Polls and surveys | from our September 2012 issue
Nick James introduces our Greatest Films of All Time poll.
Illustration by Simon Cooper for Sight & Sound.
To many of you it’s probably a familiar story. Every ten years, from 1952 onwards, Sight & Sound has conducted a worldwide poll of critics in order to decide which films are currently regarded as the greatest ever made. (Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist parable Bicycle Thieves won the first iteration only four years after it was shot. Famously, Citizen Kane has won ever since.) We’re proud that the longevity of this poll means that it’s widely regarded as the most trusted guide there is to the canon of cinema greats.
About a year ago, the S&S team met to consider how we could best approach the poll this time. Given the dominance of electronic media, what became immediately apparent was that we would have to abandon the somewhat elitist exclusivity with which contributors to the poll had been chosen in the past and reach out to a much wider international group of commentators. We were also keen to include many critics who had established their careers online rather than purely in print.
To that end we approached more than 1,000 critics, programmers, academics, distributors, writers and other cinephiles, and received (in time for the deadline) precisely 846 top-ten lists that between them mention a total of 2,045 different films.
As a qualification of what ‘greatest’ means, our invitation letter stated, “We leave that open to your interpretation. You might choose the ten films you feel are most important to film history, or the ten that represent the aesthetic pinnacles of achievement, or indeed the ten films that have had the biggest impact on your own view of cinema.”
Each entry on each list counts as one vote for the film in question, so personal rankings within the top tens don’t matter. And one important rule change compared to 2002 was that The Godfather and The Godfather Part II would no longer be accepted as a single choice, since they were made as two separate films.
What the increase in numbers has – and hasn’t – done is surprising, but we’ve certainly achieved a consensus on what represents ‘great cinema’ that now has a greater force of numbers behind it.
Since 1992, we have also conducted a separate directors’ poll, likewise dominated by Citizen Kane through 1992 and 2002. Over 350 directors have contributed. Leaving to one side what’s number one this time, I can say that you’ll find a pronounced difference between the filmmakers’ top tens and those of the critics – not to mention many more fascinating sub-themes…
→ Explore the complete critics’ and directors’ polls on our special site
The 2012 top ten BFI Southbank season
Our 10 Greatest Films of All Time are on showcase at the BFI Southbank throughout September. Watch the trailer!
Historical results
Our previous Sight & Sound polls are currently archived as follows:
2002 | 1992 | 1982 | 1972 | 1962 | 1952
Further reading
Poll countdown essays
Our writers advocate films for consideration, from Citizen Kane and Vertigo to Mulholland Dr. and Beau Travail – and back to L’Atalante and The House on Trubnaya Street.
Ozu Yasujirô: the master of time
Our Directors’ Poll voted Tokyo Story the Greatest Film of All Time. Thom Andersen explains why its maker is the greatest of directors.
Reviewing the Greatest Films of All Time, part one: Continuity and change
Eight international correspondents post-mortem the biggest-ever iteration of our celebrated film polls.
The Poll before the Polls
Henry K. Miller exhumes Sight & Sound’s very first exercise in film canon-making, from 1942.
The Greatest Films of All Time: comment from around the web
Select discussion of our 2012 Greatest Films of All Time poll on external websites.
Sight & Sound: the September 2012 issue
In our redesigned, expanded new issue: The Greatest Films of All Time by 846 critics and 358 directors. Plus more pages, sections and columns, and a wider remit – from the business of film to artists’ movies.
Credits and acknowledgements
Without whom our biggest-ever Greatest Films of All Time poll would not have been possible…