# Obsessive-Compulsive AT the Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218 "2004-03-03T01:51:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/1 "2004-03-03T01:51:50Z")
or… “How I Learned to Stop Listing and Just Watch the Movie” Kidding. I really haven’t stopped listing yet. What I want to know… do any other folks out there make big lists of movies to see? (Or books, even) Do you stick to it? How far do you go to get the hard to find ones? I myself made a list of 400+ Movies, compiled from the Internet Movie Database, and the American Film Institute’s ‘Top 100’ Lists, some of which I’d already seen, and proceeded to watch the rest… I’m coming down the home stretch of the last 70 or so… and I’ve made _another_ movie list so that the fun never stops. Am I crazy? If folks show any interest in this, my first thread, I may be compelled to post the list, or excerpts from it. If folks are interested. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/2 "2004-03-03T02:09:41Z")
I’d like to take a look. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/3 "2004-03-03T02:13:08Z")
“How I learned to stop ripping off Jonathan Rosenbaum?” :D:D ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/4 "2004-03-03T02:16:10Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > “How I learned to stop ripping off Jonathan Rosenbaum?” :D:D I wasn’t ripping off Rosenbaum. I was ripping off Dr. Strangelove. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/5 "2004-03-03T02:23:22Z")
I will attempt to conjure the list as best I can, going in easy bite-sized segments. In chronological order, roughly. (by decade) There was only one 1910’s movie on the original list : Birth of a Nation - D.W. Griffith 1920’s : The Navigator - Buster Keaton The General - Buster Keaton Sherlock, Jr. - Buster Keaton Battleship Potemkin The Gold Rush - Chaplin The Freshman - Harold Lloyd Safety Last - Harold Lloyd Phantom of the Opera - 1925 Version Nosferatu The Jazz Singer All of these, I have seen. The Freshman was about to give me a panic attack trying to find it, but TCM came to the rescue. Part II of the list, the 1930’s, coming up soon. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/6 "2004-03-03T02:29:12Z")
I have _The Freshman_, too. Would you mind suggestions? 1910’s: _Intolerance_ (1916) _Des Kabinett Der Doktor Kaligar_ (1919) _The Regeneration_ (1915) _The Squaw Man_ (1914) I find that the twenties have too many to mention… Perhaps we should have a recommendations thread… ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/7 "2004-03-03T02:32:54Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > I have _The Freshman_, too. > > Would you mind suggestions? > > 1910’s: > > _Intolerance_ (1916) > > _Des Kabinett Der Doktor Kaligar_ (1919) > > _The Regeneration_ (1915) > > _The Squaw Man_ (1914) > > I find that the twenties have too many to mention… Perhaps we should have a recommendations thread… Though I know Intolerance made my 2nd List. And possibly the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I can’t aver that it’s the same version though. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/8 "2004-03-03T02:40:13Z")
I can’t verify that this is 100% complete or accurate as to the original form of the list, but it should be a close facsimile. Marx Brothers : (they get their own category) Duck Soup Monkey Business - Still haven’t found this anyplace except on Amazon to buy. Horse Feathers A Day at the Races A Night at the Opera Dinner at Eight - Jean Harlow Sons of the Desert - Laurel and Hardy 39 Steps - Hitchcock Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - Gary Cooper My Man Godfrey The Awful Truth Topper M - Fritz Lang Modern Times - Chaplin City Lights - Chaplin Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - One of my three 30’s favorites. It Happened One Night - Another. Though all the Marx movies rate highly with me. The Wizard of Oz La Grande Illusion All Quiet on the Western Front Bringing Up Baby Adventures of Robin Hood - The last of the three faves. The Thin Man - Liked it so much, started looking for others in the series Stagecoach - John Wayne The Lady Vanishes - Hitchcock Gone with the Wind King Kong Ninotchka Frankenstein Dracula Mutiny on the Bounty Snow White Wuthering Heights - Whew. That’s quite a few. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/9 "2004-03-03T02:47:54Z")
Aww, that’s just _sad_ man. :D:D (Although the first _Thin Man_ sequel, _After The Thin Man_ is in my top five of all time) ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/10 "2004-03-03T02:55:35Z")
1930’s Additions She Done Him Wrong - Mae West It’s a Gift - WC Fields. 1940’s - The Last section I shall post this evening, fingers getting tired. His Girl Friday The Lady Eve To Be or Not To Be Shadow of a Doubt Double Indemnity Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Citizen Kane Casablanca Its a Wonderful Life The Grapes of Wrath Maltese Falcon Treasure of the Sierra Madre The Best Years of Our Lives Philadelphia Story The Third Man Fantasia Yankee Doodle Dandy Ladri di Biciclette The Great Dictator Notorious The Big Sleep Rebecca Sullivan’s Travels Laura Arsenic and Old Lace Palm Beach Story Miracle on 34th Street Adam’s Rib The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House Woman of the Year Ball of Fire Road to Morocco - Started me on a Road-movie kick - saw all of those. Gaslight Picture of Dorian Gray ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/11 "2004-03-03T05:07:35Z")
Heh. Take a film appreciation course at a local college. Of course, this is a former film major talking. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/12 "2004-03-03T05:33:56Z")
Glad you already get Turner Movie Classics. Within a month you’ll have seen a random dozen on your list. They even do silents late at night. Today they did a Jean Harlow festival. With extended digital cables you get a dozen more movie channels of various providence, from the Independent Film Channel to Fox Family Film Channel to BBCAmerica and Bravo and MoviePlex and a bunch more non-premium channels. Scout them out. Even the least likely channel will have an occasional winner. College film societies are also a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/13 "2004-03-03T06:15:29Z")
Add to your list for 1930’s: _The Blue Angel_ I don’t understand your comment about _It Happened One Night_ and the Marx Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/14 "2004-03-03T13:18:56Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Add to your list for 1930’s: _The Blue Angel_ > > I don’t understand your comment about _It Happened One Night_ and the Marx Brothers. Sorry, it follows from the statement above it, where I spoke of three favorites. The reason the Marx Bros. comment is there and nother with #1 or #3 favorite is because… well, I wrote the comments before adding \*Adventures of Robin Hood \* … so I put the coment there when \*It Happened One Night \* was the last of my 30’s favorites. I’m lazy. And I don’t know if the \*Blue Angel \* was on my original list… as I said, I have some difficulty reconstructing it, because I delete movies form it after watching them… but I have, nevertheless, seen that movie, and in fact, own a copy. Though I must say, the best Marlene Deitrich movie I’ve seen so far is _Destry Rides Again_. Hope that clears things up? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/15 "2004-03-03T13:23:31Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Glad you already get Turner Movie Classics. Within a month you’ll have seen a random dozen on your list. They even do silents late at night. Today they did a Jean Harlow festival. > > With extended digital cables you get a dozen more movie channels of various providence, from the Independent Film Channel to Fox Family Film Channel to BBCAmerica and Bravo and MoviePlex and a bunch more non-premium channels. Scout them out. Even the least likely channel will have an occasional winner. > > College film societies are also a good idea. Many of the films on my list are unavailable on DVD (and thus unavailable from Netflix) … or I happened to watch them before joining Netflix. TCM was indispensible in the Harold Lloyd movies, and some of the Marx Bros. I’m not actively watching their schedule now, because everything remaining on my primary list is available from Netflix (Except the Marx Bros. _Monkey Business_, which used to be, but they ran out of usable copies… and John Woo’s _The Killer_, which is in a similar situation.) I hope to see more Jean Harlow movies in the future… some are actually getting decent DVD releases these days. I did set a tape for _Red-Headed Woman_, though. Pre-code films fascinate me. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/16 "2004-03-03T13:25:26Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > Heh. Take a film appreciation course at a local college. > > Of course, this is a former film major talking. As an omnigeek, or a geek with many areas of focus, I just don’t have the time to take such a course. Besides, they might make me write papers and things. Or do they not do that for Film Appreciation, generally? ---
**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:** [March 3, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/17 "2004-03-03T14:16:49Z")
For several years now, I’ve have been working on a project which involves creating a master list of “recommended films.” I have been collecting lists of “great films,” “underappreciated films,” or “important films you might have missed.” These list come from books, magazines, websites, personal recommendations, threads on the SDMB, and many other places. I have combined them into two lists. The first is a list of the 200 most recommended films on these films. (I’ve posted this list to the SDMB before or at least a link to it. I’ve been thinking of expanding it to 250 films.) The second is a list of every film recommended on at least one of these lists. This is about 2500 films. This might sound like a lot, but remember that there were a total of about 15,000 mentions of films in the lists I gathered, so that means that each of these films was probably mentioned several times in the lists I gathered. (And, besides, there have probably been at least a million films made over the history of the cinema.) So what I have is two lists. One is a list of 200 to 250 films that constitutes a basic film education for the film buff, which he or she should be able to see in about two years with a little effort. The second is a lifetime watching for a film buff. 2500 films isn’t that much. I’ve probably seen that many in my life. I wish I had seen more of the films on the list and less trivial junk. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/18 "2004-03-03T14:28:14Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > So what I have is two lists. One is a list of 200 to 250 films that constitutes a basic film education for the film buff, which he or she should be able to see in about two years with a little effort. The second is a lifetime watching for a film buff. 2500 films isn’t that much. I’ve probably seen that many in my life. I wish I had seen more of the films on the list and less trivial junk. Well, don’t just tell us about it, sport… give us a link, huh? I’m always looking for more movies to watch. As a sidenote, your username reminded me of a \*Mystery Science Theater \* bit… for some reason, I was reading it as Vendell Vagner (like the Germans might say) and it reminded me of the “Virgil Vogel? Va-va-voom!” line from what I believe is the Mole People episode. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/19 "2004-03-03T14:48:31Z")
Unfortunately, it’s no longer available as a link. I don’t have time this morning, but I may have time this evening to send you the list of 200 films. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218/20 "2004-03-03T15:03:13Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Unfortunately, it’s no longer available as a link. I don’t have time this morning, but I may have time this evening to send you the list of 200 films. I’d appreciate that. Always looking to add to the secondary list. Maybe I should start a spreadsheet or something … movies I’ve seen, movies I plan to see, movies I own. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsessive-compulsive-at-the-movies/232218.md?page=2)