Old Films and All That
When You Have Six Grandmothers You're Going To Like Old Films.
My love of old films is one of the reasons I began collecting old photographs so young. As a child I would watch them incessantly, to a point where I almost started talking like them too. My idol was Miss Marple, and I wore an old granny hat to primary school in honour of her. Bearing in mind I went to school in a council estate, speaking like the 1930s and dressing like an old lady were not big on the ‘how to fit in’ stakes, but I was happy like that. My dad loved them too showing me classic after classic such as Seven Samurai (1954)1 when I was nine years old. He would say, once you’ve watched black and white films for a while, you start seeing the colours, and it was true. So my love of those incredibly well composed scenes in the films translated to my love of those incredibly well composed scenes in photographs too.
Last week I was on the train and I overheard a couple of late teenage girls talking about old films. One said that they’d watched one or two and quite like them. I desperately fought the urge to reveal that I was listening and dramatically blurt out a list of films… “they should please please watch and I could send you more! Oh god please watch them they will change your life!”. Instead I thought I should write a list of old films which younger people could watch. A lot of the top ten classic film lists are in fact full of films which might just make you sigh, with a ‘really?’. Yes most have heavy drinking, misogyny and constant smoking, but some don’t age well at all, particularly if they are the first ones you watch it would put you off for life. Like School for Scoundrels 1960 which in my view is a lesson on perving over women… I mean just LOOK at the poster?! Urgh.
Or some are purely focused on male leads and their pretty little ladies on their arms. So I wanted to create a list of films that were a perfect start to opening up this world.
Firstly a bit of backstory, although I do feel like one of those recipes where they tell you their life story as you fight pop-up ad after pop-up ad to discover if it’s 2 cups of sugar or not, so please scroll down to find the list if you like.
Six Grandmothers and Me.
My grandmothers were very important to me, well three of them in particular. I technically had six at one stage as a consequence of step families having step families - my family tree goes sideways. When you have so many grandparents you find yourself watching a lot of old films.
Firstly - My Granny Parsonage used to share her old photo albums with me, she is the one who cemented my understanding of the importance of photography in peoples lives. My granddad passed away in the 1960s and in the Second World War was interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, with all the horrors that entailed. Before the war he was stationed abroad too and he’d send his then fiancé (my gran), photographs and photographic postcards of his life and the places he was stationed. One day she said I could have one of the postcards, showing the streets of Singapore in the 1930s, and that I was to look after it, it was so very important but she trusted me. I took my new role as a custodian very seriously and have it to this day.
WW2 was often talked about in our family, and we’d watch lots of old war films too. My Gran would always tell me stories about how she worked on Portland for the Navy as an accountant, and how her long walk back home was often perilous. She’d seen men washed up on the shore, or the Americans leaving for D-Day from Weymouth harbour. The war seemed very real to me, very human, like it was all tied to my family somehow. So watching the war films felt like a way of connecting. The problem was it all went too far, I was too young for a lot of it really, but it happened to my family so surely I should just know? But there was a period as a child where I would draw planes dropping bombs in the back of all my drawings no matter the subject, like it wasn’t finished without them.
My other two grandmothers, Riggs and Phipps loved classic old films and were Hollywood buffs, sending off for photographs of the stars when they were young. Granny Phipps seemed to have watched everything, and as I’d see her each Friday I’d asked her about this or that and she’d remember the time she’d seen it at the cinema when it came out and tell me all the gossip around it. Again, the old films felt like the present day to me in some ways. And anyway theres a comfort in the past - it’s already happened, you know how it all turns out. At that time as a child I needed that, although in retrospect it was a strange comfort.
The List
The world of old films has given me so much and does to this day. It always surprises me, it takes me out of what is fashionable now and takes me somewhere else. It is often experimental, often slow but considered. Some of them have stayed with me as a feeling, the feeling I felt when I first watched them, like the Enchanted Cottage, 12 Angry Men or The Day the Earth Stood Still.
At the time, in the 1980s, the main place I’d be able to watch the films was simply on television, I’d scan through the listings to see what I could catch. Now and again my dad would take me to the local arthouse cinema The Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford, to watch something, (I was once terrified when we went to see Lord of the Flies there when I was 6, with ‘Piggies’ face full screen his glasses smashed and crying, oh god why did they take me?!). So my exposure was mainly to white cinema and I recognise this. One resource I’d like to point you to is the Black Film Archive which is well worth a look around for some fantastic films. Since then the world of cinema has thankfully opened up and we have access to a huge array of films. Please do let me know of any films you suggest I watch too.
So there you have it, and now I shall list some that you might enjoy.
1. All About Eve 1950
Clip above. A great story, and a wonderful female focused film. It shows Betty Davies in all her glory, and it is packed full of quotable lines. I think it also has a very early appearance of Marilyn Monroe too. Full of all the drama.
2. Sunset Boulevard 1950
Clip above. I’m ready for my close up. Please just watch this one and bear with it. It’s an incredible tale filmed at the perfect moment, when the silent movie stars were unimaginably adored and famous in their time, are now older and forgotten in a new Hollywood of talking pictures and Technicolor. What do you do when this happens? When the world forgets you, but it’s all you ever knew?
I reached a life goal by watching this in a cinema on Sunset Boulevard itself in about 2017, and it was all I could have hoped for.
3. Enchanted Cottage 1945
Trailer above. This made a huge impression on me when I was very young, probably about 8. It’s just beautiful and worth bearing in mind that this was made at the end of the war when many people would return home with disfigurements. I remember crying and crying when it was over.
I managed to find it on DVD for a few pounds on EBay. It’s worth hunting down. And fun fact, this was Chers favourite film as a child too.
4. The Innocents 1961
Full film above. A classic ghost story, perhaps watch it this Halloween. Interestingly there have been a few films of the same story, which are all equally good.
5. Take a Giant Step 1959
Full film above. An incredible coming of age film, adapted from a play so it has all the long scenes and concentration on character you might hope for. Excellent performance from Johnny Nash (who consistently sang ‘I can see clearly now the rains has gone’). It’s about the struggles of a black teenage boy in a white middle class community and the realisation of the breadth of the discrimination he is expected to ensure.
7. The Lady Vanishes 1938
Full film above. Oh boy I loved this so much as a child and I come back to it periodically. It’s a perfect mystery, and has a strong older woman as a key character so that satisfied my obsession with Miss Marple and her contemporaries. So so good. I always find the bit before they get on the train a bit long, so bear with it.
8. An Inspector Calls 1954
Clip above. Such an incredible Classic, again based on a play. Wonderfully woven together and you’ll be thinking about it for days afterwards. Just wow.
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951
The Full Film Above. Don’t let the poster put you off, this is a thought provoking film, not anything like this depiction! We watched this again recently, but this is another classic I loved as a child. Man comes millions of miles from another planet to Washington… do they A.welcome him with love and biscuits? or B.Bring all the weapons.
10. Street Car Named Desire 1951
Trailer above, it looks like you might need to pay to stream this one, but do look out for it on your subscriptions. I wish I could put all of these at number one, but also please please watch this one. I’ve watched this countless times. A relationship of two sisters, heat and music, Marlon Brando, messy histories and the eternal fight to stay young to hang on to the times when everything was going to be ok. It’s a masterpiece.
11. The Red Shoes 1948
Full movie above. Stunning Technicolor, I do like the film itself but it can be a little slow, so you can go straight to the dance sequence here and revel in stunning choreography, ballet and set design way beyond it’s time.
12. Black Orpheus 1959
Full movie here, click subtitles if needed. If you’d like the film dubbed instead click here. The most incredible vibrant, colourful film, with music to get lost in and an atmosphere like no other film.
I do recommend watching it, its very special in it’s own right, but do bear in mind it did ignite controversy as being inauthentic to the true Brazil as it was made by a French director, so if you’re interested to understand more heres an interesting write up.
13. Rear Window 1954
Trailer above. Look on streaming services. An Alfred Hitchcock classic, with a wonderfully simple set up. A man breaks his leg so can’t leave his apartment, and so becomes fixated with the windows he sees in the building opposite and all the lives and dramas which happen there. Impeccably filmed.
14. Dangerous Moonlight 1941
Warsaw Concerto and a few clips above. The film is called Suicide Squadron in the USA. This is an incredible film especially taken into account that it was filmed in the war, in 1941 at a time when they didn’t know how it would all end. It is set in the Blitz in Warsaw and filmed at Denham Film Studios2 as the Blitz rained down on London too. Some of the scenes used in the film are from live combat in Poland. It feels like a slice of history.
One of the most striking parts of the film is when the Polish Pilot plays the Warsaw Concerto on the piano in the Blitz ravaged Warsaw. It is full of pain and defiance. I noticed on comment on YouTube says ‘As a seven year old the music moved me to tears without understanding’. (@StuartPeacock-e2t) And thats how I felt when I watched it as a child too.
15. 12 Angry Men 1957
Trailer above. Again based on a play and set in one room, as the jurors debate. It is genius in how it can keep you transfixed purely through dialogue, even as a child. Yes it’s of it’s time in terms of the jurors are all white men of a certain age, but please give it a chance, it’s incredible.
16. Metropolis 1927
Full film above. The film that influenced a thousand films. This is an astounding feat in film making, with astronomical budgets and amount of extras. But really it is about its cinematography and its story. Yes, do expect dramatic silent movie acting, but go with it, it’s epic. The female lead is just wonderful in there various characters she inhabits. Just wow.
17. Things to Come 1936
Full film above. With WW2 impending, with 1936 HG Wells films looks at what might happen when it does. It goes to the extreme of a divided society both going on their own trajectory the futurist and the medieval. Incredible sets.
18. Little Women 1949
Trailer above. This is a ‘lovely’ film, it’s kind of a winters day, sitting on a the sofa with a blanket type of film. It’s not challenging, it is sumptuous and as a child I loved its escapism.
19. The Night of the Hunter
Clip above, and the full film here. The film which introduced Love and Hate written on the knuckles - Oh boy this is a good one, with a strong lesson to be learned. The song he sings in the film gives me chilling goose-bumps when I think of it. Incredible story, incredible cinematography. A lesson in the use of light and shadow.
20. A picture of Dorian Grey 1945
Clip above, and full film here. A great one to watch and an interesting one. Yes you can simply enjoy the fast talking English accents, and fabulous costumes, but I’m also interested in how far the tolerance of his increasing bad behaviour extends. It is rather wonderfully filmed too, with a perfect surprise moment, so enjoy.
21. The Dead of Night 1945
Trailer above, full film here . A strange and unique set of spooky short stories, all housed in an extra strange set up. Now what on earth is going on here? I’ll let you ponder it as you watch it. The classic is the ventriloquists dummy section, so so scary. Enjoy the nightmares that follow!
22. The Children’s Hour
Full film above. Oh wow this film stays with you with its incredible characters and incredible tragedy - It’s brilliant and devastating. It has one of the best speeches in any film, but it leaves you heartbroken. Written in the 1930s and based on a true story from the 1800s, it has historical importance too. Do watch it, it’s incredible.
23. It Happened One Night 1934
Trailer above and full film here. This is a fun early film with lots of wit and banter. If you want some escapism you’ve come to the right place.
24. Rebecca 1940
Full film above. A great thriller with a great twist. The set up is rather old fashioned - young woman goes with rich older man, but this is so worth a watch. I loved it as a child.
25. Seven Samurai 1954
Trailer above, look at streaming platforms of the full film. This is the one I watched when I was a child where my dad told me that it was the same story as Star Wars and the Magnificent Seven3. I personally feel it’s too much for a child to grasp and wait until your teens! Epically filmed, a masterpiece.
26. The Apartment 1960
Trailer above. The story, the sets, the acting, the comedy. An escapist film once more. Again rather old fashioned but worth a watch. Many people call it a masterpiece too.
26. Casablanca 1942
Trailer above. A true masterpiece, a brilliantly woven tale and again filmed during WW2. Its lighting! It’s sets! It’s deep atmosphere. I watched this as a child too, much of it going over my head but I just enjoyed being swept along with it all.
27. Lilies of the Field
Trailer above. A wonderful feel good and slightly kooky film. Sidney Poitier won an Academy Award for his performance. Watch this to spend some time in the Californian sunshine, Sidney Poitier and some nuns. Love it.
Thank you and good watching
Ok there you go, there are a million more films I’d love to put on the list but I have to stop somewhere. I really hope this inspires you to give old films a go and you discover stories, characters and scenes which stay with you long after the films have finished.
Thanks so much all,
Dawn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Samurai
https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/0a6de421-dca6-5c15-964e-12c082e5b31d/dangerous-moonlight
https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20160104-the-film-star-wars-stole-from
No 23 - an all-time favourite, either because Colbert's chevron outfit might be the best in film history or due to my undying crush on Gable. Now I need to hunt down no 14. Thanks for all the tips!
Oh my god I love this list. I have seen so few! Our childhood grandparent films were The Yellow Rolls Royce, Genevieve, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the Heat of the Night. Maybe also Guess who's coming to dinner.