Filmmaker, critic, and author Scout Tafoya brings some of his “unloved” sensibilities, as demonstrated in his titular video essay series, to his selections for 1915, although a couple of his picks overlap with films that have come into view as undeniably impactful for this season.

Scout, in addition to directing numerous feature films, is the author of books on Tobe Hooper, John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Christophe Gans. His ongoing work can be supported on Patreon.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1915!

Mentioned media:

• Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915) - Maurice Tourneur
• The Cheat (1915) - Cecil B. DeMille
• Regeneration (1915) - Raoul Walsh
• Rapsodia Satanica (1915) - Nino Oxilia
• Trilby (1915) - Maurice Tourneur
• Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) - Christophe Gans
• The Devils (1971) - Ken Russell
• Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) - Guillermo del Toro
• City of God (2002) - Fernando Meirelles
• Silent Hill (2006) - Christophe Gans
• Beauty and the Beast (2014) - Christophe Gans
• Return to Silent Hill (2026) - Christophe Gans
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Robert Wiene
• Dracula (1931) - Tod Browning
• The Tramp (1915) - Charlie Chaplin
• The Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. Griffith
• The Cameraman (1928) - Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton
• Sherlock Jr. (1924) - Buster Keaton
• The General (1926) - Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman
• Cameo Kirby (1923) - John Ford
• Hell Bent (1918) - John Ford
• Safe Conduct (2002) - Bertrand Tavernier
• La Main du diable (1943) - Maurice Tourneur
• Appointment in Honduras (1953) - Jacques Tourneur
• The Blue Bird (1918) - Maurice Tourneur
• Svengali (1931) - Archie Mayo
• Nosferatu (1922) - F.W. Murnau
• Cabiria (1914) - Giovanni Pastrone
• L’Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan
• The Man Who Laughs (1928) - Paul Leni
• Gangs of New York (2002) - Martin Scorsese
• There Are Not Thirty-six Ways of Showing a Man Getting on a Horse (2020) - Nicolás Zukerfeld
• The Big Country (1958) - William Wyler
• Track of the Cat (1954) - William A. Wellman
• Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Billy Wilder
• Ace in the Hole (1951) - Billy Wilder
• Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) - Billy Wilder
• Scarface (1932) - Howard Hawks
• Little Caesar (1931) - Mervyn LeRoy
• The Sign of the Cross (1932) - Cecil B. DeMille
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - David Lean
• An Actor’s Revenge (1963) - Kon Ichikawa
• The Hot Rock (1972) - Peter Yates
• Mrs. Soffel (1984) - Gillian Armstrong
• The Tutor (2023) - Jordan Ross
• Blackhat (2015) - Michael Mann
• The Public Enemy (1931) - William A. Wellman
• Manhattan Melodrama (1934) - W.S. Van Dyke
• The Last of the Mohicans (1920) - Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown
• The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
• “Billy Wilder 1961-1981 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 9)” - You Must Remember This