Highest-Rated Movies about 'Film Within A Film'

Cinema Paradiso (1988), Sunset Blvd. (1950), WALL·E (2008), Citizen Kane (1941), Singin' in the Rain (1952), White Heat (1949), Sherlock Jr. (1924), Rang De Basanti (2006) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Film Within A Film movies.

#1. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Storyline: A boy who grew up in a native Sicilian Village returns home as a famous director after receiving news about the death of an old friend. Told in a flashback, Salvatore reminiscences about his childhood and his relationship with Alfredo, a projectionist at Cinema Paradiso. Under the fatherly influence of Alfredo, Salvatore fell in love with film making, with the duo spending many hours discussing about films and Alfredo painstakingly teaching Salvatore the skills that became a stepping stone for the young boy into the world of film making. The film brings the audience through the changes in cinema and the dying trade of traditional film making, editing and screening. It also explores a young boy's dream of leaving his little town to foray into the world outside.

Plot Keywords: cinema, flashback, coming of age, movie theatre, generation gap, haunted by the past, melodrama ...

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#2. Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Storyline: In Hollywood of the 50's, the obscure screenplay writer Joe Gillis is not able to sell his work to the studios, is full of debts and is thinking in returning to his hometown to work in an office. While trying to escape from his creditors, he has a flat tire and parks his car in a decadent mansion in Sunset Boulevard. He meets the owner and former silent-movie star Norma Desmond, who lives alone with her butler and driver Max Von Mayerling. Norma is demented and believes she will return to the cinema industry, and is protected and isolated from the world by Max, who was her director and husband in the past and still loves her. Norma proposes Joe to move to the mansion and help her in writing a screenplay for her comeback to the cinema, and the small-time writer becomes her lover and gigolo. When Joe falls in love for the young aspirant writer Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end.

Plot Keywords: butler, madness, recluse, hollywood california, actress, delusion, comeback ...

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#3. WALL·E (2008)

Storyline: In a distant, but not so unrealistic, future where mankind has abandoned earth because it has become covered with trash from products sold by the powerful multi-national Buy N Large corporation, WALL-E, a garbage collecting robot has been left to clean up the mess. Mesmerized with trinkets of Earth's history and show tunes, WALL-E is alone on Earth except for a sprightly pet cockroach. One day, EVE, a sleek (and dangerous) reconnaissance robot, is sent to Earth to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with EVE. WALL-E rescues EVE from a dust storm and shows her a living plant he found amongst the rubble. Consistent with her "directive", EVE takes the plant and automatically enters a deactivated state except for a blinking green beacon. WALL-E, doesn't understand what has happened to his new friend, but, true to his love, he protects her from wind, rain, and lightning, even as she is unresponsive. One day a massive ship comes to reclaim EVE, but WALL-E, ...

Plot Keywords: robot, obesity, post apocalypse, social commentary, pollution, cgi animation, light bulb ...

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#4. Citizen Kane (1941)

Storyline: A group of reporters are trying to decipher the last word ever spoken by Charles Foster Kane, the millionaire newspaper tycoon: "Rosebud". The film begins with a news reel detailing Kane's life for the masses, and then from there, we are shown flashbacks from Kane's life. As the reporters investigate further, the viewers see a display of a fascinating man's rise to fame, and how he eventually fell off the top of the world.

Plot Keywords: new york, journalist, marriage, new york city, adultery, suicide attempt, newspaper publisher ...

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#5. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Storyline: 1927 Hollywood. Monumental Pictures' biggest stars, glamorous on-screen couple Lina Lamont and Don Lockwood, are also an off-screen couple if the trade papers and gossip columns are to be believed. Both perpetuate the public perception if only to please their adoring fans and bring people into the movie theaters. In reality, Don barely tolerates her, while Lina, despite thinking Don beneath her, simplemindedly believes what she sees on screen in order to bolster her own stardom and sense of self-importance. R.F. Simpson, Monumental's head, dismisses what he thinks is a flash in the pan: talking pictures. It isn't until The Jazz Singer (1927) becomes a bona fide hit which results in all the movie theaters installing sound equipment that R.F. knows Monumental, most specifically in the form of Don and Lina, have to jump on the talking picture bandwagon, despite no one at the studio knowing anything about the technology. Musician Cosmo Brown, Don's best friend, gets hired as Monumental's ...

Plot Keywords: raincoat, recording studio, straw hat, pianist, femme fatale, pearl necklace, dancing ...

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#6. White Heat (1949)

Storyline: Cody Jarrett is the sadistic leader of a ruthless gang of thieves. Afflicted by terrible headaches and fiercely devoted to his 'Ma,' Cody is a volatile, violent, and eccentric leader. Cody's top henchman wants to lead the gang and attempts to have an 'accident' happen to Cody, while he is running the gang from in jail. But Cody is saved by an undercover cop, who thereby befriends him and infiltrates the gang. Finally, the stage is set for Cody's ultimate betrayal and downfall, during a big heist at a chemical plant.

Plot Keywords: gangster, psychopath, trojan horse, killed in an explosion, explosion, mother son relationship, loss of mother ...

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#7. Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Storyline: A meek and mild projectionist, who also cleans up after screenings, would like nothing better than to be a private detective. He becomes engaged to a pretty girl but a ladies man known as the Sheik vies for her affection. He gets rid of the projectionist by stealing a pocket watch belonging to the girl's father - which he pawns to buy her an expensive box of candy. He then slips the pawn ticket into the projectionist's pocket and subsequently is found by the police. He doesn't have much luck but in his dreams, he the debonair and renowned detective Sherlock Jr. who faces danger and solves the crime. In real life, the girl solves crimes quickly.

Plot Keywords: false accusation, surrealism, motorcycle, movie theatre, kidnapping, wallet, ring ...

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#8. Rang De Basanti (2006)

Storyline: Sue comes to India to make a film on Indian revolutionaries.She is helped by her friend Sonia who introduces her to her friends Karan,Aslam,Sukhi and their head DJ.Sonia's fiance Lt Ajay Rathod also joins the gang when in town.Their gang always gets in trouble with a political member Laxman who opposes their western culture.After many auditions Sue decides to caste DJ and his friend's in her film.She also casts Laxman in a role thus ending his feud with the gang.All things are going well until Ajay dies in plane crash but manages to save everyone on board.The state minister declares that Ajay died due to his own negligence .DJ an his friends can't take shame given to Ajay by minister and decide to fight for justice.Where things will take ugly events due to political games.

Plot Keywords: urination, fuzz, cop, pig, bacon, pickup truck, father son relationship ...

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#9. Persepolis (2007)

Storyline: In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs.

Plot Keywords: iran, 1970s, based on comic book, repression, grandmother granddaughter relationship, 1990s, 1980s ...

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#10. Vizontele (2001)

Storyline: The film is about the introduction of television to a small village in southeast Anatolia in 1974. Employing a tragicomic language, it tells of the efforts of Emin who is the village idiot and Nazmi who is the mayor of the village. Emin and Nazmi attempt to start the broadcasting of television in their village and face various difficulties in this process.

Plot Keywords: television, prayer, mountain, film within a film, father son relationship, chauffeur, bicycle ...

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#11. Day for Night (1973)

Storyline: The shooting of "Je vous presente Pamela" (may I introduce Pamela) begins. This is the story of en English married wife falling in love and running away with the father of her French husband. Will be simultaneously shown the shooting, the behavior of the people (including the technical team) on the set, and a part of their private life (a factor of complication)...

Plot Keywords: film within a film, film industry, film crew, behind the scenes, filmmaking, doctor, french riviera ...

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#13. Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Storyline: Sullivan is a successful, spoiled, and naive director of fluff films, with a heart-o-gold, who decides he wants to make a film about the troubles of the downtrodden poor. Much to the chagrin of his producers, he sets off in tramp's clothing with a single dime in his pocket to experience poverty first-hand, and gets some reality shock.

Plot Keywords: filmmaking, choking, chicago illinois, check, chase, charity, chopping wood ...

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#14. In a Lonely Place (1950)

Storyline: Screenwriter Dixon Steele, faced with the odious task of scripting a trashy bestseller, has hat-check girl Mildred Atkinson tell him the story in her own words. Later that night, Mildred is murdered and Steele is a prime suspect; his record of belligerence when angry and his macabre sense of humor tell against him. Fortunately, lovely neighbor Laurel Gray gives him an alibi. Laurel proves to be just what Steele needed, and their friendship ripens into love. Will suspicion, doubt, and Steele's inner demons come between them?

Plot Keywords: screenwriter, murder, temper, police investigation, suspense, los angeles california, marriage proposal ...

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#15. Mishima (1985)

Storyline: A fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese author Yukio Mishima. Three of the segments parallel events in Mishima's life with his novels (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses), while the fourth depicts the actual events of the 25th Nov. 1970, "The Last Day".—Nick Lopez <ntlopez@fas.harvard.edu>

Plot Keywords: gay, homosexual, self loathing, reference to michelangelo, reference to lord byron, reference to elvis presley, playwright ...

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