KilgoreTrout Posted March 5, 2017 I got into a conversation about extremely long movies yesterday and then wound up watching The House is Black, one of my favorite shorts, and it made me think about how differently we view what a film is able to accomplish in its allotted time given its length. The format is so different between a tight 80-minute film that breezes by and a 3+ hour epic it's nearly a difference in mediums. So here's a list of the films I think made the most of their respective running times. 1-15 min: Isla das Flores (1989) Jorge Furtado16-30 min: Entr'acte (1924) Rene Clair31-45min: Night and Fog (1955) Alain Resnais46-60 min: Sherlock Jr (1924) Buster Keaton61-75 min: Mother and Son (1997) Aleksandr Sokurov76-90 min: Persona (1966) Ingmar Bergman91-105 min: Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) Werner Herzog106-120 min: Taxi Driver (1976) Martin Scorsese121-135 min: The Last Picture Show (1971) Peter Bogdanovich136-150 min: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick151-180 min: Pulp Fiction (1994) Quentin Tarantino181-210 min: Malcolm X (1992) Spike Lee211-240 min: Lawrence of Arabia (1962) David Lean241-270 min: At Berkeley (2013) Frederick Wiseman271-300 min: Scenes from a Marriage (1974) Ingmar Bergman301-330 min: Fanny and Alexander (1982) Ingmar Bergman331-360 min: Naploeon (1922) Abel Gance361-400 min: Les Vampires (1915) Louis Feuillade401-500 min: Star Spangled to Death (2004) Ken Jacobs501-600 min: Shoah (1985) Claude Lanzmann601 min and above: Out 1 (1971) Jacques Rivette Special shout out to Guy Maddin's The Heart of the World, a love letter to early silent films and masterpiece that narrowly avoided getting its own category by being 6 minutes instead of 5. I got specific, but feel free to get broad (e.g. "over 3 hours") with your own lists if you care to contribute. I think it's an interesting and rarely considered way of classifying or comparing movies. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingrat Posted March 6, 2017 Thanks for a very thought-provoking post. This is a fascinating approach, because we do indeed have different expectations of films which are different lengths. I can't argue with your choices of Sherlock Jr. and Lawrence of Arabia, both of which are favorites and both of which seem exactly the right length. I am not a fan of some of the others you mention (Scenes from a Marriage, for instance), but that's another matter. One afternoon on TCM I watched They Were Expendable and The Nun's Story back to back, both about the same length, but completely opposite in feel. The Ford is sprawling and leisurely, although a leisurely war film seems a contradiction in terms. The last half hour is really gripping, which more or less seems to justify Ford's approach. The Zinnemann is as taut as a 90-minute film, with every shot held for precisely the right amount of time and not a millisecond more. Every piece of the mosaic is in exactly the right place. The emotions of the film are so strong that they have to be repressed, and Zinnemann's approach catches this perfectly. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skimpole Posted March 7, 2017 0-15 Voyage to the Moon 16-30 La Jetee 31-45 A Day in the Country 46-60 The Navigator 61-75 Duck Soup 76-90 Yellow Submarine 91-105 Help! 106-120 Grand Illusion 121-135 Murder on the Orient Express 136-150 The Confession 151-180 Apocalypse Now 181-210 The Godfather, Part II 211-240 Lawrence of Arabia 241-270 The Sorrow and the Pity 271-300 Mysteries of Lisbon 301-330 Les Miserables (1934 France) 331-360 La Commune, Paris 1871 361-400 The Best of Youth 401-500 Satantango 501-600 Shoah 601- Out 1: Noli me Tangere 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
