The National Post recently ran this headline: “Was 1999 the best year in movies? TIFF correctly says yes.”

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Bell Lightbox is running a retrospective honoring films from 1999. You might remember that this was the year for “The Sixth Sense,” “The Matrix,” “Fight Club,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” (“Purple Noon” was far superior to the Matt Damn movie.)

Because of this, these experts claim that 1999 was the best year in film history.

I beg to differ.

There are so many other years that have produced excellent motion pictures.

Interestingly enough, if you type in “best year in cinema” on Google, then 1939 comes up. The top films from that year were “Ninotchka,” “Stagecoach,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Dark Victory,” “Gone with the Wind,” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

While these are excellent films, there was even a better year for motion pictures: 1950.

These were some of the pictures you could see at your local cinema house in the United States:

– “The Third Man”

– “All About Eve”

– “Sunset Boulevard”

– “White Heat”

– “The Asphalt Jungle”

– “Harvey”

– “No Way Out”

– “Woman on the Run”

– “Night and the City”

– “Stage Fright”

– “Last Holiday”

– “Where the Sidewalk Ends”

What a way to kick off the new decade.

While 1999 may have delivered some good films, 1950 was even better. And, of course, you can find so many great pictures from the dawn of sound until the film school revolution of the 1960s/1970s.

If you ever need to commence your journey into film, then you travel back to 1950, not 1999.