Last weekend, I noticed the Criterion Channel (a movie streaming service) was highlighting a 1974 movie called The Cars That Ate Paris. The description said it was one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite movies. That surprised me; I had never heard that before. So I searched online to find a source for that nugget. What I found was an article from 2013 titled "Stanley Kubrick, cinephile":
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/stanley-kubrick-cinephile
Over the years, the author curated a list of movies Kubrick liked, based on verifiable evidence. I can't believe I have never encountered this until now!
There are a bunch of movies in the article. Here are some noteworthy ones, with quotes from Kubrick, or people who knew him.
Pacific 231 (1949)
Stanley said Pacific 231 was one of the most perfectly edited, if not the most perfectly edited films, he had ever seen.
This is a short film that's available on YouTube. In 1923, a Swiss composer created a dramatic orchestral piece inspired by locomotives. Then in 1949, a director created this movie with scenes of a steam locomotive set to the music. It's only 10 minutes long and worth a watch, especially if you like trains.
Bob le flambeur (1956)
Kubrick described it as "The perfect crime film." It's about an aging gambler who plans a daring casino heist. Sounds good to me! It's currently streaming on Kanopy, which many local libraries offer free access to.
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
[Kubrick] told me that I couldn’t really understand what cinema was capable of without seeing The Battle of Algiers.
Apparently it shows the 1950s Algerian revolution from both sides, made to look like a documentary. It sounds intense: the Criterion Channel describes it as "a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them."
Peppermint Frappé (1967)
Kubrick said he got home late one night, turned on the TV, and this movie was playing. He'd missed the first half hour and didn't know what it was called, but he was so captivated he watched the rest of it. It's available on the Criterion Channel, which describes it as a "darkly comic psychological thriller". It had me at "darkly comic". Now I really want to watch it.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
I remember Stanley remarked: "How clever that the Japanese speak Japanese – what a difference it makes."
I don't know for sure what that quote means, but I was curious enough to look up the movie. IMDb describes it as: "The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness." It's not streaming on any place I can find, but it is available on DVD at my local library.
The Godfather (1972)
[Kubrick] watched The Godfather again… and was reluctantly suggesting for the 10th time that it was possibly the greatest movie ever made and certainly the best cast.
I'm sure everyone has seen this movie, but I thought it was an interesting comment.
Danton (1974)
Stanley thought Danton was very nearly beyond criticism and "perhaps the finest historical film ever made".
Danton was a figure in the French Revolution, which I know almost nothing about. It's available on the Criterion Channel.
Heimat (1984)
Stanley was completely taken by Heimat. The idea of telling such an ‘impossible to tell story’ through the eyes of a bunch of simple villagers he considered completely new and brilliant. To show ‘heaven’ convincingly and without special effects on the top floor of a country inn and have the dead people observe ‘us’ – he was deeply moved.
This was a German TV mini-series, chronicling a fictional German village from 1919 to 1982. I can't find it streaming, but it is available on DVD in the library system in my area.
The Vanishing (1988)
Kubrick watched it three times and told Sluizer (the movie's director) that it was “the most horrifying film I’ve ever seen”. Sluizer asked: “even moreso than The Shining?”. Kubrick replied that he thought it was.
I've never seen it, and I've heard it's better if you know almost nothing about it before watching. I'm already scared to see it at this point.
Henry V (Kenneth Branagh version, 1989)
In 1963, Kubrick listed Lawrence Olivier's version of Henry V as one of his favorite films. However: “Stanley liked Branagh’s version much better than the old and old-fashioned Olivier version which he had on his 1963 list. He thought it was far superior.” I've never seen it, but it's available on Blu-ray in our library system.
There are lots more movies listed in that article, these were just a few that caught my attention. I did watch The Cars That Ate Paris last weekend, and it was very weird, but good. That's an excellent combination, in my opinion.