Top 10s
Christa Lang-Fuller’s Top 10
Author and actor Christa Lang-Fuller married director Samuel Fuller in 1967. In 1981, they founded Chrisam Films, which Lang-Fuller has continued to run since her husband’s death, in 1997. She coedited Fuller’s autobiography, A Third Face, for Random House and is currently writing a new book and working on two screenplays. She has one daughter by Fuller, Samantha, a glass artist and actor, and a granddaughter, Samira, eight years old. They are all big film buffs.
#1
Children of ParadiseMarcel Carné
Marcel Carné’s masterpiece, starring the unforgettable Jean-Louis Barrault and the divine Arletty.
#2
The Rules of the GameJean Renoir
Jean Renoir’s exposé of French bourgeois hypocrisy—always a great subject!
#3
That Obscure Object of DesireLuis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel’s take on hypocrisy.
#4
PickpocketRobert Bresson
To be viewed with Pickup on South Street. Samuel Fuller originally wanted to use the same title as Bresson’s film.
#5
The Tin DrumVolker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff’s brilliant adaptation of the great Günter Grass novel.
#6
The Marriage of Maria BraunRainer Werner Fassbinder
I love the whole BRD trilogy for Fassbinder’s truthful rendering of the German psyche after World War II devastation and post–Marshall Plan de-Nazification, and for the great parts that he offered to his female actors. Being a teenager in the fifties, in Germany, I left for Paris to avoid being sucked into the materialistic obsession displayed here.
#7
AlphavilleJean-Luc Godard
It has not aged a bit, and it contains my cinema debut, albeit in a small role. And the great Akim Tamiroff gets to die on me! An unforgettable experience. My daughter loves the way I pickpocket Tamiroff while taking his coat off.
#8
ContemptJean-Luc Godard
Brigitte Bardot has never been better. The way Jack Palance’s producer brilliantly humiliates Michel Piccoli’s writer, who tries to hold on to his pride, rings a bell. Plus, our friend Fritz Lang as the director . . . Sacré Jean-Luc!
#9
MFritz Lang
Anguish and hope, and Peter Lorre’s sterling performance.
#10
Shock CorridorSamuel Fuller
Something’s to be said for the Bicameral Mind. Kill the Pig and the Gods will commune through the head on the pole. I think I’m getting Lasik—just in case the veneer shatters.