old film recommendations

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plloud

New member
Has anyone got any old film recommendations? I saw Calamity Jane for the first time the other week and it was great. The humour and the storyline was really good throughout - something which is often sadly missing from many modern films.

I haven't seen many old films (30s/40s/50s) - are there any gems out there?
 
Buy or borrow Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. There's thousanRAB of titles to choose from in there, the 3/4 star rated are all excellent.
 
Musicals:
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Singin in the rain
The Band Wagon
Evergreen
My Fair Lady
Top Hat

Comedies:
Bringing up Baby
The Philadelphia Story
Arsenic and Old Lace
Some like it hot
It happened one night
His Girl Friday
Harvey
The Apartment
Any Marx Bros film
 
The Bad & the Beautiful

Portrait of Jennie

The Dark Corner

Nightmare Alley

Night of the Hunter

The Haunting

Kronos

The Seventh Victim

Curse of the Cat People

The Ministry of Fear

Alias Nick Beal

Went the Day Well?

Island in the Sky

The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao

Night of the Demon

Island of Lost Souls

The Enemy Below

Track of the Cat

The Night Has Eyes

Murder My Sweet

Call Northside 777

Deadline Midnight

Rope

Storm Warning
 
Twelve Angry Men - fab
Night of the Hunter - scary
Arsenic and old lace - funny
Some Like It Hot - funny
Imitation of Life - melodramatic but fab - Lana Turner, soooo glamorous!
All About Eve - great
Sunset Boulevard - amazing

and the best old film of all

Guess Who's Coming For Dinner - has a bit of everything



so many! Too many to mention! :cool:
 
The ironic thing is many films and the Simpsons pay homage to a host of films from the 30's thru to the 50's and yet a huge number of the under thirties haven't seen them, probably because so many channels are available. I'm not sure how they "get" the references?

The older generations had less channels so you watched pretty much anything that was on and films were re-run over and over again especially at night and Sunday afternoons.

I've met younger folk who will not watch black and white films, and if you suggest they watch a silent movie they think your ready for the asylum.

(in my experience anyway)
 
I'm early 40s (very early, thank you :D) and I do remember the names of a lot of these films and recall seeing bits of some of them with my mum when I was a toddler when they were on telly but, for some reason, I don't think I've seen any right the way through and obviously can't really remember the bits I saw from years ago.

Those who don't want to watch anything black or white (or silent) will only be missing out on all the masterpieces out there. I feel lucky that I've got so many films that I know I'm going to enjoy to get through.
 
not many British films on these lists.......

top of the list has to be A Matter of Life And Death - chokes me up just thinking about it :o

Hobson's Choice - very funny, with Charles Laughton and John Mills with the Worst Hair in Cinema (also a very young Prunella Scales)

also old david Lean films like Great Expectations

any Ealing Comedy films - especially Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob or The Ladykillers
 
Gentlemen prefer blondes... funny and some songs
singin in the rain..funny and singing
both those films I really love
if u want something with a wee bit of a laugh (the sea captain is just great) and moody too then go for 'the ghost and mrs muir' another brill film
 
I am not a big film fan and most films fail to hold my attention but '12 Angry Men' is simply one of my favourite films ever. I dont want to spoiler the film but there is one scene in there which is my favourite scene in a movie.
 
I loved The Ghost and Mrs Muir. There was an American TV series based on it in the 60's which I watched when I was about 8. Still remember the theme music......
 
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