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The 100 Most Important German Films I initially found this list as The 100 Most Significant German Films at a site called German Films, which is "the national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide". What seemed strange was for a top 100 list to incude less than 100 films, and even to change over time. When I found it there were 92 films, now (3 Sep 2008) there are 97. Thanks to reader Jan Baart, I now have far better information about the whole thing. The list was compiled by the Kinemathekverbund (the Association of German Cinematheques) through a survey to collate the hundred most important German films, all as a celebration of a hundred years of German cinema. The outcome was announced in 1994, and yes, it comprises a whole hundred films. The whole list is available for download at the E-Publications page of the International Federation of Film Archives. It can be found in the PDF for issue 54 of the Journal of Film Preservation, dated Apr 1997. The list begins on page 41. The three films that are still missing from the Significant list are telling. They are Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen, made in two parts (#19), Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (#37) and Veit Harlan's Jud Jud Süß (#58). The latter two are infamous Nazi propaganda films and the former, while made before the Nazi era, was used by them for propaganda purposes. The law in Germany currently prohibits public broadcast or sale of Nazi era films, which has always seemed to be a counterproductive policy to me given that 'those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' Then again it's a step up from burning such material as the Nazis did. It also leads to the strange paradox that saw the German Federal Ministry of the Interior funding the preservation of films (all those that appear on this list, for instance) that can only be seen for educational purposes or by special appointment. The List # Title Year Director IMDb 1 M 1931 Fritz Lang IMDb 2 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1919 Robert Wiene IMDb 3 Berlin: Symphony of a City 1927 Walther Ruttmann IMDb 4 Nosferatu 1921 F. W. Murnau IMDb 5 People on Sunday 1929 Robert Siodmak IMDb 6 The Murderers are Among Us 1946 Wolfgang Staudte IMDb 7 The Blue Angel 1930 Josef Von Sternberg IMDb 8 Metropolis 1925 Fritz Lang IMDb 9 The Joyless Street 1925 G. W. Pabst IMDb 10 The Kaiser's Lackey 1951 Wolfgang Staudte IMDb 11 To Whom Does the World Belong? 1931 Slatan Dudow IMDb 12 The Student of Prague 1913 Stellan Rye IMDb 13 The Bridge 1959 Bernhard Wicki IMDb 14 Yesterday Girl 1965 Alexander Kluge IMDb 15 Mother Krausen Goes to Heaven 1929 Piel Jutzi IMDb 16 The Golem 1920 Paul Wegener IMDb 17 Dr Mabuse the Gambler 1922 Fritz Lang IMDb 18 Under the Bridges 1944 Helmut Käutner IMDb 19 Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge 1924 Fritz Lang IMDb Die Nibelungen: Siegfried 1924 Fritz Lang IMDb 20 The Last Laugh 1924 F. W. Murnau IMDb 21 Destiny 1921 Fritz Lang IMDb 22 Liebelei 1932 Max Ophüls IMDb 23 Traces of Stones 1966 Frank Beyer IMDb 24 Wintergartenprogramm 1895 Max Skladanowsky IMDb 25 Lola Montès 1955 Max Ophüls IMDb 26 Faust 1925 F. W. Murnau IMDb 27 Heimat: A Chronicle of Germany 1984 Edgar Reitz IMDb 28 Germany in Autumn 1977 Alexander Kluge et al IMDb 29 Madame DuBarry 1919 Ernst Lubitsch IMDb 30 Berlin - Alexanderplatz 1931 Piel Jutzi IMDb 31 The Marriage of Maria Braun 1979 Rainer Werner Fassbinder IMDb 32 Münchhausen 1943 Josef Von Baky IMDb 33 Pandora's Box 1929 G. W. Pabst IMDb 34 The Tin Drum 1979 Volker Schlöndorff IMDb 35 The Testament of Dr Mabuse 1933 Fritz Lang IMDb 36 Kings of the Road 1976 Wim Wenders IMDb 37 Triumph of the Will 1935 Leni Riefenstahl IMDb 38 Young Torless 1965 Volker Schlöndorff IMDb 39 Katzelmacher 1969 Rainer Werner Fassbinder IMDb 40 Great Freedom No 7 1944 Helmut Käutner IMDb 41 Rotation 1949 Wolfgang Staudte IMDb 42 Aren't We Wonderful? 1958 Kurt Hoffmann IMDb 43 Waxworks 1924 Paul Leni IMDb 44 Girls in Uniform 1931 Leontine Sagan IMDb 45 Variety 1925 E. A. Dupont IMDb 46 Roses for the Prosecutor 1959 Wolfgang Staudte IMDb 47 Alice in the Cities 1973 Wim Wenders IMDb 48 The Hooligans 1956 Georg Tressler IMDb 49 The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum 1975 Volker Schlöndorff & Margarethe von Trotta IMDb 50 Westfront 1918 1930 G. W. Pabst IMDb 51 The Threepenny Opera 1931 G. W. Pabst IMDb 52 Solo Sunny 1979 Konrad Wolf IMDb 53 Ali: Fear Eats the Soul 1973 Rainer Werner Fassbinder IMDb 54 The Lost One 1951 Peter Lorre IMDb 55 Three from the Filling Station 1930 Wilhelm Thiele IMDb 56 Seven Journeys 1947 Helmut Käutner IMDb 57 Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations 1936 Leni Riefenstahl IMDb Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty 1936 Leni Riefenstahl IMDb 58 Jud Süß 1940 Veit Harlan IMDb 59 The Divided Sky 1964 Konrad Wolf IMDb 60 Wings of Desire 1987 Wim Wenders IMDb 61 Not Reconciled 1965 Jean-Marie Straub IMDb 62 Vampyr 1932 Carl Theodor Dreyer IMDb 63 Diary of a Lost Girl 1929 G. W. Pabst IMDb 64 Der Prozess 1975 Eberhard Fechner IMDb 65 The Merchant of Four Seasons 1971 Rainer Werner Fassbinder IMDb 66 Romance in a Minor Key 1943 Helmut Käutner IMDb 67 Marriage in the Shadows 1947 Kurt Maetzig IMDb 68 The Legend of Paul and Paula 1973 Heiner Carow IMDb 69 Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach 1968 Jean-Marie Straub IMDb 70 Aguirre, the Wrath of God 1972 Werner Herzog IMDb 71 I Was Nineteen 1967 Konrad Wolf IMDb 72 The Adventures of Prince Achmed 1926 Lotte Reiniger IMDb 73 Stars 1959 Konrad Wolf IMDb 74 Marianne and Juliane 1981 Margarethe von Trotta IMDb 75 The Street 1923 Karl Grune IMDb 76 Germany Year Zero 1947 Roberto Rossellini IMDb 77 Comradeship 1931 G. W. Pabst IMDb 78 Emil and the Detectives 1931 Gerhard Lamprecht IMDb 79 Berlin - Schoenhauser Corner 1957 Gerhard Klein IMDb 80 Berlin Alexanderplatz 1980 Rainer Werner Fassbinder IMDb 81 Congress Dances 1931 Eric Charell IMDb 82 I am the Rabbit 1965 Kurt Maetzig IMDb 83 The Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed 1968 Alexander Kluge IMDb 84 Effi Briest 1974 Rainer Werner Fassbinder IMDb 85 The American Friend 1977 Wim Wenders IMDb 86 Asphalt 1929 Joe May IMDb 87 Jakob the Liar 1974 Frank Beyer IMDb 88 The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser 1974 Werner Herzog IMDb 89 The Devil Strikes at Night 1957 Robert Siodmak IMDb 90 The Mysteries of a Hairdresser's Shop 1923 Brech V. Engel IMDb 91 The White Hell of Pitz Palu 1929 G. W. Pabst & Arnold Fanck IMDb 92 The Girl Rosemarie 1958 Rolf Thiele IMDb 93 Death is My Trade 1977 Theodor Kotulla IMDb 94 Victor and Victoria 1933 Reinhold Schünzel IMDb 95 Das Boot 1981 Wolfgang Petersen IMDb 96 Hunting Scenes from Bavaria 1969 Peter Fleischmann IMDb 97 Biographies - The Story of the Children of Golzow 1981 Winfried Junge IMDb 98 The Ballad of Berlin 1948 Robert A Stemmle IMDb 99 Mephisto 1981 István Szabó IMDb 100 Heimat II: A Chronicle of a Generation 1992 Edgar Reitz & Robert Busch IMDb

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