# Make your argument that \ was the greatest movie made before 1960. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569 "2013-04-01T20:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/41 "2013-04-02T06:14:11Z")
[Vertigo (1958)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/?ref_=sr_1) ---
**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:** [April 2, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/42 "2013-04-02T06:40:11Z")
Out of the Blue Robert Mitchum and the hot and deadly Jane Greer…a noir way ahead of its time. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/43 "2013-04-02T09:04:55Z")
Yeah, _Casablanca_. A very close second would be _Sunset Boulevard_. But if we’re collecting data for a follow-up Thread with a poll, the poll should also include: [ul] [li]Some Like It Hot[/li][li]Bride of Frankenstein[/li][li]Rashomon[/li][li]Singin’ in the Rain[/li][li]Citizen Kane[/li][li]The Third Man[/li][li]Touch of Evil[/li][li]Modern Times[/li][li]Top Hat[/li][li]Twentieth Century[/li][li]La Strada[/li][li]Metropolis[/li][li]White Heat[/li][li]The Philadelphia Story[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/44 "2013-04-02T09:28:46Z")
I’d go for How Green Was My Valley. Probably my favourite John Ford film, and has without a doubt the best acting I’ve seen in a pre-Method film. It seems to be a rather ignored film these days, sadly. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2013, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/45 "2013-04-02T10:26:05Z")
I was thinking _Inherit the Wind,_ but it came out in 1960. And \*Oz \*has already been mentioned many times. So I’m gonna go with _Some Like It Hot,_ with \*All About Eve \*as runner-up. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/46 "2013-04-02T10:52:43Z")
Personal favorite? I’m m gonna go with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I don’t care what anybody says; I love that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/47 "2013-04-02T12:04:09Z")
> [@Nom\_de\_Plume](#): > > I thought it was It Happened One Night that made men’s t-shirts the rage. Yes, you’re right. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/48 "2013-04-02T12:38:02Z")
_Arsenic and Old Lace_. Lunatic farce, love story, crime, plot twists, plus Frank Capra and Cary Grant at their best. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/49 "2013-04-02T12:47:00Z")
Casablanca is the best _Hollywood_ film before 1960 - which is not a knock against it, far from it. I think it’s one of the best Hollywood films ever made. But there’s a ton of other countries out there, meaning a ton of different cultures and a ton of different ways of making films. And at 1960, that’s 70 years of film, from the silents to the talkies to the studio system to even the French New Wave - 1960 is too late for Jules and Jim, but _400 Blows_ came out in 1959 (and _Hiroshima Mon Amour_ right before that…). Even in America it’s not so easy. _On the Waterfront_ was 1954, which is as good or better of a film than \*Casablanca \*- it’s an early modern film, but the acting and direction and everything still hold up as a gripping, powerful story. Again, depends on what you want from a film. Even in Hollywood it’s not so easy. What about Max Ophuls, who sorta kinda pioneered moving camera work? Like _Letter from an Unknown Woman_? Or Hitchcock’s _Notorious_ - it’s about Nazi’s too! Not to mention, Kurosawa made a half a dozen films better than Casablanca before 1960 (in my opinion), but I can’t even pick between them. \*Rashomon, Seven Samurai, \*hell all of his early stuff. I think the best he ever did was \*Ikiru \*in 1952, which is gets better everytime you watch it, especially as you get older. In France, it’s also impossible to decide, as those were some of the best years ever for French cinema, leading right up to the New Wave. You have probably the greatest prison escape film of all time in _A Man Escaped_, to the masterpiece of cinematic fantasy that is _Beauty and the Beast_, to the timeless dread of _Wages of Fear_, to fucking _Children of Paradise_ (which I suspect is France’s _Casablanca_). There’s soooooo many masterpieces out there! What about Italian Neo Realism? _Bicycle Thieves_, _Umberto D_. Or Fellini, like _La Strada?_ Then there’s all sorts of others. How do you compare something like Ozu’s _Tokyo Story_ to _Casablanca?_ Or that insane Russian film _Letter Never Sent_ that was filmed in a forest fire? Others… _Grand Illusion_ _M_ Something by Bergman - _Seventh Seal_ or _Wild Strawberries_? _Passion of Joan of Arc_ _City Life_ Annnnnd I could go on, that barely scratches the surface. In 70 years of film, there’s a _ton_ of candidates. It all depends on what makes a film “great” to you. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/50 "2013-04-02T13:00:03Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > The Court Jester. > Reasons : > [ul] > Songs, could not gayer be > Skies, could not bluer be > Hearts, could not truer be > Knights, full of chivalry > Villains, full of villainy > Maidens, fair (in silks, bedecked) > Tried and true effects > Research, authenticity, dust > Authorship sometimes attributed to Shakespeare, Francis Bacon > Plot (quite a lot) > Scary tale at start, fairy tale at end > Life couldn’t possibly, not even probably, life couldn’t possibly better be. > [/ul] I think the Secret Life of Walter Mitty beats The Court Jester - But for the greatest of all the 50/60s - I have to go with either **War of the Worlds** or **The Day the Earth Stood Still**. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/51 "2013-04-02T13:41:01Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Citizen Kane. I only recently realized at the end right before the furnace scene when the executor is talking to reporters, who the [guy with the pipe](https://dumpyourphoto.com/photo/RtFsRrvGol) is. Alan Ladd I’m torn between Citizen Kane and GWTW. Probably GWTW, although I personally enjoy watching 12 Angry Men and The Day the Earth Stood Still more. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/52 "2013-04-02T16:08:23Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Out of the Blue > > Robert Mitchum and the hot and deadly Jane Greer..a noir way ahead of its time. Out of the Past (correction made in case someone looks and can’t find Out of the Blue). It’d be my favorite noir film too. Jane Greer is so good. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/53 "2013-04-02T16:21:58Z")
_City Lights_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/54 "2013-04-02T16:26:42Z")
> [@Nom\_de\_Plume](#): > > I thought it was It Happened One Night that made men’s t-shirts the rage. Quite the opposite: > **[Clark Gable: He’s Just Not That Into…Undershirts](https://lisawallerrogers.com/2009/03/09/clark-gable-hes-just-not-that-intoundershirts/)** > > According to a February 25 New York Times article, The American Medical Association is planning on lodging an official complaint against Warner Brothers for its “disturbing images of specific cigar… Seems to me the sleeveless undershirt was popular among men of that period, as opposed to T-shirts, but I can’t say for sure: > **[Undershirt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undershirt)** > > An undershirt in American English (vest in British and South African English, banyan in the Indian Subcontinent, or singlet in Australia and New Zealand), is an article of underwear worn underneath a dress shirt so as to protect it from body sweat and odors. > More generally, the term refers to an upper-body garment worn next to the skin (innerwear) by men. > It can have short sleeves (T-shirt) or be sleeveless (A-shirt). > An undershirt may be worn to protect the body from stiff or otherwise uncomf... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/55 "2013-04-02T16:34:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Quite the opposite: > > [Clark Gable: He’s Just Not That Into…Undershirts | Lisa's History Room](http://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/clark-gable-hes-just-not-that-intoundershirts/) > > Seems to me the sleeveless undershirt was popular among men of that period, as opposed to T-shirts, but I can’t say for sure: > > [Undershirt - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undershirt) I think the point is about undershirts on men being popular with women. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/56 "2013-04-02T16:42:18Z")
In terms of spectacle, either Wizard of Oz or Ben-Hur. But I think Vertigo was a better movie than either. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/57 "2013-04-02T16:45:20Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > In terms of spectacle, either Wizard of Oz or Ben-Hur. But I think Vertigo was a better movie than either. And this is the problem, what criteria do you use to determine the\* greatness \*of a movie? And even then, a great movie is not just determined from the sum of its parts. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/58 "2013-04-02T18:51:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think the point is about undershirts on men being popular with women. Huh??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/59 "2013-04-02T23:46:34Z")
Oz, CG still can’t make a tornado so real. I love Casablanca but if you watch it too closely you start to see the narrative is paced by people ordering drinks, and no one ever finishes a drink except Bogey when he destroys that 5th, and all that ordering and not drinking starts to bother me. Great thing about Ben Hur and all those old movies is their lush color,Technicolor and CinemaScope beat hell out of 3D and digital computer modern whatever. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569/60 "2013-04-03T02:44:39Z")
> [@slowlearner](#): > > Oz, CG still can’t make a tornado so real. I love Casablanca but if you watch it too closely you start to see the narrative is paced by people ordering drinks, and no one ever finishes a drink except Bogey when he destroys that 5th, and all that ordering and not drinking starts to bother me. Great thing about Ben Hur and all those old movies is their lush color,Technicolor and CinemaScope beat hell out of 3D and digital computer modern whatever. Let’s not forget the lighting and not finishing of cigarettes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-your-argument-that-blank-was-the-greatest-movie-made-before-1960/654569.md?page=4)