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[InfiniteCombo]

Holy shit... MY MAN! Your entire post was awesome but I want to highlight this.

Yes, Citizen Kane is Orson Welles' magnum opus, but Touch of Evil is an incredibly close second.

That reminds me: Orson Welles cannot possibly be overrated. The man was a genius.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Buster Keaton is great, that is all.

Negative. Not "great."

More like... one of the greatest.

I still watch The General once every two years or so.

 

[mcjmetroid]

North by Northwest.
It's basically James Bond before James bond and much better.
Holds up very very well I think

 

[tsumake]

North by Northwest.
It's basically James Bond before James bond and much better.
Holds up very very well I think

Actually, this is James Bond before James Bond:

 

[mcjmetroid]

Actually, this is James Bond before James Bond:

Ah fair point haha.

 

[Lunarorbit]

Maltese falcon is dope

 

[thefool]

I really dislike the term hold up lol.
Third Man is from 49 and it pretty much defined thriller's visual language that is still heavily used in contemporary cinema.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I really dislike the term hold up lol.
Third Man is from 49 and it pretty much defined thriller's visual language that is still heavily used in contemporary cinema.

Influential and "holding up" I find are two very different things.

Holding up refers to a movie that embodies a quality that can still be appreciated today. Often influential art ages poorly because subsequent media apes, and slightly improves upon the original formula.

 

[haxan7]

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Gigi. Music set in Paris

 

[highrider]

Metropolis and Nosferatu? Come on they were advanced for their time but they look pretty silly today. If I were to posit a couple I couldn't go back any further than the 60s really.

Unforgiven or any great western comes to mind.

The Natural, Baseball never changes

Jaws, still showing current filmmakers how it's done.

Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia come to mind as great period pieces where film was beginning to resemble what we see today. Obviously any early Disney hand animation is also timelessly beautiful.

 

[Tams]

None very old (so by no means the oldest), but as already mentioned, Zulu, Lawrence of Arabia, Jason and the Argonauts, Ben Hur, and many of the Kurosawa films hold up very well.

My absolute favourite old film is The Italian Job though. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it, even though it is not perfect.


I've never watched the whole of Citizen Kane. I can appreciate the cinematography, but every time I've tried to watch, I've been bored out of my fucking mind.

 

[teezzy]

Silent movies stink

 

[teezzy]

Like the second I gotta read dialog as frames of text, I'm out. I feel the same way about Visual Novels as "games", I'd rather just read a book or a comic or something.

Even with my fascination with vampires, calling Nosferatu an enjoyable watch in 2021 feels untruthful. Heck, even Vampyr and Dracula are difficult to sit through these days. I'd literally rather read Bram Stoker's Dracula than subject myself to that lol

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I'll hobble over to the home computer in the den right quick and tell you youngfolk a story about how back in my day, me and my crew of rapscillions hiked three miles, uphill, both ways, in the snow to catch a gander of The Matrix at the cinema.

 

[SpiceRacz]

If you're wanting to dive into older cinema, I have 2 recommendations:

Both are timeless movies. Chaplin is maybe the most talented person we've ever seen in film. You need to experience his brilliance and this is a great place to start. Sunset Boulevard, to me anyway, is the quintessential noir film. If you want to dip your toes in the genre, watch it.

 

[01011001]

Metropolis 1927 is still amazing. absolute masterpiece that wasn't appreciated at the time of release, and was eventually vandalized like crazy and FINALLY almost completely restored a few years ago

 

[XXL]

Metropolis 1927 is still amazing. absolute masterpiece that wasn't appreciated at the time of release, and was eventually vandalized like crazy and FINALLY almost completely restored a few years ago

Came to post this. This is my favorite movie, in general.

 

[tsumake]

If you want a truly silent film, one without title cards, here's "The Last Laugh."

 

[Kreen101]

Among silent films, those I can still watch and be entertained by are :

some Chaplin films (especially City Lights and Modern Times)
Vampyr, by Carl Dreyer
The Passion of Joan of Arc, by Dreyer -- again

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Metropolis and Nosferatu? Come on they were advanced for their time but they look pretty silly today. If I were to posit a couple I couldn't go back any further than the 60s really.

Unforgiven or any great western comes to mind.

The Natural, Baseball never changes

Jaws, still showing current filmmakers how it's done.

Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia come to mind as great period pieces where film was beginning to resemble what we see today. Obviously any early Disney hand animation is also timelessly beautiful.

I was expecting more suggestions from the 50s - 70s but apparently everyone studied film at NYU in this thread. Nerds!!

 

[tsumake]

I was expecting more suggestions from the 50s - 70s but apparently everyone studied film at NYU in this thread. Nerds!!

 

[SafeOrAlone]

Billy Madison, though some jokes are dated and offensive, like the drunk penguin.