Pajiba

Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard

I realized that old movies could be dark...

I used to sit in my Grandmother's basement and watch Gene Kelly rip it up. I was also a huge Ann Miller fan. When I was a tot, all I wanted to do was dance on tables and sing "Too Darn Hot" and shimmy my way through life. So on my list definitely would be "Kiss Me Kate" and "On the Town".

I got ripped one freezing, snowing Saturday night over 15 years ago & came up on 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' with Bogie. I'd seen Bette Davis in 'Blind Victory' a few years ago & loved it, but 'Treasure' is the one that really got me hooked on those old films. There's a reason why they're called "classics" now.

Boring ol' Casablanca. What can I tell you? For an Arkansas cracker in the 70s, with three television stations (not counting PBS, geez) and one movie theater, that was about as exotic as it got.

The Philadelphia Story with Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stuart (a very young Jimmy Stuart too), when I was 6 years old
It is one of my mom's favorites, and my dad gave it to her for Christmas that year, and we watching it Christmas morning

I absolutely loved it

the rest, as they say, is history

Seven Sinners, starring Marlene Dietrich. Caught it late at night on CBC when I was but a teenager. It gave me a bit of a newfound appreciation that, WOW, oldies actually CAN be entertaining.

Also, my parents have a particular fondness for Arsenic and Old Lace, and I have to agree with them that it's an awfully cute film.

Guys and Dolls. I was about 10 when I saw it for the first time. When Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons kiss in the Cuban Restaurant... I tell you, a whole new world opened up for me. Oh, Marlon... what a fox you were.

I've always loved old film so no conversion was necessary for me, but the ones I use to convert the uninitiated are:

The Ealing Comedies (The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Our Man in Havana). Insanely dry clever British humour and opening acts for such greats as Alec Guinness.

Then there's very early Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace: his comedic timing was brilliant even before he was the suave guy we now think of.

And finally, Detective Story. A young Kurt Douglas overacts like you wouldn't believe and carries the film.

And curses on you Ranylt for opening a comment diversion that really interests me while I'm trying to participate in the live-blogging of the Turkey-Germany match over at the NYT AND get sone work done.

Ok, this is lame, I'm going to admit it. The first thing I saw that made me think "Hey, black and white films are pretty cool" was an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Snick when I was younger. It was the one where the kid works at a movie theatre and they were showing a dracula film that was not only black and white, but a silent movie as well. The vampire would come out of the screen and terrorize people.

Granted, since then I've seen many a classic black and white film and do enjoy them immensely, but yeah. Snick made me want to watch black and white movies.

I grew up with old movies (I still remember the first time I saw Vincent Price in The Fly - I was four, and it was awesome), but I had an ex-boyfriend who thought he hated classic film ("I don't get black and white...").

I made him watch Casablanca, and he was forever converted. We broke up ten years ago, and he still lists it as his favorite film. VICTORY!

(Cue "The Marseilles"...)

I hate to chime in on The Philadelphia Story - when Jimmy Stewart tells Katherine Hepburn she's "lit up with hearth fires and holocausts." Yikes. Jimmy Stewart was yummy.

'A Face In The Crowd' with Andy Griffith was a revelation to me. Made in '58 or '59, I could not BELIEVE the mature situations they were showing for a movie of that time. It still holds up excellently today.

The Apartment, which I only added to my Netflix queue after reading the review here.

The Third Man. Stunning.

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964

Bette Davis as an insane old southern lady whose married lover was murdered years ago and now haunts her and Olivia DeHavilland as her cousin who comes to stay with her.

It was the first movie to scare me without gore. My 16 year old self was terrified by Bette Davis.

I also remember falling in love with Gone With The Wind the first time I saw it. I was considerably younger then, but I did not really pay attention to it until a few years later when I re-watched it. Another favorite from that same time was To Kill A Mockingbird.

My mom made me watch tons of old movies.

Arsenic and Old Lace, His Girl Friday and Philedelphia Story.

"The Killers" starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. Classic film noir.

For comedy go with "Duck Soup." Rediscovered this gem 3 years ago and every time I watch it now, I laugh as soon as I see Groucho's face.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Drunk, chunky Elizabeth Taylor versus drunk, nerdy Richard Burton in one of the greatest films ever, ever made. It was the first Burton/Taylor movie I saw, the second black and white I ever saw, and I never turned back.

Another vote for Metropolis here. And of course, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Phil,
Duck Soup is one of my favorites! I haven't watched it in a looong time, it's definitely going into my queue immediately.

Melody:

My 43-year old self is terrified by Bette Davis in every role.

I remember my mom took my sister and I to see Rear Window one summer when it was playing at a local theater and I was shocked by how much I liked it. I also grew up watching all the of the Marx Brothers movies with my dad, and those are undeniably awesome.

I saw "The Four Feathers" (1939) when I was maybe twelve and thought it was the best, most gripping thing imaginable. I spent the last fifteen years trying to track it down to watch it again. It was more hokey than I anticipated but still SO AWESOME. The 'going blind' scene! Amazing.

La Rivière du hibou (Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge)

I was probably about 10 or 12 when I saw it, and it haunted me for years; I read the story it's based on about 3 years ago, and that brought back all of the creepiness. There's still a ton of classics that I find boring as hell, but this is the one that got me to watch other old creepies.

Cindy -- he's a pooka! God I love Harvey.

This comment diversion rocks for reminding me of all of these gems that I haven't seen in ages.

Rear Window was my gateway drug into Hitchcock movies, but oddly enough, the one movie that got me interested in noir was Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. I've been obsessed ever since.

Yeah, I agree on the diversion - I'd forgotten about Danny Kaye - love him.

Jodester is yelling at me. :(

I just added Streetcar, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Hunter, On the Waterfront, The Maltese Falcon, and Harvey to my queue. My GOD.

Ah, I had mis-interpreted the mission as black and white films only. If we're going with colour, I must insist on the inclusion of Rope, my stand-out favourite from Hitchcock.

Euro spoiler alert:

OOOOOOh!!! for those of you who can't get a feed, Turkey just scored against Germany.

I have to agree with TK (unfortunately)..To Kill a Mockingbird was my introduction to the oldies...and I was gripped the entire time. Still have not read the book...not entirely sure it would hold up with my many fond memories of that fantastic movie.

Modern Times neutralized my disdain for old films.

Always did like 'em. But I was a TV-watcher before HBO even existed, so old movies were a staple of network viewing. The African Queen probably sealed the deal, though.

Shadows,

READ THE BOOK!

See, Julie, you're not the only one I yell at.

Melody I see your Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte and raise you Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Both of those movies creeped me out. Big. Time.

I grew up watching old movies and thought myself something of a b&w snob until a boyfriend in college made me sit through Angels With Dirty Faces, a James Cagney/Humphrey Bogart flick. I'd previously avoided Cagney because he reminded me of a Looney Tunes character, but AWDF was downright gripping. The scene in the end where Cagney's screaming and you're not sure if it's redemption or an act...

Cried like a little bitch, I did, and I'm totally unashamed.

Charade.
I watched it for a Sunday School party (I think it was the 12-year-old class) and I was so surprised by how engaging it was. I can never remember if it's in color or black-and-white even after seeing it quite a few times since then. It's just glamorous, suspenseful, and great. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn=divine.

While I never flatly poo-poo'd classic movies (thanks to my grandmother's influence), I wasn't really interested in anything made after 1939.

Until a few years ago when Mr. Pink convinced me to watch The Grand Illusion. It's beautiful.

And yeah, Shadows, read the book already!

Correction: Made BEFORE 1939.

Lawd, I can be wetarded sometimes.

I LOVE Danny Kaye!!

and every other movie listed above
how could I forget Harvey? man I am forgetful..

I had a list going in another thread of all the movies I have seen/own/love
this list just made me realize I forgot about roughly 20 or 25 of 'em....

I am already getting alzhimers, I swear

The 39 Steps. Hitchcock still delivers.

(Euro 2008: Zee Germans scored 1-1 via Schweinsteiger. Gotta love that guy)

I grew up watching "Gone with the Wind" and old movie-musicals, but my true love for classic films developed my freshman year of high school.

For some reason I had never seen "Its a Wonderful Life" before, and I fell in love. A couple weeks later my parents took me to see a midnight showing of "Casablanca" at a nearby arthouse theater (even though it was a school night - my parents are awesome).

I spent the whole next summer lying on parent's couch watching AMC. I discovered Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, and Grace Kelly.

Hmmm...I think I'll be rearranging my Netflix queue so I can spend the summer with them again...

While I'm thinking of it, has anyone else seen "The Petrified Forest"? It is one of my absolute favorites, but I'm always greeted with blank stares - even among other b&w fans.

I was brought up on classics too, and like Ranylt I never disliked them. Buuut if I had to choose one..."The Lady from Shanghai". Got me started on a HUGE Orson Welles kick when I was, what, 13? I was completely captivated.

Pick a Bogart, pick a Hitchcock. Seriously, much love for Casablanca, but also for The Maltese Falcon. Similarly Vertigo and Notorious just to name a few. Convincing ladyhelmet of these pieces of greatness, sadly, is a lost cause. She seems to think old=monochrome=boring, and yes, she's a Disney worshiper.

TK, I agree with you on the book, but no murderin' my XO.

To Have and Have Not

I was always a huge Hemingway and Faulkner fan, and when I found out that they both had a hand in the writing I rented it. The style of acting threw me off for a bit, but I've probably seen it ten times since then.

Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson in Pride and Prejudice. The way he looks at her still makes me go all weak in the knees, and has since the first time I saw it, when I was about nine.

High Society. I know all the songs and all the dialogue. I usually don't like musicals, but I LOVE that one.

Lots of things with Cary Grant in them. 'Cos natch. Especially To Catch A Thief.

Having had parents who often took me to see classics on a big screen, I never had that antipathy towards older movies (thanks, parental units!)

But the one that won over my heart for silents was "The Wind" with Lillian Gish. Whew!

Jillster: ditto the musical loving mom. I very distinctly remember watching South Pacific and singing along to the french song fone-et-ti-cal-ee. Most favorite of that time, however: Singing in the Rain. I can't help it. I'm hooked.

Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. I remember seeing it for the first time with my best friend, and rewinding back and forth to watch Slim Pickens ride the bomb. One of the best laughs I've ever had.

Anything with Cary Grant, Danny Kaye, Humphrey Bogart. I was such a momma's girl growing up, and I'm probably in the first generation of kids raised on cable; my mother loved to watch old movies and i was always right by her side. Thanks for the warm fuzzy. Lessee, also old Vincent Price movies, also, and Spencer Tracey and/or Kitty Hepburn movies are always winners

After 1970: The Godfather, crazy good.
Before 1970: Citizen Kane, on another level.

For me, anything before 1970 seems like it was made by a different species on a different planet. I guess because a lot of the people involved are all dead; movies involving Pacino, Hoffman, De Niro, Nicholson, etc. seem fairly recent in comparison.

ANYTHING with Cary Grant.

I can't recall a time when I didn't love old movies. Watching the Universal monster movies on Shock Theater while I was growing up evoked an obsession with things old and dark and mysterious. I could never understand when people said "I don't like black-and-white movies." That sounded like crazytalk to me even as a kid.

I'm more of an early 50s to early 60s ear girl, so for me it was Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Psycho.

What made me fall in love all over again was a recent viewing of Woman in the Dunes.

Fucking AMAZING.

Mick J- have you read The Godfather? Truly the one example I can think of where the movie clearly outshines the book...

Melody- have not seen the sequel to GWTW, don't plan to ;-) Although I hear there's a new book out detailing Rhett's life pre-GWTW, and it isn't half bad??

Wow, a 50s or 60s EAR girl.

Which should be ERA, but whatever.

The Battleship Potemkin. I watched the restored version with a 90-year-old Royal Navy retiree, and hearing his memories added to it.

Metropolis would be a close second.

Paddy - No doubt I'm in the minority on the Gregory Peck as Atticus thing. My Atticus was always a lot like my Dad, and I could hardly expect anyone else's Atticus to be like my Dad. Except my brother. Only he says that Gregory Peck IS Atticus...

I've been watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Now it's my baking movie.

As for black and white,Inherit the Wind. I was completely engrossed, while the rest of my Bio class made plans to kill their brain cells with fermented plants that night.

Strangely, To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book, but I didn't much care for the movie.

Hm...I've always loved older movies and grew up watching them from when I was a little kid.

I was going to bust out some of the older films that really hit me...but by the rules of the game...20 years before I was born was 1952...and a lot of the ones a loved (Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Night of the Hunter, etc) is after the cut-off date.

So...let me think. As a smaller kid...I always used to watch the Dead End Kid movies. Loved Mae West to pieces...and would try to catch My Little Chickadee whenever it was on. Similarly, I also really enjoyed whatever Marx Brothers film I could find. I was sort of obsessed with Angles with Dirty Faces, and like lots of tots...well, maybe not lots of tots in the mid-70s, I was watching Shirley Temple as well...I think I enjoyed The Bluebird of Happiness the most of her flicks at the time...a smaller amount of creepy racism and pedophilia.

Oh I got one! One of the films that stuck me as I was growing into more grown up older movies, that fits the rules: Treasure of the Sierra Madre...yeah...loved that one.

Smantha T, I'm definitely with you on the pre-Code movies, I search those out like collectors in an antique store. They were wild and uninhibited - AND made before most of our parents were born! How great is that??

Oh yeah -- Fuck you, Will Hayes

"Mick J- have you read The Godfather? Truly the one example I can think of where the movie clearly outshines the book..."

I tried reading it, got like 50 pages in, and abruptly stopped caring.

I don't think any single movie really changed my mind about old movies. I can't recall a time when I just dismissed them outright.

Just to give some kind of an answer, I'll say The Thin Man. I don't remember it at all, but I know that was one of the movies we saw when our grandparents took us to the Fox Theatre in St. Louis when we were kids (mid-1980s). We saw There's No Business Like Show Business there, too, and some others I forget.

Aaaaand, Germany scores a third time. Unbelievable game.

I've always loved old movies. I have my parents to thank for that. I can't remember the first one I saw.

The first one I loved, I think, was "Topper" with Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. I can't get enough of a madcap, zany, black and white movie from the 30s.

One of my favorites now is "My Man Godfrey". I absolutely adore William Powell and Carole Lombard is one of the great comediennes.

I just recently watched another William Powell movie this weekend called "Libeled Lady" with Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, and Jean Harlow. What a wonderful way to spend an early Sunday morning. Powell and Loy are such a perfect pairing. This movie came out in 1936 between The Thin Man and After The Thin Man.

I could go on and on....

When I was little I used to visit the lady across the street and we'd watch An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain. From there it was Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies and exceedingly silly Betty Grable movies in the summer mornings on AMC (back when AMC actually showed old movies). Now I'm just a complete freak about old movies.

Oh, and Todd, if you don't remember a thing about The Thin Man, you definitely need to go back and watch it. It's one of the best movies out there. If you don't finish the movie wanting to be either Nick or Nora, there may be something seriously wrong with you.

Non-existent. I got home in time for the end of that one. I did see all of the kicks though.

Why are the good games when I am at work?

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-


If only for the complete Perry-Mason-villain breakdown by Claude Rains.


That's right, I spoiled a 70 year old movie.


Hah!

Dilemma: If Germany wins the tournament, I get money. If Spain takes the 1st spot, the respect of my colleagues.

Please not the Russians, I don't want to see that girl from accounting smirk anymore.

Adere:

Is your colleagues' respect worth having? If not, go for the money because no way is Spain going to beat the German team that played today. I am invoking the Sarina clause on Russia and refusing to believe in them.

Mildred Pierce (1945). Fall 2006, American Film: 1930-60 class. I was every bit as enthralled with its structure and pacing as I would be with a modern remake. After that, i gave old movies more of a chance. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan now, but I don't actively dismiss them anymore. And I quite enjoyed a genres class in classic melodrama and screwball comedy that I took, despite my reservations about the prospect of seeing no film that came after 1960.

lordhelmet (actually since I'm a committed anti-monarchist and depise related titles, may I call you Mr. helmet?):

You're looking at the game in the wrong way. It's all about the plays. There is so much skill involved in getting the ball from one end of the pitch to the other that if you start to watch how it's done by the pros, it's as exciting as a goal. Get to know the players and you will enjoy thrilling man to man match-ups. And if none of that works for you, try to find a little gay piece of yourself and check out the bods. Have you seen Turkey's Volkan with his shirt off? MMMMM!

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

A WWII Preston Sturges comedy. It's screwball and zany, but subversive and hilarious instead of annoying. And it has the best fake name ever- Ignatz Rattskywatsky.

I started out young with musicals featuring Gene Kelly and/or Judy Garland (Summer Stock, Harvey Girls, the Pirate, Easter Parade, etc). Then, all classic musicals (Singin' in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Kiss me Kate). Then came the summers when I was home in the afternoons and Turner Classic Movies was one of the few channels with non-sitcom programming that could keep me interested. There, I discovered Cary Grant (Philadelphia Story, Bishop's Wife, His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, ad maseum) and cheesy old horror movies (The Bad Seed) and I was hooked.

How about TOuch of Evil?

The Thin Man, hands down. There have been others whose plot, themes, or writing I found either evocative of the past or amazingly contemporary--Double Indemnity, The Philadelphia Story, Dinner at Eight, and lots of others I've seen named here. (And is it totally lame to say It's a Wonderful Life? I mean, I was, like, 9.)

But The Thin Man was the first, the one I realized was just as hip and hilarious as any "modern" film. William Powell slides through it like the coolest motherfucker on earth, which he just might be; Myrna Loy is hot no matter what century it is; and their snappy rapport is timeless.

And it's a great drinking movie, and a Christmas movie, too, sorta, although Jimmy Stewart never shot balloons off his Christmas tree with a BB gun and a hangover.

Some Like It Hot

All of these don't qualify for the 20 yr rule, but 15+:

Mr. Roberts - Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon and James Cagney in their prime
12 Angry Men - watched it based on a NetFlix recommendation of all things; more of Fonda w/Jack Klugman and Jack Warden
Operation Petticoat - Cary Grant stuck on a pink submarine w/Tony Curtis trying to get laid by nurses - lots of symbolism in this one
Father Goose - sadly, ths was the first movie that got me to look at other "old classics"; Once again w/Cary Grant as the gruff, old character

What can I say, I love the old WWII movies.

Cool Hand Luke!

So glad someone mentioned THE AWFUL TRUTH. That is the film I show anyone who says that old movies aren't nearly as funny. That movie is brilliant and puts 99.9% of modern romantic comedies to shame. If you haven't seen it, DO SO!!!

My absolute favorite class in high school was world history and I'm kind of a nerd so when the teacher assigned movies outside of class for extra credit I, of course, rented them. At one point, we were studying nuclear deterrence and the Cold War, and so he assigned Dr. Strangelove. I watched it with a friend who completely hated it, but to this day, it is one of my favorite movies. Definitely in my top ten.

"Gone With The Wind"
12 years old--1976

I never really hated old movies, as my mom made me sit through more musicals than I can mention; it wasn't, however, until I saw "M" that I realized movies in B&W could be that transcendent.

The Magnificent Seven.

I love, love, LOVE this movie.

Casablanca.

we were weaned on Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, then moved on to Doris Day/Rock Hudson/Tony Curtis comedies.
But yes to Charade (still one of my faves), Some Like It Hot (on my top 5 list of best movies EVER), Born Yesterday(also on my top 5 list). Also, even though I now loathe Sean Connery, I was so hot for him in Marnie before I knew better.
and of course, Errol Flynn, that sick bastard - god he was amazing in all those pirate flicks.

so many others, ... and thanks for listing some new ones to get on the Queue.

The Third Man

So excited, I goofed on the URL so uh, email me... Anyway, Captains Courageous is a film to really enjoy. Kid actor Freddy B. is great, too!

Holla.

And no, I do not wear a beret or scarves while talking about french new wave films or how awesome Wong Kar Wai is(He isn't). I wear jeans, flannels, and doc martens and love the Big Lebowski. Suck on that art house fags....

Mildred Pierce

I was 10 and stumbled upon it playing on AMC back when they truly were American Movie Classics.

"Treasure of the Sierra Madre," Bogies decline into murderous insanity scared the hell out of me then and it still does now.

Vertigo. I watched that movie on a 22 hour bus ride to Paris on Halloween. It was the sh*t.

The Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. Nothing today even compares with their comedic timing and chemistry.

Hubster wants me to add North By Northwest, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, and The Magnificent Seven, on his behalf.
And The Great Escape.

All About Eve, definitely

The Women, 2 hours of star-studded, backstabbing, glorious bitchery chock full of most of MGM's female superstars: Joan Crawford at the top of her game.

The Uninvited, over-the-top spooky romance from 1945

The Adventures of Robin Hood, speaking of over-the-top; I can recite it...Robin introduces Friar Tuck to Will Scarlet: "Don't worry, he's one of us." "One of us? He looks like three of us!" Oh, dear, the funny.

Arsenic and Old Lace, agreed, perfect comedy

I confess, I don't know anything about Mildred Pierce other than it's a really bitchin' Sonic Youth song... perhaps after seeing so many of you recommend it I'll check it out.

But damn is the song righteous.

Angels With Dirty Faces, I even wrote a paper about it for my film class. Such a fantastic film, especially the ambiguous ending. Like Lainie, I'm a huge Bogie fan and this is one of my favorite roles that he's in (yea he's not a starring character, but he's fantastic). Thanks to Bogie, I learned that iron is what dreams are made of.

"Mildred Pierce."

Saw it for the first time when I was 15 and fell in love with it. Joan Crawford's eyebrows weren't too scary in it either.

Not exactly a movie that made me fall in love with old movies, but when I was a kid (can't recall how old) "Night of the Hunter" scared the pajibas out of me. In a cool way.

Mine was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. We had a movie marathon the weekend before finals my freshman year of college, and though I'd planned to sit that particular film out, I ended up getting sucked into it. Jimmy Stewart was great.

Ooooh, I just remembered another one. The Bad Seed! I forgot about that one. That little girl scared the bejeezus out of me. It was fantastic. What is it with me and old horror movies??

i had been getting really into horror films in sixth grade, so my mother decided to expose me to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? i had more nightmares from seeing bette davis' pancake-faced dementia then i will ever experience from any slasher flick or gorenography. kudos, mom! you simultaneously scarred me for life, discouraged me from ever wanting to own a parrot, and incited my love for the scenery-chewing elderly stateswomen of classic hollywood!

"Old" movies are a style and feeling of the period more than a date.

By age the rule, The Maltese Falcon, Stagecoach and The Wizard of Oz but it was really Notorious that got me.

Holy hearthfires and holocausts, batman, this is a great diversion idea.

Thank goodness my parents brought me up on a steady diet of old-school films. I always loved old musicals like Singing in the Rain and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers from as long as I can remember.

But the ones that really convinced me old movies could be complex and relevant were Duck Soup and the Philadelphia Story. I first saw them at age 8 and 12, respectively, and they confused the heck out of me. Every time I see them, I notice something new and appreciate them on a deeper level.

Paddy:

I already get props from the people at work for setting up the Excel sheet with the score table. Money it is then.

To Kill A Mockingbird - Saw it when quite young, Greg Peck is the man.

Silent film love = Buster Keaton, all of it.

For some reason, I used to think Humphrey Bogart was lame (without seeing any of his movies) then I saw the Big Sleep when I was like 15 and that sure changed my mind.

Okay, so I was inspired by y'all last night and watched "A Night to Remember." Fabulous. Now....how in the holy HELL is it that "Titanic" was not simply deemed a remake? Cameron stole shit from ANTR frame for frame! I was absolutely floored by the similarities, at least plotwise. I know it's b/c both are based on research, but I really don't remember Cameron or anybody acknowledging their enormous, enormous debt to ANTR.

Twelve Angry Men. We watched it for a class, and it was the first time I watched an older movie and forgot, while watching, that it was old.

Inherit the Wind
Duck Soup
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Arsenic and Old Lace
Animal Crackers
Aleksandr Nevskii (subtitled)
White Heat

I could go on, but it'd take too long.

Twelve Angry Men was a revelation when I finally watched it. Still one of the best examples of how good storytelling can make even the smallest story seem important.

A Place in the Sun

Not my favorite, not even sure if I'd call it great, but it did get me hooked on old Taylor movies, which inevitably led down the path that my has my children groaning whenever I flip to TCM.

Colin: Hooray for Vertigo! Definitely my favorite Hitchcock film and probably my favorite of Jimmy Stewart's (although Philadelphia Story is close)

I started watching the American Film Institute's Top 100 of All Time and started getting sucked in to the black and whites.

Some greats...

Sunset Boulevard (best quote: "Life can be beautiful!"

Grapes of Wrath (if you don't cry at Tom Joad's speech at the end you're inhuman)

To Kill A Mockingbird (the little girl in the ham costume still makes me laugh)

Duck Soup (have to listen for all the sublte jokes that go a mile a minute)

Citizen Kane (need to watch it a few times to really "get" it)

Okay I finally had to stop lurking. I love black and white movies! The movie that started it all was "A Streetcar Named Desire." I was 13 and caught it on some cable channel. Wow Marlon Brando was so beastly and yummy at the same time! I had seen "Gone with the Wind" before, but it's color so I don't count it. After that, I watch anything that's black and white on TCM or AMC. Bonus, if it has a young Marlon Brando. Wow he really did it for me!

Had to check the date to make sure it was 20 years before I was born, Dark Passage -Bogart and Bacall it=1947, me=1967 :)

1:56: If somebody refuses to watch a black/white movie, it means they're a willful Philistine. I hate people like that.

Same family: people who maintain that reading fiction is a waste of time.

I can't say a film for sure, but I definitely became less indifferent toward old films when I discovered Tony Perkins. Maybe that's all a bit too recent to be considered grandfather films, but whatever. The way he behaved in his roles really lent immediacy to what otherwise I would have considered a world where everything was black and white.

Late to the party, but... Between my dad's love of westerns, scifi, and Humphrey Bogart, and my mom's love of musicals, I grew up watching lots of old movies. Cable TV hadn't been invented when I was little, and we would often spend Saturday afternoons/evenings watching old movies on the local independent station. We also loved Creature Features: a hosted program that showed old monster/horror movies at 11:30 on Saturday nights. So, like many others have mentioned, I never had a problem watching old movies. In fact, I never even classified them as "old movies" or "new movies," they were all just movies. In spite of all that, however, some movies were a revelation to me when I finally saw them:

• The Thief of Bagdad (1924): wonderful, opened my eyes to the glories of silent films--and Douglas Fairbanks was totally hot;
• The Thin Man (1934): so full of innuendo and booze--and yes, I still want to be Nora Charles;
• Yojimbo (1961): made me love Toshiro Mifune;
• Twelve Angry Men (1957): an amazing cast--a simply fantastic movie;
• The Haunting (1963): far scarier than all the Saws/Hostels/Touristas crap you can name--it still scares the hell out of me;

Definitely It Happened One Night.... I will always love Clark Gable

The Best Years of Our Lives. I've seen it like 20 times, and I never get tired of it.

When I was a kid, my mom rented The Shaggy Dog or some old dog movie, and I remember pouting and saying, "I don't want to watch some dumb black and white movie!" I think I was just in a funk that day, though, because I've adored Shirley Temple movies since a very young age. As a teen, I was converted whole-heartedly to a black-and-white lover by Sabrina.

Sunset Boulevard. It's glamorous, dark and mad, mad I tell you!

Brighton Rock, Brief Encounter, Casablanca, The Third Man and Rebecca (this being the favourite). I grew up watching them as they were the only video tapes my parents owned until I was about 13, and I still watch them regularly. Each time they get even more enthralling. The scene where Olivier 'confesses' to Rebecca's last moments in the cottage by the sea is so dynamic. He's one of my favourite actors - I also love his Heathcliff and Hamlet. B&W is pure escapism.

Mildred Pierce, for sure. Also The Turn of the Screw was chilling. Even the book didn't measure up to the movie.

Going by the rules my movies must predate 1945 so here I go.

I was raised on old movies (B&W movies). No cable or VCRs when I was growing up so we always watched old movies on the weekends or on late night TV. And we didn't get a color TV until like 1972. My parents would take me and my brother to the film classics series at the old Paramount Theatre downtown (in Austin, TX).

Movies that really stay with me and are my faves:

1. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
2. Stage Door (1937) -- Some of the best non-stop wisecracking the 30s ever produced.
3. The Women (1939) -- The comedy is brilliant, but I can do without the melodrama.
4. Gone With the Wind (1939) every year on TV
5. The Wizard of Oz (1939) ditto
6. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) I have to cheat the rules on this one just a bit.
7. La Belle et la Bete (1946) Ditto on the rules. Masterpiece by Jean Cocteau that cast a spell on me in high school French class.

For pure camp, any Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller are fun (My Dad's favorite serial movies from his childhood. We watched them endlessly on TV in my childhood on Sunday afternoons.)