It Smells Like Classical Hollywood
Titles that, though produced during the following decades (mostly the 1960's), somehow managed to retain that classic, Hollywood aura of storyline and narrative - 30-degree rule or not - typical of the So-called Golden Age.
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- 23 titles
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsCary GrantAudrey HepburnWalter MatthauRomance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Whom can she trust?The most hitchcockian movie not directed by Hitchcock himself. That and the fact it has Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn as a romantic pair in it... what else to say?
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsAudrey HepburnPeter O'TooleEli WallachThe daughter of an art forger teams up with a burglar to steal one of her father's forgeries and protect his secret.Another one that oodles that romantic and light atmosphere from yore.
- DirectorWilliam WitneyStarsVincent PriceCharles BronsonHenry HullIn 1868, an American scientist and his team become hostages of fanatical pacifist Robur who uses his airship Albatross to destroy military targets on Earth.20,000 Leagues Under the Sea anyone?
Another epic adventure with a barking-mad villain with noble ideals of grandeur. Another Jules Verne and Hollywood perfect match with a bit of the former and a touch of Journey to the Center of the Earth. - DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyBurt LancasterRichard WidmarkFictionalized depiction of the 1947 Judges' Trial, the third of twelve trials of Nazi war criminals conducted by the American occupying forces in Nuremberg, Germany, in which former judges of Nazi Germany were tried for their actions.Any post-war courtroom drama featuring Spencer Tracy ought to have a foot in the Golden Age!
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJames StewartJohn WayneVera MilesA senator returns to a Western town for the funeral of an old friend and tells the story of his origins.Westerns hadn't changed much by then, flash backs and all.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.If not itself the epic of all epics, it certainly belongs into that pantheon of the epics of yesteryear - from DeMille's biblical blockbusters to Griffith's daring narratives.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsGregory PeckJohn MegnaFrank OvertonA widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama defends a black man against a false rape charge while teaching his young children about the sad reality of prejudice.As great as the casting here was, does anyone else agree this might as well have been shot in the late 1930's or 1940's and having a younger Spencer Tracy or Jimmy Stewart as Atiicus Finch, and no one would have batted an eyelid?
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie HarrisClaire BloomRichard JohnsonHill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.Not the Universal Pictures's monster flicks of the 30's but it surely retained that haunted house look of the earlier horrors movies of the previous decades.
- DirectorWolfgang ReithermanClyde GeronimiDavid HandStarsRickie SorensenSebastian CabotKarl SwensonA poor boy named Arthur learns the power of love, kindness, knowledge and bravery with the help of a wizard called Merlin in the path to become one of the most beloved kings in English history.After One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney was back to their usual cute antropomorphic animals and epic storytelling that it had become so good at presenting us with until not too long ago.
- DirectorGeorge PalStarsTony RandallBarbara EdenArthur O'ConnellA mysterious circus comes to a western town bearing wonders and characters that entertain the inhabitants and teach valuable lessons.The fact the book was written in the 1930's certainly play a great role into this fantastic adventure being on this list.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsStanley BakerJack HawkinsUlla JacobssonOutnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.Though grittier and more bare-naked than what had been done so far, it still depicted the conquering white man as the good guy, mostly. Though the reason for being here is a totally different reason whatsoever (fantastic cinematics, story-telling and its ad-hoc epic proportions do spring to mind, among others).
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsJulie AndrewsDick Van DykeDavid TomlinsonIn turn of the century London, a magical nanny employs music and adventure to help two neglected children become closer to their father.Who can say it otherwise?
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsEdward JuddMartha HyerLionel JeffriesWhen a spaceship lands on the moon, it is hailed as a new accomplishment, before it becomes clear that a Victorian party completed the journey in 1899, leading investigators to that mission's last survivor.Shot in the peak of the Space Age, this Vernesque adventure still reminds us more of the 1950's than the decade it was made into.
- DirectorKen AnnakinStarsStuart WhitmanSarah MilesJames FoxHoping to push Britain to the forefront of aviation, a London publisher organizes an international air race across the English Channel, but must contend with two entrants vying for his daughter, as well as national rivalries and cheating.Less cinical than its more updated counterparts (It's a Mad, Mad, World or How I Stopped Worrying..., for a start) it, along with 'The Great Race' certainly takes us over to the more naive, entertaining epic comedies of a decade or so earlier.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsTony CurtisNatalie WoodJack LemmonIn the early 20th century, heroic Leslie Gallant and his despicable rival Professor Fate engage in an epic automobile race from New York to Paris while enthusiastic suffragette Maggie Dubois enters the race to report on every step of it.See #14 of this list.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsGeorge PeppardJames MasonUrsula AndressA young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.Less 'All Quiet on the Western Front' and more 'For Whom the Bells Toll' sort of way.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsMichael CaineTrevor HowardHarry AndrewsIn 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.Post-war or not, WWII-themed movies still depict the heroism and hardship faced by heros.
- DirectorMel StuartStarsGene WilderJack AlbertsonPeter OstrumA poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.Dickens-like innitial narrative-turned-into-musical that, damn it, it has definitely worked out in the end!
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsFaye DunawayOskar WernerLee GrantThe tragic 1939 voyage of SS St. Louis carrying hundreds of German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany that seemingly no nation is willing to save from certain doom.Not yet Poseidon-like material, it could well have been shot in the 1940's in a more propaganda-oriented fashion.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsSean ConneryRyan O'NealMichael CaineOperation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.Get John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Montgomery Clift at their prime, for the younger officers, and this could have well been done ealier on.
- DirectorJohn LounsberyWolfgang ReithermanArt StevensStarsBob NewhartEva GaborGeraldine PageTwo mice of the Rescue Aid Society search for a little girl kidnapped by unscrupulous treasure hunters.Disney Studios were at it again: a classic all and all.
- DirectorNicholas MeyerStarsMalcolm McDowellMary SteenburgenDavid WarnerH.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.The simple premise woud have worked wonders - even with a lower budget in the hands of a Val Lewton or Corman in the 40's or 50's.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.Lynch's intrinsically well-concocted direction apart, I have no qualms about picturing Kirk Douglas - or even Lon Chaney - playing this role withouth batting an eyelid some 3 to 5 and a half decades earlier than this.
