Top 10 Films of 1961

1. "Yojimbo" (Akira Kurosawa, Japan)

2. "Jules et Jim" (François Truffaut, France)

3. "L'Année dernière à Marienbad" (Alain Resnais, France)

4. "One, Two, Three" (Billy Wilder, USA)

5. "Viridiana" (Luis Bunuel, Spain)

6. "West Side Story" (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, USA)

7. "101 Dalmatians" (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman, Disney)

8. "Judgement At Nuremberg" (Stanley Kramer, USA)

9. ''Cléo de 5 à 7'' (Agnes Varda, France)

10. "La Notte" (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy)

Other great films:

The Absent-Minded Professor
Accattone (Italy)

The Adventures Of Lucky Pierre
Blue Hawaii
Breakfast At Tiffany's

La Bride sur le cou (France)

Le Ciel et la boue (France)

Daniella By Night (Germany)

The Days Of Thrills And Laughter

Diary Of A Nudist

The End Of Summer (Japan)

Une Femme est une femme (France)
Flower Drum Song
The Guns Of Navarone
The Hustler

Katiforos (Greece)
The Ladies Man
Matka Joanna od Aniolow (Poland)

Maz swojej zony (Poland)

The Misfits

Naked As Nature Intended (UK)

Nude On The Moon

Nudist Life

The Parent Trap
The Pleasure Of His Company
Rozstanie (Poland)
Samson (Poland)
Splendor In The Grass
Through A Glass Darkly (Sweden)
Teen Kanya (India)
Two Women (Italy)
Ukrainian Rhapsody (Soviet Union)

Short Top 3:

1. "Young Love" (Mikheil Kobakhidze, Soviet Union)

2. "Golden Gloves" (Gilles Groulx, NFB, Canada)

3. "Le Gros et le Maigre" (Roman Polanski, France)

Other great shorts:

Erotyk (Poland)


Top Commercial:

"Brunswick Bowling" (Brunswick Bowling)

Other great commercials:

King Size Coke

TV Top 3:

1. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Bang You're Dead" (Alfred Hitchcock, NBC)

2. "The Avengers: Girl On The Trapeze" (Don Leaver, ITV, UK)

3. "The Twilight Zone: The Obsolete Man" (Elliot Silverstein, CBS)

Cartoon Top 10

1. "The Last Hungry Cat" (Friz Freleng, Warner)

2. "D'Fightin' Ones" (Friz Freleng, Warner)

3. "Ersatz" (Dusan Vukotic, Yugoslavia)

4. "Vasen" (Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia)

5. "Aquamania" (Wolfgang Reitherman, Disney)

6. "Nelly's Folly" (Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow, Warner)

7. "Beep Prepared" (Chuck Jones, Warner)

8. "Donald And The Wheel" (Hamilton Luske, Disney)

9. "The Saga Of Windwagon Smith" (Charles Nichols, Disney)

10. "Lines horizontal" (Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambert, NFB, Canada)

Other great cartoons:

The Abominable Snow Rabbit
Alpha Omega (Italy)
Compressed Hare
The Litterbug
The Mouse On 57th Street
The Pied Piper Of Guadalupe
Rebel Without Claws
A Scent Of The Matterhorn
Zip 'n' Snort

Weak films of 1961:

Au bord du ravin abrupt (Soviet Union)
The Devil's Messenger
Drugi czlowiek (Poland)
Dzis w nocy umrze miasto (Poland)
Ercole al centro della terra (Italy)
Fanny
The Innocents (UK)

One-Eyed Jacks

Pocketful Of Miracles
Swiadectwo urodzenia (Poland)

Weak cartoons:

Birds Of A Father
Cannery Woe
Daffy's Inn Trouble
Doc's Last Stand
Down And Outing
Franken Stymied
Gabby's Dinner
Hoppy Daze
It's Greek To Me-ow
Lickety Splat
Phantom Of The Horse Opera
Poop Deck Pirate
Prince Varmint
Strangled Eggs
Switchin' Kitten
What's My Lion

Weak shorts:

Lapac zlodzieja (Poland)
Mr Hayashi

Top 3 Musicals of 1961

1. "West Side Story" (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, United Artists)

2. "Flower Drum Song" (Henry Koster, Universal)

3. "Blue Hawaii" (Norman Taurog, Paramount)

Yojimbo (1961) *****

One of Akira Kurosawa's best films, a great samurai picture starring Toshiro Mifune.

Jules et Jim (1961) ****

Probably François Truffaut's best film.

One, Two, Three (1961) ****

Rollicking Billy Wilder's comedy starring James Cagney as a Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin facing an international crisis.

Teen Kanya (1961) ****

This is Satyajit Ray's finest film. It consists of two separate stories. The first one, set in a small village, presents a tender relationship between a postmaster and a young orphan girl who works as his housekeeper. The second story deals with a hilarious courtship between a young man and a rebellious tomboy. The third story was deleted from prints shown outside India. 

"The Postmaster" **** 

"The Conclusion" ****

La Notte (1961) ****

Cléo de 5 à 7 (1961) ****

Viridiana (1961) ****

La Bride sur le cou (1961) ***

Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961) ***

Directed by Sergei Parajanov.

Naked As Nature Intended (1961) ***

Judgement At Nuremberg (1961) ****

Spencer Tracy plays an American judge presiding over the trial of a former Nazi judge.

Nude On The Moon (1961) ***

Rozstanie (1961) ***

Wojciech Has directed this simple story of disposing with a heritage and finding new tenants for an apartment as if it was a great romantic love story (complete with firework displays). An interesting study in contrast between content and style – proof positive that even the most mundane material can be treated with flourish and stylishness.

The End Of Summer (1961) ***

An aging family patriarch tries to enjoy life right to the very end, while two of his daughters hesitate whether to accept arranged marriages.

Nudist Life (1961) ***