What's the best pre-60s movie on DVD?
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What's the best pre-60s movie on DVD?
I'm totally into the classics all of a sudden. What are the best movies that were made before 1960 (or there about) that are on DVD?
I'm looking first and foremost for good quality movies, but I'm also interested in good DVDs (nice transfer with a few extras, or better yet, loads of extras).
I'm looking first and foremost for good quality movies, but I'm also interested in good DVDs (nice transfer with a few extras, or better yet, loads of extras).
Last edited by James W. Powell; 02-15-05 at 07:50 AM. Reason: need a question mark
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There are hundreds of movies that could be suggested. What genres do you like?
You could try some of the Warner Night at the Movies collections like the Gangsters, Musicals and Comedies (the later 2 have not been released yet though), Robin Hood, Sierra Madre and Yankee Doodle Dandy. These all have a newsreel, a couple of shorts, a cartoon and the feature. Just like it was when your parents or grandparents went to the movies.
But like I said you'll get better responses if we know how your tastes run.
You could try some of the Warner Night at the Movies collections like the Gangsters, Musicals and Comedies (the later 2 have not been released yet though), Robin Hood, Sierra Madre and Yankee Doodle Dandy. These all have a newsreel, a couple of shorts, a cartoon and the feature. Just like it was when your parents or grandparents went to the movies.
But like I said you'll get better responses if we know how your tastes run.
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Ooops, I hadn't thought of giving my tastes. I'm actually open to anything. I love Hitchcock and I'm already going through his entire run of DVDs. I've got CITIZEN KANE and DAY EARTH STOOD STILL and loved 'em. Heck, I even watched BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S last night and enjoyed that. So I guess I don't have any specific genres I'm looking for. I just like old classics all of a sudden and want to see the best ones.
I like the idea of the AFI 100 list....
I like the idea of the AFI 100 list....
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The Third Man, Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Killing, the Warner Brothers Gangster Collection, the Warner Brothers Film Noir Classic Collection (which you absolutely need to get), The Gold Rush, City Lights, A Night at the Opera, the Big Sleep, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the Night of the Hunter, Seven Samurai
That should be enough to keep you going for a while. All are absolute classics, and most have pretty packed DVD's (save for the Big Sleep, Night of the Hunter and the Killing which are all available for a relatively cheap price). And I didn't bother mentioning Hitchcock since you said you already have a bunch of those, but of course many of his films are essential.
That should be enough to keep you going for a while. All are absolute classics, and most have pretty packed DVD's (save for the Big Sleep, Night of the Hunter and the Killing which are all available for a relatively cheap price). And I didn't bother mentioning Hitchcock since you said you already have a bunch of those, but of course many of his films are essential.
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Casablanca
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Passion of Joan of Arc
Notorious
City Lights
The Great Dicator
The Third Man
Singing in the Rain
Nosferatu
Metropolis
Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Gone With the Wind
Wizard of Oz
Rashomon
Seven Samurai
Black Narcissus
Arsenic And Old Lace
Roman Holiday
Pillow Talk
Kiss Me Deadly
Sunset Boulevard
to name a few
Notorious
City Lights
The Great Dicator
The Third Man
Singing in the Rain
Nosferatu
Metropolis
Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Gone With the Wind
Wizard of Oz
Rashomon
Seven Samurai
Black Narcissus
Arsenic And Old Lace
Roman Holiday
Pillow Talk
Kiss Me Deadly
Sunset Boulevard
to name a few
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Geez, what a crazy question. Just as bad as asking what the best post-1960s movies are. Each question could produce hundreds, possibly thousands, of responses.
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Originally Posted by Walter Neff
Geez, what a crazy question. Just as bad as asking what the best post-1960s movies are. Each question could produce hundreds, possibly thousands, of responses.
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Originally Posted by Walter Neff
Geez, what a crazy question. Just as bad as asking what the best post-1960s movies are. Each question could produce hundreds, possibly thousands, of responses.
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heh, most good movies were pre-60s, so this is very difficult. I recommend any film noir, especially Double Indemnity, my favorite. You should buy the new warner gangsters collection too, all great films.
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While by no means an exhaustive listing, the following would get my highest recommendations for films released before 1960. All are (or will shortly be) available on DVD in Region 1. They are listed by director (or star, in a few cases), and then roughly in order of my preference (YMMV):
Ingmar Bergman: Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Smiles of a Summer Night
Robert Bresson: A Man Escaped, The Diary of A Country Priest
Marcel Carné: Children of Paradise
Charles Chaplin: City Lights, The Gold Rush, The Kid
Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Wages of Fear, Le Corbeau, Diabolique
Michael Curtiz: Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, The Adventures of Robin Hood
Vittorio De Sica: The Bicycle Thief
Stanley Donen: Singin' in the Rain
Carl Theodor Dreyer: The Passion of Joan of Arc, Day of Wrath
Federico Fellini: Nights of Cabiria, I Vitelloni
W.C. Fields: It's a Gift, The Bank Dick
John Ford: Stagecoach, The Searchers
D.W. Griffith: Intolerance, Way Down East
Howard Hawks: His Girl Friday, Only Angels Have Wings, Red River, Bringing Up Baby, Twentieth Century, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep
Alfred Hitchcock: Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps
John Huston: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Elia Kazan: A Streetcar Named Desire
Buster Keaton: The General, Sherlock Jr., Steamboat Bill Jr., Go West
Akira Kurosawa: The Hidden Fortress, Ikiru, Rashomon, The Seven Samurai
Fritz Lang: The Big Heat
Charles Laughton: The Night of the Hunter
David Lean: Brief Encounter
Ernst Lubitsch: The Shop Around the Corner, Trouble in Paradise
Sidney Lumet: 12 Angry Men
Rouben Mamoulian: Love Me Tonight
The Marx Brothers: Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, A Night at the Opera
F.W. Murnau: Sunrise, Tabu, The Last Laugh
Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Story, Early Summer, Floating Weeds
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger: Black Narcissus, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes
Nicholas Ray: Rebel Without a Cause
Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu
Carol Reed: The Third Man
Jean Renoir: The Rules of the Game, Grand Illusion, The Southerner
Preston Sturges: The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story
Jacques Tati: Mon Oncle
François Truffaut: The 400 Blows
W.S. Van Dyke III: The Thin Man
Dziga Vertov: The Man with a Movie Camera
Jean Vigo: L'Atalante
Luchino Visconti: La Terra Trema
Billy Wilder: Sunset Blvd.
Orson Welles: Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil
Ingmar Bergman: Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Smiles of a Summer Night
Robert Bresson: A Man Escaped, The Diary of A Country Priest
Marcel Carné: Children of Paradise
Charles Chaplin: City Lights, The Gold Rush, The Kid
Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Wages of Fear, Le Corbeau, Diabolique
Michael Curtiz: Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, The Adventures of Robin Hood
Vittorio De Sica: The Bicycle Thief
Stanley Donen: Singin' in the Rain
Carl Theodor Dreyer: The Passion of Joan of Arc, Day of Wrath
Federico Fellini: Nights of Cabiria, I Vitelloni
W.C. Fields: It's a Gift, The Bank Dick
John Ford: Stagecoach, The Searchers
D.W. Griffith: Intolerance, Way Down East
Howard Hawks: His Girl Friday, Only Angels Have Wings, Red River, Bringing Up Baby, Twentieth Century, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep
Alfred Hitchcock: Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps
John Huston: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Elia Kazan: A Streetcar Named Desire
Buster Keaton: The General, Sherlock Jr., Steamboat Bill Jr., Go West
Akira Kurosawa: The Hidden Fortress, Ikiru, Rashomon, The Seven Samurai
Fritz Lang: The Big Heat
Charles Laughton: The Night of the Hunter
David Lean: Brief Encounter
Ernst Lubitsch: The Shop Around the Corner, Trouble in Paradise
Sidney Lumet: 12 Angry Men
Rouben Mamoulian: Love Me Tonight
The Marx Brothers: Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, A Night at the Opera
F.W. Murnau: Sunrise, Tabu, The Last Laugh
Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Story, Early Summer, Floating Weeds
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger: Black Narcissus, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes
Nicholas Ray: Rebel Without a Cause
Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu
Carol Reed: The Third Man
Jean Renoir: The Rules of the Game, Grand Illusion, The Southerner
Preston Sturges: The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story
Jacques Tati: Mon Oncle
François Truffaut: The 400 Blows
W.S. Van Dyke III: The Thin Man
Dziga Vertov: The Man with a Movie Camera
Jean Vigo: L'Atalante
Luchino Visconti: La Terra Trema
Billy Wilder: Sunset Blvd.
Orson Welles: Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil
Last edited by FilmFanSea; 02-16-05 at 12:51 AM.
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Originally Posted by natevines
I recommend any film noir, especially Double Indemnity, my favorite.
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I too vote for Casablanca (new 2-Disc) and Fritz Lang's M (new 2-Disc Criterion). Both editions are top notch and the movies are my two favorites that are available from the specified time frame. Double Indemnity would fill out that top 3, if it were available. The OOP version is on par with a VHS tape transfer so, wait for a new edition... if we ever see one.