8. Mandingo
One might expect that a film about interracial relationships ought to be progressive and boundary-pushing, but Mandingo pushes boundaries only in the sense that it's an extremely graphic, festishised depiction of racism, that actually seems pretty damn racist itself. James Mason stars as a plantation owner who, after discovering that his wife is not a virgin, rejects her and embarks on an affair with his black slave. In turn, his wife seduces a black slave - the titular character - as a seeming means of getting back at him, only for it all to take on an even more unsettling dimension once the wife back-tracks, claiming Mandingo raped her, after which he is hanged. If the film had in any way seemed to be riffing on the abhorrence of slavery, then Mandingo could have been an incisive, daring film, but instead, it merely makes of the situation a lurid melodrama, ending in a way sure to make viewers angry, but at the filmmakers rather than the tragic situation. Sometimes it's all about tone, and here it seems to relish its over-the-top narrative wholeheartedly.