GREAT CINEMAMASTER LIST
Menu

The Essential 713, made interactive

Find your next
great film.

Search 713 spoiler-free recommendations from 1916 to 2026. Filter by the night you want—not the list you’re supposed to finish.

Direct film viewShowing master rank #367 on its own—not above the ranking.
Refine this collection

Your canon

Back up / restore my film dataLoading your progress…Saved only in this browser
Artwork
DirectorAll directors

Most represented · 6+ films

More recurring directors · 3–5 films54
All directors · surname A–Z438
ActorAll actors

Most represented actors

Big Three membership
Major award winners

1 selected film

Master Rank balances Greatness, Engagement, and Ease. Sort by Greatness for the artistic-canon view.

Director:
Cast:
View The Shop on Main Street film page
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

Under a fascist regime, a Slovak carpenter is appointed to control the shop of an elderly Jewish widow.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

During the Slovak State's Aryanization program, poor carpenter Antonín Brtko is appointed controller of a button shop owned by elderly Jewish widow Rozália Lautmann. She barely understands the new arrangement, while local authorities expect Brtko to benefit from it.

Why it belongs

In The Shop on Main Street, Kadár and Klos let political evil enter through petty opportunity, with comedy by degrees collapsing around two ordinary people in one shop.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Buttons, ledgers, keys, storefront windows, town processions, and misunderstandings make persecution bureaucratically ordinary—Jozef Kroner's anxious Brtko and Ida Kamińska's trusting Lautmann create tenderness shadowed by cowardice and irreversible pressure.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Academy Awards1 win1966 · official ceremony record ↗

Plus 1 additional win

No headline-category win to name

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Institutional reference ranks

Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 250—AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score

Great Cinema Master List scores

Greatness9.1
Engagement8.6
Ease8.0

Slovak · Not Rated
Narrative Feature
Mood: Serious & Intense