<p>I’m taking full advantage of y Amazon Prime membership by watching old Downton Abbey episodes, and today I started watching some classic (read: old) movies that I should have watched years ago. I started with “The African Queen,” made in 1951. Humphrey Bogart won an Oscar for his performance – which I thought was horribly wooden and really amateurish.</p>
<p>I’m planning to watch all of Alfred Hitchcock – “Dial M for Murder” is one of my favorites. </p>
<p>Bringing Up Baby
The Lady Eve
Palm Beach Story
Indiscreet
Notorious
Dr. Strangelove
Lolita
Fanny and Alexander
Volver
Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Full Moon in Paris
Pauline at the Beach
Godfather I and II
All the President’s Men</p>
<p>I think acting styles have changed somewhat. Starting sometime in the 50’s or 60’s we went to a more natural style - I think the screwball comedies still hold up pretty well. I like Bogart better in other films, and Hepburn isn’t really my favorite actress of the era.</p>
<p>To Have and Have Not (Bacall and Bogie), Shadow of a Doubt (Hitchcock), Meet John Doe(Barabara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (western Jimmy Stewart and others), High Noon (Grace Kelly, Gary Cooper), It Happened One Night (Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert), Philadelphia Story (Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn), His Girl Friday (Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant). You could also have fun watching Busby Berkeley musicals, Astaire and Rogers movies, all the Broadway Melody movies.</p>
<p>For more recent classics - Cabaret, Chinatown, Klute
In French: Les Regles du Jeu, Les Enfants du Paradis, Jules et Jim</p>
<p>My husband mentioned James Dean and I said I’d never seen any of his movies. My husband thought he had, but wasn’t sure. Anyway, we decided to watch all the James Dean movies (he died young in a car crash so there aren’t that many–only three). We watched them all–Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, and Giant. They’re from 1955-56, so they’re dated and Giant is quite long. My favorite was East of Eden. Dean is such a cultural icon, it’s worth watching his films.</p>
<p>Hitchcock and Elia Karzan (sp?) movies cover the gamut of most of the great old movies. One of the lesser known movies of Hitchcock that was great was “Strangers on a Train.”</p>
<p>Metropolis is worth seeing, even though it is silent. </p>
<p>I suggest looking up lists of the greatest movies and watch what you can. You may find you like noir and be drawn to oddities like Gun Crazy. Or you may prefer comedy and seek out I Married A Witch. </p>
<p>I think the greatest movie ever made is The Best Years of Our Lives. If you don’t know it, you only need to know that Homer is played by Harold Russell, a sailor who truly lost his arms up to his elbows in a training fire. And now Homer is home from the war along with Captain Fred Derry and Sergeant Al Stephenson. Shot in depth of field by the great Gregg Toland, who was so important to Citizen Kane that Orson Welles shared his title card with him.</p>
<p>My hobby is classic movies from the 1930s through the 1950s. I don’t think the streaming options out there really offer enough of them. Although if you get Turner Classic Movies on your cable service (and if your provider is not the awful Time Warner) TCM offers a terrific selection of movies to stream. One of the rare classic films I’ve found on Netflix is “The Lady Eve,” starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. It is wickedly funny – she plays a gal on the make, trying to take advantage of him in every imaginable way. She is amazing, as always, and he’s adorable. Please watch it!</p>
<p>Some of my other classic favorites (many already mentioned here): Swing Time and The Gay Divorcee with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Notorious and Indiscreet with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, Vertigo and Rear Window (Hitchcock, with James Stewart in performances that no actor today could do as well), Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder movies, as complex and sophisticated as anything today), All about Eve and Dark Victory (my favorites with Bette Davis). And so many more!</p>