La Fémis film school's list of films for "understanding" the cinema, it's history and it's style, listed by Tim Palmer in his book Brutal Intimacy.

This list does not completely add up to 156 due to the span of the Peleshian films which are here individually and not as one program. The Melies and Lumiere film programs are listed here in single documentaries. One can surmise that you may watch them here or individually outside of documetary format.

I believe this to be the most comprehensive and correct version of this list.