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Classic films appreciation thread - come and join us!

996 replies

PrivateParkin · 06/05/2018 08:45

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 Smile
m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvB4xk4LNQ

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ppeatfruit · 13/05/2018 08:45

Private Snap! Grin I'm into escapism too (there's enough real life misery on the news !).

I think that Some Like It Hot is one of my all time favourite films, classic or modern!! I used to lust after Tony Curtis (before the horrendous face lifts!). He and Jack Lemmon were perfect in that film!

84CharingCrossRoad · 13/05/2018 11:02

Wilf is very excited. He's just found this at a car boot sale!!!

Classic films appreciation thread - come and join us!
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PrivateParkin · 13/05/2018 13:15

A bargain 84 ! Hope you made a purchase?!

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PrivateParkin · 13/05/2018 13:19

ppeat that's exactly how I feel as well! When I was a student/early 20s, I used to always watch gritty, violent films: Tarantino, Scorsese, etc. I just couldn't stomach them now. I've gone back to my roots!

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84CharingCrossRoad · 13/05/2018 13:42

I'm not with him but he did buy it!!

ppeatfruit · 13/05/2018 14:22

Private It's funny I could NEVER stomach the violent films. I still remember the first horror films (and the last!) I went because it was an X (no under 18s!) and I was 13, being show a show off, because I could get in!

Recently I saw a bit of Breaking Bad at my dd2's place, our son in law is into that sort of thing I nearly threw up! Apparently, according to a psychologist, we are all much more affected by what we see than we realise!

LouiseBrooksLook · 13/05/2018 15:02

I am so glad I found this thread I love classic films.

Ventress · 13/05/2018 15:13

Lauren Bacall's autobiography talks of the time they spent in Africa filming The African Queen - sounds like a hellish experience but one which bonded them all into lifelong friends.

He loved it Private Grin

I don't like horror movies - I saw Se7en at the cinema and was scarred for life! I do like Tarantino and gangster movies, I don't mind blood and gore it's the "make you jump" scary stuff I don't like.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 13/05/2018 15:19

What a great thread - thank you for alerting me to the Talking Pictures channel! We also have a local channel that shows classics, which is great.

I've recently been discovering really old films - I remember watching things like McTeague and Broken Blossoms on Channel 4 years ago back when they were a proper broadcaster and after chancing on a link to one from a friend's Facebook have been exploring them again - there are loads that people have uploaded to YouTube. What I love about them is that they were unashamedly works of art - it seems to be quite a different sensibility to even the films that came ten years later which is where the word "classic" seems to start applying.

Agree that using the Wizard of Oz to advertise bloody bankers is an outrage btw.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 13/05/2018 15:24

Oops sorry got confused with my titles - the book is called McTeague; the film is called Greed.

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PrivateParkin · 13/05/2018 19:13

Harolds interesting - I think Greed is the oldest film that's been mentioned on this thread so far! Birth of a Nation was mentioned up thread but that came later didn't it? I was just thinking about the oldest film I've seen and it must be Modern Times, or possibly a Laurel and Hardy made before then. But I think you're right, the "classic" era is probably seen as the 1930s onwards.

After my foray into the dark world of 1940s terrorism yesterday - cinematically speaking - I'm hoping planning to watch Blithe Spirit tonight as it's available on the BFI Player. However this depends on getting uniforms/packed lunches etc ready for tomorrow first... Or perhaps I'll just sack that off...

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MoreCheerfulMonica · 13/05/2018 21:17

I can lob in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, which I saw many years ago at the BFI, but that's still not as old as Greed.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 13/05/2018 22:23

Oh I love Blithe Spirit - the dialogue is really funny and Margaret Rutherford is a riot.

I've just googled and Birth of a Nation is the oldest at 1915. A hundred and three years ago! I wish I'd seen Metropolis on the big screen - that must have been amazing. I know that really all films are meant to be watched that way but something like that with such spectacle definitely demands it. Although I'm enjoying my little recent foray I do wish that I could see them as intended rather than just on my telly.

dontcallmelen · 13/05/2018 22:31

Yy Margaret Rutherford, she is delightfully dotty in Blithe Spirit.
Buster Keaton made some great early films, I think he did all his own stunts as well, I’m trying to think of the name of the film he did with him hanging off the clock.

Halsall · 13/05/2018 22:51

Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd, dontcall? The really famous one with the hanging-off-a-clock scene is Harold Lloyd's Safety Last

Classic films appreciation thread - come and join us!
Halsall · 13/05/2018 22:59

I saw a great documentary about that film once. They used all kinds of clever camera-angles to give the impression of enormous heights, but still Harold Lloyd did most of his own stunts and lots of them were terrifying. He'd actually lost a large part of one hand when he posed for a publicity shot with a supposedly-fake bomb, but the prop person gave him a live one that exploded. For the rest of his career he wore a special glove so nobody would notice his missing fingers.

If you look at the photo above you can see that his right hand looks artificial.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 13/05/2018 22:59

Good call with Buster Keaton - I've just googled and found The General on YouTube - excellent! Afaik yes he did all his own stunts which genuinely involved dicing with death at the time.

I think the hanging off the clock was maybe Harold Lloyd? Channel 4 (again, back when etc) used to show him. Really funny guy who had a kooky clumsy persona.

Do all of you know that you stream TCM films for free if you've got the channel on your telly? Ie select what you want from their catalogue as you wish to watch it? I can't do it as I'm only on Freeview but it sounds pretty good.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 13/05/2018 23:07

Ach ignore me - sorry folks - the TCM films are only available for seven days after they've been shown. Sorry! I thought it was too good to be true. Blush

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PrivateParkin · 13/05/2018 23:14

Halsall that's amazing about Harold Lloyd's hand injury. The mind boggles at how he was accidentally given a live bomb!

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dontcallmelen · 13/05/2018 23:20

@Halsall you are right, ignore me I got Dora Bryan mixed up with beryl reid last night, it’s been a very tiring weekend that’s my excuse anyway😂

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PrivateParkin · 13/05/2018 23:38

Lol len I'd not heard of Dora Bryan before you mentioned her - but giess what, she's in something on Talking Pictures this week! I can't remember what though.

Looks like The Ghost and Mrs Muir has finished showing on there, I really wanted to see it because of the recommendations on here, but also its poster: "The spirit: so willing! The flesh: so weak! The romance: so wonderful!" It sounds brilliant Grin but sadly I didn't manage to record it.

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HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 13/05/2018 23:55

I've just had a look and it's on Vimeo - if you've got Chromecast and you view it via the app you can cast it to your TV. Not sure if Vimeo works on firestick or not.

I am also Shock at the live bomb story - I mean, I know that health and safety wasn't really a thing back then but did the guy just have a bomb hanging around? And thought it would be great to work with?

Also, I would not be hanging off that clock face if I had a prosthetic hand.

dontcallmelen · 13/05/2018 23:58

Aww PrivateP, that’s such a shame it’s a lovely film very atmospheric.

Halsall · 14/05/2018 00:03

I found an article about the Harold Lloyd thing which says:

'Harold was set to pose for a gag publicity photo of him lighting a cigarette with the sputtering fuse of a fake bomb. Somehow the prop bomb had a real charge that discharged moments after Harold lowered it away from his face. The explosion ripped a hole in the 16-foot high ceiling of the photo studio, and put Harold in the hospital for over two weeks. The accident temporarily blinded Lloyd, who lost half of his palm, and the thumb and index finger of his right hand. For a time it was uncertain whether he would ever appear in films again.'

ppeatfruit · 14/05/2018 09:48

They do suffer for their art! Even now I see something on film and think I'm glad I never went in for proper acting!

We saw Birth of a Nation at Hampstead Everyman , it was hyped as being amazing which was probably true in 1911 or whenever it was made! But as far as I could make out it was just a load of people running about, some in uniform, and there were 'blacked' up white actors, meant to be the soldiers of the South I suppose.

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