An alternative Top 250: the “favoritest” movies relative to era
This is an alternative to the standard IMDb Top 250 list, using the same IMDb rating data (via the weekly FTP data files) in a different way.
I've taken the number of high IMDb votes (ratings 8–10) for each film, and multiplied by a factor based on the number of "typical" votes for movies from the half-decade of that film's release. This tends to weight older films more based on the fewer votes being cast for their movie peers, and serves to highlight movies that are disproportionately watched and loved from their era.
The result is a list of 250 populist greats (the era-adjusted most favorite films according to IMDb voters, or what I'm calling the "favoritest") that stand out in viewership and esteem among titles from the same time period.
""
Casablanca (1943)
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
""
Metropolis (1927)
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming ...
""
The Godfather (1972)
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, ...
""
The Kid (1921)
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with...
""
Nosferatu (1922)
The mysterious Count Orlok summons a happily married real estate agent to his castle, located up in the Transylvanian mountains, to finalise ...
""
Citizen Kane (1941)
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-me...
""
""
12 Angry Men (1957)
The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or inno...
""
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and R...
""
The Gold Rush (1925)
A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.
""
""
""
City Lights (1931)
A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor...
""
""
Rear Window (1954)
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
""
""
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb...
""
The General (1926)
During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnnie Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an at...
""
M (1931)
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. B...
""