It has been over a month since my last Top 3 and a bit post, so I felt a new instalment was overdue. I have recently reviewed several directorial debuts, including Anthony Schatteman’s Young Hearts and Urška Djukić’s Little Trouble Girls, which started me thinking about the best ever debut films. With a little research I came up with a list of quite remarkable films, several of which were not only the debut film of a particular director, but also their best film and, in the case of the overall top of the list, arguably the best film anyone has ever made.

So, here are my Top 3 Directorial Debuts, together with notes on a number of additional films which are worthy of attention:

(1)          Citizen Kane (1941 – Orson Welles)

Citizen Kane is regularly cited as the greatest film ever made, and I have a lot of sympathy with that opinion – it is certainly the greatest directorial debut. It is a fictional biography examining the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), a character based on several American tycoons, including most notably William Randolph Hearst. It begins with Kane’s death and his last words, or word, Rosebud. Kane’s death becomes a news sensation, and a reporter, Jerry Thompson (William Alland) is tasked with discovering the meaning behind Rosebud. He interviews Kane’s loves, friends and associates in a bid to discover the answer, and through these interviews we hear Kane’s life story. The filmmaking included many new and innovative techniques. One of my favourite sections is the breakdown of Kane’s first marriage, told as a montage of breakfast scenes spread over a number of years. The film won several Best Film Awards and was voted the Village Voice Film of the Century; however it missed out on the Oscar, which was won by How Green was My Valley!

(2)          The 400 Blows (1959 – François Truffaut)

One of several contenders for the first film of the Nouvelle Vague, The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) is Truffaut’s masterpiece. Whilst I love his films (and indeed have them all on DVD), for me his later work never quite matched this debut film. It tells the story of rebellious teenager Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), and is based loosely on Truffaut’s own adolescence. Growing up in Paris, misunderstood by his parents (Albert Rémy and Claire Maurier) for playing truant and for stealing, and punished by his teacher (Guy Declombe) for his poor discipline, he frequently runs away from both home and school. As well as a most entertaining coming-of-age story, the film is an exposé of the injustices of the treatment of juvenile offenders in France at the time. It is the first in a series of five films in which Léaud plays the role of Doinel, spread across the following 20 years. The 400 Blows was nominated for the Palm D’Or and won Truffaut the Best Director Award at Cannes.

(3)          12 Angry Men (1957 – Sidney Lumet)

12 Angry Men is a courtroom melodrama, adapted by Reginald Rose from his earlier teleplay. The film is a somewhat damning critique of the American jury system during the lynch-mob hysteria of the McCarthy era. It tells the story of a jury of twelve men as they deliberate the conviction (on the basis of reasonable doubt) or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder. Juror No 8 (Henry Fonda) prevents the jury returning a quick guilty verdict and effectively forces them to examine the evidence. Disagreement and conflict among the jurors pushes them to question their own morals and values: we find out as much about the other jurors as we do about the crime. The cast of jurors, which includes Lee J Cobb, Jack Klugman and Ed Begley, is excellent. The film is generally viewed as a classic, highly regarded from both a critical and a popular standpoint: it holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has spawned a great many remakes and parodies, including episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour, The Odd Couple and Family Guy.

And the Contenders…

The following films are those that came very close to making my Top 3, but did not quite get there (the ‘bit’), listed in alphabetical order:

American Beauty (1999 – Sam Mendes)

Lester Burnham (Keving Spacey) is an advertising executive having a midlife crisis. He becomes infatuated with Angela (Mina Suvari), his teenage daughter’s best friend. Meanwhile, his materialistic wife (Annette Benning) is indulging in her own extra-marital activities. This is a film which defies simple classification. It is about: the emptiness of a loveless marriage; coming to terms with growing older; repressed homosexuality; life in small town America; and a host of other themes. It is also a celebration of beauty. It won five Oscars, including Best Picture, along with Best Director for Mendes and Best Actor for Spacey.

Breathless (1960 – Jean-Luc Godard)

Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a low-level criminal who has committed a high stakes crime. Returning to Paris, he seeks out his American girlfriend Patricia (Jean Seberg) and tries to convince her to run away with him to Italy. Whilst she is drawn to his energy, she is repelled by his unpredictability and criminality. Together they try to evade the police as they race through the streets of Paris. Along with The 400 Blows and Hiroshima mon amour, it brought international attention to the Nouvelle Vague, in addition to establishing Godard as an important force in sixties filmmaking.

Ivan’s Childhood (1962 – Andrei Tarkovsky)

The film details the World War II experiences of Ivan Bondarev (Nikolai Burlyayev), a 12-year-old war-orphan whose parents were killed by the invading German forces. It examines the human cost of war and does not glorify it in the way many Soviet films did prior to the Khrushchev era. It balances the horrors of warfare by focusing on nature, both in the depiction of Ivan’s dreams, and as visual poetry, adding a layer of artistic elegance to the film. It is one of the most accessible of Tarkovsky’s films, and was both critically and commercially successful. It won the Golden Lion at Venice and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, missing out to Fellini’s 8½.

The Lives of Others (2006 – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is ordered by his friend and superior, Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), whose pro-communist politics and international recognition have previously protected him from state-monitoring. As Wiesler’s surveillance activities progress, he develops a strangely sympathetic attitude towards his subjects, which inadvertently leads them to tragedy. Unlike more traditional spy films, The Lives of Others is strongly character-led (as opposed to plot-led) and is built around the hidden thoughts and secret desires of the key players. The film won countless awards, including the International Feature Oscar and the BAFTA for films not in the English Language.

The Lunchbox (2013 – Ritesh Batra)

The Lunchbox tells the story of Ila (Nimrat Kaur), a young housewife, who is seeking to bring some romance back into her marriage by cooking delicious lunches for her wayward husband. However, after a mix-up in the complex lunch delivery system in Mumbai (the dabbawalas), Ila’s lunch is delivered in error to Saajan (Irrfan Khan), a middle-aged accountant approaching retirement. Each day, the error is repeated. Ila and Saajan begin to correspond through little notes passed via the lunchbox and gradually develop a friendship. This is a beautiful, sad story told through the care she puts into preparing the lunches and the tenderness he puts into his notes. The film garnered Batra numerous awards, both for his screenplay and for his direction.

The Maltese Falcon (1941 – John Huston)

A film noir classic – private detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) gets more than he bargains for when he takes a case brought to him by the beautiful but secretive Miss Wonderley (Mary Astor). As soon as she shows up, trouble follows: Spade’s partner is murdered, and Sam is accosted by Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) who in turn leads him to Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet), all demanding with menaces the location of a valuable statuette. Entangled in a dangerous web of crime and intrigue, Sam soon realizes he must find the one thing they all want: the bejewelled Maltese falcon. Variety Magazine described it as one of the best examples of suspenseful melodramatic story telling in cinematic form. It won the Best Picture Oscar and is regularly included in Best Ever Film polls.

Pather Panchali (1955 – Satyajit Ray)

The first instalment of The Apu Trilogy, the film depicts the childhood joys and hardships of young Apu (Subir Banerjee) and his elder sister Durga (Runki Banerjee / Uma Dasgupta) amid the harsh realities of rural poverty in 1910’s Bengal. Together, they share life’s simple joys: sitting quietly under a tree; viewing pictures in a travelling vendor’s bioscope; running after the ‘candy man’ who passes through; and watching a jatra (folk play) performed by a visiting acting troupe. But the lack of food and severe conditions are always evident. This is a very gentle and profoundly moving portrait of triumph against adversity. Originally poorly received in his homeland, Pather Panchali has gradually been reassessed, and is now considered one of the finest films ever made.

This Sporting Life (1963 – Lindsay Anderson)

Frank Machin (Richard Harris), a bitter young Yorkshire coal miner, believes that life has more to offer him. Observing how the local rugby league team are lauded at a local night club, he sets out to join them, enlisting the help of aging club scout “Dad” Johnson (William Hartnell). Becoming one of their stars, he set out to bring some happiness into the life of his recently widowed landlady, Margaret Hammond (Rachel Roberts). Initially she rebuffs his attempts to court her and treats him rudely and abrasively, but eventually she falls for his charms. One of the classic ‘kitchen sink’ films, This Sporting Life was praised for its gutsy vitality, and particularly for Anderson’s direction: he “brings the keen, observant eye of a documentary man to many vivid episodes, without sacrificing the story line”.

And the rest…

The following are all great films in their own right, but didn’t come quite close enough to my Top 3. There are too many for me to provide detailed notes on each film, however I strongly recommend each and every one of them – they are not just fine films, but they are also great introductions to some of the finest directors in cinema history. They are listed in alphabetical order:

Amores perros (2000 – Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Being John Malkovich (1999 – Spike Jonze)

Boyz n the Hood (1991 – John Singleton)

Chariots of Fire (1981 – Hugh Hudson)

Elevator to the Gallows (1958 – Louis Malle)

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959 – Alain Resnais)

In Bruges (2008 – Martin McDonagh)

Past Lives (2023 – Celine Song)

La Pointe Courte (1954 – Agnes Varda)

Lady Bird (2017 – Greta Gerwig)

The Night of the Hunter (1955 – Charles Laughton)

Ossessione (1943 – Luchino Visconti)

Room at the Top (1959 – Jack Clayton)

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960 – Karel Reisz)

Terms of Endearment (1983 – James L. Brooks)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966 – Mike Nichols)

I am sure I have missed some great debut films. If you know of any which you really think I have to watch (i.e. that may deserve a place in my ‘Top 3 and a Bit’), please let me know. I will endeavour to find them and watch them.