Great films (from before 1960)?

amazed no one mentioned this (tokyo story):

for that matter all of ozu's pre 1960 work.

no one mentioned On the Waterfront...I don't really love it as a film, but - Brando

oh and then some really ubiquitous shit like rules of the game, the apu trilogy, the seventh seal, sunset boulevard...

Apu Trilogy good call...think most of the others were on pg1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_a_Movie_Camera

The Thief Of Bagdad (1940)

Them! (1954)

The Apartment (1960)

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

It Happened One Night (1934)

  On 1/16/2013 at 1:23 AM, Awepittance said:

also if you like scifi but think most of it from this era sucks (and you would be right) check out Forbidden Planet, and if you have a blueray player or HD TV check it out in HD, it's one of the best looking transfers i've ever seen

Definitely give this one a go. I think it's the first or at least one of the first films to have an entirely electronic soundtrack and all of it made with concrete arrangements of the death rattle of circuits designed to die, also ring modulation.

My all time favorite movie is 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' from 1947. Really strong, intelligent female lead character, great performance by Rex Harrison. I cry so hard at this one.

fuk.ol.xa.hatrs lot to be learned from this one.

(and to say nothing of the graphic design!)

  On 1/16/2013 at 5:30 AM, dr lopez said:

 

fuk.ol.xa.hatrs lot to be learned from this one.

 

(and to say nothing of the graphic design!)

Ivan The Terrible parts I and II, the last films Eisenstien made before his death, are excellent as well. I took a class on Soviet films in college and ended up writing a lengthy paper on both his and Vertov's (Man With The Movie Camera) use of Montage.

  On 1/16/2013 at 1:58 AM, barbara planar said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_a_Movie_Camera

Besides making this and pushing the concept of documentary film-making to the limits, Vertov experimented extensively with the idea of making novel sounds in the 1920s - juxtaposing human voices with music, noises of nature and machines, and then recording those combinations. It was all Soviet futurism brainstorming at the time - but he was literally thinking about musique concrète before it existed, before audio tape was invented, and way, way before the ideas of sampling and plunderphonics. I think the only examples recorded are on this album, which I've been meaning to acquire. He moved to film because he was actually able to make his visions and ideas come to live. That's why Man With The Moving Camera is so rhythmic and meticulously edited - it was meant to encapsulate more "reality" than any film before it. It's mind-blowing that it was made in 1929.

The Seventh Seal 1957
Animal Farm 1954
Anatomy of a Murder 1959
Black Orpheus 1959
Apart from You 1933

Criterion has some nice collections&reviews, for instance 1950s

http://www.criterion.com/library/expanded_view?b=Criterion&dec=1950s&p=1&pp=25

Early German horror/scifi flicks are great. Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Vampyr..

A few that are visually top notch:

The Man Who Laughs (1928)

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

The Tales of Hoffman (1951)

I'm not a big watcher of films but here are two good European films about thieving, try not to cry at the Bicycle Thieves I dare you:

(edit: both of these have been mentioned already. carry on.)

That I've seen...

Brief Encounter

Rear Window

Plan 9 from Outer Space

It's a Wonderful Life

Double Indemnity

  On 1/16/2013 at 1:31 AM, zaphod said:

amazed no one mentioned this (tokyo story):

 

i thought of it but tbh it bored me to tears.

Obvious ones but still classics.

La Jetee was from 1962, one of my favorites.

U guys...

M

  On 1/15/2013 at 3:27 PM, chunky said:

Orson Welles was in a movie of Franz Kafka's The Trial - have a look at that, another beautiful nightmare type of film

hey i just watched this, and while i love its photography and first scenes, well, i couldn't follow it after it a while, i guess i didn't understand its allusion to the penal system or something? :( i really wanted to dig it like i did the first scenes but i just got lost... the 1st scene on his room and the whole investigation there was top notch!!!

re kafka

aint watched that film in 10 years so my memory could have been playing tricks on me

i remember it being very confusing and dream like and i sat there and enjoyed it, the same as with eraserhead

but the style of it was more beautiful

really want to see that film again to see if it matches what i remember

the book was also confusing and afaik it wasnt even fully finished

and i think kafkas friend edited the ending chapter and released the book against his wishes after he had died?

something like that. the unfinishedness adds to the dreamlike quality imo

does anyone know if it's possible to post old youtube films on this site? copyrighted material is not allowed, but are these films actually still in copyright?

have a look for the battle of algiers dudes

quite a depressing but truthful war film

Treasure of the sierra madre

Ace in the hole

Invasion of the body snatchers

the Magnificent ambersons (not convinced how good this was but it was interesting as a "lost" film + the follow up to citizen kane )

the ghost and mrs. muir (1947) isn't the greatest film, but definitely worth a mention