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Books

Top 100 Films Another list?

'The Film 100' is a history lesson for movie lovers

Web posted on: Wednesday, August 05, 1998 4:41:55 PM EDT

By CNN Interactive Writer
Jamie Allen

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Let's get this out in the open: Most people won't agree with the following list. Not at first, anyway. It's designed to spark debate and interest -- and all that jazz -- in the history of arguably the most influential medium over the last century.

So get ready to rumble with your fellow film fans, because there's a new Top 100 list in town, and this one tries to tackle the most influential people in the history of movie-making.

Fast on the heels of the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 films of all time, and the Modern Library's attempt to rank the top 100 novels of the past century, "The Film 100" by Scott Smith ranks the world's movers and shakers in the development of film, and the people who made bold strides in the art of filmmaking over the past 100+ years.

'I'm a huge film buff'

The list started from a Website created by Smith and his editorial team of film lovers.

ALSO
Scott Smith's Top 100 most influential people in the history of movie-making

He says he set out to celebrate individuals who produced effects that directly or indirectly created changes in the way films are made, seen, distributed, and preserved. Actors and actresses are present, but so are the people who turn the camera towards them, and those who make them look good doing what they do.

"I'm a huge film buff myself," Smith says. "I'm a guy who is really kind of enamored with the idea of ranking things. I started to collect research almost 15 years ago, and in the last couple of years really buckling down and deciding where people should be ranked."

Ever hear of Laurie Dickson?

So who's No. 1? William Kennedy Laurie Dickson.

Who?

Film school students know -- he's the man credited in the book with being the "true father of film," working in the shadow of Thomas Edison and pushing the development of the medium when Edison thought it would only be of use entertaining children.

Rounding out the top five: Edwin S. Porter, who basically invented the art of editing film; Charlie Chaplin, the silent screen legend who made audiences laugh and cry as The Little Tramp, while influencing generations to follow; Mary Pickford, the first female megastar to arise from Hollywoodland; and Orson Welles, the cinematic visionary who forever changed movie-making with his masterpiece "Citizen Kane."

Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney, D.W. Griffith, Will Hays, and Thomas Edison are ranked six through 10, respectively. Smith's list leans towards people who have made great technological advances with the film medium, advances that influence what we see today when we watch "Saving Private Ryan" or even "There's Something About Mary."

It's 'a living list'

"After you get out of the first ten you really understand the basic structure of film's development," Smith says. "I'm really proud of the fact that it can give film buffs an overall feeling of what was going on."

Smith does not consider this list the end-all to film reference. To the contrary, his website promotes feedback from readers, and his book asks film fans to put together their own top 100 list and send it to him for consideration.

"'The Film 100' is a living list," Smith says. "Never has someone come up with their own. They'll say I've forgotten Jimmy Stewart or Frank Capra, but they don't come up with their own (list)."

Smith welcomes criticism, and rightly so.

Siskel and Ebert?

For instance, why rank film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert at 74, eight spots higher than Steven Spielberg, the man responsible for many of the movies that Siskel and Ebert give a "thumbs-up"?

Smith says Siskel and Ebert's influence is worth the ranking.

"When you think about it, 'Siskel and Ebert' is reachable by 95 percent of televisions in U.S.," Smith says. Because of them, film fans are now more educated about what elements to look for in films.

DISCUSSION
Tell us who made Hollywood famous?

"Before they came along, we didn't have the critical vocabulary to talk about films," he says. Smith also notes that Siskel and Ebert wield the power to save a film -- make it millions, really -- by simply turning up their thumbs.

'A sense of these unsung heroes'

"The Top 100" is more than a list trying to encapsulate the past century, Smith say. It's a text book for those interested in the subject of film history. Each ranked person's career is summarized in two or three pages, giving readers a quick reference to look up and realize the accomplishments of someone like Linwood Dunn (No. 33), who is remembered as "the father of special effects" by single-handedly inventing a device that brought us fades, dissolves and wipes.

The story of how Laurie Dickson invented the nickelodeon and the world's first motion picture stage should be required reading for film students and casual fans alike. Dickson was the man that recorded the famous Fred Ott sneeze.

Have you heard of the famous Fred Ott sneeze? Reading the book offers insight into such historical film trivia, while giving readers a general synopsis of how this whole "Armageddon" summer of movies came about.

It's a book about appreciating film history, Smith says.

"I think they'll walk from the book with a sense of these unsung heroes," Smith says. And, "It's really kind of a fun academic exercise to test your mettle against it."


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