[DruulEmpire]

Sol, what you're talking about reminds me of how the Pittsburgh Playhouse ran a film repertory which fizzled out in the early Nineties, round about when I abused it to watch "La Femme Nikita" eight times.  I still miss the hell out of that series.  You're right, with all due respect to TCM, it really is something to see it back up on the big screen.  I remember when Costner had his "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" movie out, and the repertory showed Errol Flynn's "Adventures of Robin Hood."  At the end, the audience burst into spontaneous applause.  I miss that.

There are dangers, though.  I once went to see "High School Confidential," but I was told they weren't showing it because it was a bad movie.  I said I knew that, that I was in the mood for a bad movie -- but they explained that it was LITERALLY a bad movie, that the nitrate content of the reel exploded when they tried to play it.  Ouch!  But at least it wasn't anywhere as bad as what happens in "Inglourious Basterds." 

[ChrisR1]

I know it's not a 'film' but I've recently become addicted to "Nip / Tuck" - time to buy or rent another season...

[rtpoe]

Given that these days, it's almost as easy to to see a movie from almost any time or place as it is to read a book from almost any time or place, I thought I might start a thread for posting our thoughts on various movies that we have seen recently (we've already got one for books). I'm hoping we can avoid current releases; but that's just personal preference (there are far more movies from the past that haven't been seen then there are current and upcoming releases). We'll see how that goes.

Anyway...

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

The title doesn't make it sound like much, but it has been called the greatest movie ever to come out of Britain. I won't go into how the title character was taken from a comic strip, or how Churchill wanted to ban the movie - you can read that for yourself if you care, and it's not relevant anyway.

Roger Livesey is Clive Wynne-Candy, a career soldier, from the end of the Boer War up through WWII. Thanks to fine makeup work, he easily portrays a man in his 20s, his 40s, and his 60s; with the help of that little skill called "acting". Anton Walbrook is Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, a German officer whom he first meets as a duelling opponent, then a POW awaiting repatriation, then a refugee from occupied France. Deborah Kerr plays Livesey's love interest - a different role in each "era".

You can watch this to see the changing attitudes towards war, or the development of a friendsihp over the decades. What really moved me was how it depicted a man growing old. Wynne-Candy is set in his ways during his first two wars, then finds himself outdated and obsolete for the third. He looks for some way to be useful, to put his years of experience to some meaningful purpose, and finds a role in the Home Guard. But there, he comes to the realization that the world doesn't really need him any longer. He is the living embodiment of MacArthur's later saying that "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." At least he gets to go out gracefully, on his own terms.

"But let me tell you, that in forty year's time, you'll be an old gentleman, too!"

(Make sure you watch the restored, full-length version)

[solvegas]

I thought there was a thread already with a title like this one or similar. Anyways, if we are going to talk about good old movies I recommend 1947's stellar performance by Walter Huston Sr, Tim Holt and Humphrey Bogart of " The treasure of the Sierra Madre ". It is a story of the destructiveness of pure, corrosive greed and its consequences. This movie is where that iconic " Batches, we don't need no steenkin batches !! " comes from. 

[tdotter]

Them (1954)
If you want to know where Spielberg got some inspiration for Jaws then look no further than this movie.I don't know if it was the first movie that used music or sound effects to announce the enemy or monster was about to appear on screen but it was the first movie that used it in the most effective way.It was nominated for an Oscar for special effects.No ants were super imposed on the screen.You never see the giant ants until a third of the way into the movie.Sound familiar?
My favorite part of the film is when after the first attack by the ants,where a little girl is the only survivor(you never see the ants during the attack),the girl is asked by the police who did the attack.Her response is,"Them!".

[Starscream]

Seen movies? Yep.
Seen GOOD movies? Nope.

Watched Man of Steel the other day... Average movie TBH.

[mcgarp]

Well I see that you wanted to keep this about older movies, so I will quickly derail your thread for you
I saw Now You See Me tonight. I was pleasantly surprised I did not have real high expectations. It isn't an Oscar winner, but it was solidly entertaining. I would recommend it if you are looking for a current movie to go see.

[luvdemwhoppers]

yeah, lots on xvideos.

[solvegas]

1956's " The Searchers " with John Wayne. A better performance by John Wayne than 1970's " True Grit " where he got best actor Oscar. It had a young Natalie Wood and gawd, she's gorgeous. 

[pedonbio]

I've seen "War Hunt" (also called "War Hunter") four times now, and I consider to be a neglected gem. It is about the very fine line between a sociopath and a very good soldier, and how the line gets crossed. Set in Korea in the last days of the war, it is fraught with now-discredited ideas about mental illness, but what makes it interesting is that, released in 1962, it was made with everybody who would be anybody in Hollywood for a generation. The star, John Saxon, is hardly remembered now, but he played every ambiguous bad guy for a decade in both movies and on television. Of greater note is Robert Redford in his first supporting role; Tom Skerritt ("Picket Fences"); Gavin MacLeod ("The Night Stalker"); Sydney Pollack; and, uncredited as a truck driver, Francis Ford Coppola.

[luvdemwhoppers]

I watch Shawshank  Redemption  every time it's on. It's the dialog that makes great movies.
"hope is a dangerous thing". http://www.youtube.com/v/XDGNsbLayJw

[number3fac]

I watch Shawshank  Redemption  every time it's on. It's the dialog that makes great movies.
"hope is a dangerous thing". http://www.youtube.com/v/XDGNsbLayJw

So much this.  If I catch even a moment of Shawshank, no matter what point in the movie, I'm virtually always roped into watching the whole thing.  Just can't help myself.

[rtpoe]

Scaramouche (1952)

Not just a name tossed into Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Scaramouche" is the title of a swashbuckling novel by Rafael Sabatini, rendered here into glorious Technicolor by MGM.

Briefly: In the heady days at the very start of the French Revolution, Andre Moreau (Stewart Granger) finds himself on the run from the Marquis de Maynes (Mel Ferrer), who has slain his best friend in an unfair duel. Hiding out in a commedia dell'Arte troupe as the stock character Scaramouche, Moreau finds romance and intrigue while he studies swordsmanship to the point where he is good enough to challenge de Maynes.

That final duel was one of the longest in Hollywood history, and is still the best.

What I noticed most while watching the movie is that the costumes are color-coded. The nobility/upper class wear light pastels - lavender, sky blue, cream - while the lower classes where dark, earthy tones - chestnut brown, forest green, burgundy. And as is normal with Technicolor, all the colors are rich and vibrant. A far cry from today's Hollywood, which seems to have lost all its crayons except for Chilly Cyan and Explosion Orange....

[jmikeh]

Them (1954)
If you want to know where Spielberg got some inspiration for Jaws then look no further than this movie.I don't know if it was the first movie that used music or sound effects to announce the enemy or monster was about to appear on screen but it was the first movie that used it in the most effective way.It was nominated for an Oscar for special effects.No ants were super imposed on the screen.You never see the giant ants until a third of the way into the movie.Sound familiar?
My favorite part of the film is when after the first attack by the ants,where a little girl is the only survivor(you never see the ants during the attack),the girl is asked by the police who did the attack.Her response is,"Them!".

Great movie.  Too bad there weren't any big boobs in it.  THEM!!!

[Cutter]

A good (if not great) old movie Arsnic and Old Lace.

Carry Grant play the character Mortimer a well know play write. < Sane character >

Has an older brother Teddy who thinks he's Teddy Rosevelt (charges up any flight of stairs thinking its San Juan Hill )

Two Aunts who invite older men to live in the house if they are lonely eventually killing them whith arsnic laced Sherry  (12 kills )

Teddy buries the bodies in the cellar as they are malaria victims from the Panama Canal

Another older brother shows up who is wanted for murder ( 11 kills ) and he brings his last kill and accomplice with him.

Older brother is upset that the Aunts have out done him.

To me the movie is funny as hell.