Getting tired of new movies, going back to the classics

[pinpatch]

With the exception of "Diamond Men" (an underrated movie put out in 2000), I haven't seen a good movie made in the last several years worth my time, and I'm really getting tired of all the billion-dollar crap being churned out.

That's why most of my Netflix rentals over the past few years have been cable TV series (Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Burn Notice, Deadwood, The Wire, Weeds, Entourage, Californication, Dexter, etc.) -- lotta good stuff, but sometimes I just want to watch an actual movie, not an episodic series.

So now I've been looking back to the 1930s, 40s and 50s (since I've already seen all the good 60s/70s and 80s stuff).

So -- so far I've seen "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (1941).  Never saw that before -- never even heard of it before, but learned it was a classic.  Great stuff.  Solid entertainment, witty dialogue, stellar acting.

Then "The Bishop's Wife" (1947) -- exquisitely sparkling, with a soupçon of poignancy.

Then a couple of Fritz Lang movies (who started out doing silent films in the 20s, then went on to pioneer talkies in the 30s) whom I've heard of, but never bothered to check out.  Rented "M" (1931) and "The Testament of Dr. Mabuse" (1933) -- amazing movies that startlingly prefigure and in many ways surpass some of David Lynch's genius.

"Our Man in Havana" (1959) was a charmingly winsome affair, though a bit plodding here and there -- still none of the blockbusters of today can hold a candle to it.

And now I'm set to rent "Secret Agent" (1936) an early Hitchcock film -- whose later films I've seen, but have avoided his earlier stuff until now.

In conclusion, I'm looking forward to exploring a whole world of cinema I've left virtually untouched all these years (having come of age in the 70s and beyond).  Any recommendations of any pre-1960s classics will be welcome.

[Sevorin]

Yes. All three.

[pinpatch]

I'd heard of the first two, and will seek them out, but the third I'd never heard of and the title intrigued me, plus I like the director Carol Reed.  Unfortunately, that's one of the "Save" films on Netflix, so I'll have to wait a while.

Thanks.

[Snorii]

Big Business (Laurel and Hardy short) - I love that short and I personally identify with it since I used to sell Christmas trees.

I also wanted to suggest The Virgin Spring (1960) - it blew me away when I first saw it

[Sevorin]

The Virgin Spring  marks some sort of epoch in my life.

 

On its first local L.A. TV broadcast I jacked off during the rape scene -- a sequence which had been cut as "obscene" when the movie first entered the U.S. but which KHJ-TV, to its eternal credit, restored when it showed the film.

 

I've often thought that the impact of that moment on me was obscene -- since, under the law in effect at the time, it catered overwhelmingly to my prurient interest. Of course, it was I  who was utterly without redeeming social value.

[pinpatch]

Never heard of this particular Bergman film.  Sounds intriguing.  I particularly like the prospect of watching Max von Sydow getting righteous revenge on the ones who raped his daughter, particularly as handled by Bergman.

[pinpatch]

Thanks Sevorin, another good list -- and this time I can only pick out three I've seen: 

The Devil and Daniel Webster (not bad, perhaps I didn't appreciate it enough when I saw it young)

War of the Worlds (I found it kinda hokey)

Richard III (great)

I'm looking forward to checking out the rest.  So little time...

[Sevorin]

The Devil and Daniel Webster (not bad, perhaps I didn't appreciate it enough when I saw it young)

 

If you saw it young you most likely saw it cut -- cut savagely. The "restored" version is decidedly richer, darker, profounder.

 

Nothing helps Webster's disjointed final speech to the jury. But by the time you get there the film has probably won you over. And all the trappings -- the cinematography, the audio-visual editing, the spectacular musical score -- are magnificent.

 

Need I even mention Walter Huston's classic performance as Scratch?

 

War of the Worlds (I found it kinda hokey)

Yes. But it's the purest gold compared to Spielberg's fucked-up remake.

 

The characters are all over-the-top, and our "world" is cornball and semi-ludicrous. But it's a world you can care about even as you laugh at it.

 

And, of course, the movie takes on a special meaning if you see it not only as the Comedy of Humanity, but as the Tragedy of the Martians.

 

[eviltimes]

War of the Worlds

C'mon.  A Gene Barry straight 1950's classic!  Hell, if Dakota Fanning had screamed one more time in the remake I would have gone on a killing spree.

[Sevorin]

Another couple -- not so much because they're masterpieces as because they come from a world of filmmaking that doesn't quite exist in the same way it used to:

Fury (1936)

They Won't Forget (1937)

The Well (1951)

The Sound of Fury (a.k.a. Try and Get Me - 1950)

[Janes'_kid]

I have just discovered a number (I've no feel yet for how many, certainly 20 or more.) of old black and white, B grade, noir, crime and thriller titles that are streaming only, not on disk. I don't know how to search for them. I went to The Naked City and just started clicking on ''More Like The Naked City" at the bottom of the page. Each time I add one to my instant queue more "More like .... " show up. Several are British with English subtitles. I find English subtitles necessary for British movies. I cannot understand a word they say.

[BluffingJ]

This link might be useful to you , if not someone. It has a bunch of links to goat (greatest of all time lists) and the site itself has one.The website also has tons of info on directors as well.

Url

[Janes'_kid]

I've discovered a gem, Mango Yellow, It is described a the beginning of a revival in Brazilian cinema after a slump. The dialogue is simple so the captions are not hard to follow. If upon starting to view it you turned off go and view the special features. The explanations there may inspire you to return to viewing the main feature.