100 First-Time Convention-Breakers in Film

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This might be fun. Leading off with what is perhaps the greatest one:

100. Killing off the lead character half-way through the film: Psycho

99. Credits scroll backwards: Kiss Me Deadly (I think)

― Joe, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

98. Birth of a Nation - cross-cutting/iris lens/virtually everything?
97. Citizen Kane - Ceiling
96. Psycho(AGAIN) - Toilet!

― Gukbe, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be interested to know what was the first film to feature no opening credits other than studio, title, and maybe director as is becoming the norm nowadays. Star Wars?

― chap, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

95. Welles speaking the credits for The Magnificent Ambersons?

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

97. Citizen Kane - Ceiling

That one's a myth. Stagecoach, among others.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

94. Night of the Living Dead - A black person playing a lead role not specifically writen for a black person.

― chap, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

93. Jules Dassin's Rififi- No dialogue spoken for close to half an hour in a non-silent film.

92. Andrei Rublev- Prologue sequence that is not related plot-wise or character-wise to the rest of the film.

― Joe, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be interested to know what was the first film to feature no opening credits other than studio, title, and maybe director as is becoming the norm nowadays. Star Wars?

-- chap, Friday, April 20, 2007 4:26 PM (4 minutes ago)

Wasn't this a thing with the DGA for a while? various films disqualified for awards/DGA status because of improper credit placement?

― Gukbe, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

100. Killing off the lead character half-way through the film: Psycho

semi-tie with l'avventura

― sleep, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

That's right; actually I think L'Avventura came first...

― Joe, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

The Russian Arc -- a single shot (maybe?)

― negotiable, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

90. Anti-climactic/unexpected killing off of lead character(s) at the end of the film (a la Easy Rider, etc.): Godard's My Life to Live?

― Joe, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

The Russian Arc -- a single shot (maybe?)

warhol did some of these also, right? empire, etc?

― sleep, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

89. A single set - Rear window?

― chap, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

SPOILER

scuse me, the L'Avventura chick's fate is unknown

Lifeboat and Rope had single sets.

i was betting on at least 70 errors in this list.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

I was betting on you being in with the pedantry within 5 posts.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

89. A single set - Rear window?

i haven't seen it, but hitchcock's rope is one set i think: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040746/

doh xposts

― sleep, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

well, accuracy is a muthafucka

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

So's graciousness, apparently.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

well, you could make 2 separate lists for commercial & avant garde film.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah. I don't think anybody on the thread was saying they were certain about their suggestions.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

Dr. Morbius, do you know what was the first movie to combine cartoons, etc and live action?

― negotiable, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

90. Anti-climactic/unexpected killing off of lead character(s) at the end of the film (a la Easy Rider, etc.): Godard's My Life to Live?

One could make the same arguement for Breathless or Le Petit Soldat, both of which predate My Life.... Better still, try Pandora's Box, which was a major inspiration for the film.

― C. Grisso/McCain, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

Also, what was the first movie to show someone being run over by a car?

― negotiable, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

Oncoming Horseless Carriage, 1897

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

88. Ending Film on A Freeze-Frame: The 400 Blows

― C. Grisso/McCain, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

Good idea re: SPOILERS (forgot about that)

87. Two actors playing the same character in the same film (not in a younger version --> older version way): Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire

― Joe, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

Here's one I'm interested in: what was the first movie (especially coming from out of the Hollywood system) to have a categorically unhappy ending? Not counting ones where it's somewhat expected (e.g., Passion of Joan of Arc)...

― Joe, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

86. Ending film with frame disintegration: Two-Lane
Blacktop?

― Joe, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

Is Russian Ark 100% no-fooling one shot, or one shot in the sense that Rope is one shot? (If I remember Rope correctly, it still never visually "cuts" -- someone just happens to walk by and block the camera when the reels need to change.)

― nabisco, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

Wait, never mind, Wikipedia sez: "Although it is commonly believed that all the cuts in Rope are hidden, in fact, only half are."

― nabisco, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

100. Killing off the lead character half-way through the film: Psycho

Have you read "Wuthering Heights"?

― Mark C, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

87. Two actors playing the same character in the same film (not in a younger version --> older version way): Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire

Where does Persona fall in this type of category?

― Gukbe, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

re: unhappy endings (erm SPOILER)

probably any number of pre-code films...i am a fugitive from a chain gang?

― impudent harlot, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

To be fair, Mark, there may be a ghost out there a-wuthering. Two other notables in the book world on that front: Machado de Assis having a dead narrator write his memoirs (1881) and Juan Rulfo having a narrator die midway through (1955). (He doesn't really retain the ability to narrate, either -- his voice gets subsumed into a whole host of dead voices.)

― nabisco, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

Is Russian Ark 100% no-fooling one shot

Far as I know, yes.

The '39 Wuthering Heights only did the first half of the book, tho!

No, offhand I don't know the first animated/people mix. I bet it was those damn Germans.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

Dr. Morbius, do you know what was the first movie to combine cartoons, etc and live action?

-- negotiable, Friday, April 20, 2007 9:11 AM (1 hour ago)

gertie the dinosaur?

― remy bean, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

87. Two actors playing the same character in the same film (not in a younger version --> older version way): Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire

err, i'm pretty sure that f/x demanded this in, like, the teens

― remy bean, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

98. Birth of a Nation - cross-cutting/iris lens/virtually everything? how about lonedale operator? all those other weird griffith creations?

― remy bean, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

― remy bean, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

85. first gay bar in mainstream film: Oswalt's 1919 Anders als die Andern

― remy bean, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

84. first kiss: May Irwin's Kiss 1896

― remy bean, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Two actors playing the same character in the same film doesn't include stunt doubles.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - freeze-frame.

― pisces, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

HELLZAPOPPIN - talking to camera

― pisces, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

Which had the first filmed double-penetration?

― sexyDancer, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:48 (nineteen years ago)

remy OTM re:McCay

― Shakey Mo Collier, Saturday, 21 April 2007 00:32 (nineteen years ago)

90. Anti-climactic/unexpected killing off of lead character(s) at the end of the film (a la Easy Rider, etc.): Godard's My Life to Live?

One could make the same arguement for Breathless or Le Petit Soldat, both of which predate My Life.... Better still, try Pandora's Box, which was a major inspiration for the film.

-- C. Grisso/McCain, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:12

Broken Blossoms, earlier still? everyone croaks at the end of that!

96. Psycho(AGAIN) - Toilet!

I think a toilet first appears in King Vidor's "the crowd"

83.First openly lesbian character - Countess Geschwitz in "Pandora's box"?

― Pashmina, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:05 (nineteen years ago)

92. Andrei Rublev- Prologue sequence that is not related plot-wise or character-wise to the rest of the film.

I think Arsenic and Old Lace got there first.

Re: Talking to the camera, isn't there a Marx Brothers bit where Groucho has a strange interlude in which he starts delivering monologues to the camera?

― clotpoll, Saturday, 21 April 2007 12:25 (nineteen years ago)

82. I think Der Letzte Mann is the first use of a (makeshift) dolly. It might well be the first of lots of things, wonderful as it is.

― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 21 April 2007 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

81. first film to star chris tucker - house party 3

― and what, Saturday, 21 April 2007 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

80. First film to have someone eat dog shit on camera: er.....Pink Flamingos?

― Joe, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:27 (nineteen years ago)

I knew we were gonna get here, thk God it was quick

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

some obvious ones:
1. first Chloe Sevigny onscreen BJ: Escape from Witch Mountain
2. first movie about hip hop culture: Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

― chris, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

Wild Style was a year before Electric Boogaloo (though it's kind of a documentary).

― chap, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

79 Pandora's Box is the one w/ first lezbeen character innit?

― Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

ya what else is wrong with that? (xp)

― s1ocki, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

Was Victim the first pro-gay mainstream film? I haven't seen Mädchen in Uniform, maybe that one counts too.

― Tuomas, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

What is the first movie to mention the Internet (as in, specifically say the word "Internet")?

― underpants of the gods, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah I get it now.

― chap, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

Both of these are highly debatable:

78. First Film with full-frontal female nudity released by a Hollywood studio: Blow-Up
77. First Film with full-frontal male nudity released by a Hollywood studio: Women In Love

― C. Grisso/McCain, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

What's the first Hollywood film in which the word 'fuck' is spoken?

― chap, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

"first film to star chris tucker"

was "not starring chris tucker" a convention that was broken, or merely sage advice later ignored?

― Alan, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

What's the first Hollywood film in which the word 'fuck' is spoken?

76. First Hollywood film with the word "Fuck": [i]M*A*S*H{/i]

― C. Grisso/McCain, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

75. First mainstream film with a lesbian sex scene (or any homosexual sex scene): The Fox from 1967?

― Tuomas, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

That reminded me, what is the first mainstream film to have a "proper" (as opposed to an allusive one) sex scene in the first place? Does Les Amants from 1958 count?

― Tuomas, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

If I remember correctly you can see boob in that scene and there's a little bit of humping.

― Tuomas, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

What was the first film to have one of those "Where Are They Now?" montages at the end (ala Z &American Graffiti)?

― C. Grisso/McCain, Monday, 23 April 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

I think the "where are they now" device is my favourite in all of cinema. "Killed in Vietnam by his own troops" etc.

― Mark C, Monday, 23 April 2007 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

Was Victim the first pro-gay mainstream film?

Busby Berkeley to thread.

Morbs, I apologise for arguing with you up there. You were completely right.

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

first film with character looking/talking into camera in 4th wall breaking fashion = ?

― deeznuts, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

ferris beuller

― chris, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

i dont see 'in the shower' up there jackass

― deeznuts, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

eazy does it, deeznuts!

― chris, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

It's gotta be a marx brothers/grouch marx film, I would think...

― Joe, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

Was Victim the first pro-gay mainstream film?

Busby Berkeley to thread.

Were his films openly gay? As far as I know Victim was the first mainstream film to directly address the issue of homosexuality (without any allusion at all) and support gay people ever since the aforementioned Mädchen in Uniform.

― Tuomas, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

first film with character looking/talking into camera in 4th wall breaking fashion = ?

It probably ain't the first, but there's the famous Daffy Duck short where he fights with his animator. Though the Droopy short where the wolf literally runs outside the film might predate that.

― Tuomas, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

How about the first film to put the film's title listed first in its end credits? Seems to be a noble crop: Halloween, Network (though I'm sure there are some crap ones that did this, too...)

― Joe, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

there's a Buster Keaton short where a woman in the bathtub covers the camera lens before emerging....

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

The problem w/ this stuff is you can only go by reference claims, and different sources say different things.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be interested to know what was the first film to feature no opening credits other than studio, title, and maybe director as is becoming the norm nowadays. Star Wars?

I was watching Alfie (the Michael Caine one) last night, and I thought of this when he started talking to the camera after the main title popped on the screen (cued by the woman saying his name) about how "you're expectin' the bleedin' titles to play. Well, they aren't..." The full credits ran at the end complete with what might be a convention-breaker that never really took off: showing pictures of not only performers on their title cards, but also certain members of the crew on theirs (Sonny Rollins for the score, Sonny & Cher for the theme in the American print, the screenwriter, the cameraman etc...).

― C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

87. Two actors playing the same character in the same film (not in a younger version --> older version way): Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire

Didn't Plan 9 From Outer Space do this too, when Lugosi died?

No one's mentioned sound or color, so

74. The Jazz Singer.

73. The Toll of the Sea (a bit of Googling tells me this was the first color feature-length film, sometime between 1917 and 1926).

― nickn, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

72. first film to shut down the soundtrack in the middle of the film for a few seconds - band apart - Godard.

(btw, Godard owns this thread)

― Zeno, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

did Cassavetes invented the hand-held camera style in "shadows?!

did Godard invented the jump cuts?

― Zeno, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be interested to know what was the first film to feature no opening credits other than studio, title, and maybe director as is becoming the norm nowadays. Star Wars?

IIRC Lucas had to buy out SAG and DGA in order to keep actor/director credits off screen. this has been policy ever since, i think.

Also, Star Wars was the first movie to have a star field big enough to pan over because... no one had ever panned over a star field before.

― Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

jazz singer was not the first sound film.

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

"97. Citizen Kane - Ceiling"

doubtful

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

"Was Victim the first pro-gay mainstream film? I haven't seen Mädchen in Uniform, maybe that one counts too.

-- Tuomas, Monday, April 23, 2007 7:15 PM (1 week ago)"

you have a weird way of seeing films.

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

jazz singer was not the first sound film.

Yeah, I figured it wasn't. But it's fake landmark status was not as well known to me as that for Gone With The Wind or Wizard Of Oz as the first color film, and I didn't want to research TWO facts, so I left it as an exercise.

― nickn, Thursday, 3 May 2007 00:18 (nineteen years ago)

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