# Pre-1965 Movies That Hold Up **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2009, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252 "2009-06-28T11:54:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/41 "2009-06-28T20:51:51Z")
Of the Universal horror classics- **Bride of Frankenstein** - not so much the first one or the follow-ups, except for **Frankenstein Meets the WolfMan** , because that’s just cool, and speaking of… **The WolfMan** , because the amiable yet tormented Larry Talbot is just such a great character. Lugosi’s **Dracula** - until they get to England, then it’s just hit (the Renfield scenes) and miss (Harker & Seward & the final staking). Lon Chaney’s **Phantom of the Opera** - the unmasking! Claude Rains’ **The Invisible Man** - because it’s so close to the book! For the same reason, George Pal’s **The Time Machine**. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/42 "2009-06-28T21:19:59Z")
Everything Audrey Hepburn ever made, especially _Roman Holiday_, _Sabrina_, and _Wait Until Dark._ Likewise, damn near everything Kate Hepburn ever made. The original black and white version of _The Haunting_ scared the crap out of me when I saw it about 10 years ago. That kind of non-gory suspense is damn near lost these days. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/43 "2009-06-28T22:19:20Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > For the same reason, George Pal’s **The Time Machine**. One of my favorite 50’s sci-fi films, reminded me of other classic 50’s sci-fi, like [_Forbidden Planet_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049223/plotsummary). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/44 "2009-06-28T23:11:50Z")
Besides the above films, my daughter recommends **Psycho** I’d also suggest \*\*North by Northwest The Guns of Navarone The Day the Earth Stood Still The Thing Mary Poppins Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Fantasia Cinderella \*\* (most Disney cartoons, for that matter) **Gulliver’s Travels** (A lot of people will disagree, but I think the Fleischer cartoon is a masterpiece) There are plenty of other films – there are LOTS of great films from that erqa, after all, but I’m not sure what you mean by “hold up.” Some people on this Board have expressed problems with black and white films – does **To Kill a Mockingbird** hold up for them? A lot of people think **Gone with the Wind** is racist\* – does it hold up for them? \*It’s not – it’s a story of the Civil War told through the eyes of a slave-holding white woman. How the hell do you think she’s going to perceive slavery? ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/45 "2009-06-28T23:18:14Z")
I find it interesting that so many Hitchcock films are on this list. It must say something about the timelessness of his work. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/46 "2009-06-29T00:59:25Z")
**Days of Wine and Roses** –I believe it came out in the early 60s. The breakdown of a relationship, work, and more because of mutual alcoholism is portrayed in stark black and white, with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick giving some very powerful performances. It’s actually painful to watch the two of them going through so much emotional agony. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/47 "2009-06-29T01:02:34Z")
12 Angry Men. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/48 "2009-06-29T01:18:17Z")
> [@The\_Shroud](#): > > I’m not sure how much age has to do with it; when I was a teenager, I was watching old Bob Hope movies that people my mom’s age thought were totally corny. > > That said…Bob Hope movies! Specifically the “Road” movies with Bing Crosby (“Morocco” and “Utopia” are the best), and _My Favorite Blonde._ If you like the Marx Brothers and Looney Tunes, these movies are at about the same level as fun and irreverence. I especially like them because there’s a slight amount of improvisation, which goes a long way toward making the performers seem human, rather than weird, stiff 1940s people. My wife does not share my love of the Road movies, but my kids have been conditioned by \*Family Guy \*to pre-like them. I had forgotten how good “The Bedford Incident” was, **Ranchoth** , but I see it and raise you “The Enemy Below.” Greatest sub movie, with the POSSIBLE exception of “Das Boot,” which may have realism out the wazoo, but wasn’t as tense. > [@Zsofia](#): > > We just saw The General last night. It was awesome. A lot of people are unwilling to try silents, but they’re missing out - they’re perfectly accessible. And you can totally tell that to get the shot of the train falling off the bridge into the river, they just threw a train off a bridge into a river. Like to see a movie today where they do that. Nope, they’d just CGI it and it would look like a video game. Keaton is awesome. Check out “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” Nobody these days would expect a stuntman to do some of that, much less the star. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/49 "2009-06-29T01:25:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Wouldn’t it be far simpler to ask if any post-1965 movies hold up? > > The target age at which most movies are aimed has fallen inexorably in the last 50 years (the same is true for popular music). As a result intelligent adult movies are far less common now than they were 50 years ago. Hollywood knows what the kids want, they want more bangs for their bucks. > > Of course, this isn’t to say that wonderful, intelligent movies aren’t still made, and that isn’t to say that they didn’t churn out pabulum years ago. It’s just that the proportions have changed in favor of the slush. I’d disagree. If you were to take an average selection of a hundred movies made before 1965 and a hundred movies made since 1965, I bet you’d find the post-1965 group was better. But you can’t really make the comparison - because the chances of a movie surviving are linked to its quality. The movies that were made before 1965 but are still around are not the average movies of their era - they’re the movies that survived. The average crap was lost over the decades. Obviously a lot of good movies were lost and some bad movies survived. But a random selection of movies made before 1965 is really being made from what was actually the top fraction of all the movies that were actually made. And keep in mind that movies used to be the main form of mass entertainment. There are now hundreds of movies made in America each year but there used to be thousands. And not every one of those thousands was a classic. Most were just throwaway filler to be shown for one week and then forgotten the next. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/50 "2009-06-29T01:45:21Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Most Hitchcock. I really love the 1948 film Rope myself. Dial “M” For Murder ain’t bad, either. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/51 "2009-06-29T02:42:55Z")
Hard to disagree with any of these here, but the fact that **Bringing Up Baby** hasn’t been mentioned yet makes me sad. Still for me the greatest madcap comedy of all time with Hepburn at her carefree best and Grant right behind her, of course not to mention Baby. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/52 "2009-06-29T02:46:21Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > Hard to disagree with any of these here, but the fact that > **Bringing Up Baby** hasn’t been mentioned yet makes me sad. Still for me the greatest madcap comedy of all time with Hepburn at her carefree best and Grant right behind her, of course not to mention Baby. Pssst. Post #29 ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/53 "2009-06-29T03:24:25Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > _•The Court Jester_ Pretty much my all-time favourite feel-good film - I had to get an import DVD, of course, since it’s not available here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/54 "2009-06-29T03:47:07Z")
It’s been a long time since I was a teenager. In fact, I’m old enough that AMC actually showed Movie Classics when I was a teenager. But I watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes How to Marry a Millionaire Stage Door Bringing Up Baby Holiday (Grant & Hepburn) My Man Godfrey His Girl Friday The Thin Man Anything with Fred & Ginger The Awful Truth Arsenic & Old Lace I like romantic comedies - but I’m not looking for originality, I’m looking for chemistry and talent and entertainment. Those did not originate in 1965. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/55 "2009-06-29T04:18:15Z")
Rebecca The Ghost and Mrs. Muir The Forbidden Planet ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/56 "2009-06-29T04:27:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Besides the above films, my daughter recommends > > **Psycho** > > I’d also suggest > > \*\*North by Northwest > > The Guns of Navarone > > The Day the Earth Stood Still > > The Thing > > Mary Poppins > > Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs > > Fantasia > > Cinderella \*\* (most Disney cartoons, for that matter) > > **Gulliver’s Travels** (A lot of people will disagree, but I think the Fleischer cartoon is a masterpiece) > There are plenty of other films – there are LOTS of great films from that erqa, after all, but I’m not sure what you mean by “hold up.” Some people on this Board have expressed problems with black and white films – does **To Kill a Mockingbird** hold up for them? (…) I haven’t seen Guns of Navarone or Psycho in decades and have never seen Gulliver’s Travels, but agree with all the other choices. They wear it well. The phrase “hold up” --like any value judgment-- won’t have the same meaning for everyone. But again… I’m thinking an old film that you’ve recently discovered and liked, or that you’ve revisited and didn’t think, “That’s not nearly as good as I remembered.” And if you feel that you could show it to someone with no emotional attachment to the time the film was made and they would like it (e.g. “a bright teenager”) that would confirm it’s “holding up” status. But everyone likes different films, old and new. (I’ve never cared for Mockingbird or Shane.) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/57 "2009-06-29T07:10:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \*It’s not – it’s a story of the Civil War told through the eyes of a slave-holding white woman. How the hell do you think she’s going to perceive slavery? Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/58 "2009-06-29T07:28:45Z")
A lot of great movies have been mentioned. I would add: **All About Eve** - I saw this for the first time a few weeks ago. I had seen scenes from it so often that I _thought_ I’d already seen it, but right from the beginning it was unfamiliar. In context those iconic scenes (“fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride” for instance) made so much more of an impact. Now I understand why, and am slightly surprised by the fact that, it won all those Oscars. > [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > (I’ve never cared for Mockingbird or Shane.) [insert eek and confused smileys here] I’ve never met anybody in my entire life who didn’t like **To Kill A Mockingbird**. Has your daughter seen it? If not, I hope you don’t passively keep it from her just because you don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/59 "2009-06-29T07:57:56Z")
As well as many of previously mentioned films; Whisky Galore Paths of Glory Zulu It’s a Wonderful Life Goodbye Mr. Chips A Matter of Life and Death The 39 Steps M Fury The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252/60 "2009-06-29T08:44:37Z")
When I read the title I assumed by “movies that held up” meant those that would fit the zeitgeist of today. Therefore, I nominate _The Big Carnival_ aka _Ace In The Hole._ A washed up journalist tries to revive his career broadcasting the plight of a man trapped in a cave, but the story gets out of his control and becomes a media circus. A little tweaking and it would certainly work in this climate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-1965-movies-that-hold-up/501252.md?page=4)