The Classics

[nerd4hire]

On other boards I see people talking about "classic" movies, and they're talking about movies from the 80s, and 90s. So I'm curious, what's the oldest movie you've ever seen? What's the oldest one you ever enjoyed? Have you ever been able to sit through a whole show in black and white? Do you know what a Western is? Ever heard of Charlie Chaplin? Is Gone with the Wind just an expression?

 

[Hit The Books]

The oldest one I've seen - and enjoyed - would have to be The Exterminating Angel. Not only is it in black and white but it's also in Spanish so is subtitled! 🙂

I love the plot - anything of that slightly surreal and somewhat eerie nature I will give a chance - but I love the meanings behind it even more.

Not a big fan of Westerns myself, unless it happens to be Back To The Future Three 😉.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Having just turned forty-ten, I can assure you that my classic films go back a lot further than the 80s and 90s 🙂 When I was a lad black and white TV was all we had...and we were bloody grateful too...kids today...muttergrumblerant 🙂

Seriously, when I think of classic films I'm talking about Citizen Kane, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2001, Singing in the Rain, A Hard Day's Night etc. I've never really cared for Chaplain though, Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers are more my cup of tea. I have to admit that my favourite Western is a modern one...Unforgiven. I'd still call it a classic though 🙂

 

[white avenger]

I think I have you all beaten. I've seen "The Defenders Of The Alamo" and the original "Tarzan" with Elmo Lincoln, both not only black and white, but SILENT. (of course, one was on a Classics channel on tv and the other was in disc, does that count? At the theater, I can remember seeing "Red River" with John Wayne, and all of the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry westerns, "The Thing" and "Them," both with James Arness. Can anybody beat that?

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

As a film student (note that ALL students become pretentious wankers about films) I don't think the age of a movie is what defines it as a classic.

I can list 'classics' (based entirely on my opinion) from every era, genre and country.

What I think you want here, however, is 'Classics' that are aged as well.

I'm a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn.
She was beautiful and talented. She lit up the screen whenever she was on.

If you want to go further, I adore The Wizard of Oz(no comments), Chaplin, Marx Bros, Abbott and Costello, films like Whistle down the Wind, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Gold Rush, Nosferatu and Citizen Kane. I love the 1950's B-Movies too. I can't tell you how many times i've watched(and enjoyed) Day of the Triffids and the likes.

I will, however, say that 'Gone with the Wind' is one of the most overrated, overly long films i've ever had the misfortune to sit through.


FYI - Film fans, you want to see a 'modern classic' (modern in respects to the 1920's but it's 12 years old now) I suggest you watch 'La Haine'. Its a Parisian 'Ghetto' film and one of my favourites.

But then again, I would also class Independance Day as a Classic so what do I know!!!

 

[ILLYRIAN]

So, classics huh ?
I can remember watching the first Dr. Who before it was repeated, not a film but I think of it as a classic.
So, Battle of Britain [ I wanted to be a pilot or a grocer as well. ]
The 39 Steps
Vanishing Point
Serenity (almost)
most of the HAMMER films

The Classic's of a specific genre
The Abyss
The Omen
Starman

Oh, when I was a lad, those talkies were weird.

 

[Lyri]

one of my all time favorite movies ever is Calamity Jane. i remember sitting watching it with my aunt when i was a kid and really enjoying all the songs, and Doris Day was so beautiful in the movie.
the last black and white movie i watched was a Western called Ringo. i watched it with my dad about 2 weeks ago. my dad's a huge Western geek, he has a ton on DVD and watches at least one a day, so i know who John Wyane is and stuff, lol

 

[Harley]

the oldest movies i've seen - Citizen Kane and Tarzan. i dunno where it ranks in age, but ive seen (and loved) To Kill a Mockingbird as well.

 

[teentitan]

I think I have you all beaten. I've seen "The Defenders Of The Alamo" and the original "Tarzan" with Elmo Lincoln, both not only black and white, but SILENT. (of course, one was on a Classics channel on tv and the other was in disc, does that count? At the theater, I can remember seeing "Red River" with John Wayne, and all of the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry westerns, "The Thing" and "Them," both with James Arness. Can anybody beat that?

Either you saw the Autrey and Rogers films at festivals or B Western conventions or you are pushing 70! The only people I know who have seen these two western icons are friends of my father and he is shy of 70. And I know you are not my dad because he is so computer illiterate that he still thinks an email and fax are the same thing!
When I was a kid my dad would wake me early on saturday and sunday to watch movies like:
The East End Kids (later renamed Bowery Boys)
Andy Hardy movies (Mikey Rooney/Judy Garland)
All talkie Tarzan movies (don't remember seeing the silent Tarzan)
Hope & Crosby road show movies
Abbot & Costello

 

[white avenger]

What Makes A Movie A Classic

As a film student (note that ALL students become pretentious wankers about films) I don't think the age of a movie is what defines it as a classic.

I fully agree with you about age not being the ONLY thing that makes a film (or anything else) a classic. I have the same feelings about "Citizen Kane" that you do about "Gone With The Wind," but being a native Georgian I may be a bit prejudiced. It is, however, one of the things that goes into determining what separates one from a Saturday afternoon potboiler.

 

[nerd4hire]

My first college obsession was WC Fields and the Marx Brothers, then I warped from there to Sci Fi, which is possibly a weird leap.

 

[goldenboy]

Def with ya on the Marx Bros. Love Duck Soup the best, I think. I vaguely remember seeing some Buster Keaton flick(s) at a revival. Had a real old lady playing the original score on an organ. Was so much fun to see on a big screen, nice print.

 

[white avenger]

...and gettin' older every day!"

Either you saw the Autrey and Rogers films at festivals or B Western conventions or you are pushing 70!

Actually, yesterday (Sept. 5) was my 60th birthday. I guess that's pushing 70, just not pushing very hard yet.

 

[teentitan]

Either you saw the Autrey and Rogers films at festivals or B Western conventions or you are pushing 70!

Actually, yesterday (Sept. 5) was my 60th birthday. I guess that's pushing 70, just not pushing very hard yet.

So you must have seen the weekly serials before the matinee? My dad has a whole wack of those from all the conventions he has been to down your way.

 

[white avenger]

"When last we saw our hero..."

So you must have seen the weekly serials before the matinee? My dad has a whole wack of those from all the conventions he has been to down your way.

Sure, I saw the weekly serials. I remember "Flash Gordon" the most, but there was also "Superman and the Mole Men" which starred George Reeves, who went on to play Superman on tv for several years before committing suicide, and there were a couple of Tarzan ones, but I don't remember too much about them. There was "Rocket Man" and "Commando Cody," and a whole bunch more that I can't recall now, but I can certainly remember being really excited every Saturday.

Another thing they had at the movies back then was news reels that were usually about some wacky invention somebody had come up with, or how the troops were doing in Korea.

Then of course the movie just wouldn't be complete without the cartoons (we had no idea back then that our minds were being permanently warped by all the violence. We just wanted to see Popeye eat that spinach and kick Bluto's head off.

I didn't have a clue what the announcer was talking about back then when he talked about those "thrilling days of yesteryear." I do now.

Thanks for helping me to remember some really great times...

 

[slayerpower]

The oldest movie I saw was City Lights (1931), which I saw in my movie class. I really liked Singing in the Rain (1952) and The Birds (1963).

 

[StuckinTraffic]

I believe the oldest film I've seen is Gone With the Wind and I love that movie! I like old films in general, tho, which I consider to be films made in the 40's, 50's and 60's.....some of my favorites are Sunset Blvd., The Birds, The Great Escape, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Dune (not made in any of the decades mentioned, but still a classic to me!.....I hear y'all groaning!)

 

[doppelgänger2]

Being too a film student, I feel like I've seen every damn (and utterly boring) silent movie ever made. Which is almost true. Oldest movies I've seen, if you can count these as a movies, are the experiments of Muybridge, Reynaud, and Edison. Oldest "real" movie must be "Workers Leaving the Factory" by the Lumiére brothers.
But as for personal favorites in the field of really old classics; I'd say perhaps "A Trip to the Moon" by Georges Méliés, "Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler" by Fritz Lang, "Kino-Eye" by Dziga Vertov and "M" by Fritz Lang. Other personal favorites are the works of people like Roberto Rossellini, Akira Kurosawa and Jean-Luc Godard. Oh and of course David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino, as for modern classics.

And if I may stop being all pretentious, I'd say any high school movie from the 80's starring Molly Ringwald is a modern classic! : popcorn:

 

[goldenboy]

Speaking of Fritz...Metropolis! OK, kinda slow and odd to us moderns, but just really amazing to look at on the big screen.

 

[doppelgänger2]

Jesus... How could I forget about Metropolis? Seriously? It's one of the best movies EVER made! EVER! The scene where the dude (can't remember his name) visits the underground for the first time and sees the workers on that huge machine, and their movements are syncronized with the music, just blows me away totally every time I see it.