So You Want To Watch An Old Movie

There was a time when I thought I hated black and white movies. I had largely seen films from the 50s with their rosy glow, wholesome attitude, or corny monsters and I just never connected to them. I really hated the way women were scripted and spoken to in these movies. I guess I assumed because I’d seen one classic film I kinda got the picture, but I hadn’t. At all. In 2019 my boyfriend and I decided to watch some Film Noir from the 40s because we had run out of good horror and even proto-horror to watch. It was then that I discovered my love for old movies, and learned how wrong I had been about female characters in black and white movies. Some have written the femme fatale off as an anti-feminist image, the epitome of the beautiful woman acting as temptation, leading to the downfall of the male hero. For me, she was strong, beautiful, smart, and she “beat” the man! Not to mention the iconic wardrobes and snappy scripts of the 40s. I was sold! Since then I’ve gobbled up all kinds of old movies from the 20s on, and I have found so much to love. Today I will divide up some of my favorites by genre so you can pick based on your mood, and maybe this will help you discover, as I did, a treasure trove of old movies your friends have probably never heard of.

Film Noir:

• The Big Sleep (1946)

My favorite Noir ever, features Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, a real-life couple, in the plot equivalent of a pair of iPhone headphones taken from the bottom of a backpack. Features my favorite character of all time, Book Shop Girl.

• Key Largo (1948)

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall get stuck at a hotel in Florida during a storm... with a handful of mafiosos! 

• Notorious (1946)

Ingrid Bergman, an incredibly important actress with a career that lasted through the 70s, plays a young woman whose father was a Nazi sympathizer, spying for the US government on her father’s friend. Oh, and Carey Grant is there but he’s more of a dick than usual. Still, a really great Hitchcock film!

• Double Indemnity (1944)

An attractive but low-brow housewife (Barbara Stanwyck) seduces an insurance salesman into helping her murder her husband for his insurance money, and the promise of true love. An extra witty script makes this film funny as well as intriguing.

Comedies:

•Bringing Up Baby (1938)

The screwball comedy is actually a subgenre all it’s own, featuring extremely fast talking and the most harebrained schemes you can imagine. In this one, Carey Grant plays an adorable, dorky Paleontologist who gets tangled up in the life of a rich heiress player by Katherine Hepburn. When they accidentally release her new pet leopard, Baby, onto the city, all hell breaks loose.

• His Girl Friday (1940)

Another screwball comedy featuring Carey Grant playing the head of a newspaper. His ex-girlfriend, also an ex-reporter at his paper, announces she’s leaving to get married. However, she gets waylaid by a good story. This one will have you laughing your ears off (seriously, it’s tough to keep up with what they’re saying!)

•Some Like It Hot (1959)

Two criminals make an attempt at escape by disguising themselves as women and joining a women’s choir traveling by train. Oh, and one of those women is Marylin Monroe! Naturally, many  hijinks ensue.

Horror/Thriller:

• Diabolique (1955)

A creepy movie from the 40s that’s actually still kinda scary today! A cruel schoolmaster’s meek wife and his mistress band together to plan to murder the schoolmaster... and it works. Or does it?

• Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)

Bette Davis plays a washed up child star, Baby Jane, who accidentally cripples her younger sister, played by Joan Crawford, for life. She is forced to abandon her career and care for her horribly demanding sister, bitterness building between the two.

• Rebecca (1940)

A young woman meets a rich dreamboat while on vacation and quickly marries him, only to discover that his mansion is overridden by reminders of his indomitable late wife, Rebecca. Another Hitchcock film!

• The Old Dark House (1932)

A bickering couple and their lackadaisical friend find themselves moored at a creepy castle during a downpour, and quickly discover that the family that lives there is much stranger than they first thought.

Drama:

• Stage Door (1937)

Katherine Hepburn plays a rich heiress coming to New York to make it big as an actress. She stays at the Footlight Hotel with a gaggle of other young would-be stars and gets herself involved in their drama and their wars for parts. Part comedy, part tragedy, and great acting throughout.

• All About Eve (1950)

Margo Tanner (Bette Davis) is an experienced but aging stage star, and she takes a Broadway hopeful, Eve, under her wing to help her achieve fame. However, Eve has much more up her sleeve than anyone would guess.

• Their Own Desire (1929)

Young teen Lallie is in disbelief when, after years of marriage, her father falls in love and leaves the family with a family friend. While on vacation to try to forget her fathers wrongdoing, she falls in love herself.

• Dishonored (1931)

Marlene Dietrich plays a slinky prostitute who is asked by the government to expose two Russian infiltrators by seducing them, only to have them fall in love with her in the process.

• Paris Blues (1961)

Joanna Woodward and Diahann Carol play opposite Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier in this double love story. Two young American women traveling in France meet two jazz musicians and they all fall in love. But what to do when the women’s vacation is up?

• Now, Voyager (1942)

Bette Davis plays a homely yet rich heiress on the edge of a nervous breakdown. When she finally sees a psychiatrist and takes a cruise apart from her tyrannical mother, she finds true love. But was this love meant to be? The original makeover movie!

I hope this list can act as a jumping off point for you to watch some old films, and fall in love just as I did. Most of these feature excellent female characters. There are of course so many terrific movies I didn’t list, but I’ll let you find some of the rest by yourself. :)