Classic Hollywood movies

Cerro de Casa

Cerro de Casa

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Apologies if there's a thread already but the past few months of lockdown/lack of social life etc. have resulted in my investigating a load of old films. It's become a bit of a little obsession of both of us actually. Just settling down in the evening to watch a classic.

Can't believe it took me this long to watch Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and I have always considered myself to be a Bette Davis fan..

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.. and also The Philadelphia Story! Always loved K Hepburn but that film in particular threw me into a massive Hepburn wormhole and what an amazing and varied career she had!

Anyway, what are your favourite 'old' films and let's tawk. If you like.
 
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a fave of mine. Has there ever been a more attractive leading pair? I think not.

I watched Funny Girl on Netflix recently and really enjoyed it. Feel like that's probably a bit LATE for classic films, but it definitely has the spirit of those old musicals.
 
Oh now we're talking. I'm due to watch one i haven't seen tonight (I'm sure the leading lady is Debbie Reynolds and I can confirm it is part of the trash trail that followed Baby Jane), so I look forward to reporting back.

My favourites are Hayworth (I have all her films and a few nonessential ones where she was either billed as Rita Cansino or not credited at all), Dietrich (Blue Angel to her final screen appearance in Just A Gigolo pimping out Bowie), Davis (a surprising amount of her later stuff never came out on DVD, if they still do those) and of course Crawford (I think Rain might be the earliest I have, and the floodgates of camp that follow are such a hoot - I keep meaning to re-watch Torch Song, which is her hilarious equivalent to Eve if you are willing to go along with it).

Thanks for this thread Suedey, I look forward to checking up on everyone's suggestions and hope the ones I don't have are cheap on Amazon or ebay :)
 
Oh, yes. :horny: I'm a massive fan and could go on for ages and ages.

I take it everyone's seen the GAY CLASSICS - All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Rebecca, and the like. If not, those come first.

One of my personal faves is Double Indemnity - beautifully shot with a TIGHT script. Most of the stuff today feels like it belongs to a different craft altogether honestly.

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I've been watching loads of old school Hollywood stuff during lockdown.

This week has been a FEAST of Fellini and Pasolini though, which I'd recommend if a bit of Italian takes your fancy :disco:
 
Gangsta Nancy Lam said:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a fave of mine. Has there ever been a more attractive leading pair? I think .
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I really love the Tennessee adaptations from that era, Sweet Bird of Youth is also really great.
 
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I could do hundreds!

Sunset Boulevard
Mildred Pierce
Rear Window
To Catch A Thief
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?
 
vespertine said:
Oh, yes. :horny: I'm a massive fan and could go on for ages and ages.

I take it everyone's seen the GAY CLASSICS - All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Rebecca, and the like. If not, those come first.

One of my personal faves is Double Indemnity - beautifully shot with a TIGHT script. Most of the stuff today feels like it belongs to a different craft altogether honestly.
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I haven’t seen Rebecca - so that jumps to the top of the list.

I watched Rope for the first time the other week and enjoyed it.
 
Oh and how did I not see Vespertine’s post? All About Eve and Rebecca are amongst my favourite films of all time!
 
jyxz said:
I watched Rope for the first time the other week and enjoyed it.
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Oh speaking of gay, so homoerotic that one. The murder being the sex, the sweaty panting after, and the dialogue about it ("How did you feel during it?" "I felt nothing until his body went limp." "Pity we couldn't have done it with the curtains open"), the taboo Brandon is trying to overcome, it's all quite well done.
 
I’m off to see His Girl Friday at the cinema tomorrow.

Should be better than a few of the rather rubbish films I’ve seen in their recent Judy Garland season.
 
I've just watched Bette Davis' episode of Perry Mason. She was well suited to the arrangement. Shame her pilot didn't get picked up. And also a shame that I don't think Joan Crawford's even got aired (a 20 episode pitch from 1959 - the very moment she took 2nd billing on The Best of Everything until Whatever Happened to BJ came and put her back on top with the next lot of trash she put her all into).
 
So I've just watched Female on the Beach (1955) again. It really is Joan Crawford's last gasp at being the Hollywood beauty lead. The woman is painted to startling effect (a hair dryer would create a sandstorm and the lips would make Ronald MacDonald blush), but as ever, we truly get it all from her - there are some thrilling lines to the estate agent and ever so queer older couple, some out of context innuendo and her beginnings as a silent movie queen are utilized with masterful prowess. It all reaches a manic climax and I'm surprised it's not properly caught on yet as the proper camp classic it is. I think she has about 2 more substantial parts left if memory serves and then it was 2nd billing, axes and being backstabbed by Barbara Stanwyck. What a career.
 
My order of the Jayne Mansfield documentary, Mansfield 66/67 (the one with John Waters), has been dispatched and I'm very excited. I've only ever seen Kiss Them For Me from 1957 (terrible), but am quite game to dive into her career more and have quite a few of her flicks coming soon.
 
So I've just watched Manslaughter (1930). Pretty sure it's my first Claudete Colbert film and I think she's pretty decent actually. I've since discovered this is a remake of a classic silent film from 1922 and seemingly a very early Colbert outing that helped establish her as a dependable draw. Not sure I want to delve into that genre, but I have recently bought Pandora's Box (1929), so perhaps I may after all.

I should try to share a list of all the female prison films or ones with female prison scenes as I'm quite keen to go through as many as possible. Not sure if I mentioned it, but I watched Manpower (1941) again (although my Italian copy is called Fulminato, which means "electrocuted" before anyone tries to use it in a sentence). Anyway, I just love how Dietrich looks in this one - a long way off the exotic otherly allure of her Von Sternberg, but still chic (almost drab in places!) And of course she's a harlot who gets thrown in the slammer. Twice.
 
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I watched The Birds at the cinema today. First time seeing since watching it on TV about 30 years ago so had little memory other than a couple of the attack scenes. Seriously overrated in retrospect. Reading about the initial reception it got in 1963 and I think they were right the first time.
 
Last time I watched it, many of the scenes provoked a lot of laughter. Understandable of course, but I still think it's a fascinating peice and always hold the open-ended ending in high regard. My Hitchcock of choice will always be Strangers On A Train (1951), but Birds is the one I'm most nostalgic for.
 
straightorbroken said:
Last time I watched it, many of the scenes provoked a lot of laughter. Understandable of course, but I still think it's a fascinating peice and always hold the open-ended ending in high regard. My Hitchcock of choice will always be Strangers On A Train (1951), but Birds is the one I'm most nostalgic for.
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North By Northwest and Notorious are my personal favs.

Honestly the acting in The Birds is properly ropey. Not to mention the fact that Rod Taylor was 33 but looked 53, so the mother/son scenes with Jessica Tandy could have easily been mistaken for them being a married couple.
 
To Catch A Thief I think for me, though Vertigo, Strangers On A Train and Rear Window are right up there too.

I also love The Birds. Sorry!
 
I’ve always thought The Birds is overrated. It’s iconic but not a good movie.

I think I prefer the Hitchcock movies that weren’t hyped so Rope, Shadow of a Doubt and Frenzy are the most interesting.
 
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I love The Birds. The way it even makes you forget it’s a film about killer birds for the first hour! The effects are ropey unfortunately but I can’t imagine it being done any better in this day and age and everything else would be awful.
 
straightorbroken said:
My order of the Jayne Mansfield documentary, Mansfield 66/67 (the one with John Waters), has been dispatched and I'm very excited. I've only ever seen Kiss Them For Me from 1957 (terrible), but am quite game to dive into her career more and have quite a few of her flicks coming soon.
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So what was about Jayne was fine, but this Satanist guy ate up too much time (and just one of those pseudo B-52s numbers would have sufficed). I've went on a mega splurge and pretty sure I have all her movies ordered now (but I'm so intrigued by what I think was some sort of early reality tv programme).
 
Well, I'm really bad for not opening packages. Just opened today's lot and in came The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958), Hell on Frisco Bay (1956), The Burglar (1957) and a non Mansfield featured film noir classic called Detour (1945), which does star B-movie broad Ann Savage.
 
I keep having to search for this thread. The archive nonsense really is a pain, so after this round-up I think I'll go with the suggestion of a new thread after all 🎥

The Killers (1946) one of the film noir greats in my opinion. Ava Gardner is impossible to take your eyes off, and brute boxer Burt is the innocent piece of meat who wasn't bad to look at either in his film debut.

The Blue Gardenia (1953) I confess I've had such a thing for Anne Baxter recently. Her voice was hypnotic and she absolutely carries this.

Vicki (1953) is a re-make of I Wake Up Screaming (1941), which starred Victor Mature (My Gal Sal (1942)) and Betty Grable (Pin-Up Girl (1944)) and yes that really is Aaron Spelling. Starring Jeanne Crain and Jean Peters, it is the later who bites sharpest. However, it is bent cop Boone whose turn lingers most.

The Wasp Woman (1959) saving the trashiest until last, of course it leaves the best sting of them all. Susan Cabot is the head of a cosmetics firm.... honestly, do descriptions even need to say anymore? But seriously, this is a B-movie through and through. One Cabot's final roles, she certainly delivers and ... one for the ages. Perhaps to wet some Cabot appetite, she had a high profile affair with King Hussein of Jordan and was later bludgeoned to death by her dwarf son who cited years of abuse. So not one for drama then.
 
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I just watched this.

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I was ENTICED by it being Marilyn’s first dramatic role and SOLD by the blurb that she gives “a chilling performance as a babysitter who will do anything to prevent a crying baby from interrupting her lovemaking.” It also has a Justify My Love hotel corridor moment.
 
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