
Recording
Yes
Open
Since 1952, Sight and Sound, the British film journal, has been conducting a decennial poll to determine the greatest films of all time. The list, compiled from the opinions of over 1,600 critics from around the world, has become a respected barometer of critical consensus. The 2022 list shocked the film world with its boldest and most diverse list yet. Chantal Akerman’s formalist masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles edged out both Hitchcock’s perverse thriller Vertigo and Orson Welles’s audacious debut Citizen Kane, a film that won the top spot in the poll for a half-century. Relatively recent movies like David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, and Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love climbed into the top 10 alongside time-honored classics like Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story and Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera.
This course will explore films 10 through six from the 2022 poll, including Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s joyful Singin' in the Rain, Lynch’s acclaimed thriller Mulholland Drive, and Stanely Kubrick’s towering science fiction achievement 2001: A Space Odyssey. Taken as a whole, these diverse masterpieces show the range and power of film, the most important and influential art form of the 20th century. Students in this course will learn about the history, production, and artistry of each film and come away understanding why these movies are considered the greatest of all time.
This course will explore films 10 through six from the 2022 poll, including Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s joyful Singin' in the Rain, Lynch’s acclaimed thriller Mulholland Drive, and Stanely Kubrick’s towering science fiction achievement 2001: A Space Odyssey. Taken as a whole, these diverse masterpieces show the range and power of film, the most important and influential art form of the 20th century. Students in this course will learn about the history, production, and artistry of each film and come away understanding why these movies are considered the greatest of all time.
This is the first course in a two-part series. Part II will be offered in Spring 2024. Students are welcome to enroll in both courses or take each course independently. All films can be rented or streamed through Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, or other online platforms.
JONATHAN CROW
Artist; Filmmaker
Jonathan Crow received an MFA in filmmaking from the California Institute of the Arts and an MA in Japanese studies from the University of Michigan. He worked in the Hollywood film industry for a dozen years as a writer and editor before working as a film journalist at Yahoo Movies. He has taught at Stanford Continuing Studies since 2017. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.