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

Continuing the Billy Wilder theme, if you haven't seen it, the Urban Myths:Marilyn Monroe episode, it is well worth seeing.

Gemma Arterton plays Marilyn struggling to get her line 'It's Me, Sugar' in Some Like It Hot. Lovely performances by the actors playing the beautiful Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. 47 takes in total!

47 takes - acting must be pretty boring at times! Still if the end product is Some Like It Hot I guess it's worth it!

Hi all The Wicked Lady is on Talking Pictures today at 2.35pm. I've wanted to see this for ages after it was recommended on here - so that's my Sunday afternoon sorted!

I'm a bit late to the thread (and there was an earlier one?) but I'd love to join. My parents loved all the old movies. Mam was a big fan of the musicals (especially Doris Day) and also loved the Ealing classics like 'Passport to Pimlico'. Dad loved the classic movies too. In fact, he was telling me about the Talking Pictures TV channel. I don't have SKY TV myself though so I can't watch it.

Then I went to college and did a film studies module. Our lecturer introduced us to a much wider range of classics - everything from 'Battleship Potemkin' to 'Citizen Kane' to Hitchcock.

PrivateParkin posted earlier in the thread about opening a cinema that showed classic movies only, with a cocktail bar attached. I've been told that one of my old student haunts has done exactly this (the Stella cinema in Dublin stellatheatre.ie/). It was closed for a few years but it's been renovated and has now re-opened. Although I just checked their cinema listings and they're showing 'The Devil wears Prada' and 'Heathers'. Not quite what I had in mind! I'll keep an eye on their listings and see if anything more vintage turns up.

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions and recommendations. Believe it or not, there are some classics that I've never seen such as 'Rebecca' and 'The Bridge over the River Kwai'.

My Dad would love this thread but he doesn't use the internet much. He scours the TV Guide and records anything that takes his fancy.
Then he watches them at his leisure and falls asleep . I think a lot of classics are shown at odd hours like early in the morning or late at night.

Hi Tayto what a lovely post - yes I think old films can bring back a lot of nice memories of watching with parents etc, that's lovely about your dad. Are you in Ireland now, if you don't mind me asking? I know in England, Talking Pictures is on Freeview as well as sky, but I don't know if that's the case in Ireland. It is a great channel, it often shows famous actors in films where they're playing against type, eg @dontcallmelen (I think?!) mentioned a Diana Dors film where she played the last woman to be hanged in Britain, not at all the type of role she usually played. So they have lots of things like that on.

There are loads of classics I haven't seen as well. I'd never seen Whatever Happened to Baby Jane until quite recently, and I've never seen Now Voyager or Citizen Kane for example, or at least I don't think I have! I've a big list thanks to this thread, and I've recorded/watched loads of things I wouldn't have otherwise considered as a result.

Yesterday though I watched Hound of the Baskervilles for about the 20th time and made waffles with my DS - it was basically the perfect Sunday morning!

Old films just make me very happy they're like soul food to me, I love them!!

MrsCholly thanks for the reminder about The Apartment - I haven't recorded but I think it's still on Sky cinema to download. I know I've seen bits of it but I don't think I've seen it the whole way through. Another one to look forward to.

@PrivateParkin, ooh you must watch now voyager, it has the immortal line by Bette Davis, don’t ask for the stars when we have the moon (I think it’s that way round) not sure if it was me that mentioned Diana Dors but she was excellent in that film.
Yy Tayto, it was my dad that got me interested in the old films he also loved Doris Day musicals & cowboy films.
The apartment is a fabulous film, Jack Lemmon is one of my all time favourite actors.

dontcallmelen I am looking out for Now Voyager on TV - I hadn't realised that line was from it!

I love Jack Lemmon as well. He's so good looking in an unconventional, non-Hollywood kind of way. Leslie Howard is a bit like that too I think...

@PrivateParkin, yy Leslie Howard he had a certain something about him, very debonair & do love a man in a trilby.

I believe my collection of b/w DVDs is larger than the rest of my collection combined. Love them. I see lavender hill mob is on film 4 right now.

My personal all time favourites are The Women, anything with Ginger, or Alistair Sim, Went the Day Well, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Enchanted Cottage and the Murder at the .... series with Margaret Rutherford. I watch most of mine on you tube.

Ooh Mitch they sound great - someone else mentioned The Enchanted Cottage too. I've never seen it, but really want to after these recommendations!

I love The Lavender Hill Mob. I'm using films like that to try and get my DS into more classics, although he hasn't watched that one yet. We've watched Arsenic and Old Lace, Sherlock Holmes, Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood etc. And Casablanca - he was shocked as I was letting him watch something with shooting, which I wouldn't normally!

Yes agree dontcallmelen I love a man in a hat, I have to say! I also love Leslie Howard's look in Pygmalion where he wears those round glasses - so kind and wise as well as good-looking!

It’s a while since I saw it, but I thoroughly recommend Now Voyager. Bette Davis is so brilliant and poignant. I think the line is “don’t let’s ask for the moon when we have the stars” but that’s a perfect excuse to rewatch the film to check!

Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema last night was about heist movies, including the 1960 League of Gentlemen, starring Jack Hawkins, Roger Livesey and others, which looked like perfect Talking Pictures material.

@MoreCheerfullMonica I think you are right, I’m always getting quotes mixed up😳 League of gentlemen is a fab film & Jack Hawkins is fab in it.

I keep forgetting about Secrets of Cinema! Must catch up with it.

I was just on Amazon ordering something, and spotted "The Enchanted Cottage - included free with Prime! Watch now! " So I immediately clicked on it only to find it was some awful made for tv remake with loads of 1 star reviews. Never mind. I will keep looking out for the 1945 version!

len I'm hopeless at remembering film quotes, storylines etc. That's probably why I'm so happy to re-watch loads of stuff, because I can never remember what happens

I’ve always been a quiz buff, so have a lot of quotes in my head - many of them slightly mangled!

I woke up really early this morning (still very muggy here and couldn't get back to sleep), so as no-one else was up, it was a good time to watch an old film... So I watched Summertime, the Katharine Hepburn film that was on Talking Pictures a few weeks ago. It's set in Venice and a lot of it is filmed on location, so - as we're going to Italy on hols tomorrow - I'm hoping to channel Kate while I'm there (unlikely though!). Anyway it was an enjoyable story, beautiful setting and the outfits are stunning too (1955 and shot in Technicolor, so it looks fantastic).

So I probably won't be watching many (if any ) oldies over the next week or so. But in the meantime, for no reason at all I'll just leave this picture here, of Errol Flynn playing tennis (he was a really good player - qualified for the US Open doubles playing alongside his pal, the Wimbledon singles champ Sidney Wood - although they didn't play the tournament in the end).

Have a lovely holiday, Parkin! Hope you've got some wide-legged linen trousers à la Hepburn.

I've got that film recorded with some others you recommended.

Thanks Bagel - I do have some linen trousers with me but I don't think I can carry them off like Kate! I'm currently languishing in an airport Premier Inn anyway so not quite so glamorous all round

Hello all! Sorry I dropped off the thread - it mysteriously disappeared from 'threads I'm on', but I've been watching Talking Pictures as ever

Devotees of Alistair Sim (myself included) may like to know that the excellent Green for Danger is on T Pics this afternoon. Starts at 13:55 iirc. It's an adaptation of a novel by Christianna Brand. Great fun.

PS am also enjoying the Mark Kermode series, but I do wish Mark Cousins would make another programme as well. He once did an absolutely riveting set of interviews with some of the Hollywood greats - Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall stick in my memory.

Link to the Lauren Bacall interview if anyone's interested

Hi Halsall things are always dropping off my 'threads I'm on' too, it's v annoying.

Thanks for the Lauren Bacall link, I will check that out.

I'm still on hols but I'll look out for Green for Danger when I'm back, in case it's repeated on TPics - I love Alastair Sim.

I don't know if anyone has seen Summertime but I was v excited when we arrived here to find we're staying right by Lanterna Magica, the toy shop that's featured in the film (and by the canal which Katharine Hepburn falls into!). I tried explaining all this to my DH and DS but I don't think they were too impressed!

Mark Kermode series is really interesting. The next one I have recorded is about coming of age movies which should be interesting.

Just popping back on to say this is a really interesting article about the making of Hitchcock's Rebecca - marking the 80th (I think) anniversary of the novel's publication.
www.dumaurier.org/menu_page.php?id=143

@PrivateParkin, hope you are enjoying the delights of Italy, haven’t been watching much lately, been on holiday & too hot to concentrate.
I thought of you today, was in Crystal Palace & walked past a house with a blue plaque, apparently Leslie Howard lived in it, very random as what the blinking hell was Leslie Howard doing in Crystal Palace.

Aw thanks dontcallmelen hope you are having a good holiday. I am loving Italy thanks, although it's so blooming hot!! I love the sound of the Leslie Howard blue plaque - yes, what was he doing in Crystal Palace?!? Seems v unlikely!

I've attached a picture of Lanterna Magica, which was Rossano Brazzi's shop in Summertime. They had some photos of scenes from the film behind the counter, but I didn't get any pics of those. It was a lovely shop as well with lots of wholesome wooden toys and board games - including an Italian version of Cluedo which was v tempting but would never fit in my case!