Classic films appreciation thread - come and join us!

[PrivateParkin]

Following on from the recent thread about favourite actors from old films, @FatBallsAndSunflowerSeeds had the fab idea of an old movies appreciation thread... So here it is! If you like old films and actors of any kind, come and join us.

old thread

We thought we'd look out for any classic films being shown on TV, post them on this thread and then discuss them afterwards... But if you want to post about any of your favourite old films and actors at any time, that would also be fab. Basically, this is just a place to chat about old films - please come and join us!

I'm off to check the TV schedules for any potential gems coming up - I will post again with anything that looks good.

Meantime, here's James Cagney tap dancing down the stairs in Yankee Doodle Dandy - happy bank holiday everyone
m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvB4xk4LNQ

I haven't seen the Magic Cottage, is it the Dorothy Maguire one frog ? It's funny how some oldies are shown over and over, while others which are probably just as good never seem to be on TV.

I quite like Joan and Bette, they have old-school glamour in spades. I don't know much about Bette but didn't Joan have a pretty hard childhood? I've listened to a couple of the You Must Remember This podcasts about her, and I found it pretty sad tbh. I've never seen/read Mommie Dearest though...

Mommie Dearest (the book) is pretty horrifying actually. The film's a camp classic with Faye Dunaway in full over-the-top mode, bellowing no wire hangers!! at poor adopted Christina.

I bet life was hard for lots of movie-stars' offspring, adopted or not. Just think of eg Lana Turner's poor 14-year-old daughter Cheryl, who killed her mother's thuggish boyfriend after he beat her (Lana) up one too many times (and had threatened the daughter too). Luckily it was ruled justifiable homicide. The kid must have been petrified that they were both going to be done away with that night ☹️

Oh dear it is the enchanted cottage i was thinking about. I must have been having a senior moment. I watched The Killing of Sister George the other week. Loved Beryl Reid. Mooo ! So sad. I used to go to the Gateways and it was just like the film. A lot of regulars were extras.

The Enchanted Cottage sounds lovely frog - I've just looked it up. I see Herbert Marshall is in it too. Great story about him Halsall .

I'm sure that's true about many film stars' children - I'm slightly in denial tbh as I don't want real life to get in the way of on-screen persona... although it is interesting too. There are loads of examples I guess.

Just reading about Lana Turner how awful.

And now the fuckers are making a remake of Papillon. How can that possibly be bettered? Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, FGS.

The only good thing I can see about it is a cast member rather marvellously named Yorick van Wageningen.

Don't get me started on awful remakes!

I submit Ben Stiller's attempt at improving on the beautiful Danny Kate's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as a contender for worst remake ever.

Although Keira Knightly's attempt at Anna Karenina and Meg Ryan and co 'updating' The Women comes a close second and third.

Danny Kaye obviously, flipping autocorrect!

Mind you creme I've started giving some old original films a chance on the Retro Films station, they are hilariously bad!!! How anyone could be in them or produce/direct them I don't know!

I like the classic horrors and thrillers
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Haunting
Whatever happened to Baby Jane
Psycho.....all the old Hitchcock films
Carnival of souls

ppeat your post reminded me of this really awful/hilarious film on Talking Pictures a couple of months ago: The Fire Maidens from Outer Space - low budget 50s sci-fi, so bad it's good etc. Some British astronauts were sent into space and discovered a planet full of said fire maidens but with no men it was truly terrible, so low budget, cheap sets etc... so much so even I couldn't watch it all!

I hear the outrage over remakes. I just can't see the point. What modern day actor is ever going to compare to Danny Kaye, Steve McQueen, etc? None, that's what!

Eddie I've never seen Psycho, but like Dracula, Frankenstein etc. I'd never ever watch a modern-day horror film but the old ones are usually creepy and sinister enough for me, and they don't give me nightmares so are acceptable!

I love horrors including old horrors. There are a couple of old British ones in particular that are very good - one of the 'moster' genre called Night of the Demon, which pulls the clever trick of having Dana Andrews as the voice of scepticism and modern reason (American, see?) in an otherwise British cast wrestling with ancient powers. There's also Dead of Night which is a portmanteau affair with all of the stories tied up in a terrific ending. One of the stories features a ventriloquist dummy and I think is very influential - Anthony Hopkins' Magic for eg.

Agree about remakes. They even remade The Ladykillers, which for me was a true high point for Ealing. I think the first half of the original is like a masterclass and the actual heist is just amazing - spare, taut and also incredibly funny. I don't know why anyone would think it was a good idea to remake it.

I also love Hammer House of Horror and the Allan Edgar Poe films, spooky and atmospheric.

Just the title is enough is to give me a laugh Private The 'outer space' films are usually incredibly bad, obviously the special effects would be amateur but the scripts and acting are as well!!

To be honest I don't watch many modern films, La La Land was the last one I saw which harked back to the old fashioned ones, deliberately I suppose.

Psycho is seared on my memory, I really don't like horror films at all!

I'm with you Ppeatfruit, I just can't do horror movies at all. I'm still mentally scarred by Silence of the Lambs and Seven was way above my threshold!

Yes Creme There's no way I was going to see Silence! I know some people enjoy them but it's like me and the TV soaps, I can't stand the misery !

There's enough misery and horror in real life on the news let alone pay good money to see it!

To me what seems to have been lost from today's film and TV output compared to that of the "olden days" is the concentration on the "best things in life are free" positives. I wonder why..

I still remember Misery with Kathy Bates & James Caan. Horrifying as it all started so normally, great film though.

Ooh I love that film.

Watched Rebecca today - thanks so much for letting us all know it was on. It's such a twisted work in a lot of ways - the wife's fascination with her given almost free reign. I think it explores a lot of uncomfortable feelings that people have about former partners, and former partners are a feature of most people's lives now, in a way that they possibly weren't quite so much for audiences of the time. None of my kids noticed that they didn't know her name, so I felt like I was letting them in on a secret when I asked them what it was and pointed out that it's never given. Also, I noticed that the 'creepy' Danvers/Rebecca theme is a Debussy prelude. I'll try to find a recording to see if you agree with me. It's called 'Footsteps in the snow'.

Here's the prelude. Can you hear what I mean? It's orchestrated so sounds different but I'm sure I'm right.

Last thought (honest): isn't it terrifically Hitchcockian to have as his main character a woman who is not only beautiful, cruel, amoral and emotionally cold but also dead and not present at all? He spent the rest of his career spinning fantasies about this very archetype in the same way as the characters in this movie do, but he did so after she, explicitly in Rebecca, was already dead.

Hitch was an enigma, he hated himself and was fairly abusive to all his actors, calling them cattle or some such demeaning thing. He fantasised about blonde beautiful virginal women like Grace Kelly who went off the rails or were criminals but of course didn't look like them.

I haven't watched Rebecca yet (have seen it before but ages ago) but have read the book and Rebecca was such a perfect Hitchcock heroine, it's not surprising he jumped at the chance of bringing it to the screen. That's such a good point Harolds that the new Mrs DeWinter just lets her imagination run completely wild over Rebecca, the whole book is basically about this character she creates in her head, imagining the things Rebecca would say or do, etc. I absolutely love the book and am looking forward to seeing the film again - my favourite part of the book is the inquest so I'm interested to see how the film deals with that - it's so oppressive and nerve-wracking. Can't wait to watch it, but am on hols atm so will have to wait until we get back....