I had a lot of fun in 2014 watching each of the 36 films that Charlie Chaplin made in 1914 (well, the 35 that still exist, at least). What made it most fun was watching them a hundred years to the day from their original release, so seeing them at the rate that the audiences of the time did.
A neat side effect was that I kept on task and so inherently had a book ready to proof and edit by the end of the year, so I conjured up a similar project. This one wouldn't involve the centennials of films but of people, working to the same sort of structure.
So, here's my Centennials project.
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Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim was to remember them with an interesting and unusual film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore other aspects of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.
Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.
These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I collated these reviews into a book, A Hundred in 2016, which won the Alan Black Cirque du Livre Book of the Festival in 2017.
I've been less successful finishing this project in succeeding years, for many reasons, but that changed in 2025 after I'd changed the structure from book form to zine form and I should have an Apocalypse Later Zine, A Hundred in 2025, in print shortly into 2026. At least that's the plan.
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic
| Latest Review (21 Jan 2026) | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| The Giant of Marathon | 1959 | 5 | 5 | Jacques Tourneur & Bruno Vailati | IMDb |
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| 2016 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| 10 Rillington Place | 1971 | 7 | 6 | Richard Fleischer | IMDb |
| 23 Paces to Baker Street | 1956 | 5 | 5 | Henry Hathaway | IMDb |
| Angel Baby | 1961 | 5 | 5 | Paul Wendkos | IMDb |
| Babies for Sale | 1940 | 5 | 5 | Charles Barton | IMDb |
| The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend | 1949 | 4 | 4 | Preston Sturges | IMDb |
| Behold a Pale Horse | 1964 | 4 | 4 | Fred Zinnemann | IMDb |
| The Brute Man | 1946 | 4 | 4 | Jean Yarbrough | IMDb |
| Bwana Devil | 1952 | 3 | 3 | Arch Oboler | IMDb |
| Carry On... Up the Khyber | 1968 | 6 | 5 | Gerald Thomas | IMDb |
| Curse of the Queerwolf | 1988 | 5 | 4 | Mark Pirro | IMDb |
| The Curse of the Werewolf | 1961 | 5 | 5 | Terence Fisher | IMDb |
| Dance of the Vampires | 1967 | 5 | 4 | Roman Polanski | IMDb |
| The Dark Eyes of London | 1939 | 5 | 5 | Walter Summers | IMDb |
| Death Car on the Freeway | 1979 | 4 | 4 | Hal Needham | IMDb |
| Deathtrap | 1982 | 6 | 6 | Sidney Lumet | IMDb |
| Doctor Syn | 1937 | 5 | 5 | Roy William Neill | IMDb |
| Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine | 1965 | 4 | 4 | Norman Taurog | IMDb |
| Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde | 1971 | 5 | 5 | Roy Ward Baker | IMDb |
| The Ghost Breakers | 1940 | 5 | 5 | George Marshall | IMDb |
| Hellzapoppin' | 1941 | 6 | 5 | H. C. Potter | IMDb |
| Horrors of the Black Museum | 1959 | 5 | 5 | Arthur Crabtree | IMDb |
| The Inheritance | 1962 | 6 | 6 | Masaki Kobayashi | IMDb |
| The Iroquois Trail | 1950 | 4 | 4 | Phil Karlson | IMDb |
| Johnny O'Clock | 1947 | 4 | 4 | Robert Rossen | IMDb |
| Lady in a Cage | 1964 | 5 | 6 | Walter Grauman | IMDb |
| The Lost World | 1960 | 3 | 3 | Irwin Allen | IMDb |
| The Night of the Grizzly | 1966 | 5 | 4 | Joseph Pevney | IMDb |
| Postal Inspector | 1936 | 4 | 4 | Otto Brower | IMDb |
| Psychout for Murder | 1969 | 5 | 5 | Edward Ross | IMDb |
| The Shiralee | 1957 | 5 | 5 | Leslie Norman | IMDb |
| Skidoo | 1968 | 2 | 2 | Otto Preminger | IMDb |
| The Spiral Staircase | 1945 | 6 | 6 | Robert Siodmak | IMDb |
| The Tattered Dress | 1957 | 6 | 5 | Jack Arnold | IMDb |
| Terror in a Texas Town | 1958 | 6 | 5 | Joseph H. Lewis | IMDb |
| The Villain | 1979 | 3 | 4 | Hal Needham | IMDb |
| 2017 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| 5 Fingers | 1952 | 6 | 5 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | IMDb |
| The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T. | 1953 | 5 | 6 | Roy Rowland | IMDb |
| Behind Locked Doors | 1948 | 4 | 4 | Budd Boetticher | IMDb |
| Blanche Fury | 1948 | 5 | 5 | Marc Allégret | IMDb |
| Blood on the Moon | 1948 | 5 | 5 | Robert Wise | IMDb |
| The Blue Veil | 1951 | 5 | 5 | Curtis Bernhardt | IMDb |
| Chicken Every Sunday | 1949 | 5 | 5 | George Seaton | IMDb |
| Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? | 1968 | 2 | 2 | Don Weis | IMDb |
| Emperor of the North Pole | 1973 | 5 | 5 | Robert Aldrich | IMDb |
| The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery | 1966 | 4 | 4 | Frank Launder & Sidney Gilliat | IMDb |
| Helter Skelter | 1949 | 4 | 4 | Ralph Thomas | IMDb |
| Hotel Berlin | 1945 | 6 | 6 | Peter Godfrey | IMDb |
| It Always Rains on Sunday | 1947 | 6 | 6 | Robert Hamer | IMDb |
| The Leopard Man | 1943 | 6 | 6 | Jacques Tourneur | IMDb |
| Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly | 1970 | 5 | 5 | Freddie Francis | IMDb |
| The Naked Kiss | 1964 | 6 | 6 | Samuel Fuller | IMDb |
| The Night Walker | 1964 | 5 | 5 | William Castle | IMDb |
| O, My Darling Clementine | 1943 | 4 | 4 | Frank McDonald | IMDb |
| Pool of London | 1951 | 6 | 5 | Basil Dearden | IMDb |
| The Ringer | 1952 | 5 | 5 | Guy Hamilton | IMDb |
| Santo vs. The Vampire Women | 1962 | 5 | 5 | Alfonso Corona Blake | IMDb |
| Stay Hungry | 1976 | 5 | 4 | Bob Rafelson | IMDb |
| That Obscure Object of Desire | 1977 | 6 | 5 | Luis Buñuel | IMDb |
| The Time Travelers | 1964 | 5 | 5 | Ib Melchior | IMDb |
| 2018 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| All Through the Night | 1942 | 5 | 5 | Vincent Sherman | IMDb |
| The Baby | 1973 | 5 | 5 | Ted Post | IMDb |
| The Bigamist | 1953 | 6 | 6 | Ida Lupino | IMDb |
| The Girl Hunters | 1963 | 5 | 5 | Roy Rowland | IMDb |
| The Glass Web | 1953 | 5 | 5 | Jack Arnold | IMDb |
| Golden Boy | 1939 | 4 | 4 | Rouben Mamoulian | IMDb |
| Home of the Brave | 1949 | 6 | 5 | Mark Robson | IMDb |
| The Last Page | 1952 | 5 | 5 | Terence Fisher | IMDb |
| The Lineup | 1958 | 6 | 6 | Don Siegel | IMDb |
| The Magnetic Monster | 1953 | 5 | 5 | Curt Siodmak | IMDb |
| 2019 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| The Abominable Snowman | 1957 | 5 | 4 | Val Guest | IMDb |
| The Big Circus | 1959 | 4 | 4 | Joseph M. Newman | IMDb |
| House of Bamboo | 1955 | 5 | 5 | Samuel Fuller | IMDb |
| I Died a Thousand Times | 1955 | 4 | 4 | Stuart Heisler | IMDb |
| I’ve Lived Before | 1956 | 4 | 4 | Richard Bartlett | IMDb |
| Night Train to Mundo Fine | 1966 | 1 | 1 | Coleman Francis | IMDb |
| Noose | 1948 | 5 | 5 | Edmond T. Gréville | IMDb |
| Our Man in Havana | 1959 | 6 | 6 | Carol Reed | IMDb |
| 2020 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| Buck Rogers | 1939 | 3 | 3 | Ford Beebe & Saul A. Goodkind | IMDb |
| Gunfight at Comanche Creek | 1963 | 5 | 5 | Frank McDonald | IMDb |
| Hell is Empty | 1967 | 4 | 4 | John Ainsworth | IMDb |
| The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery | 1975 | 4 | 3 | Dean Hargrove | IMDb |
| Nights of Cabiria | 1957 | 7 | 7 | Federico Fellini | IMDb |
| Sorcerer | 1977 | 6 | 6 | William Friedkin | IMDb |
| Vicki | 1953 | 6 | 5 | Harry Horner | IMDb |
| 2021 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| Clash by Night | 1963 | 5 | 5 | Montgomery Tully | IMDb |
| Fort Massacre | 1958 | 4 | 4 | Joseph M. Newman | IMDb |
| Gang War | 1958 | 4 | 4 | Gene Fowler Jr. | IMDb |
| Happy Go Lovely | 1951 | 5 | 5 | H. Bruce Humberstone | IMDb |
| Klondike Kate | 1943 | 4 | 4 | William Castle | IMDb |
| The Mole People | 1956 | 4 | 4 | Virgil Vogel | IMDb |
| Scandal Sheet | 1952 | 5 | 5 | Phillip Karlson | IMDb |
| 2022 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| Lisa and the Devil | 1973 | 6 | 5 | Mario Bava | IMDb |
| Reprisal! | 1956 | 4 | 4 | George Sherman | IMDb |
| The Train | 1964 | 6 | 5 | John Frankenheimer | IMDb |
| 2023 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| An Angel for Satan | 1966 | 5 | 5 | Camillo Mastrocinque | IMDb |
| The Glass Wall | 1953 | 6 | 6 | Maxwell Shane | IMDb |
| The Guilty | 1947 | 5 | 5 | John Reinhardt | IMDb |
| The Man in the Glass Booth | 1975 | 6 | 6 | Arthur Hiller | IMDb |
| Middle of the Night | 1959 | 6 | 6 | Delbert Mann | IMDb |
| The Night We Got the Bird | 1961 | 4 | 4 | Darcy Conyers | IMDb |
| The One-Armed Swordsman | 1967 | 5 | 5 | Cheh Chang | IMDb |
| One Way Pendulum | 1965 | 4 | 4 | Peter Yates | IMDb |
| The Return of the Living Dead | 1985 | 5 | 5 | Dan O’Bannon | IMDb |
| Smokescreen | 1964 | 5 | - | Jim O’Connolly | IMDb |
| Storm Over Tibet | 1952 | 5 | 5 | Andrew Marton | IMDb |
| What’s Buzzin’, Cousin? | 1943 | 3 | 3 | Charles Barton | IMDb |
| When a Stranger Calls | 1979 | 6 | 5 | Fred Walton | IMDb |
| All 2024 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| The Brute | 1953 | 6 | 5 | Luis Buñuel | IMDb |
| I Bury the Living | 1958 | 7 | 7 | Albert Band | IMDb |
| The Killers | 1964 | 5 | 5 | Donald Siegel | IMDb |
| Two for the Road | 1967 | 6 | 5 | Stanley Donen | IMDb |
| 2025 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| Always a Bride | 1953 | 5 | 5 | Ralph Smart | IMDb |
| Being There | 1979 | 6 | 6 | Hal Ashby | IMDb |
| The Big Gundown | 1967 | 7 | 6 | Sergio Sollima | IMDb |
| Cash on Demand | 1961 | 6 | 6 | Quentin Lawrence | IMDb |
| Cross of Iron | 1977 | 6 | 5 | Sam Peckinpah | IMDb |
| Deathmaster | 1972 | 3 | 3 | Ray Danton | IMDb |
| Demons of the Mind | 1972 | 3 | 4 | Peter Sykes | IMDb |
| Dont Look Back | 1967 | 6 | 5 | D. A. Pennebaker | IMDb |
| Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow | 1963 | 5 | 5 | James Neilson | IMDb |
| Fitzwilly | 1967 | 5 | - | Delbert Mann | IMDb |
| Fortune is a Woman | 1957 | 5 | 5 | Sidney Gilliat | IMDb |
| Fright | 1971 | 5 | 5 | Peter Collinson | IMDb |
| The Great Impostor | 1960 | 5 | - | Robert Mulligan | IMDb |
| Images | 1972 | 5 | 5 | Robert Altman | IMDb |
| The Living Idol | 1957 | 5 | 5 | Albert Lewin | IMDb |
| The Mafu Cage | 1978 | 6 | 6 | Karen Arthur | IMDb |
| A Man Called Adam | 1966 | 5 | - | Leo Penn | IMDb |
| Missing | 1982 | 6 | 6 | Costa-Gavras | IMDb |
| No Way to Treat a Lady | 1968 | 6 | 6 | Jack Smight | IMDb |
| Patrick the Great | 1944 | 5 | - | Frank Ryan | IMDb |
| The Pigeon That Took Rome | 1962 | 5 | - | Melville Shavelson | IMDb |
| Please Murder Me! | 1956 | 5 | 5 | Peter Godfrey | IMDb |
| A Raisin in the Sun | 1961 | 7 | 7 | Daniel Petrie | IMDb |
| She-Wolf of London | 1946 | 4 | 4 | Jean Yarbrough | IMDb |
| Side Street | 1949 | 5 | 5 | Anthony Mann | IMDb |
| Slap Shot | 1977 | 6 | 6 | George Roy Hill | IMDb |
| That Certain Summer | 1972 | 6 | 5 | Lamont Johnson | IMDb |
| Thunderbolt and Lightfoot | 1974 | 5 | 5 | Michael Cimino | IMDb |
| 2026 Centennial Reviews | |||||
| Title | Year | H | D | Director(s) | IMDb |
| The Giant of Marathon | 1959 | 5 | 5 | Jacques Tourneur & Bruno Vailati | IMDb |
| The Hanging Tree | 1959 | 6 | 6 | Delmer Daves | IMDb |
| The Scarlet Hour | 1956 | 5 | 5 | Michael Curtiz | IMDb |