Many of my favorites posted but no one mentioned:

Nobody Knows (China, I believe)

Available on DVD. It is heartbreaking.

"M (aka Metropolis)"

These are two different movies, by the way. "M" is on a serial killer. "Metropolis" is on a futuristic society. They're both interesting.

"Battleship Potemkin" is one of my favorite movies. Eisenstein pioneered montage.

I cannot believe I have forgotten the title of a French film we rented two months ago. It was about the family who owned Limoges potteries--excellent film. Available at Blockbuster under foreign movies--with subtitles, of course.

Another vote for Bread and Tulips! And, though a black & white film from the late 40s in Italian with English subtitles, it is on VHS and coming out (about $18) on DVD this month, "Follie per l'opera." This last is an oddball comedy set in London after THE war, involving a bunch of Italians and including a very young Gina Lollobrigida. Madcap, corny & funny. A period piece when you are in the mood for it! And, a gem for opera lovers, features baritones Titto Gobbi and Gino Bechi in cameos in their prime.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ance&n=130

or, go to http://www.belcantosiciety.org

Sorry, that's

http://www.belcantosociety.org

or http://www.belcantosociety.com

And no, I have no financial interest in amazon or bcs!

ttt

Cigalechanta - thanks for the heads-up. I have not done a search on it for a while, forgetting how the search has changed. Appreciate it.

I'm All Right, Jack (1958) with the incomparable Peter Sellers

The Man in the White Suit (1951) Alec Guinness

Tunes of Glory (1960) Alec Guinness and John Mills. One reviewer said he'd like to see the Guinness and Mills roles reversed just to see how such incomparable actors would play the others role.

The Krays (1990). One of the earlier English gangster films with two of the more menacing people you'd never want to cross.

The Girl in the Cafe (2005). Bill Nighy plays a minor government official about to attend an international conference in Iceland. A comedy with serious overtones. May be a lttle cute but Nighy is wonderful.

david west, almost all yours are used in our film class here at my University.

So few mentioned it and it is SO good, that I just want to add this:

Christ Stopped at Eboli takes place within a most Southern Italian town during WWII- it is not religious. And it is the most realistic and FUNNY study of the true nature of authority in that region than has ever been filmed, IMHO.

Regardless if you harbor any great love or aversion for Italy and/or its psyche- see this film.

Blimey! If you’re going to include British Films:

Brief Encounter – So sad.

The Dambusters – for the score alone, (and the germans getting it in the neck too, of course)

633 Squadron – Ditto score and germans

The Lavender Hill Mob

The Long Good Friday (sod the Krays mentioned above, with the pair of mary’s out of Spandau Ballet – you want a proper english ganster flick this is the one for you)

Get Carter (another good brit noir)

Performance

Life of Brian

If

Withnail and I

Trainspotting (almost a foreign language film)

In fact anything that doesn’t involve any of the following: Helena Bonham-Carter; Merchant and/or bloody Ivory; Ruffs; ruffles; Jane bleedin’ Austen; Kenneth chuffin’ Branagh; Country houses; bints banging on about how hard it is to get a husband; any one of the Brontes; elves; goblins; dick van dyke (mine ears! That accent!); any pop group that isn’t the beatles (yes Spice Girls I’m looking at you); Sting; Sting and especially Sting.

I have really liked Tarantino´s Jackie Brown. I also liked that Brooklyn tobacco store story called Smoke, with Harvey Keitel. What else? I´ve liked many American films, but not that many come into my mind at the moment.

Isn´t this whole question kind of dumb, if posed on the Internet? What is foreign? Just wondering.

In Fodors accepted terminology, foreign means "not made in USA"

Oh, no, lobo_mau! I love seeing what people outside the US think of our films - which ones they determine are the best.

David, I can't help it, I love Helena Bonham Carter movies!! :) But I have to concur with you on <u>Life of Brian</u>. We realized recently that we'd done a huge disservice to the kids by not exposing them to Monty Python humor. We've moved to correct that egregious error! They love <u>The Young Ones</u> so we thought it time to show them who influenced that comedy troupe.

Very much agree with many of Custard's choices, especially 'Betty Blue' and 'Withnail and I'. Both excellent.

A couple of my favourites (out of many) :

The Commitments - who cannot love this movie ?

(While London burns) Sammy and Rosie get Laid. - I'm a fan of all the written work of Hanif Querishi, including this straight-to-film (I think) work.

Shallow Grave. (the use of colour in this movie is fantastic)

Lagaan. (from India. Long at 3+ hours but well worth it. Simple villagers combat Imperial taxes through cricket and willpower)

Eat Drink Man Woman. (from Taiwan. See it for yourself. Wonderful)

Raise the Red Lantern. (China, if I remember correctly. Again full of colour and great cinematography)

...ah, there're so many more.

Unbearable Lightness of Being, Diva, Kolya

Oh, and Madame Destinnova (sp?), which I haven't seen in like 9 years, because if I buy it in Prague, the video tape is not compatible with my vcr. Hopefully they've put it onto DVD by now..

amp, ther are vid stores that will convert. In my neighborhood, there is an Indian shop that carries foods and vids and for a price converts.

Mathieu, Raise the Red Lantern is Chinese; did you happen to see Red Sorghum, too? Good cinematography, too, but contains some brutal scenes.
I was glad to see some gentler films from China, such as King of Masks and what was the name of the one that was about an elderly man who ran a public bath in Beijing?

Amp, glad to see someone else mention Kolya; I thought it was such a touching--both funny and sad-- film.

Hear my song Great scenes of Ireland, and the movie is funny too.
Indochine--wonderful scenery around Saigon during the french Occupation.
The Lover-- also great scenes around Saigon, and also during the french occupation. I love the music in it too.

Waking Ned Devin--wonderful soundtrack
The Secret of Roan Innnish, kind of a fairy tale for grown-ups