OT: Classic films

[BroadwayVa]

Lots of W C Fields fans here. I think he was hilarious, but my wife does not find him so. I am not sure if it is male/female thing or just that she has better taste. I loved his character's name in the Bank Dick. Egbert Sousé which he insisted was pronounced soo say! He has one of the two best elephant quotes attributed to him. He is quoted as "A woman is like an elephant to me. I like to look at them, but I wouldn't want to own one." The other, and perhaps more famous pachyderm pun was Groucho Marx's "I was in Africa recently. I shot an elephant in my pajamas one morning. How it got there I never will know." No wonder my wife rolls her eyes at me!

No it is NOT a male thing--I go along with your wife on W.C. F. --the only one I liked of his had Gloria Jean, and it was her I liked. Owned a woman????? I've been owned, worked hard, put away wet for neigh on to 3/4th of a century by a number of women: Mother, daughters, spouse.

 

[BroadwayVa]

My top 15 < = 1950 in no particular order:
Casablanca
Citizen Kane
The Bicycle Thief
Grand Illusion
My Man Godfrey
Gone with the Wind
Duck Soup
Grapes of Wrath
All about Eve
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Maltese Falcon
It Happened One Night
Sunset Boulevard
The Best Years of Our Lives
Rules of the Game
I would (and do) pay to watch these when they come to a revival theater. Especially if they've been remastered.

The Grapes of Wrath most people currently living think it's ONLY about Okla and Calif. The total underlying theme about being near starvation and only having family to rely on happened all over the USA.

 

[BroadwayVa]

The Thin Man
My Man Godfrey (love William Powell)
A Night At The Opera
The Mark of Zorro (Tyrone Power, nuff said)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn)

They'd all make my list, good pick-in.
My Brother as he was about to ship to the Pacific took me and his best gal to see Chico alive at the Paramount in Waterbury--most memorible. (he married the gal)

 

[BroadwayVa]

Bogart in Sahara (WWII tank drama)
Bogart in Casablanca
Dana Andrews in The Purple Heart (WWII flyers captured by Japanese on trial)
Dana Andrews in A Walk In The Sun (WWII soldiers in Italy)
John Wayne in Stage Coach (Western, it made John Wayne a Star)
I agree with EasyEd above on Gone With The Wind, The Wizard Of Oz, Miracle On 34th St., It's A Wonderful Life,
John Wayne in The Searchers
Gene Kelly & Lana Turner in The 3 Musketeers
James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy
John Wayne in Sands Of Iwo Jima
Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce in any Sherlock Holmes (13)
Cary Grant in Gunga Din

Love em all. 2 of your movies MOVED me emotionally and patrotically:

Purple Heart--
Sand of Iwo Jim. The Marines had a Korean War effort to recruit calling it the Sand of Iwo Jim Company. I quit college, with 2 buddies ran to the Marine Recruiter and I was told YOU are too thin, you'd never make the training---so we 3 crossed the street in Waterbury and joined the Navy.

 

[Aluminny69]

I can’t believe no one mentioned Double Indemnity. It has one of my favorite movie dialogue exchanges of all time.

Phyllis: I wonder if I know what you mean.
Walter Neff: I wonder if you wonder.

So good.

My favorite from William Powell, aka the Thin Man, Nick Charles:

Nick: I'm a hero. I was shot twice in the Tribune.
Nora: I read where you were shot five times in the tabloids.
Nick: It's not true. He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids.

And, from The Maltese Falcon:

Sam Spade: Don't be too sure I'm as crooked as I'm supposed to be.

And of course:

Polhaus: [lifting the fake falcon] It's heavy. What is it?
Spade: The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.
Note: bolded line is ranked #14 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

 

[Lawrence]

Wuthering Heights, Now Voyager, All About Eve, Mildred Pierce, Dark Passage, Dark Victory, just to mention a few.

 

[Bigboote]

Lots of W C Fields fans here. I think he was hilarious, but my wife does not find him so. I am not sure if it is male/female thing or just that she has better taste.

Definitely NOT better taste. The guy was an absolute genius. I'm not sure his vaudeville antics translated very well to the screen. He wrote most of his movies under various pseudonyms, but he ad-libbed much of his camera time, and was working with actors (and especially directors) who weren't always comfortable with his improv.

 

[Bama fan]

Definitely NOT better taste. The guy was an absolute genius. I'm not sure his vaudeville antics translated very well to the screen. He wrote most of his movies under various pseudonyms, but he ad-libbed much of his camera time, and was working with actors (and especially directors) who weren't always comfortable with his improv.

Thanks for the affirmation, Bigboote. But if I show her this, she will insist that you, too, are a boor. I would not do that to you, especially at Christmas. It will have to remain an uncelebrated victory for us!

 

[Kaizen]

All the Indiana Jones movies ...

 

[CL82]

Agree with a lot these. Here's one that was missed:


Made in 1938 and still holds up very well.

 

[rvwsleep]

I couldn't stop at 15. I find the following conspiracy movies entertaining and thought provoking:
Seven Days in May
3 Days of the Condor
Fail Safe
Manchurian Candidate
The Pelican Brief
The Parallax View

 

[LETTERL]

I never miss 1944's "Double Indemnity", Billy Wilder's classic featuring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, whenever it is broadcast on cable. If you only know Fred MacMurray from "My Three Sons"...it can be a little surreal seeing him as a bad boy embroiled in fraud and murder.

And don't forget about "Gone With The Wind", "The Wizard of Oz" and another personal favorite, "All About Eve". I'll watch anything with Bette Davis in it...but she gave one of her best performances as Margot Channing.

 

[FedupFred]

The Invisible Man
The Wolfman

 

[huskeynut]

In addition to several of my favorites already mentioned, here are few more,

King Kong
Captain Blood
Robin Hood
Stagecoach
Mutiny on the Bounty
Double Indemnity
Fantasia
Laura
Key Largo

 

[asuwish]

Have you got a favorite (before 1950) that you've viewed more than others?
Mine is the first pairing of Bogey and Bacall, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT.
The anti Nazi theme is always a winner among us oldies.
It doesn't hurt for reinforcement that the pop song of "having it all just like Bogey and Bacall",
brings it up for me. They had a magical May & September pairing.
I'd guess I've seen it 4 times.
Yours?

To many to list, but The adventures of Robin hood with Errol Flynn, and Singing in the rain are 2 worth mentioning

 

[veryolddog]

From the above posts, it seems that there is a certain age group that really appreciates the films of the past. It appears that film makers knew how to tell a story without overt sensationalism and give the audience/viewers a lasting memory of a story brought to life on the screen. My wife and I watch the TCM channel frequently in order to watch a good story told from the 30's, 40's and 50's. These films, seen over and over again, never seem to get old even for a very old dog.

 

[svetbird]

I am always drawn to the actors and their performances of the time more then the movies themselves. Actresses of the time that are my favorite are Audrey Hepburn (I still have a poster of her on my wall) Barbara Stanwyck and Mary Astor and Cary Grant as far as actors go.

 

[Hope]

intriguing plot and great acting

 

[Rema64]

I watched hours of AMC before TCM colorized everything.
I love Gone with the wind, Rebecca the Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland road movies and Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire dance classics. I've always leaned towards movies that are just entertainment.
Films like Imitation of Life and Guess Whose Coming to dinner are still relevant today and deal with modern issues better than anything done now.