100 YEARS...100 MOVIES

(America's 400 Greatest Films
Nominated by AFI)



Click to purchase The American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California in 1998 commemorated the extraordinary first 100 years of American movies by selecting 400 candidate films for voting consideration, in preparation for a "definitive selection of the 100 greatest American movies of all time, as determined by more than 1,500 leaders from the American film community."

All chosen films were feature-length fictional movies produced between 1912 and 1996 "with the goal of amassing a capsule of the first 100 years of American cinema, across decades and across genres." Write-in votes for unlisted films were also permitted.

The 1950s was the most represented decade on the list, with 20 films. And 70 of the films on the list were from 1950 and after. 14 films were made after 1980. More than half of the films (56) were made between 1950 and 1979, thereby ignoring cinema's early years and some of the modern era. Each decade's summary: Silent era: 3 films, 1930s: 15 films, 1940s: 12 films, 1950s: 20 films, 1960s: 18 films, 1970s: 18 films, 1980s: 6 films, and 1990s: 8 films.

Also, see these additional listings: America's 100 Greatest Movies (ranked) or America's 100 Greatest Movies (organized by decade). And read this site's Commentary on AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies.

AMERICA's 400 GREATEST FILMS - Part 1
(chronological and alphabetical)

The films that were ultimately selected as the by the AFI are in bold.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.


Silent Era: 1912-1929
(22 Films nominated
3 Films in Top 100)

  1. Richard III (1912)
  2. The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
  3. The Cheat (1915)
  4. Intolerance (1916)
  5. The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)
  6. Within Our Gates (1920)
  7. The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1921)
  8. The Kid (1921)
  9. Safety Last (1923)
  10. The Thief Of Bagdad (1924)
  11. The Big Parade (1925)
  12. The Gold Rush (1925)
  13. Greed (1925)
  14. The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)
  15. Ben-Hur (1926)
  16. The General (1927)
  17. The Jazz Singer (1927)
  18. Sunrise (1927)
  19. Wings (1927)
  20. The Crowd (1928)
  21. The Wind (1928)
  22. The Broadway Melody (1929)

    1930s: 1930-1939
    (56 Films nominated
    15 Films in Top 100)


  23. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
  24. Little Caesar (1930)
  25. Morocco (1930)
  26. Cimarron (1931)
  27. City Lights (1931)
  28. Frankenstein (1931)
  29. The Public Enemy (1931)
  30. Freaks (1932)
  31. Grand Hotel (1932)
  32. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932)
  33. Scarface: The Shame of the Nation (1932)
  34. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
  35. Cavalcade (1933)
  36. Duck Soup (1933)
  37. 42nd Street (1933)
  38. King Kong (1933)
  39. She Done Him Wrong (1933)
  40. Sons of the Desert (1933)
  41. It Happened One Night (1934)
  42. The Scarlet Empress (1934)
  43. The Thin Man (1934)
  44. David Copperfield (1935)
  45. The Little Colonel (1935)
  46. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
  47. A Night At The Opera (1935)
  48. Top Hat (1935)
  49. Dodsworth (1936)
  50. Fury (1936)
  51. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
  52. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
  53. Modern Times (1936)
  54. My Man Godfrey (1936)
  55. Swing Time (1936)
  56. The Awful Truth (1937)
  57. Camille (1937)
  58. The Life Of Emile Zola (1937)
  59. Lost Horizon (1937)
  60. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  61. A Star Is Born (1937)
  62. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
  63. Boys Town (1938)
  64. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
  65. You Can't Take It With You (1938)
  66. Babes In Arms (1939)
  67. Beau Geste (1939)
  68. Destry Rides Again (1939)
  69. Gone With The Wind (1939)
  70. Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)
  71. Gunga Din (1939)
  72. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
  73. Ninotchka (1939)
  74. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
  75. Stagecoach (1939)
  76. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  77. Wuthering Heights (1939)
  78. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

    1940s: 1940-1949
    (61 Films nominated
    12 Films in Top 100)


  79. The Bank Dick (1940)
  80. Fantasia (1940)
  81. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
  82. His Girl Friday (1940)
  83. The Mark Of Zorro (1940)
  84. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
  85. Pinocchio (1940)
  86. Rebecca (1940)
  87. Citizen Kane (1941)
  88. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
  89. The Lady Eve (1941)
  90. The Little Foxes (1941)
  91. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  92. Sergeant York (1941)
  93. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
  94. Bambi (1942)
  95. Casablanca (1942)
  96. Cat People (1942)
  97. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
  98. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
  99. Now, Voyager (1942)
  100. The Pride Of The Yankees (1942)
  101. Road To Morocco (1942)
  102. To Be Or Not To Be (1942)
  103. Woman Of The Year (1942)
  104. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
  105. Bataan (1943)
  106. Cabin In The Sky (1943)
  107. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
  108. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
  109. Double Indemnity (1944)
  110. Going My Way (1944)
  111. Hail The Conquering Hero (1944)
  112. Laura (1944)
  113. Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
  114. The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek (1944)
  115. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
  116. To Have and Have Not (1944)
  117. The Lost Weekend (1945)
  118. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  119. The Big Sleep (1946)
  120. Gilda (1946)
  121. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
  122. My Darling Clementine (1946)
  123. Notorious (1946)
  124. The Yearling (1946)
  125. Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
  126. Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
  127. Out Of The Past (1947)
  128. Force Of Evil (1948)
  129. Red River (1948)
  130. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
  131. Adam's Rib (1949)
  132. All The King's Men (1949)
  133. The Heiress (1949)
  134. Intruder In The Dust (1949)
  135. A Letter To Three Wives (1949)
  136. Sands Of Iwo Jima (1949)
  137. The Third Man (1949)
  138. Twelve O'clock High (1949)
  139. White Heat (1949)

    1950s: 1950-1959
    (61 Films nominated
    20 Films in Top 100)


  140. All About Eve (1950)
  141. Cinderella (1950)
  142. Gun Crazy (1950)
  143. The Gunfighter (1950)
  144. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
  145. Winchester '73 (1950)
  146. The African Queen (1951)
  147. An American In Paris (1951)
  148. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
  149. A Place in the Sun (1951)
  150. Strangers On A Train (1951)
  151. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
  152. The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)
  153. High Noon (1952)
  154. The Quiet Man (1952)
  155. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
  156. The Band Wagon (1953)
  157. From Here to Eternity (1953)
  158. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
  159. Shane (1953)
  160. Stalag 17 (1953)
  161. The War Of The Worlds (1953)
  162. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
  163. Carmen Jones (1954)
  164. On The Waterfront (1954)
  165. Rear Window (1954)
  166. Salt Of The Earth (1954)
  167. A Star Is Born (1954)
  168. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)
  169. The Blackboard Jungle (1955)
  170. East Of Eden (1955)
  171. Lady And The Tramp (1955)
  172. Marty (1955)
  173. Mister Roberts (1955)
  174. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
  175. Oklahoma! (1955)
  176. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
  177. The Seven Year Itch (1955)
  178. Around The World In 80 Days (1956)
  179. Giant (1956)
  180. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  181. The Searchers (1956)
  182. The Ten Commandments (1956)
  183. An Affair To Remember (1957)
  184. The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
  185. Paths of Glory (1957)
  186. 12 Angry Men (1957)
  187. The Defiant Ones (1958)
  188. Gigi (1958)
  189. Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
  190. Touch Of Evil (1958)
  191. Vertigo (1958)
  192. Anatomy Of A Murder (1958)
  193. Ben-Hur (1959)
  194. The Diary Of Anne Frank (1959)
  195. Imitation Of Life (1959)
  196. North By Northwest (1959)
  197. On The Beach (1959)
  198. Pillow Talk (1959)
  199. Shadows (1959)
  200. Some Like It Hot (1959)

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