Who likes Classic Movies - 1960 and earlier

[tallhair]

Do you like the classics i.e. 60 and before?

I decided to start a discussion thread here for classic movies made in the studio era to clean up the Star Trek thread a little, it deserves it I think.

The idea is to share your favorite type(s) of classic movies, some thoughts about them, who your favorite actors are, or list some of your favorite classic films.

Classic Film is typically post silent, late 1929 to and including 1960 (when studio era was ending). Most were B/W but not exclusively i.e. GWTW, 1939 as an example was filmed in Technicolor.

Seems like there are a few here beside me who love the old movies.

 

[CanCritter]

Do you like the classics i.e. 60 and before?

l watch most everything if its interesting...alota stuff on TCM......ussually have the tv on in the background when lm home fartin about on the computer

 

[detmatt]

Do you like the classics i.e. 60 and before?

I'm a sucker for old movies, if you're talking pre 1960 some of my favorites are the musicals, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, man those guys could dance! And most of them were quite amusing. The production value with the amazing sets and a full orchestra was really incredible.
Other faves are the westerns and a lot of great WWII movies.
95% of movies made since the '80s or '90s do nothing for me. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in a movie theater....

 

[tallhair]

l watch most everything if its interesting...alota stuff on TCM......ussually have the tv on in the background when lm home fartin about on the computer

I'm a sucker for old movies, if you're talking pre 1960 some of my favorites are the musicals, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, man those guys could dance! And most of them were quite amusing. The production value with the amazing sets and a full orchestra was really incredible.
Other faves are the westerns and a lot of great WWII movies.
95% of movies made since the '80s or '90s do nothing for me. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in a movie theater....

Me too Matt. I'm not big on all musicals in general, just song and dance variety with either Gene or Fred or both, also James Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and of course the musicals exception would be Judy Garland, I like all her movies. I also like Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds with Gene in Singin' in the Rain. The 74 tribute movie That's Entertainment! had them all and more, hosted by Frank Sinatra.

I watch quite a lot of TCM or pre-60's classics on Netflix and other places on the internet also Critter. Love it all, Noir, War Movies, Westerns, gangsters, Meladrama's, Comedy, Suspense, all Hitchcock, etc.

As far as movie theater I haven't gone to 10 movies in the last 20 years (not counting drive-ins) but TCM is putting classic movies in select theaters. Saw The Maltese Falcon at Ronnie's 20 Theater over in St Louis earlier this year with the wife and a daughter. We loved it ... both of their first time seeing.

 

[amazinblue82]

I like most any Pre-1960 movie with which I am familiar.

I have seen shockingly few though aside from horror and sci-fy, and "mainstream" stuff (Wizard of Oz, Miracle and 34th, African Queen, Gone with the Wind, 12 Angry Men, DeMille's epics, Hitchcock's stuff, etc) that showed up on network TV when I was growing up.

Like most people perhaps, I tend only to be familiar with movies made in my lifetime. Ah, but the older stuff -- pre-CGI, pre-Ninji "three point landings" from 10 stories high -- it just great, great entertainment.

There must be at least 200 (no kidding) pre-1960 movies I want to see .. great films that I gotta get to one day.

Hope a few more come up in this thread. Thanks!

 

[tallhair]

I like most any Pre-1960 movie with which I am familiar.

I have seen shockingly few though aside from horror and sci-fy, and "mainstream" stuff (Wizard of Oz, Miracle and 34th, African Queen, Gone with the Wind, 12 Angry Men, DeMille's epics, Hitchcock's stuff, etc) that showed up on network TV when I was growing up.

Like most people, we tend only to be familiar with movies made in our lifetimes maybe. Understandable if so.

Ah, but the old stuff -- pre-CGI, pre-Ninji "three point landings" from 10 stories high -- it just great entertainment.

There must be at least 200 (no kidding) pre-1960 movies I want to see .. great films that I gotta get to one day.

Hope a few more come up in this thread. Thanks!

Agreed. In the Studio era they had great actors, great directors, great scripts, sets, etc. The studios produced whole movies with plot, story-line, and excellent dialogue not just sex and action although they had those things too, and there's nothing wrong with that . Pre-code movies had plenty of risque stuff and nudity. The Code was adopted in 1930 but not heavily enforced until 1934.

Yes I'm certain there are at least 200 great movies you can find to watch. IMDB is a good place to research and it has a feature to rate movies you have seen, and identify and keep track of movies you want to see. One good way is to find an actor or director you like, then go through the movies they made and add them to the list, or pick a type of movies, like noir, and go through those. The search out a place to see them or buy them. TCM, Amazon, Netflix, Youtube (esp older less known movies), Hulu, Dailymotion, ffilms.org, etc

 

[amazinblue82]

Good process.

We know everybody has an opinion on what the "best" movies are -- and that's cool. I don't presume to debate anyone's choices -- and I usually don't care what "critics" think about something I like/didnt like

Anyway, this also helped me decide "what" to see. Rotten Tomato's Top 100 movies ever made, based on movies that got at least 40 independent critic reviews (again, debatable whether such reviews are useful).

Top 100 Movies of All Time - Rotten Tomatoes

I wont put the whole list here below, and I am not trying to debate the list, but just showing their Top 20 of 100, year it was made, and highlighting the ones I have seen in BOLD (I have seen 6 out of 20, 14 of the 20 were made before I was born):

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
2. The Third Man (1949)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. All About Eve (1950)
5. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
6. The Godfather (1972)
7. Modern Times (1936)
8. Inside Out (2015)
9. Metropolis (1927)
10. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
11. It Happened One Night (1934)
12. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
13. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
14. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
15. Laura (1944)
16. Boyhood (2014)
17. North by Northwest (1959)
18. Repulsion (1965)
19. King Kong (1933)
20. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

 

[tallhair]

Some examples of Pre-Code films / themes

Sex

Joan Blondell - sexy

themes were an issue in post code movies - early 30's movies had a lot of gangsters ... and america had a lot of gangsters at the time. Dillinger, Floyd, Kelly, Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, etc.

anyone remember the grapefruit scene? Shocking at the time and later would never have made it. Cagney and Mae improvised it after filming had officially stopped for the day w/o the director knowing. When he saw it he left it in.

Sexy lingerie and seduction became a no-no after

By far my favorite Marx Bros film - Duck Soup

This is why most classic movies showed separate bedrooms or double beds

 

[tallhair]

I was born after the studio era so all of them were before I was born but I fell in love with them as a kid watching old movies on KPLR Channel 11 out of St Louis on Sat/Sun afternoon and late at night later on.

I've started to make a list (spreadsheet of course) of my favorite movies and actors but it's ongoing and will be a very long, life long actually, project.

I put some marks by ones I think you should really watch as they are indeed "essential" and of course I really like them

I put a star beside It Happened One Night since I love Gable and Colbert in it. It was the film that spring boarded Gable to success

I bolded the ones I've seen from the R.T. List

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
2. The Third Man (1949)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. All About Eve (1950)
5. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
6. The Godfather (1972)
7. Modern Times (1936)
8. Inside Out (2015)
9. Metropolis (1927)
10. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
11. It Happened One Night (1934)
12. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
13. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
14. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
15. Laura (1944)
16. Boyhood (2014)
17. North by Northwest (1959)
18. Repulsion (1965)
19. King Kong (1933)
20. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

 

[amazinblue82]

I was born after the studio era so all of them were before I was born but I fell in love with them as a kid watching old movies on KPLR Channel 11 out of St Louis on Sat/Sun afternoon and late at night later on.

I've started to make a list (spreadsheet of course) of my favorite movies and actors but it's ongoing and will be a very long, life long actually, project.

I bolded the ones I've seen from the R.T. List

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
2. The Third Man (1949)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. All About Eve (1950)
5. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
6. The Godfather (1972)
7. Modern Times (1936)
8. Inside Out (2015)
9. Metropolis (1927)
10. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
11. It Happened One Night (1934)
12. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
13. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
14. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
15. Laura (1944)
16. Boyhood (2014)
17. North by Northwest (1959)
18. Repulsion (1965)
19. King Kong (1933)
20. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Holy smoke man .. you are a true aficionado of the older stuff (and a few new things )

Everything but Dr. Caligari, which i NEVER heard of before a year ago, you've seen.

Well done!

 

[Big_John]

One of my favs was on the other night and I couldn't stay awake to watch it. Citizen Kane. Another, slightly newer favorite is "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". I have that on DVD.

 

[tallhair]

Holy smoke man .. you are a true aficionado of the older stuff (and a few new things )

Everything but Dr. Caligari, which i NEVER heard of before a year ago, you've seen.

Well done!

I was still editing that comment. I recommend all the Classic movies on the list but am a little less high on Robin Hood, although it's a very good film ... and it does have Olivia De Haviland which is alawys a plus!

 

[tallhair]

Scene from Metropolis

Modern Times - Classic Chaplin

having trouble keeping up

oops missed one

Both of these are silents even though M.T. was made in 1936, it had sound effects but the little tramp didn't talk. It was his last Silent.

 

[Dobalovr]

Bob Hope "Road" movies are one of my favorites or Little Rascals shorts. Remember Saturday afternoon matinees with LR being the opener. The Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin movies still crack me up today. Real humour without EFF bombing every second word.

 

[traintech55]

Well guys, I guess I am lucky in the fact my favorite movie has my favorite actor. "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Next up is "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" with Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson.

 

[tallhair]

Bob Hope "Road" movies are one of my favorites or Little Rascals shorts. Remember Saturday afternoon matinees with LR being the opener. The Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin movies still crack me up today. Real humour without EFF bombing every second word.

Agree. Those all still stand up well, and I have always loved Dean Martin's singing ... he was funny too. Also on the matinees we have to mention Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy. Little Rascals were hilarious and they always rigged up such cool gagets and of course the "He Man Woman Haters Club". Three Stooges on weekday mornings ... they had some sexy ladies in those usually.

 

[tallhair]

One of my favs was on the other night and I couldn't stay awake to watch it. Citizen Kane. Another, slightly newer favorite is "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". I have that on DVD.

Great films John. Some much to love about Dr Strangelove but my favorites scenes are with Gen Ripper and Group Captain Mandrake. Precious bodily fluids haha

 

[tallhair]

Holy smoke man .. you are a true aficionado of the older stuff (and a few new things )

Everything but Dr. Caligari, which i NEVER heard of before a year ago, you've seen.

Well done!

Thanks, for me it's been a fairly active process over 40 years of watching old movies and intentionally seeking out and watching things I know are considered classic by most, but I haven't seen yet, that's not that often anymore but I still find new gems to watch. Going with a genre, like noir, or thrillers, or early comedies, or silent films, or a specific actor like Spencer Tracey mentioned above and searching out the best of those sometimes turns up a new masterpiece once in a while or just a really good movie or performance. I still remember the first time I watched Bad Day at Black Rock with Spencer, Robert Ryan, Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Dean Jagger etc ... it was great.

I agree with your earlier comment about fav films is an individual thing, even though there are hundreds that most people will agree are true iconic classics if they'e taken the time to watch them. But I could never come up with a definitive personal top 100 .. there are just too many great movies. I could certainly not come up with a top 10, or rank order my favorite movies and I don't see a point personally. There are just movies I consider to be a personal classic and will, and do, watch over and over again ... that's my personal distinction.

If I'm channel flicking and come across one I've seen before but cannot change the channel even if it's in the middle or near the end. That's what I call a top caliber classic movie.

 

[tallhair]

Well guys, I guess I am lucky in the fact my favorite movie has my favorite actor. "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Next up is "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" with Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson.

Concur ... and in real life Jimmy was the pilot and War Hero ... not his brother

Although he wouldn't call it that. Retired as a Reserve AF BGen.

I think my favorite Van Johnson movie is The Caine Mutiny

 

[Big_John]

Great films John. Some much to love about Dr Strangelove but my favorites scenes are with Gen Ripper and Group Captain Mandrake. Precious bodily fluids haha

Best part for me is any of the scenes with Slim Pickens in them. It's been said that he was told that it was a serious movie and his playing it as a serious part just makes it all that much funnier.