25 Most Influential Directors Scorsese

21. Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976)

Scorsese Kubrick Fritz Lang

Lang

Though he backed out as the director of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, his work on the script and subsequent directorial efforts bear the imprint of a pioneer in the world of German expressionism.
Lang was able to make the leap from silent films to talkies unharmed, and further managed to shape the history of film in two countries—in Lang’s case, Germany and America.

Long before the term was coined, Lang was making some of the greatest film noirs ever to exist, including The Blue Gardenia (1953), Human Desire (1954) and While the City Sleeps(1956). Interest in Lang’s work further increased when his landmark sci-fi film, Metropolis, was re-released in the 1980s—this time pitted against a contemporary rock soundtrack. Even without the aid of dialogue, Lang preferred to tell stories on a grand scale—epic fantasies and horrific legends—and did so easily within the limitations of the technology. He was resourceful and ahead of his time.

22. John Huston (1906 – 1987)

John Huston

Says writer-director Mika Kaurismäki of the life of John Huston: “John Huston’s film career lasted at least 57 years, more than the half of the first century of cinema. He started acting at the end of the 1920s, writing scripts in the beginning of the ’30s, and made his directorial debut in 1941 with the excellent The Maltese Falcon, that renewed the whole genre of detective films. The Asphalt Jungle is one of the classics of film noir; it inspired many directors, including Kubrick, who five years later made The Killing and Jean-Pierre Melville, who said that it was the most important American film of all time.

Huston was able to change with time and some of his later films (Fat City, The Life and Times of the
Judge Roy Bean
, Wise Blood and Prizzi’s Honor) were absolutely modern films that achieved the critical acclaim normally associated with promising debut filmmakers. He was a painter, boxer, bullfighter, poet, hunter, soldier, gambler and filmmaker. He adored life and took risks. This can be seen in his films; no genre was impossible for him. The African Queen, Moulin Rouge, Moby Dick, The Misfits, Freud, The Night of the Iguana, The Bible, Casino Royale, Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Man Who Would be King are just a few examples of his range.

Huston was a storyteller whose films were always both well conceived and strongly character-driven, even to the extent that his ‘directorial style’ was often invisible. As James Agee says: “a wonderful breath of fresh air, light, vitality and freedom goes through every one of his issues/47/images.”

23. Woody Allen (1935 – )

Woody Allen

Woody Allen is one of the few directors who has successfully turned imitation into an art form. With an encyclopedic knowledge of film history and theory, Allen has used the discoveries and innovations of some of cinema’s greatest masters to come up with a conglomerate style of his very own.

His films combine the physical comedy of Chaplin and cerebral wit of The Marx Brothers with the psychological exposition of Bergman and the haphazard camera technique of Godard. He is paradoxically comedic and intellectual—able to espouse his philosophical or political beliefs in an entertaining way or choreograph a pratfall just as easily. Though his films have rarely been moneymakers in the United States, Allen is one of America’s most recognizable directors, with an enormous following the world over.

Says screenwriter Alan Sereboff: “Quite simply, Allen is 50 years into his film career and still making the movies he wants to make, taking lessons from the finest that preceded him in developing a style distinctly his own. Some of the more influential directors on the list have become so at the price of alienating a portion of their audience—such is the price of genius. He has remained an auteur, true to himself and his audience. And, perhaps most importantly, he made it okay for a writer to be neurotic and successful.”

24. Luis Buñuel (1900 – 1983)

Luis Buñuel

Though he chose moviemaking as opposed to fine art, Luis Buñuel’s kinship with Salvador Dalí was evidenced in his work, as he elevated surrealism in film to a new level. In fact, it was this same friendship that would ultimately jumpstart Buñuel’s career. With assistance from Dalí, he made his first film, the short Un Chien Andalou. Praised for its surrealistic attributes, it was with the support of various art patrons that Buñuel would go on to make his feature debut with the scathing L’Age d’Or.

Unlike many other directors on this list, Buñuel’s career would make its deepest impression in its latter part, beginning with 1964’s Diary of Chambermaid, a film he made at the age of 64. It would be followed by his most renowned—and austere—surrealistic undertakings, including Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisieand That Obscure Object of Desire, films that combined the worlds of fantasy and reality, always leaving viewers to anticipate the unexpected.

25. Ernst Lubitsch (1892 – 1947)

 

Scorsese

Ernst Lubitsch

“Hitchcockian” and “Felliniesque” are two common adjectives in the English language. But the one director who left an entire phrase as part of his legacy is Ernst Lubitsch.

Though some contend that “The Lubitsch Touch” was a phrase concocted as a publicity stunt—an attempt to ‘brand’ the director and increase his popularity—the term stuck. It has come to signify a certain bit of sophistication, wit and intelligence in film, making it possible for a director not to bend the rules of cinema, but find a way around them. Like Billy Wilder (whom he collaborated with on Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife and Ninotchka), Lubitsch’s razor-sharp observations of America were probably due in large part to his standing as an outsider, having only left his native Germany in 1922. Says writer-director Sherman Alexie: “I wish his love of spoken language was more common in contemporary movies. The people in his movies were so damn smart, so clever, so biting and satiric, yet were capable of being foolish and vain. I wish more movie directors used dialogue to convey character, rather than relying on image and action.”

Sticking mainly to comedies, Lubitsch relied on superb writing and strong actors to bring his stories to life, leaving camera experimentation and tricks to others. As a result, his “touch” is not seen in any heavy-handed visual style, but rather in the overall emotion of such films as Trouble in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner, To Be or Not to Be, and Heaven Can Wait.

What directors do you feel we overlooked in our 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time list? Let us know in the comments.

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