# Any Classic Movie Fans/Buffs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279 "2018-02-06T03:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thatbpguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/258eb7/32.png) [@thatbpguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatbpguy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/1 "2018-02-06T03:03:06Z")
I am all about pre-1960 films. Rather than the gratuitous films today, generally lacking plot, character development, script, camera angles, use of shadows… I love my oldies. But aside from greats like Casablanca, Double Indemnity, Citizen Kane… Anyone have a gem of a classic movie not fully known? Run Silent, Run Deep Hour of the Wolf I Confess The Picture of Dorian Gray Your suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/2 "2018-02-06T03:36:59Z")
A few that come to mind: Twelve O’clock High Treasure of the Sierra Madre The River Titfield Thunderbolt Captains Courageous (1937) Mark of Zoro (1920) Hells Angels (1930) Lonely are the Brave (1962) Crane ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/3 "2018-02-06T03:51:49Z")
**Stalag 17** On the Waterfront ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/4 "2018-02-06T04:01:02Z")
Stalag 17 - time to see it again! ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/5 "2018-02-06T04:05:26Z")
Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum and the deliciously evil and beautiful Jane Greer. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/6 "2018-02-06T04:08:39Z")
I love ‘Now Voyager’ and oh, I don’t know maybe 1 MILLION others, that I can’t think of at this moment. They will come to me, so I will post as they come to my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/7 "2018-02-06T04:08:51Z")
**My Man Godfrey** with William Powell and Carole Lombard. ---
**Author:** ![thatbpguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/258eb7/32.png) [@thatbpguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatbpguy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/8 "2018-02-06T04:12:47Z")
I’m watching Shadow of the Thin Man now. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/9 "2018-02-06T04:14:49Z")
I mainly watch older commercials featuring Gary Burghoff. ---
**Author:** ![thatbpguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/258eb7/32.png) [@thatbpguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatbpguy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/10 "2018-02-06T04:18:12Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum and the deliciously evil and beautiful Jane Greer. Ohhhhhhhhhh Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/11 "2018-02-06T04:25:44Z")
[**Bad Day at Black Rock**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Day_at_Black_Rock) Jock Sturges Spencer Tracy need I say more? mc ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/12 "2018-02-06T06:17:22Z")
The Phenix City Story 1955. Not as true as they make out but based on the Assassination of Albert Patterson after he won the Democratic primary for Attorney General (in those days the general election was a mere formality).Forced the governor to declare martial law. John McIntire, Kathryn Grant (future Mrs Bing Crosby) and a jovial but ultimately chilling villain Edward Andrews. Could well be the first time the n word is used in a mainstream film. Many versions start with a 13 minute interview of locals. Decision Before Dawn (1951) In 1944 Allied intelligence, with misgivings, recruits two German POWs to go behind German lines with an American officer to contact a German officer willing to surrender his unit. You really get a feeling on what Nazi Germany was like collapsing with ruined cities, refugees, updated check lists for traitors. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/13 "2018-02-06T06:47:10Z")
I love anything with/by Orson Wells: [ul] [li]Touch of Evil[/li][li]The Magnificent Ambersons[/li][li]Chimes at Midnight[/li][li]The Lady From Shanghai[/li][li]The Third Man[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/14 "2018-02-06T06:51:19Z")
I don’t know what the OP means by “not fully known.” Here are some suggestions for great movies from before 1960, but none of them is obscure: The Third Man (a favorite of mine; great cinematography, moral without being sentimental, not a false note from beginning to end, one of the greatest closing shots of all time) Paths of Glory (early Kubrick) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Lon Chaney, 1923, silent; people seem to forget about Chaney when considering film greats) Stormy Weather (not much of a plot, but great music with many black stars) M (see it in the original German with subtitles) Duck Soup (my favorite Marx Brothers movie, skewers everything and everyone) Black Orpheus (beautifully filmed) Bicycle Thieves (seemingly simple story has a lot of depth) Mon Oncle (Tati showing the absurdity of modern mechanized life) Sweet Smell of Success (Burt Lancaster plays a true S.O.B., and Tony Curtis plays a true suck-up) The Hidden Fortress (One of Kurosawa’s most accessible movies. The original Star Wars was partly inspired by this movie.) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/15 "2018-02-06T07:11:24Z")
Nicholas Ray and Douglas Sirk aren’t fully known, but together they account for 10 films in [this highly curated list of top 1000](http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films_table.php). ETA: …and it’s searchable in the second box to your heart’s desire! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/16 "2018-02-06T11:09:04Z")
These are my favorite pre-1960 films, and I will allow you to decide which of them are not fully known: _The Adventures of Robin Hood_ (1938, U.S., dir. Michael Curtiz) _All Quiet on the Western Front_ (1930, U.S., dir. Lewis Milestone) _Camille_ (1937, U.S., dir. George Cukor) _Casablanca_ (1942, U.S., dir. Michael Curtiz) _Citizen Kane_ (1941, U.S., dir. Orson Welles) _Duck Soup_ (1933, U.S., dir. Leo McCarey) _Forbidden Planet_ (1956, U.S., dir. Fred McLeod Wilcox) _Freaks_ (1932, U.S., dir. Tod Browning) _The Great Dictator_ (1940, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin) _Invaders from Mars_ (1953, U.S., dir. William Cameron Menzies) _It’s a Wonderful Life_ (1946, U.S., dir. Frank Capra) _King Kong_ (1933, U.S., dir. Merian C. Cooper) _La Strada_ (1954, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini) _M_ (1931, Germany, dir. Fritz Lang) _The Maltese Falcon_ (1941, U.S., dir. John Huston) _Modern Times_ (1936, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin) _The Searchers_ (1956, U.S., dir. John Ford) _Seven Samurai_ (1954, Japan, dir. Akira Kurosawa) _Singin’ in the Rain_ (1952, U.S., dir. Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen) _The Third Ma_n (1949, U.K., dir. Carol Reed) _The Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ (1948, U.S., dir. John Huston) _Vertigo_ (1958, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock) _The Wizard of Oz_ (1939, U.S., dir. Victor Fleming) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/17 "2018-02-06T11:16:20Z")
Inherit the Wind On the Waterfront Mildred Pierce Dark Victory ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/18 "2018-02-06T14:50:31Z")
_Million Dollar Legs_ – W. C. Fields as the president of Klopstokia and a super athelete. _I Walked with a Zombie_ – a classic zombie movie, based on Jane Eyre. _I Was a Male War Bride_ – Howard Hawks directing Cary Grant (in drag). _Here Comes Mr. Jordan_ – about a boxer who dies too early and is given a new life. Later remade by Warren Beatty as _Heaven Can Wait_. _Heaven Can Wait_ (1943) – not the Warren Beatty film. A man dies and thinks he’s going to hell, meeting with “His Excellency” – the devil. Laird Cregar is superb as His Excellency. _Hellzapoppin’_ – sort of like _Laugh-In_, though made in the 1940s. _They Made Me a Criminal_ – John Garfield as a boxer framed for murder. With the Bowery Boys, who are quite good, and directed by – strangely enough – famed choreographer Busby Berkeley _I Married a Witch_ – the template for _Bewitched_ _I Married a Monster from Outer Space_ – 50s SF paranoia _White Heat_ – “Top of the world, Ma!” _The Old Dark House_ – Invented the “strangers gathered together in a mysterious house” genre. Boris Karloff is great. _The Fatal Glass of Beer_ – W.C. Fields at his beat. A short subject that gets funnier the more times you watch it. _Holiday_ – Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn _The Monolith Monsters_ – 50s SF horror with an imaginative and unique monster – crystals that grow to giant size, then collapse and advance on a town. _Cabin in the Sky_ – An all-black cast in a movie of a Broadway musical about living a good life. Great songs and singers. _The Day the Earth Caught Fire_ – UK SF disaster film where the Earth is moving closer to the sun and people try to cope. _I Love You Again_ – William Powell as a con man who suddenly recovers from amnesia, realizing he’s living a life that’s far too tame for him. _The Thief of Baghdad_ – One of the best fantasy films ever made. _The Devil and Miss Jones_ – basically, a comedy based on the concept of _Undercover Boss_ _Ball of Fire_ – a screwball comedy about lexicographers, based on Snow White. _Dead of Night_ – classic horror anthology movie. _Twentieth Century_ – classic screwball comedy, with John Barrymore and Carol Lombard as a director and actress couple who never stop acting in anything they do. _Life and Death of Colonel Blimp_ – The life of a UK military officer. Despite its title, it’s a very affecting drama. _Cat People_ and _Curse of the Cat People_. The first is an exercise in how to to a horror film. The second is a psychological exploration of a child with an active imagination who is ignored. They have some of the same characters and actors, but _Curse_ doesn’t try to scare you. _The Roaring Twenties_ – classic gangster film. _The Strange Love of Martha Ivers_ – no, not porn. A classic film noir _The Naked Kiss_ – more film noir. [Watch the opening scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClsN0u2M8p8)and you’re hooked. _Gorgo_ – one of the best of the giant monster films – made in the UK. _A Letter to Three Wives_ – the letter says “I’m running away with the husband of one of you.” _Pygmalion_ – the original Shaw play. Wendy Hiller is delightful as Eliza _Young and Innocent_ – early Hitchcock and an early example of his “running man” them. _The Whole Town’s Talking_ – Comedy with Edward G. Robinson as a notorious gangster and the mousy bank clerk who’s his exact double. Probably the best handling of the mistaken identity theme ever. _The Time of Their Lives_ – Abbott and Costello, though they don’t really appear together (they were feuding). A charming romance about ghosts and curses. Costello is surprisingly effective. _Mr. 880_. Edwin Gwenn (Kris Kringle from _Miracle on 34th Street_) as your friendly neighborhood counterfeiter. _Fort Apache_ – John Ford directed. Henry Fonda as a martinet and John Wayne as the man trying to prevent a massacre. _La Belle et La Bette_ – John Cocteau’s wonderous adaptation of _Beauty and the Beast_ has never been equaled. _Force of Evil_ – Film noir about the mob taking over the numbers racket. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/19 "2018-02-06T15:36:12Z")
I give a 10/10 rating to about one percent of all the films I watch. Since I started rating films on IMDb about eight years ago, only two pre-1960 make the grade: The Third Man (1949) M (1931) I give a 9/10 rating to about ten percent of the films I watch. These make the cut: Hamlet (1948) with Laurence Olivier Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) The 400 Blows / Les quartre cents coups (1959) Harvey (1950) Rebecca (1940) Anatomy of a Murder (1959) All About Eve (1950) Stalag 17 (1953) ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279/20 "2018-02-06T18:23:04Z")
Adding just a few: Rififi (1955)—Just about every heist/caper film since copies this one. The Killing (1956)—Early Kubrick racetrack robbery noir. And if a Region A/1 Blu-ray ever appears: Napoleon (1927)—Abel Gance develops a shit-ton of techniques to tell this 6-hour story. To quote [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on_(1927_film)), “The film is recognised as a masterwork of fluid camera motion, produced in a time when most camera shots were static. Many innovative techniques were used to make the film, including fast cutting, extensive close-ups, a wide variety of hand-held camera shots, location shooting, point of view shots, multiple-camera setups, multiple exposure, superimposition, underwater camera, kaleidoscopic images, film tinting, split screen and mosaic shots, multi-screen projection, and other visual effects.” I though it was especially cool that Gance, in the time that cameras were hand cranked, developed a compressed air device to crank the camera so he could strap it on the back of a horse for a chase scene. (I was fortunate enough to see the 6-hour version at the Paramount in Oakland a few years back, with full orchestra and three intermissions, one of them a dinner break. If they do come out with it for Region A/1, I’ll be first in line.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-classic-movie-fans-buffs/808279.md?page=2)