# My Top Ten Movies from before 1961 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344 "2009-04-08T01:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/1 "2009-04-08T01:47:47Z")
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.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/2 "2009-04-08T02:32:33Z")
No _ **King Kong** _ (1933)? ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/3 "2009-04-08T02:42:15Z")
Where the hell is **Casablanca**? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/4 "2009-04-08T02:54:07Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Where the hell is **Casablanca**? It’s North by Northwest ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/5 "2009-04-08T02:55:38Z")
What about “War of the Worlds”. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/6 "2009-04-08T02:59:26Z")
And Seven Samurai On the Waterfront rebel Without a Cause Bridge over River Kwai Anatomy of a Murder ---
**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:** [April 8, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/7 "2009-04-08T03:05:32Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/8 "2009-04-08T03:14:16Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > And Seven Samurai > On the Waterfront > rebel Without a Cause > Bridge over River Kwai > Anatomy of a Murder 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. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/9 "2009-04-08T03:16:11Z")
Metropolis My Man Godfrey And those are just the m’s. Speaking of which… M ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/10 "2009-04-08T03:26:31Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/11 "2009-04-08T03:34:51Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/12 "2009-04-08T03:37:36Z")
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_ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/13 "2009-04-08T03:50:24Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Olympia I and II/ Triumph of the Will - Leni Riefenstahl 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. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/14 "2009-04-08T05:15:09Z")
Most of my favorites have been mentioned, but I haven’t seen \*Arsenic and Old Lace \*or _Ikiru_ yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/15 "2009-04-08T05:18:07Z")
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? ---
**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 8, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/16 "2009-04-08T07:58:36Z")
The Corn is Green. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/17 "2009-04-08T11:30:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > 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? 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” ---
**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:** [April 9, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-top-ten-movies-from-before-1961/492344/18 "2009-04-09T06:56:37Z")
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_