Jump to content

The Classic Film Thread


I Am A Swede

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 186
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 1 month later...
  • 6 months later...
  • Members

Flesh and the Devil (1927) - Starring the infamous pairing of John Gilbert and Greta Garbo! It was really good, even if Garbo's character was infuriating, but also very gay and by gay I mean homosexual. The ending was amazing with the two best friends forgiving each other in very "intimate" scenes, all the while Garbo has drowned to the knowledge of no one. She got what she deserved!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
  • Members

With the recent death of Joan Fontaine I would highly recommend "Rebecca", in my opinion Alfred Hitchcock's best movie. Starring the aforementioned Ms Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, George Sanders, and Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers, among others.

Please register in order to view this content

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again......"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

A little question. What is your definition of a classic movie? Are all movies made/released before a certain year to be considered classics, or are there any more criteria they have to meet.

And what about more recent movies? When can they be considered classics? I know Disney often labels their theatrical releases as classics almost instantly, or at least they used to. But how old should a movie be, or does age have nothing to do with it? I'm sure most people would now consider movies like "Star Wars", "Jaws" and "E.T" as classics, even though they were released comparatively recent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't think there is a set in stone definition of a classic. Usually though they come from I would say before 1960 when there was still the studio system in Hollywood. Even then not all movies qualify: "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi is classic Hollywood, but "Son Of Dracula" with Lon Chaney Jr not so much. Then from more modern movies I think quality and if it is well remembered becomes a priority. "The Godfather" is a classic, but "The Godfather III" is not. If "Braveheart" is not considered a classic it eventually will be, but I don't think "Gladiator" will. "Goldfinger" is a classic, but almost no other Bond film is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

IMHO, a "classic" is a work of art that will stand the test of time. For that to happen, there would have to be some level of quality to it. It also stands up to repeated viewings; something someone wants to see or hear time and time again. It is also a work that is highly influential and/or epitomizes a genre or style.

In this instance, Star Wars, Jaws and ET are classics, in that many people enjoy watching them repeatedly, their narratives have stood the test of time, and each of them are representative of ideas that would be referred to as a touchstone. Star Wars for science fiction genre, Jaws for the summer blockbuster and even suspense/horror, and ET for family films and all three as blockbuster movies.

Some movies can be labeled instant classics, because they are of such high quality and/or so beloved, they would fit the label. I'm thinking of when Schindler's List first came out. Many Christmas movies, despite the quality, fall under the "beloved" aspect. Christmas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase, comes to my mind as a "Christmas classic." It is also my opinion, however, the phrase "instant classic" is overused.

There is also a distinction between "classic" and "cult classic." For instance, Mommie Dearest is a "cult classic." Many of these movies are "so bad they're good" or beloved despite the quality (Pink Flamingos) or that they involve a certain actor (Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns) or genre (Blade Runner, Friday the Thirteenth).

When thinking of "classic films" for this thread, however, I believe the originator was thinking of movies that may have been prior to 1980. Possibly even just B&W movies. Most contributors have kept the thread in those areas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
  • Members

I just watched Trader Horn, one of those films I've wanted to see for years because it was nominated for Best Picture at the 4th Academy Awards. The plot is exceedingly thin, ridiculous and really should only be watched by film enthusiasts. The only captivating parts, other than the truly horrible acting and the "HEY!, that's C. AUBREY SMITH" scene, are watching the wildlife. It is during these points where you see two Natives killed during filming. It's continuously sickening that you could almost instantly tell that they starved the lions to do their bidding because their ribs are in full view. The film being two hours was not kind.

Edited by Bright Eyes
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • Members

The Devil Is a Woman (1935) - Queen Marlene Dietrich seemed to have so much fun in this one. A much lighter fare then I'm used to seeing her in, but she still excelled as always. One line completely cracked me up, "I came to see if you were dead. If you loved me enough, you would've killed yourself." And though it was a small role, Edward Everett Horton is always a treat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • Members

75 years ago today "Gone With the Wind" had its premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, and went on to be the biggest box-office hit the world has seen. Some of its content may be questionable today, but it is still a magnificent movie....

Please register in order to view this content

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcuRaAi5MF0

and of course it has one of cinema's most famous lines (or maybe two..... tongue.png )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's a great, great movie. Classic Hollywood's greatest achievement and better than most movies before or since. GWTW gets knocked but it has story that just doesn't let up for a moment. Of the cast Olivia de Havilland is still alive, but she must be closing in on 100 by now. She is truly the last of old Hollywood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • Members

A Tale of Two Cities (1935) - This was a damn good film. Ronald Colman gives one of his best performances, Donald Woods was a total babe, and in the best scene of the film, the great character actress Edna May Oliver, gets into a catfight with the villain of the piece. I never thought I'd get to see her like that, but it made my night. And Donald Woods, someone I either haven't seen or never took notice of before, struck me as someone that I easily could have pictured in the modern world, which can sometimes be hard to do with people in their "do's" from the past.

This also must be one of the first narrative films to use narration. I was almost caught of guard when Colman's calming voice talked and the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • @soapfan770 1995/96 to 1999/2000 were not very good in primetime. CBS and ABC both had primetime mess eras, and that's how NBC got away with their Thursday garbage shows finishing in the Top 10. Remember too that ABC was sold to Disney in 1996.  As for ABC primetime mess era, it started with the Top 10 fallout of Roseanne and ended with the breakout success of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Monday Night Football and Home Improvement pretty much kept ABC alive in that era.
    • This show is miles better under the new writers. It's really a condemnation of Carlivati, because he had the characters and history to write good soap. Instead, he turned it into a joke and a farce. I've heard some people says DAYS is now "too talky." Miss me with that stupid analysis.
    • I always wondered if Jackie wasn't going to be recast after being persumed dead... if Marland was going to pair Evie and Justin as a couple reunited in grief over Jackie's death. The one consistent thing I noticed about Evie during those months she was still on the show was that she was kind of a second mother to Phillip after Jackie's 'death' and Elizabeth no longer on the canvas.   But then one of the three interim writer teams decided to pair up Helena with Justin.. which left Evie even less to do than she had at the start of 1983. You're right that Evie was a unique character on the soap.  She was sweet and trusting, yet she had a quiet strength that made it difficult to push her around (at least when the Dobson's were writing her).  The Ben/Amanda/Eve triangle was an interesting triangle because neither of the women were evil... and Ben did have chemistry and a connection with both women.   It had a pretty decent run from 1978/9 to 1982 before Amanda was spun off into her mother's new marriage to Mark as the other woman.
    • Lots of fast-forwarding in today's episode. The best parts were the Lulu and Tracy scenes and Chase in the tank top. And once again, a horrible cliffhanger with Sonny.
    • A very very brief excerpt from a CBS special is up. That's it. @jam6242 Thank you for the lovely Susan article. I adore that photo of her with Denise - such strong yet different personalities on display.  I remember seeing that photo of Denise, Bill and Susan on soap magazines like Afternoon TV. I wonder if they took it or if DAYS did.
    • I think Joss does know the material and maybe just plagiarized some of Emma's data?   Despite all her actions I do think the show pretends Joss is smart and this class is sort of in her new wheelhouse as a degree. Gio playing Carmen was super high pitched to me.  He's a talented musician but that was screechy lol. TBH, we all know I love Sonny to a fault, but I would rather stare at Rebecca Herbst's opening picture for an hour than listen to Sonny and Jason blather on about giving up the mob.  You can't even try to fake me out at this point.
    • Denise's daytime/soap resume courtesy of Slick Jones' Soap Hoppers thread THE CLEAR HORIZON         Lois Adams       1960 BEN JERROD                        Emily Sanders     1963 GENERAL HOSPITAL          Lorna Hill            May 1965 DAYS OF OUR LIVES           Susan Hunter Martin Peters    1966-73 GENERAL HOSPITAL      Dr.  Lesley Sullivan Williams Faulkner Webber Webber   1973-84; 1996-09;(occasional); 2013; 2017; 2019; 2021 ABC AFTERNOON  PLAYBREAK    "The Gift of Terror"    Laura    4/5/1973 HOTEL                                 Gail McClain         1984 ANOTHER WORLD             Mary Callahan McKinnon (LaSalle) McKinnon   1986-89 SUNSET BEACH                 Sister Beatrice         1997-98 PORT CHARLES Dr. Lesley Williams Faulkner Webber 1999
    • Well as I sit here waiting for my new episode to load on my system, I'm rewatched Friday.   Say what you want, but I will always live for the Dupree family moments. And I love how much Vernon and Anita were being there for Nicole. Tag-team comforting. That was just cute.   I also love...and I've said it before...how BTG does what Y&R used to do with major characters who you think are not going to be in the episode. Have them pop up later in the episode. It was a nice surprise to see Eva appear halfway through. And I knew at some point that SilkPress Sheila would wind up at that house alone with Nicole. Still gasped since it was the only time she was in the episode.    Another thing that I'm loving has been as we are dealing with fallout from the SilkPress storyline which has been the A story...the writers are finally developing the OTHER A story...that's been in the background. That being Martin's Secret. Love the foreshadowing throughout. From Dani vs Bill and asking what else he was hiding to Kat/Smitty talking post another Martin outburst...which are building...to those unexpected Bill/Smitty scenes. Shame on Bill for planting seeds in Smitty's head.    And the unexpected combo was also great. Vernon/Nicole. Kat/Smitty. Bill/Smitty. Even getting another Martin/Ted scene in. I liked that characters aren't just sticking too much into story bubbles.    I definitely enjoying all the fallout from the SilkPress/Eva reveal. Eva might be done, but she ain't out. And I continue to get SMG Kendall vibes. Was she wrong? Yep. But she was partly tricked, too. So she definitely has an underdog vibe written all over her for some redemption. And one of the best plots on the show continue to be Kat vs Eva. So Kat seeing Eva getting closer to Tomas is only going to make that rivalry worse. It's been interesting to see the effects on the whole Richardson family from Nicole to Ted to Martin. And yes, fingers crossed that Martin stays triggered...since it feels like it's building onto his secret.    Oops at Nicole finding out Andre knew about Ted. I do wonder if she might say it to Dani. And then Dani winds up breaking it off permanently with Andre. And yay! Vanessa showed up for her BFF.   I'm enjoying the C plot of the homeless woman. I totally think there's more to her. And it gives Naomi and Jacob a story. I'm sure I've said it before, but I do wonder if it will tie into the crooked cop story or even Joey somehow. And good to see Ashley and Derek...ironically in a C plot.    And good to see we got three cliffhangers again. I hope this week does the same on Friday. 
    • I believe Cecile was intentionally used for comedic elements maybe twice. I mean, start with her being royalty from where? Tanquir!!! LOL From the first moment it's a gag, isn't it? And, her kidnapping Cass? I mean does a serious character do that? Well, literally, if you go another way & it's horror, sure. And, what you describe, a food fight, yeah, it's going to be played for laughs. Not a problem. I can respect different POVs.  Black & Stern is on Les Moonves' head. He knew their work including NO DAYTIME. He recommended them anyway. Thank god their tenure was brief. But, Moonves is CBS not P&G. At any rate we have a true dilemma because we see this time at AW so differently. Vive la difference!
    • Y&R 1976 Pt 2 Bill is overjoyed when Jill arrives home with grandson. But Kay is furious and checks into legal action, only to find that there are no grounds (the check was returned). Brock Reynolds, Kay’s son from her first marriage, convinces her she can be the baby’s godmother and provide for him out of love.  But just as she’s starting arrangements to do this a legal petition arrives stating that Phillip Chancellor Foster is a rightful heir to and is now claiming his share of Phillip Chancellor’s estate. Jill has to do this, as the Foster family’s finances are now more precarious than ever. In fact, Liz, unable to get her factory job back, has secretly started working for Kay as her housekeeper. Jill explains to Kay that she has to do this for her baby’s sake but will drop the suit immediately if Kay puts it in writing that she will provide for them. Kay, however, retorts that Jill is the one who can’t be trusted—after all, she went back on her agreement to let Kay have the baby. Despite her attorney’s advice to work out an out-of-court agreement, Kay — insists on seeing this through. When Jill takes her little son to Phillip’s grave -on the Chancellor estate, Kay runs her off the property. In court, the geneticist testifies that Phillip could have been the baby’s father, but that Brock could have been, also. Jill then testifies that Phillip was the only man she was ever intimate with, and then only once; that Phillip decided on an immediate divorce from Kay and marriage to her, Jill, so that his baby could have his legal name. But Kay’s lawyer brings up the “dead-man statute,” which holds that conversations with a deceased person are not admissible as evidence because he can’t defend himself. When the  judge upholds this statute, Jill comes close to being held in contempt of court.  Brock takes the stand and substantiates Jill’s testimony that although he and Jill lived together for a time before her marriage to Phillip, they were never initimate. But the judge rules in favor of Kay; little Phillip’s claim is rejected. Jill emotionally tells the judge he has denied a child a decent life and a man  his dying wish.   Brad is told by Dr. Snapper Foster,his brother-in-law that his condition, nephritis of the optic nerve, is stable. The optic nerves are still swollen, but since his headaches have stopped he should continue his cortisone treatment. Brad is still firmly insistent that Leslie not be told.  From the moment they meet, Lance and Laurie charge the air around them with static. They find each other arrogant and egotistical, but when Lance needs a date for his trip to London, he calls Laurie, and she accepts. The pilot of Lance’s private plane cryptically suggests that Laurie turns his boss on because she seems turned off by him. This seems to hold true for Laurie, too. By the end of their London stay, Lance and Laurie have come to a better understanding of each other. Lance tries to tell her that, with talent of her own, she should not be jealous of Leslie. She tells him she has a book coming out, but it won’t be published under her own name. She explains further that she was an outgoing child and her parents didn’t understand that she needed as much attention as the introverted Leslie did. (Laurie has always felt she existed in Leslie’s shadow. Les is married to the man Laurie wanted, and is a successful concert artist, with the fame and recognition Laurie has tried so desperately to achieve. Laurie’s first book, a sexploitation novel, was a failure, and this new book is a novel based on Leslie’s nervous breakdown and recovery—something Leslie is trying to put behind her.) Gwen Sherman, now Sister Magdellen, will soon take her final vows, but still feels God holds her past against her, because nobody could possibly believe that a prostitute could be pure enough to become a nun. She finds her accidental meetings with Greg Foster (they were once in love) increasingly meaningful to her, and she begins to dream of Greg holding her in his arms. Finally, in torment and uncertainty, she tells the Reverend Mother she’s leaving the convent. But on the day of her release, Greg arrives with one of the convent orphans unconscious in his arms.The boy had fallen from a fence outside. When the  boy, Ramon, who had not spoken a word since his arrival, comes to, asking for Sister Magdellen, Gwen sees this as a sign from God and accepts her vocation. She will take her final vows and then enter nurses’ training.  Stay tuned...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy