Welcome to the semifinals of Face/Off: Battle Royale! For the next week we will be pitting two directors who won their quarterfinal matches against each other and letting YOU, the commenters, decide on who reigns supreme!
You have to decide which director is better than the other? Various factors could play into your decision from who takes the biggest risks to who has the more distinctive style. Remember, it isn’t so much about which director has made the most money at the box office or won the most awards, but, in your mind, which director simply makes better films.
Let’s analyze the filmography of today’s challengers.
Martin Scorsese
Who He Beat in the Quarterfinals: Clint Eastwood (24-2)
1960s to 1980s Directorial Features: Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967), Boxcar Bertha (1972), Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
1990s to 2010s Directorial Features: Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Kundun (1995), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010), Hugo (2011), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Silence (2016), The Irishman (2019)
Alfred Hitchcock
Who He Beat in the Quarterfinals: Billy Wilder (19-1)
1920s & 1930s Directorial Features: The Pleasure Garden (1925), The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), The Ring (1927), Downhill (1927), The Farmer’s Wife (1928), Easy Virtue (1928), Champagne (1928), The Manxman (1929), Blackmail (1929), Murder! (1930), The Skin Game (1931), Mary (1931), Rich and Strange (1931), Number Seventeen (1932), Waltzes from Vienna (1934), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Secret Agent (1936), Sabotage (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Jamaica Inn (1939)
1940s Directorial Features: Rebecca (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), The Paradine Case (1947), Rope (1948), Under Capricorn (1949)
1950s to 1970s Directorial Features: Stage Fright (1950), Strangers on a Train (1951), I Confess (1953), Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Wrong Man (1956), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964), Torn Curtain (1966), Topaz (1969), Frenzy (1972), Family Plot (1976)
Only one can advance to the next stage of the Battle Royale. Let the Face/Off begin!
Discuss in the comments below your favorite films from each director and who should advance to the finals.
This ends the semifinals of Face/Off: Battle Royale. The Final Face/Off will happen Thursday, November 5, 2020.
