Add 36 of Kubrick's Favorite Films To Your Watch List, Immediately
Learn from those that Stanley learned from.

It's hot, and the dog days of August are truly looming upon us. If that's got your creative well running dry, then one of the the best ways to refill it is by immersing yourself in the work of others. We'd give you some advice on films to watch, but who are we to trust? Stanley Kubrick on the other hand? Yeah, he's probably pretty reliable.
Candice Drouet's latest video entry in her 1.000.000 Frames series displays brief snippets of scenes from the movies on Kubrick's 'Master List,' compiled by BFI from the likes of dozens of interviews throughout the famed director's career.
Kubrick wasn't shy in letting people know how much he was by influenced by the work of his predecessors in the film world. He would often use shots in his own films as homages to a few of the directors who pop up more than once on his 'Master List.' Max Ophlus, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, and Frederico Fellini all, somewhat unsurprisingly, share this honor. During the production of Paths of Glory, Kubrick iconically used a single long tracking shot following Kirk Douglas through the barracks, as tribute to Ophuls who had died earlier that day.
Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory'
Perhaps more surprising, however was Kubrick's willingness to admit his admiration for his contemporaries. What's more, he would often use their work as inspiration for his upcoming features. While it may seem surprising to see someone as young as David Lynch on this list, Kubrick was said to have screened Eraserhead to the cast and crew of The Shining to give them an idea of the mood he wanted to create in his own film.
David Lynch's 'Eraserhead'
Joshua Warren of the Criterion Collection even wrote that, "Kubrick decided to make The Shining after he had seen Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, because he didn't like the idea of someone making such good horror films without having been allowed to make one himself to prove that he could do it just as well, if not better."
Below are 36 films you can add to your watchlist on Hulu (with a few on Netflix), and you can find the entire list featuring 92 films right here:
- Le plaisir- Max Ophuls
- La ronde - Max Ophuls
- The Earrings of Madame de . . .- Max Ophuls
- Smiles of a Summer Night - Ingmar Bergman
- Wild Strawberries- Ingmar Bergman
- Cries and Whispers - Ingmar Bergman
- Eraserhead- David Lynch
- Beauty and the Beast- Jean Cocteau
- La strada - Federico Fellini
- I vitelloni - Federico Fellini
- Children of Paradise- Marcel Carné
- The Spirit of the Beehive - Víctor Erice
- La notte - Michelangelo Antonioni
- Rashomon - Akira Kurosawa
- Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa
- Throne of Blood- Akira Kurosawa
- The Silence of the Lambs- Jonathan Demme
- The Battle of Algiers- Gillo Pontecorvo
- Solaris - Andrei Tarkovsky
- Closely Watched Trains - Jiří Menzel
- The Phantom Carriage - Victor Sjöström
- Babette’s Feast - Gabriel Axel
- Rosemary’s Baby - Roman Polanski
- City Lights - Charles Chaplin
- Picnic at Hanging Rock - Peter Weir
- Danton - Andrzej Wajda
- The Vanishing- George Sluizer
- Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino
- Metropolis - Fritz Lang
- The Cars That Ate Paris - Peter Weir
- Casque d'Or - Jacques Becker
- Miss Julie - Alf Sjöberg
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial- Steven Spielberg
- Tora! Tora! Tora! - Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku
- Deliverance - John Boorman
- The Exorcist - William Friedkin