By way of celebrating the Year for Priests (or The Year of the Priest, if you will) the Korrektiv and Transcendental Musings blogs are co-sponsoring a 52-week film festival. The list of 52 films is still being formulated, but here is the latest stab at it. What follows is a chronological list of films in which a priest or priests take center stage (or at least appear as a main character or characters):
1. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
2. Boys Town (1938)
3. San Francisco (1938)
4. The Fighting 69th (1940)
5. The Devil at 4 O’Clock (1941)
6. The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
7. Going My Way (1944)
8. The Bells of St Mary’s (1945)
9. The Fugitive (1947)
10. Monsieur Vincent (1947)
11. Fighting Father Dunne (1948)
12. Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
13. I Confess (1953)
14. Father Brown (1954)
15. On the Waterfront (1954)
16. The Left Hand of God (1955)
17. The Miracle of Marcelino (1955)
18. The Prisoner (1955)
19. Seven Cities of Gold (1955)
20. Nazarin (1959)
21. Francis of Assisi (1961)
22. Hoodlum Priest (1961)
23. The Cardinal (1963)
24. Becket (1964)
25. The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
26. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)
27. The Exorcist (1973)
28. The Massacre in Rome (1973)
29. Hounds of Notre Dame (1980)
30. The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
31. Mass Appeal (1984)
32. The Assisi Underground (1985)
33. The Mission (1986)
34. Au Revoir les Enfant (1987)
35. The Fr. Clements Story (1987)
36. Don Bosco (1988)
37. Jesus of Montreal 1989
38. Francesco (1989)
39. Black Robe (1991)
40. Zycie za Zycie (Life for Life) (1991)
41. Sleepers (1996)
42. Molokai: The Story of Fr. Damian (1999)
43. The Third Miracle (1999)
44. Keeping the Faith (2000)
45. The Confessor (The Good Shepherd) (2004)
46. The Ninth Day (2004)
47. Twist of Faith (2004)
48. Karol: The Man Who Became Pope (2005)
49. Pope John Paul II (2005)
50. The Novice (aka Crossroads) (2006)
51. Doubt (2008)
52. Gran Torino (2008)
Thanks to Quin and cnb for contributing to the list. We now have 52 films here, but this is still a rough draft. Let us know if there are other films out there that you think are worthier than any of the films listed here — and we will consider swapping them out. In any case, the list will be fine-tuned by festival organizers Angelmeg and Rufus before we finalize it in the next day or two. Meanwhile, go check out Transcendental Musings for Angelmeg’s version of the list which includes hyperlinks to the films’ listings at IMDB.com.
I have a hold on a library copy of Angels with Dirty Faces — by way of a tentative beginning.
How about Under Satan's Sun?
By the way, could you do an entry with links to some good blogs/sites. I am enjoying transcendalmusings and intend to start writing them down.
Is this the final list? When can I start sending people over here?
Anon: Under Satan's Sun looks interesting. I'll add that to our list for consideration. And I'll try to add links as we go.
cnb: Not quite ready for prime time yet. I need to confer with Angelmeg about our final, definitive 52-film list.
Also: if we're going to do this chronologically, then it looks like the first film should actually be San Francisco — which was released in 1936, not 1938 as reported here.
You've got some serious credentials, Rufus.
Angelmeg: Here is my attempt at merging our lists, as well as incorporating one or two from comments here. Lemme know what you think.
1. San Francisco (1936)
2. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
3. Boys Town (1938)
4. The Fighting 69th (1940)
5. The Devil at 4 O’Clock (1941)
6. The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
7. Going My Way (1944)
8. The Bells of St Mary's (1945)
9. The Fugitive (1947)
10. Monsieur Vincent (1947)
11. Fighting Father Dunne (1948)
12. The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
13. Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
14. I Confess (1953)
15. Father Brown (1954)
16. On the Waterfront (1954)
17. The Left Hand of God (1955)
18. The Miracle of Marcelino (1955)
19. The Prisoner (1955)
20. Seven Cities of Gold (1955)
21. Nazarin (1959)
22. Hoodlum Priest (1961)
23. The Cardinal (1963)
24. Becket (1964)
25. The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
26. The Exorcist (1973)
27. The Massacre in Rome (1973)
28. Hounds of Notre Dame (1980)
29. True Confessions (1981)
30. The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
31. Mass Appeal (1984)
32. The Assisi Underground (1985)
33. The Mission (1986)
34. Au Revoir les Enfant (1987)
35. The Fr. Clements Story (1987)
36. Sous le soleil de Satan (Under Satan’s Sun) (1987)
37. Don Bosco (1988)
38. Francesco (1989)
39. Black Robe (1991)
40. Zycie za Zycie (Life for Life) (1991)
41. Sleepers (1996)
42. Molokai: The Story of Fr. Damian (1999)
43. The Third Miracle (1999)
44. Keeping the Faith (2000)
45. The Confessor (The Good Shepherd) (2004)
46. The Ninth Day (2004)
47. Twist of Faith (2004)
48. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
49. Pope John Paul II (2005)
50. The Novice (aka Crossroads) (2006)
51. Doubt (2008)
52. Gran Torino (2008)
Rejected:
53. Francis of Assisi (1961)
54. The Reluctant Saint (1962)
55. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)
56. Jesus of Montreal (1989)
57. Stigmata (1999)
58. Papa Giovanni John XXIII (2002)
59. Saint Ralph (2004)
60. Karol: The Man Who Became Pope (2005)
61. St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (2000)
62. The Order (2003)
Nazarin is an absolutely first rate movie, and the novel by Perez-Galdos is (of course) even better.
One more that should definitely be on the list: A Man For All Seasons, about the trial of Thomas Moore. Being fans of Percy, we should have picked that first.
I thought about A Man for All Seasons, but More wasn't a priest. We'll include that when we have our Year for Lawyers film festival, for sure, though!
Further discussion with angelmeg from over at her place:
angelmeg said…
I'm not sure I like the term rejected. Why not just call them Alternate selections.
Saint Ralph is a wonderful movie about a young boy at a school run by Augustinian priests, Campbell Scott plays the priest who helps him realize his dream which is to make a miracle happen to save his mother. They are both transformed in the process. I don't like seeing it on the rejected pile.
Most of the other rejected movies are good as well.
why not just call them alternate selections just in case people can't find the others in their areas. That is a much more pastoral way of stating it.
10:36 PM
Rufus McCain said…
How about calling our list of alternates anathema Or "the goats"? Just kidding.
Saint Ralph does sound like a great film. I took it out of the main list mainly because the synopsis I read made it sound like the priest wasn't really a main character; but I haven't seen it, so I'll take your word for it. How about we put Twist of Faith in the trash pile, er, I mean, the honorable mention list, and put Ralph back?
Where on earth can you find these oldie moldies?