I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang - Why is Paul Muni almost forgotten today?
And speaking of Paul Muni - The Good Earth
It Happened One Night is hilarious. I don’t care what anyone says. So is Bringing Up Baby.
One, Two, Three… is an amusing take on the Cold War.
The Grapes of Wrath
Inherit the Wind
And nothing beats the original Mutiny on the Bounty
carnivorousplant,
The ending is controversial. Abbey wrote two endings, but the one used is the most impactful.
My wife won’t let the DVD in the house.
“Lonely are the Brave” (Book: “The Brave Cowboy”, Edward Abbey) should be the great Libertarian novel rather than the silliness of Atlas Shrugged.
Crane
The Oxbow Incident, a very atypical western with Henry Fonda that lost out to Casablanca for the Oscar.
Flight of the Phoenix, with Jimmy Stuart
Philadelphia Story
His Girl Friday
Well, a horse dies. No one likes to see that. It’s like Old Yeller, but with a horse.
Bunuel is God. There’s not one film of his that hasn’t snapped my stix. Try Simon of the Desert or The Discreet Chrm of the Bourgeousie.
That Uncertain Feeling (1941)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Don’t neglect gangster films like White Heat, Public Enemy, Little Caesar, Petrified Forest, Angels With Dirty Faces, and Key Largo.
Another very atypical western would be Johnny Guitar.
Nothing like Nicholas Ray with intense two-colour Trucolor film (soon replaced by Du Pont’s even gaudier three-colour film) with underlying themes of McCarthyisms’s witch-hunting and lesbianism. For some reason I found Joan Crawford strangely hot, her look having an almost dominatrix kinda feel, here. (did I just say that?)
Having been spoiled by UHD, digital surround sound, and incredible computer animation, I find old movies a bit too understated for my tastes. The thing that I do find very interesting about old movies, however is how they are a reflection of the social customs, mores, gender roles, etc. of the times in which they were filmed. My most recent viewing was “Vertigo”. I love Hitchcock because he was so incredibly gifted at creating suspense and fear without the need for gratuitous violence.
Let us not forget All Through the Night, where Humphrey Bogart foils the plans of Conrad Veidt and his dog.
Freaks (1932)
Michealangelo Antonioni’s “Lavventura”.
Sometimes even a mediocre 1930s-50s movie can be worth a watch just for the fashion alone. The impeccable tailoring and cuts are drool-worthy. And the actors almost never look uncomfortable. Just amazing.
Yeah back in the day when a man would put on a suit jacket just to go downstairs. And would never go outside without a hat.
On my short list.
I watched a Debbie Reyonlds movie a while ago, she is a farmer’s daughter, there are a bunch of kids, I can’t recall the title offhand, but the father was in his truck headed to town and the mother is chasing after him with his coat, telling him he simply cannot go into town in his shirtsleeves!
My son is watching **Seven Samurai **on TCM right now, and the story is indeed very good, but the clothing and textiles are what is catching my eye as I am halfway watching it.
I love watching Classic movies on flights but lately they’ve been from the 80’s and I figure if I was alive when the movie was made it’s not a “classic.”
Some I’ve seen and enjoyed:
The Grapes of Wrath
Harvey (really enjoyed that one!)
The Manchurian Candidate (young Angela Lansbury playing a villain!)
Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend (I think - Marilyn Monroe on a cruise ship with her friend?)
One with a bunch of women in a boarding house, many well-known actors in it
One where this room was rented out to a woman and man and they had to figure out how to exist with each other and keep up the propriety, Ginger Rogers was in it
One where this rich little girl was sent to a boarding school but then her dad disappeared so her bill wasn’t being paid anymore so they made her live in a dirty attic and do chores, turns out he was in a hospital after being wounded in the war and she found him at the end
I also used to enjoy watching TCM when we had cable, especially the “marathons”, I really enjoyed the James Cagney marathon.
I think the one with the women in a boarding house is Stage Door. It had Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn and Lucille Ball in it, and yes that is a great one! The clothes are delicious, too!
The second one doesn’t ring a bell.
The last one sounds like a Shirley Temple movie.
Definitely “The Little Princess”.