My Top Ten Movies from before 1961

I love old movies, and yes also the black and white ones. Remember colorization? Remember how much it sucked?

These are in no particular order, but they are my favorites.

1 Rebecca-Delightfully creepy Hitchcock with a great love story, wonderful twist in the middle, and Mrs. Danvers, (Judith Anderson).

2 Sunset Boulevard-Yet another wonderfully creepy villainess played by Gloria Swanson, although anyone can tell you the real bad guy is played by William Holden.

3 Mutiny on the Bounty (the original) Clark Gable is great if a little too American but man! Charles Laughton plays nightmare boss from hell!

4 Mildred Pierce - Nice murder mystery built around a lesson in what how ambitious women were viewed before women’s lib. Plus another great villianess in Veda Pierce. (Anne Blythe) I’m seeing a whole villainess pattern here.

5 Gone with the Wind-I don’t care what anyone says. I love it.

6 I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang - Paul Muni plays the title role in a story taken from true life. It’s fast paced and exciting and horrifying even today.
And whether the famous ending was an accident or not, it’s still perfect.

7 The Bad Seed - Oh my, another villainess! This one’s only ten years old. It’s really campy but the creepiness factor makes up for or enhances it, take your pick.
Ending really stupid, but apt at the same time.

8 The Good Earth - More Paul Muni, who deserves to be remembered better than he is. Okay, I hear you. White actors playing Chinese. So what. The film still gives you a real feel for living through agricultural catastophes (famine, locusts) and even if Louise Rainer is white, she’ll break your heart as O-Lan.

9 Inherit the Wind - I purposely chose the cut-off year of this list as 1961 so I could include this masterpiece from 1960. Dopers interested in the creationism vs evolution arguements on the Dope will love this gem. Demand your right to think!

10 And a tip of the hat to the silent movies with a vote for “Speedy”, a Harold Lloyd comedy about a street car driver that’s a treat to watch if only for the scenes of New York in 1928. Babe Ruth appears!
And all but one in black and white. Imagine that.

All of the above subject to change as I feel like it.:smiley:

No King Kong (1933)?

Where the hell is Casablanca?

It’s North by Northwest

What about “War of the Worlds”.

And Seven Samurai
On the Waterfront
rebel Without a Cause
Bridge over River Kwai
Anatomy of a Murder

Duck Soup
A Night at the Opera
The General
City Lights
Modern Times
Bringing Up Baby
His Girl Friday
The 39 Steps
The Lady Vanishes
Stagecoach
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
M. Hulot’s Holiday
Footlight Parade
42nd Street
White Heat
Yankee Doodle Dandy
The Big Sleep
The Thin Man
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Forbidden Planet

Okay, I love old movies, and I’ve seen much of the American cannon, but I just don’t see the appeal of Rebel Without A Cause.

Oh, and I second His Girl Friday, my all-time favorite comedy.

Metropolis
My Man Godfrey

And those are just the m’s. Speaking of which…

M

Ten of my pre-'61 faves:

La Dolce Vita
Rear Window
Psycho
North By Northwest
Man’s Favorite Sport
Some Like It Hot
It Happened One Night
The Wizard Of Oz
King Kong
20000 Leagues Under the Sea

Can’t do 10. I could probably triple this list with ease.

I think I would have seen all of these on TV first except the last trio. Most used to be shown on Sunday afternoons (hardly any sport on TV in the 60s). I would have the whole TV room to myself to sit on the floor with a plate of toasted sandwiches and a drink. I would sit close to the TV and watch uninterrupted. God I loved discovering those movies. No videos in those days so many lived vividly in my memory unseen again for many, many years. As part of my German studies I saw a long slab of both Riefenstahl movies at a movie theatre but it certainly can’t have been all of any of them.

The Maltese Falcon
12 Angry Men
Casablanca
Some Like It Hot
Rear Window
Double Indemnity
The Caine Mutiny
High Noon
The Bridge On the River Kwai
Singin’ In the Rain
The Wizard of Oz
Duck Soup
Psycho
Olympia I and II/ Triumph of the Will - Leni Riefenstahl

10, eh? I’d go with these:

The General
Man’s Castle
The Crime of M. Lange
His Girl Friday
The Lady Eve
Black Narcissus
The Seven Samurai
Ordet
Vertigo
La Dolce Vita

I had a job where the shop people, mostly Mayans and Assyrians*, showed videos in the lunch room. Mostly they were of old World Cup matches, but one time they were showing Triumph of the Will. I griped to a Jewish friend (we were in Skokie) and he said, "Yeah it’s Nazi propaganda, but it’s a really great movie. Good enough for him? Good enough for me.

    • Yeah, I know those are old terms, but that’s who they were. When the extra-tall president suggested that, to increase storage capacity, the warehouse racks should be raised a couple shelves, the foreman said, “Dude, all of my people are from Guatemala. They can barely reach the top shelves now.” The Assyrians were all on the run from Saddam Hussein (we hired people whose relatives recommended them). The guy who videotaped all of our events looked like a short Lee Van Cleef. His eyes had what I call a “gunfighter’s glint;” he had killed before and could do it again. I was not surprised to hear he had a price on his head.

Most of my favorites have been mentioned, but I haven’t seen *Arsenic and Old Lace *or Ikiru yet.

Most of mine are already on here, but how about movies FROM 1961 (which means they would have been at least in pre-production before then)? One of my faves is Judgment at Nuremberg which was released that year.

And why 1961, just out of curiosity?

The Corn is Green.

I was thinking specifically about movies made before I was born, in 1962. Somehow if you aren’t specific, threads like these start drifting towards statements like, “I love old movies too, like Jaws, and The Godfather”

Some that haven’t been mentioned yet:

The Third Man
Paths of Glory
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
All About Eve
The Gold Rush
Safety Last!
The Philadelphia Story
Spartacus
The Apartment
Witness for the Prosecution
Sweet Smell of Success