Christopher Nolan: The Dark Knight Director’s Favorite Movie Is It!

After bursting onto the scene in 1998 with his first film, the neo-noir thriller Following, Christopher Nolan has since established himself as one of Hollywood’s most influential directors. Known for his distinctive cinematic style and complex conceptual narratives (too many, some would say…), he very regularly discusses his inspiration material over the years, his favorite films and therefore the films that have influenced him. His work, more or less directly.

in the interviewEntertainment Weekly For example, in 2013, he explained the impact of discovering the big screen when he was very young in 2001, A Space Odyssey and the influence of Stanley Kubrick’s work on his film Interstellar, or the film. Hero items.

For his film Dunkirk he quoted Visual brilliance, intertwined narratives and aggressively anachronistic music chariots of fire from Hugh Hudson“ as one of the sources of his war film influences. in 2020, He talked about the impact About Michael Mann’s film Heat about his character creation in The Dark Knight.

If Nolan worships many works of science fiction, including Blade Runner, Alien or even Star Wars, films at the opposite end of the spectrum figure in his personal pantheon; Like Lawrence of Arabia.

A badly mutilated masterpiece

But what is his favorite movie? This is a silent film, a masterpiece dating from 1924: Les Rapaces, signed by Erich von Stroheim. Story ? Illegally becoming a dentist, McTeague married Trina, a young woman introduced to him by his friend Marcus. But the young bride turns out to be stingy, especially since she won a big lottery win…

“As Ryan’s daughterThe spectacle offered by geography through narrative and its subject matter is extraordinary and inspiring. pure cinema” Nolan commented, speaking to A “The Lost Work of Absolute Genius” About Stroheim.

In 1924, the latter signed this film on behalf of MGM, where it depicts the degradation and destruction of human relationships around a winning lottery ticket that changes the fortunes of a group of individuals. legendary movie Raptors There would be a surplus, with the first cut lasting 7 hours; Others report a duration of 10 hours.

Below is a small clip from the movie…

Almost systematically bringing the perfume of scandal and brimstone to portray the animality that lurks in every human being, Stroheim drew the ire of the Leagues of Virtues, while Hollywood furiously waved the censorship scissors at his work.

With the exception of Blind Husbands and The Merry Widow, all of his films are cut in half, two-thirds, or even three-quarters, as it was precisely Raptors.

Tired of his inconsistency and considered too undocumented, the studios pursued him in 1928, forcing Stroheim to put his directing career on hold to become an actor. When he returned to Europe after his painful experience as a director in the United States, Stroheim declared with logical bitterness: “Hollywood killed me.”

Released on DVD in 2013 in a very interesting extras edition, unfortunately it has been out of print for some time and is now selling for gold. However, it remains viewable on VOD. A film to be discovered. Moreover, the filmmaker is very, very warmly recommended by a very keen cinephile.