Favourite film classics?

Jusenkyo no Pikachu · Post by **Jusenkyo no Pikachu** » Mon May 03, 2004 10:18 am

OK...if you've ever been to the Internet Archive, you'll note that it has a lot of old movies (all of which are in the public domain). On a whim, I downloaded two of them last night: DOA (1950) and Night of the Living Dead (1967).

Basically DOA is a film noir in the classic style with a few twists: An accountant is poisoned during a night out on the town. After learning he only has days to live, he sets out to find his murderer. Red herrings abound in this amazingly innovative tale of intrigue which was remade in 1988 with Dennis Quaid as a college professor.

And Night of the Living Dead is the classic zombie thriller that shot down all horror film conventions. Up until then, horror films had been basically featuring a white hero, a romantic interest and some monster whose presence is explained away at the end (or it is stopped). Then along came this film with a black hero, five other total strangers and a looming menace that is neither properly explained or stopped. Amazingly, it still holds up today, despite having been copied, remade, sequelized and parodied several times. Strangely, the news footage presented as a live broadcast in the film is shown to be in daylight, while the rest of the film occurs at night. And no, the footage could not have been from earlier as the film begins in the evening.

And just to keep this from being spliced into that scary movie thread (which I never intended as I'd just be repeating mself on DOA), let's put Close Encounters in. Now here's the alien encounter film that should be watched. Not Independence Day, not War of the Worlds, but this one, which does something that was still highly original back then--it presents the aliens as just wanting to make contact. Sure, Star Trek had done it earlier, but then they also foreshadowed the destruction of Alderaan in Star Wars (one episode had Spock sensing the pain of the Vulcan crew of a ship which gets destroyed).

So, any classics you like?

Emma · Post by **Emma** » Mon May 03, 2004 11:18 am

I have one fave classic. Its an old black and white film that came out during the 50's. The title is "Two Girls and a Sailor" very cute movie. My fave line is near the end when the one of the sisters finally got the man she wanted, she said "Well we are going to move to Texas cause Frank wants to have a lot of onions." What Frank meant was young'ons. *forgive me on the spelling, I can't spell southern words well*

Post by **Tiff** » Mon May 03, 2004 11:48 am

Gone With the Wind. There's something about that movie that just draws me back to that time, and I love how the things in it were considered scandalous back then (such as Rhett saying the word "damn"...becuase of that, you had to have written permission from your parents to go see it if you were under a certain cage). It just goes to show how a romantic, historical film with no nudity, sex, swears, or gore can be one of the best movies ever.

A Patch of Blue. This movie is touching in every way,and again, it's one of those innocent movies. It's black and white, and about a young girl who is blind, and her mother and grandfather abuse her and neglect her. She befriends a black man, but has no idea he's black (which, at the time the movie is set, would have been taboo for them to be together), and they end up falling in love...it's such a sweet movie.

A Streetcar named Desire. Also black and white, and based off of the play...it's a powerful story, a story of an abused wife and her delusional sister, and the ending is quite horrific, and really makes you think...very psychological.

yoshmaster5 · Post by **yoshmaster5** » Mon May 03, 2004 2:32 pm

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

The movie is very funny, and has extremely good scenes. Espically the beginning.

yamijounouchi · Post by **yamijounouchi** » Mon May 03, 2004 3:20 pm

"whatever happened to baby jane?"

Ni-ban Neko · Post by **Ni-ban Neko** » Mon May 03, 2004 5:26 pm

To Kill a Mockingbird - this is quite possibly the best conversion of a novel to a movie that has ever been made. It's black and white, and has excellent performances from all the cast.

Gone with the Wind is also up there on my list. Everyone should see this straight through at least once.

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Mon May 03, 2004 7:34 pm

The Wizard of Oz. It was one of the first movies in technicolour (along with Gone With the Wind, which I must agree with Tiffu and Ni-ban about), and it was done amazingly. That's one of the reasons why Kansas is grey. Besides the dull nature of Kansas, it actually transfers from black and white to colour in the film.

Some Like it Hot. If you want humour, there's really no better place to go than a Marilyn Monroe film. They're all wonderful, but Some Like it Hot is my favourite of them.

Clash of the Titans. While not completely faithful to the original myth of Perseus and Medusa, it is one of the best renditions I've seen. The special effects are cheesy, yes, but it was remarkable for it's time.

King Kong. Who can forget the classic scene of King Kong and Faye Ray on top of the building, with the military trying to bring King Kong down? It's certainly a classic, and one of the best monster movies I've seen.

Lastly, Bram Stoker's Dracula. Without a doubt, the best version of the Dracula stories. No matter what they've done, no Dracula has seemed scarier, sexier, or more pity-evoking than Bram Stokers. It may not be considered a classic because it's not THAT old, but I consider it to be one.

Post by **Tiff** » Mon May 03, 2004 7:54 pm

yamijounouchi wrote:"whatever happened to baby jane?"

Oooh, that one's great...such a good thriller flick.

ParaKiss_Groupie wrote:The Wizard of Oz. It was one of the first movies in technicolour (along with Gone With the Wind, which I must agree with Tiffu and Ni-ban about), and it was done amazingly. That's one of the reasons why Kansas is grey. Besides the dull nature of Kansas, it actually transfers from black and white to colour in the film.

Yes, I must agree. I love that movie, and have seen it many many times, but never get tired of it. Judy Garland was just wonderful in that movie, and the color is gorgeous.

Post by **AnimeGuru0** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:12 pm

yoshmaster5 wrote:Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

I'd hardly consider that a "Film Classic". I mean........heck, I was alive when it came out.....and I'm not THAT old (Hey, i'm the youngest member of the SMU staff

)

Hmm.....Classics eh..........The original Godzilla is a classic in my eyes. Very good with a chilling moral.

Babes in Toyland. LOL, i liked that one. Although some might say it was horrible, but i grew up on it as a kid, and hey, it's REALLY OLD. lol.

Hmm, can't think of any others right now that weren't already mentioned.

Jusenkyo no Pikachu · Post by **Jusenkyo no Pikachu** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:14 pm

ParaKiss_Groupie wrote:The Wizard of Oz. It was one of the first movies in technicolour (along with Gone With the Wind, which I must agree with Tiffu and Ni-ban about), and it was done amazingly. That's one of the reasons why Kansas is grey. Besides the dull nature of Kansas, it actually transfers from black and white to colour in the film.

Some Like it Hot. If you want humour, there's really no better place to go than a Marilyn Monroe film. They're all wonderful, but Some Like it Hot is my favourite of them.

Clash of the Titans. While not completely faithful to the original myth of Perseus and Medusa, it is one of the best renditions I've seen. The special effects are cheesy, yes, but it was remarkable for it's time.

a) There's a special name for the style of colour in the Kansas scenes. It's called "sepia tint".

b) I have to agree--Some Like It Hot is one of the funniest movies ever.

c) The special effects weren't all that remarkable. By the time that movie came out, a new method called Go-Motion (where several positions would be filmed in a frame) was paving the way for the future.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:37 pm

Talking of sepia tone reminded me of my favorite old movie: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It is such a feelgood movie, and the screenwriter, William Goldman, is one of my all-time beloved writers.The chase sequence with the mystery men is one of the greatest segments ever, with a wonderful payoff. Goldman would eventually resurrect the idea of the extended chase sequence for his other great movie, The Princess Bride.

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Mon May 03, 2004 9:54 pm

Casablanca

I only first saw this movie a few months ago, and boy had I missed out on a good one. This is SUCH an excellent movie, and what's amazing it that it gets pulled off with very little swearing and violence. It's just a wonderful love story, craftily written and wonderfully acted. There are also plenty of memorable moments in this movie, both popular ("Here's lookin' at you, kid"), and otherwse.

Parallax · Post by **Parallax** » Tue May 04, 2004 2:18 pm

Well, here goes my list.

1: "War of the Worlds"
2: "The Wizard of Oz"
3: "Godzilla:King of the Monsters" (1957)
4: "The Invisible Man: (1937)
5: "King Kong"
6: "Frankenstein"
7: "The Mummy"
8: "Creature from the Black Lagoon"
9: "The Day the Earth Stood Still"
10: "Dracula"

Jusenkyo no Pikachu · Post by **Jusenkyo no Pikachu** » Tue May 04, 2004 8:21 pm

Starscream wrote:Casablanca

I only first saw this movie a few months ago, and boy had I missed out on a good one. This is SUCH an excellent movie, and what's amazing it that it gets pulled off with very little swearing and violence. It's just a wonderful love story, craftily written and wonderfully acted. There are also plenty of memorable moments in this movie, both popular ("Here's lookin' at you, kid"), and otherwse.

"You played it for her, you can play it for me."

At one point when I was on the school's French trip a few years ago, one of the teachers said "Play it again, Sam". And the other teacher told him it wasn't said in the movie. Now with my attention fully captured

my teacher had to say "In pottery, jouez-le encore Samuel n'était pas dit." (or something like that). The pottery thing came from them trying to get me to stop talking movies (and I wasn't doing great in French). That didn't stop me from saying "I believe it was 'You played it for her, you can play it for me.'"

crazydiamond · Post by **crazydiamond** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:11 pm

"whatever happened to baby jane?"

"The Day the Earth Stood Still"

I love both of those movies. I can't think of any others at the moment. I don't watch too many old movies. There's this one black-and-white one I saw a while ago and I *loved* it, but I only saw it once, and can't remember it's name. Also! I loved Animal Crackers. It was freakin hilarious (it had the Marx brothers in it.)
Awww, I killed the topic... Anyway, I remembered another one. I hadn't seen it in so long, I forgot about it. Harvey, with the giant invisible rabbit. That movie kicks so much ass. Harvey rocks. I wish *I* had a pooka.

Sailor Moon Uncensored

Favourite film classics?

Favourite film classics?

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