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The Moving Arts Film Journal

Online Critics Choose 100 Best First Films

By
October 6, 2010


The Online Film Critics Society, of which yours truly is member, released the results of a society-wide poll asking what first (debut) films are the greatest in history. Orson Welles’ masterpiece landed atop the heap — no surprise there — followed by some other predictable mainstays.  Though there were some surprises.  Here are the top five:

1. Citizen Kane (directed by Orson Welles)

2. Eraserhead (David Lynch)

3. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero)

4. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)

5. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)

The full list featuring the top 100 can be found here.

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