I am thinking Singin' in the Rain is there because it is such a shining example of the genre of the golden age Hollywod musical; which is an important part of film history even if such films are not made any more.

Such lists are always subjective and arbitrary and bound up with expectations. I remember a local art theatre doing a survey on the top 100 foreign films of all time; this was a couple of years ago. The top two films were basically the most recent foreign films any of the voters had seen or heard of: Life is Beautiful and Run, Lola, Run. I think there La Dolce Vita clocked in at around # 33 and Bergman was not even in the top ten. There ya go. Then again these were not critics or film historians, just audience members who liked to frequent that particular theatre. Still...

My personal top ten are somewhat eclectic, including obscure or silly things like Picnic at Hanging Rock and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But as maybe one of the only professional film critics on Mudcat (a dubious occupation) I offer my top ten list of favorite films also taking into consideration their lasting value and importance:

1. La Dolce Vita (Fellini)
2. The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
3. Singin' in the Rain
4. The Wizard of Oz
5. The Wanderer (Albicocco)
6. Dreams (Kurosawa)
7. Blow Up (Antonioni)
8. Excalibur (Boorman)
9. The Exorcist (Friedkin)
10. The Shooting Party

(if I did not include the director's name it means I do not remember it at the moment!)