I was curious if anyone liked old hollywood movies. I'm 15 years old and over the past year or so I have become obsessed with old movies from the teens - 70's. Of course I think the greatest movie of all time is The Godfather, but there are so many other great spectacular movies that came out way before then.
So I was wondering if anyone has watched any movies from that time period, or if I'm just some random teenager who is secretly an old grandmother who is about 84 years.
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I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh.
I had a conversation a few weeks ago about the penchant for remakes. This guy reckons it's not just banking on something that's already a proven success, but also kids today just wont - they just wont - watch old movies. Each generation needs its own version or something. I think that's rubbish. I think that when I was a kid, with only three channels, you watched what was on and that included lots of old movies. Perhaps the sheer volume of mass media outlets does mean there's just no time for the older stuff for younger folks, unless they're exposed to them or don't have this bizarre bias (which I refuse to believe is as widespread as the guy I talked to thinks). Some people just don't care for old movies. They're just not really into movies, but into what's current. Movie lovers love movies and will try anything from any time, if it appeals.
Might as well start with something really old. I haven't really seen much Chaplin (although the Robert Downey Jr film was very good indeed) or Buster Keaton (I really would like to) but I used to be big on Harold Lloyd. Safety Last is the classic it deserves to be (Harold climbed up the outside of a building, hung off the clock at the top, it's an iconic image). Otherwise I don't care for silent movies. All that the bore fest that was The Artist did for me was show how much more sophisticated cinema became once sound was introduced. Instead of The Artist, there's Singing in the Rain and A Star is Born (I'm recommending the James Mason and Judy Garland version). Same story (as The Artist, not of each other), only brilliant, gripping and funny and with songs!
Was a big fan of Billy Wilder. Sure, Some Like it Hot is fab, but don't neglect the awesome Sunset Blvd (no idea how the musical version compared. Stephen Sondheim once wanted to do a musical version of SB but abandoned the idea after deciding it should be an opera). The Front Page, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Irma la Douce, One Two Three, The Apartment, Witness for the Prosecution, Sabrina, The Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity .. They're why I love Wilder.
I'm suddenly reminded of an old Spencer Tracey film ... The Darwin trial one ... Inherit the Wind! Another great courtroom drama is Anatomy of a Murder. More Spencer and Hepburn - Look Who's Coming to Dinner, Adam's Rib. Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story (hey, High Society!), Bringing up Baby ...
I could go on (obviously), but I'll contain myself for now. And in future I'll try to be more coherent.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
When I was a little kid I always heard about old films. That they were in black and white and silent. I thought to myself who on Earth would want to watch that. It wasn't until I was 14 years old and I happen to be filpping through the channels on the television, and came across The Godfather (1972) - it was being shown on AMC for mob week. As I was sitting down watching that film I began to fall in love with the story, the actors, the soundtrack, in its entirety the movie. It was the movie that started everything. I didn't think that some random movie could change someone's life, but this movie changed my life. After I saw that movie I began to watch so many old hollywood films. At that moment my obsession with old movies began.
Oh I absolutely adore silent films. I remember the first time I watched a silent film - oh I was terrified - I thought it was going to be horrible, but while I was watching the film I fell in love with it and it left me wanting more. That film just happen to be Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940.) That film introduced me to a great actor and a whole other generation of film.Chaplin is one of the great classics. It seems as though you really love the MGM musicals.Such classic movies like An American in Paris, The Affair of Dobbie Gillis, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Meet Me in St. Louis.The 30's - 60's was the golden age for musicals.I love Tracy and Hepburn they are such a great movie couple.Everything they did was good. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was the last film Tracy did before he died and he was excellent in it.I originaly watched High Society( Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby) first, then the next day I watched The Philadelphia Story and I was completly shocked that it was the same story but made 8 years before. I do prefer High Society tho, but only because its a musical. I'm a hugh fan of gangster films - mobsters - the classic fella who wore a pin striped suit with a fedora - not the now and day gangster. I have not seen A Star is Born but I have it recorded just have to find the time to watch it. I'm not really a fan of modern day films. I see a preview and I think - oh that looks like a good movie - but then I watch it and its horrible. Its very rare that I come across a modern movie that I thoroughly enjoy.
When I tell my friends that I watch old movies from the 20's - 60's they just stare at me and say I didn't even know they made movies back then, and then their comments get even more ignorant - as if that were even posible. My friends call me grandma, because aparently I talk in an old fashion way and because I watch old films. Its a nickname I have come to love and respect.
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I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh.
Your friends thought they didn't make movies back then?! ... Bless?
I used to love the old musicals when I was a kid. I still love or appreciate some of them but others don't seem to age well in my adult eyes. Seven brides will always have its fab dancing but that whole kidnapping of women thing seemed to go over my head as a child!
The Godfather is just plain hypnotic. Such a shame Coppola lost his mojo.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
Yeah maybe kidnapping and holding hostage wasn't the best idea but as a kid you don't necessary think about it because the dancing scenes make you forget all about the - crime done.
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I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh.
Pearl, if you follow that up with being an Adam Sandler fan or something, then I just don't know what to do with you!
Do you have a preconception about The Godfather? Character based tragedy, Shakespearean in scale, it's all about family. And lots of killings and betrayal.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
I love this topic Il Padrino, thank you so much for starting it, wonderful to read your and everyones thoughts. Sorry I have not replied until now, noticed the topic but seem to have been running around like a headless chicken online lately!
I am no expert but do love early silent films, especially the early classic silent 'horror' films - and some of the less well known ones too -and their practitioners. Nosferatu, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Phantom of The Opera, The Cabinet of Doctor Cligari, Frankenstein (the original)... there is something so unsettling about them, so magnetizing.. and the expressionism of that time appeals to me. I don't know exactly why. and I love the film scores for them.
But maybe these are earlier than what we associate with the classic hollywood early film. I am also extremely drawn to early hollywood noir, thrillers, crime - adore the aesthetic! lol!maybe also because there were strong female characters and the 'femme fatale'.
Hitchcock stuff will always be the master of suspense, anf if i had to pick one fave director from early film it may have to be him....but he started in england and europe though , pre Hollywood thrillers?
Always happy to watch Hitchcock. Family Plot, which I think was his last, used to be an old favourite. Comedy thrills and hijinks with Bruce Dern. The Birds, Strangers on a Train, Rebecca, Rope and Psycho are just sublime. The Trouble with Harry used to be a favourite but I caught it not too long ago and it hasn't aged well. What used to be funny just seems cold now. Strangely, Rear Window failed to grip last time it was on and it used to be a favourite. Maybe it's become over familiar. And I've never seen Vertigo. Don't know how that happened.
I was raised on Hammer movies. I've managed to see a few again thanks to the horror channels and I was surprised how good some of them were! Christopher Lee as a silent Dracula is still one of the scariest things ever.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
I keep forgetting this is a thread for 'old hollywood' and just keep thinking of old movies in general. My bad. The infamy. Oh, the infamy. They've all got it in for me, don't you know.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
Yeah I don't know what I would do without ever seeing an Alfred Hitchcock film. Probably one of my favorite directors ever, and Veritgo was an excellent movie. Always a fan of James Stewart. I have watch some old horror movies like Frankenstein, The Blob, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, lots of other interesting ones.
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I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh.
Bette Davis was a terrific actress in her time, i've seen quite a few of her films. I also loved early Gary Cooper films, what a hunk he was!! and James Cagney never made a bad film in my opinion, those gangster films of his were iconic but then he could dance too (sing kind of) but i remember watching him in 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' and being amazed at his agility. I loved films starring Barbara Stanwyck too, one of the original femme fatale's.
scenes make you forget all about the - crime done.
