10. Life of Brian (1979), Terry Gilliam
Icons of ancient architecture fall victim Gilliam's trademark collage animation style to signal the beginning of Monty Python's send-up (or should I say tear-down) of the New Testament, complete with Bond-like title song.
9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967), Iginio Lardani
The harsh mythology of Sergio Leone's west is mirrored in the dynamic opening titles which see grainy images materialize out of hazy brush strokes to the tune of Ennio Morricone's searing music.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Opening by dhamby86
8. West Side Story (1961), Saul Bass
In this melancholy end credit sequence to Wise and Robbin's indelible musical, the camera pans and tracks through the film's now-deserted environs. It imposes a somber mood without sacrificing the kineticism of the photography.
7. Batman (1989), Richard Morrison
The bat symbol becomes an ambiguous living landscape – a dark thing of beauty – in this inspired title segment, enveloping us in the film's shadowy mood. It's probably the best one in Tim Burton's filmography (and that's no lean feat).
6. WALL-E (2008), Jim Capiobanco
The story continues as the end credits roll for WALL-E, brilliantly evoking the evolution of art through the ages in depicting the reconstruction of civilization from scratch, set to Peter Gabriel's poetic lyrics.
5. Se7en (1995), Kyle Cooper
The toe-curling intro to David Fincher's modern noir have since been imitated in horror and thriller entries to the point of over-dilution, but the original is still as unnerving today as it was in 1995.
4. Catch Me If You Can (2002), Olivier Kuntzel & Florence Deygas
This eye-catching throwback to the vintage work of Saul Bass is soaked in 1960s chic. Graphic artists Kuntzel & Deygas combined ink stamps and computers to labouriously animate the stylin' opening credits.
3. Vertigo (1958), Saul Bass
I could probably fill this list entirely with titles designed by Bass for Hitchcock, but I settled on this mesmerizing overture in which an extreme closeup Kim Novak's eye dissolves into a hypnotic montage of sinister Spirographs.
2. Watchmen (2008), Garson Yu
I often cite the series of tableaux that open Zack Snyder's much debated Watchmen as the best part of the movie... not as an insult to the rest of the film, but as high praise to the cleverly compact exposition of the dense backstory. Plus it's hard to argue with a comic book film that kicks things off with Bob Dylan.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Stephen Frankfurt
The underlying themes and motifs of Harper Lee's literary classic bubble to the surface right off the bat in this gorgeous sequence. Much of the symbolism of Lee's text is artfully condensed into two minutes of metaphorical visual cues, beautifully shot and backed by Elmer Bernstein's Oscar-robbed musical score. It gives an atypically modern aesthetic to this time-honoured masterpiece, one that sits comfortably in my all-time top ten.
