I watch a lot of movies, but I still manage to stumble upon an old movie here and there that I really like but somehow managed to never see over the many years of its existence.
The latest of these is a 1998 move entitled, Run Lola Run . It’s rated 3 1/2 stars out of 4, and it is very entertaining.
So, the question to the Cafe is, can you name a movie that you really liked but somehow managed to never see over the many years of its existence?
I grew up watching old Tarzan movies on TV and assumed I’d seen them all. But I never saw Tarzan and his Mate until about ten years ago on TCM. I guess the TV stations of my youth thought Maureen O’Sullivan‘s loincloth and underwater striptease would warp my little mind.
What a great film! They really threw the kitchen sink at this one, culminating with a battle between a huge pride of lions and a charging herd of elephants. And Miss O’Sullivan’s loincloth lived up to the hype,
You’ll probably enjoy these:
Sorry, it’s German-dubbed.
Heaven Can Wait with Don Ameche. There are some 1940’s classics that I just can’t get into, but this was charming through and through. I watched it around the time Warren Beatty made his HCW film, knowing Beatty’s was not a re-make of Ameche’s. Still, highly recommended.
When I was a little kid Don Ameche was one of my favorite “old time” actors. I’d try to catch all his movies I found in the TV listings. But I didn’t see Heaven Can Wait until I was in my 50s. And you’re correct. It’s utterly charming.
I’m not thinking of any for myself, but my sister was way old before she saw Casablanca for the first time. She loved it.
I hang my head in shame: I still have not seen Casablanca. Claude Rains is one of my faves from that era and Bogey is OK and Bergman is lovely, but I’m under the impression it’s just TALK, TALK, TALK. Tell me I’m full of it – now’s yer chance. 
A good challenge, so I did some research. “Casablanca” received a whopping 11 Academy Awards nominations and garnered three Oscars. It is considered by pundits over time as one of the greatest movies ever made.
Well, there’s singing, too.
There’s talking, yeah, but there’s a lot of tension, clever dialog, evil Nazis, corrupt bureaucrats, and a last minute dash to freedom. All in addition to a nicely done love story. What more do you want?
Run, Lola, Run is fantastic. I first saw it in German class in high school. I went out and bought the DVD.
And Casablanca is a triumph. Did you know that the scene in which the French sang against the Germans was a fantastic example of Method acting? A lot of the people in that scene were French, and didn’t know if they’d ever be able to return home again. Those tears were genuine.
Thanks for that info. I had no idea!
OK, I have some free time on Saturday, so if I find Casablanca (and it’s free) I’ll stockpile the snacks and give it a try; however, if The Giant Gila Monster shows it’s ugly head in the queue, I make no promises. Or Tarantula.
Another thumbs up for ‘Run Lola Run’. I saw it on Netflix and then bought my own DVD.
I enjoyed many of Woody Allen’s later movies, but not the earlier ones that I watched, like Bananas and Sleeper. So, I never bothered to watch Take the Money and Run, until last night. I found it quite funny, in a goofball kinda way.
I have many other movies that I watched and liked shortly after their premieres, but only watched once until recently and enjoyed them even more with mature eyes. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is one.
My sister recommends the 1926 black-and-white, silent film Don Juan, starring John Barrymore. It has what she called the best swordfight she’s ever seen in a movie, featuring two guys both fighting with two swords.
I personally think it’s just ‘OK’. I think Humphrey Bogart is just ‘OK’ (he’s a very one-note actor). I don’t get all the hype and excitement over Casablanca, though it is quite enjoyable.
I like to catch REALLY old movies, on TCM, sometimes in the morning. They will show creaky old black and white movies from the 30’s, and some are surprisingly memorable. ‘Wild Boys of the Road’, ‘The Divorcee’ are two. Others are more obscure, the endless ‘heiresses running away from their fiances’ (imitations of ‘It Happened One Night’) - fun to read the credits, spot names that became more famous later…and I’ve been watching the movies of W.C. Fields. and those of Mae West. I’ve seen film clips, of course, but never the whole films. I love those oldies but goodies.
Just a few movies I have belatedly “stumbled upon” over the years and enjoyed:
Kongo (1932)
Bed of Roses (1933)
The President Vanishes (1934)
The Monster and the Girl (1941)
Canyon Passage (1946)
The Baron of Arizona (1950)
Les Disparus de St. Agil (1938)
Un Revenant (1946)
Death in the Garden (1956)
Man on the Tracks (1957)
Three Outlaw Samurai (1964)
The Sword of Doom (1966)
Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)
The Last Valley (1971)
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1973)
Hunter in the Dark (1979)
Revengers Tragedy (2002)
From IMDB - "Maureen O’Sullivan does not appear as Jane during the film’s famous nude swimming sequence. O’Sullivan is instead doubled by Josephine McKim, a member of the 1928 and 1932 U.S. Womens’ Olympic Swim Teams…."
“The infamous nude swimming scene was originally filmed in three different versions: with Jane wearing her traditional costume, with Jane topless, and with Jane topless while wearing a flesh-toned covering below. US states were empowered at that time to enact individual censorship laws, and the three versions were filmed in order to allow individual states to select the version of the scene best conformed to its laws….”
Regardless, it’s the best Tarzan film I’ve ever seen. The immediate follow-up Tarzan Escapes (1936) is nearly as good, but suffers by comparison for not being pre-Code, imo.
Your sister might enjoy:
“This movie contains what is reported to be the longest fencing duel ever caught on film, a sequence lasting nearly eight minutes. The climactic fight ranges throughout the theater, from the balcony boxes, to the lobby, through the main seats, backstage, and finally on the stage itself. The actors spent eight weeks preparing for this sequence, having to memorize 87 different individual sword passes and 28 stunts.”
House on Haunted Hill (1959) with Vincent Price. My best friend Alex and I watched it last summer. She’s big into horror movies. She found it boring, but I really liked it.
Pretty sure that’s the version TCM aired.
My Summer Story (1994) with Charles Grodin. A sequel to A Christmas Story. Coming after A Christmas Story, it suffered by comparison. Give it a chance and enjoy.
Three for the Show (1955) with Betty Grable and Jack Lemmon. The story is a bit of fluff, but the dance sequences are riveting.
Identity Unknown (1945) with Richard Arlen. Veteran with amnesia searches for his identity.
Womanhandled 1925, silent with Richard Dix. Turns the western inside out.
I visited the actual house twice before I got around to seeing the film with a whole bunch of Twitter folks riffing it in real time.
Yep. I watch a lot of TCM. We get great old classics. I just saw a good war pic I had never even heard of- Battleground (1949). Pretty damn good. Just dogfaces doing their job at Bastogne.
Yes, good but not great.