does anyone else like old movies?

Question

like film noirs? like casablanca, a touch of evil, maltese falcon, the big sleep, lucy, or the thin man?

Answer 1

I just saw "A Touch of Evil" on TMC recently, in the version that attempted to restore Welles' original version (based on his 58-page memo to Universal after their edit). This has vaulted to the top of my favorite-movies list -- there are scenes in it that are staggering, with haunting angles and composition. And the opening scene in this version out-Hitchcocks Hitchcock in several ways -- first, of course, because it's a loooong (almost three minute) tracking shot without a cut, a technique Hitch used in "Rope," but even more so because it's the classic example, used by Hitch in TV interviews, of how to set up a suspense shot. In the opening seconds of the film you see a pair of hands setting the timer on a bomb, then you watch as the bomb is placed in the trunk of a car. Then the camera follows the car -- without cuts -- through the streets of a Mexican border town, introduces our main characters (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh), and for three AGONIZING minutes you wait for the earth-shattering kaboom as the car drives slowly through crowded streets filled with innocent bystanders having fun. You know it's coming, but you don't know when. BRILLIANT film-making.

"The Maltese Falcon" is a great movie based on a great book -- if you like John Huston's film, read Dashiell Hammett's novel. Virtually all the great lines and scenes in the movie are taken from the book, though having the cast that Huston did (can you believe this was Greenstreet's first movie?) doesn't hurt. Having said that, I've never really warmed up to Mary Astor's role, but maybe that's because when you've seen Bogart and Baby together, nothing else comes close.

And speaking of them -- I've always said that William Powell and Myrna Loy are the best example of on-screen chemistry ever filmed; Bogart and Bacall aren't chemistry, they're combustion. But the "Thin Man" series (another Hammett creation) are great fun. If you like Thirties mysteries with a comic twist, don't miss a little-known charmer called "The Penguin Pool Murders" starring Edna May Oliver (probably best known for playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the Olivier/Garson "Pride and Prejudice"). She was wonderful, with that long face of hers that made Margaret (Wicked Witch of the West) Hamilton look like Garbo.

And I admit I'm not familiar with Lucy -- do you mean "Laura" with Gene Tierney? If you don't, it's right up your alley: the title character is dead at the beginning of the movie (though she didn't drop a snow globe and say "Rosebud" in the opening scene :-), and the movie examines the events leading up to her death, all in flashbacks. Clifton Webb stars in it as well as Tierney, and he plays a marvelously scathing villain. And if you're talking about a movie called "Lucy," please let me know -- if you mention it in the same breath (so to speak) as the other movies in your list, I'll bet I'd love it!

So many great films... so much to learn from them all, about how to tell stories, influence people's emotions, and capture images.

Answer 2

I love old movies and the classics!
Ginger Rogers in Bachelor Mother is very good.
I was just speaking the other day about the Maltese Falcon and I was amazed how many people weren't familiar with it. They knew the name but never saw it. Thin Man series is awesome- I love William Powell, he was debonair and funny. Touch of Evil is most definitely a classic noir and the Third Man- that is such an amazing film to begin with! I am hoping to get a new copy of it, mine's kind of worn out. The shootout in the underground sewer had me hooked on the genre.

Answer 3

Of course.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, March of the Wooden Soldiers, The Wizard of Oz, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, and many others to list.

I love them all.

Answer 4

Love them, Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, To Kill A Mockingbird, Jane Eyre. They had such wonderful language, and insightful story lines. They carry you in and make you pay attention. Especially when it's raining outside and on cold wintery nights.

Answer 5

I most certainly enjoy watching old movies. They just don't make them like that any more, as cliched as that sounds. It's marvelous to see an effect or hear a line or gag and remember this was the original.

Answer 6

I like old westerns. Especially John Wayne!

Answer 7

confident, i like previous video clips. those you point out nonetheless are, to me, commercial elephants with little substance. movies made in the 30's and 40's had far greater pertinence and spoke greater directly to our historic past and way of existence in united statesa.. immediately's video clips tend to belittle the greatness of our us of a and many times portray our ideals as villianous.

Answer 8

I like old movies

Answer 9

love them all. used to sit on a saturday and watch all the old black and white movies whether it be a western, horror movie, or musical, love them all.

Answer 10

not those types but the old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns are cool