Thought it would be fun to revisit older movies.

I have noticed in the past, some people finds it cumbersome to read my reviews for older movies in the My Movie Review thread.

With that in mind, I thought it might be nice to have a home for any movie reviews for movie prior to 1980s.

Come in one and all, and share your thoughts!

Cheers

P.S.

I have since update this to Pre 2000's... Apparently, not so many old uncle like me on this forum....

P.S.S.

Rebranding this thread. For reviews of movies that is not current, but deserving of mentioning/Attention.

If you have a better idea for the title, please let me know

Cheers

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: May 26 2020, 05:50 PM

Desk Set (1957)

Most of you know that I'm kinda a movie freak.

Some of you might know that I actually also like OLD movies.

Case in point Desk Set (1957).

I believe I first watched this on Australia TV...

Two things about this movie stand out for me

1) The undeniable Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn.

2) One of the very first movie from Hollywood which feature a (drum roll) computer!!

Some of you might know Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn. Their on/off screen romance was the stuff of legend (Spencer Tracy was a married man and a devout Catholic, but his affair with Katharine Hepburn is practically known by everyone in Hollywood. Katharine Hepburn was by all account a strong and independent woman, but when it come to Spencer Tracy... Ain't love... weird...

Now computers in 1957 were very mysterious items.

1) They were huge (a computer, back then, will less computing power than, lets say our pocket calculator, were the size of a class room)
2) They needed punch card for data input (If you know what score cards are, or card that you used for presentation, wait, you guys know used Power Point and have no idea what I mean, right!!?
3) They were amazingly sensitive!!

On the topic of computers, I believe I have mention this before, in the 1960s, scientist told computer hardware engineers, if the engineers can provide to them 64K of memory, scientist would be able to solve WORLD PROBLEMS!!!!

Guess what, we are now in the age of petabyte (1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes) and we have even more WORLD ISSUES then in the 1960s...

But I digress

This movie is pretty good. A lite RomCom if you must.

Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) is a computer engineer, hired by a big company to put the latest in computing wonder into the company's resource center which provide information to anyone who calls them (think 1960 Google, but you have to call this number, ask you question, and then wait for the researcher to call you back with the answer!! Sometimes it takes them MONTHS to get back to you.)

Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) run the resource department and is concern that the machine is here to take her colleague's and her job away...

But the computer engineer is just so darn engaging!!

I like this movie, the technical stuff was right on the money and Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn were at the top of their game!!

If you like RomCom and you like OLD movie (1980s movies are NOT old!!) give this a go

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jan 3 2014, 11:00 PM

i think ive watched the famous ones, such as Star Wars's, The Godfather's, Psycho, Kurosawa's, Bruce Lee's and few horrors ones. not many, probably around 25 titles overall.

Please put your reviews here. Would love to hear you thoughts on those. Especially the Kurosawa's stuff. Me, I've got 236 Shaw brothers Martial Arts movies to go through... (1965 to 1986)... Not sure if I post all the reviews here... Don't think there is a big readership here for these movies...

Indeed need to have a productive time management to watch so alot of movies.

I actually need some reliable peoples who could shares similarities taste in movies. So i can 'skip' and delay some overrated movies behind until i could spaced out my mood and timing for it.

I don't digging much about B&W motion pictures. But Master of Filmmaker like Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa are the interesting person to get me started to the history of filmmaking.

We can see how the conversation was made last time especially in intense scenes and storytelling pace and patterns of the scenarios.

And for enthusiast low-budget filmmaker can wisely study oldtimes film-making which is delivery well without dedicated on heavy CG-making. This is part of the reason, i visiting old films to dig the essential of a successful filmwork.

Alfred Hitchcock got tons of filmworks. If i am going to revisit a few of them. I will pick up 'Vertigo' for its Suspension Mood, 'North by Northwest' of its Romantic Thriller.

'Lifeboat' and '39 Steps' are on my waiting list.

I actually like the Character design found from Akira Kurosawa Samurai movies.
'Yojimbo' would be my personal favourite over '7 Samurai'. Probably i got more excited to see the one man show.

Rashomon is a good one too for the intelligent twisted storyline. 'Ikiru' is too slow-paced for my patience only near the ending i finally could benefit some important message from it.

Around 10 Akira Kurosawa movies are on my waiting list. Some of them, i took a quick glance and leave it behind for the right mood.
Watch this now before it will be removed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2xOiWldGKI

I just wanted to share 'Making of Yojimbo' which i watched only a week ago. It is removed the minute i am checking it out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For horror/thriller- Onibaba(1964), Impressive atmosphere.
Sci-Fiction - Jack Arnold The Incredible Shrinking man (1957).
Drama - 12 Angry Men (1957)
Family Drama - It's a Wonderful Life.

That's it for now until my brain can squeeze out for a little more.

the only i remember- fright night- the dracula movie

haha just watched "its a wonderful life" 1946 and "miracle on 34th street" 1947 on christmas day itself both are the finest christmas movies ever made in the 20th century

dinodog_Jr

> Indeed need to have a productive time management to watch so alot of movies.

True that...

> Alfred Hitchcock got tons of filmworks. If i am going to revisit a few of them. I will pick up 'Vertigo' for its Suspension Mood, 'North by Northwest' of its Romantic Thriller.

'Lifeboat' and '39 Steps' are on my waiting list.

I'm a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan and have watched Lifeboat (1944), and thought the script is quite cleverly constructed but for some odd reason have not posted my reviews at My Alfred Hitchcock Movie Reviews

>I actually like the Character design found from Akira Kurosawa Samurai movies.
'Yojimbo' would be my personal favourite over '7 Samurai'

Am also a huge fan of Kurosawa. I like 7 Samurai, and most people have watched this movie but they do not know it (eg alot of western movies had emulated this movie, including Star Wars). If Japan horror is what you crave, try Kwaidan (1964)

Please comeback often

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jan 6 2014, 10:26 PM

Fright Night (1985), is a B movie, and have to add, it has alot of heart (not to be confused with it's remake), so much so it is considered a classic now.

I too, like this movie alot.

Both movies I like alot!!

Believe it or not, I'd watched the newer Miracle on 34th Street (1994, with Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins and Dylan McDermott [who showed... too much of himself in American Horror Story ]) first and then discovered it's classic counterpart.

Another interesting note, did you know that there is a colorised version of the It's A Wonderful Life? It was recently release on Bluray. Another interesting note is that I actually recommended this movie to a Christian friend of mine (2012 Christmas), and for some odd reason, he and his family had never watched this movie before and it has now become a Christmas viewing for them!!

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jan 5 2014, 09:04 PM

wake in fright have cult following

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_in_Fright

Wake in Fright (also known as Outback) is a 1971 Australian-American thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence and Chips Rafferty. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, based on Kenneth Cook's 1961 novel of the same name.

Made on a budget of A$800,000, the film was an Australian/American co-production by NLT Productions and Group W. Wake in Fright tells the story of a young schoolteacher who descends into personal moral degradation after finding himself stranded in a brutal, menacing town in outback Australia.

For many years, Wake in Fright enjoyed a reputation as Australia's great "lost film" because of its unavailability on VHS or DVD, as well as its absence from television broadcasts. In mid-2009, however, a thoroughly restored digital re-release was shown in Australian theatres to considerable acclaim. Later that same year it was issued commercially on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Wake in Fright is now recognised as a seminal film of the Australian New Wave.[3] Australian musician and screenwriter Nick Cave called Wake in Fright "The best and most terrifying film about Australia in existence."[4]

John Grant is a middle-class teacher from the big city. He feels disgruntled because of the onerous terms of a financial bond which he signed with the government in return for receiving a tertiary education. The bond has forced him to accept a post to the tiny school at Tiboonda, a remote township in the arid Australian Outback. It is the start of the Christmas school holidays and Grant plans on going to Sydney to visit his girlfriend but first, however, he must travel by train to the nearby mining town of Bundanyabba (known as “The Yabba”) in order to catch a Sydney-bound flight.

At "The Yabba", Grant encounters several disconcerting residents including a policeman, Jock Crawford, who encourages Grant to drink repeated glasses of beer before introducing him to the local obsession with the gambling game of two-up. Hoping to win enough money to pay off his bond and escape his "slavery" as an outback teacher, Grant at first has a winning streak playing two-up but then loses all his cash. Unable now to leave "The Yabba", Grant finds himself dependent on the charity of bullying strangers while being drawn into the crude and hard-drinking lifestyle of the town's residents.

Grant reluctantly goes drinking with a resident named Tim Hynes (Al Thomas) and goes to Tim's house. Here he meets Tim's daughter, Janette. While he and Janette talk, several men who have gathered at the house for a drinking session question Grant's masculinity, asking: “What's the matter with him? He'd rather talk to a woman than drink beer.” Janette then tries to initiate an awkward sexual episode with Grant, who vomits. Grant finds refuge of a sort, staying at the shack of an alcoholic medical practitioner known as "Doc" Tydon. Doc tells him that he and many others have had sex with Janette. He also gives Grant pills from his medical kit, ostensibly to cure Grant's hangover.

Later, a drunk Grant participates in a barbaric kangaroo hunt with Doc and Doc's friends d*** and Joe. The hunt culminates in Grant clumsily stabbing a wounded kangaroo to death, followed by a pointless drunken brawl between d*** and Joe and the vandalizing of a bush pub. At night's end, Grant returns to Doc's shack, where Doc apparently initiates a homosexual encounter between the two.[5]

A repulsed Grant leaves the next morning and walks across the desert. He tries to hitch-hike to Sydney, but accidentally boards a truck that takes him straight back to "The Yabba". He contemplates shooting Doc, but instead attempts suicide. Grant recovers in hospital from his suicide attempt and Doc sees him off at "The Yabba's" rail station. He returns to Tiboonda for the new school year.



bonus. collecting non mainstream movie now, especially silent and black and white movies

Wow, really amazing collection as you stated off the usual mainstream stuff.

Good review for Wake in Fright. Will try to look for it.

I'll always wonder what the Valley of the Dolls is all about

Any possibility of a review here?

I have all of Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, admittedly the The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) is the only one that is faithfully adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle material. The rest are at best... pseudo Arthur Conan Doyle, taking place during the 1930s...

Recently alot of Vincent Price stuff were made available on HD, namely

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

This is a really REALLY weird movie. The motivation for Dr. Phibes is really mystery until the and and using the word abominable to describe Dr. Phibes is apt!! The way he handles his victims demise are gruesome....

Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

This is adapted from Edgar Allen Poe's story called... Pit and the Pendulum. I'm always surprise by how celebrated Edgar Allen Poe's works are in the States. They are really macabre... Having said that, I do always enjoy The Simpson's Bart's storytelling of Edgar Allen Poe stuff in their Halloween specials!! Again, Vincent Price speciliase in the weird and this movie is weird to the max!! B movie mind you but amazingly weird!!

House of Wax (1953)

This movie was made to highlight the wonders of 3D in the movie. I have watched this a couple of times and is most surprise to find that Charles Bronson plays the romantic male lead!! I keep expecting him to shoot something, but he doesn't...

All camp fun stuff!!

Also watch the original The Haunting (1963) Mov_freak's The Haunting (1963) Review a few months back

I am actually hoping that they would release all of William Castle's stuff on HD, namely
House on Haunted Hill 1959
The Tingler 1959
13 Ghosts 1960
etc

I think I have most of Charlie Chaplin, Abbot and Costello and Marz Brothers stuff

What I really REALLY hope would eventually be lease on HD is Cecil B DeMille's The Ten Commandment (1923) (The Silent Movie version, not the one with Charleston Heston)

You come back here often you hear

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jan 11 2014, 10:31 PM

If you guys don't mind a little suggestion to keep this movie thread more interesting to revisit and digging the goldmine.

Be courage and share your personal point of view in the certain movies that gave you impact or delicate messages.

Please don't paste wiki material or elsewhere reviews to voice out for you. I believed if a good movie is miracle well-done. You sure can find at least one of two points to share out what is linger in your mind for a while or even for years.

Else this thread would just be another 'google search compilation' or 'Hey watch this Casablanca! It's romantic...A very beautifully romance.

A quick note is not helpful in recommendation.

I believed this is why such thread is being created to gather peoples who could identify some interesting movies by their own research and sharing to others as well.

MovFreak,

I am still watching the Kwaidan Japanese Horror movie. Finished 3 stories so far. It's a 3 hours length movie! This had been a fresh sensation in watching an old-times horror movie. I appreciated the breakthrough of their art direction though. Seriously i love the traditional instrumental background music. So eerie and perfectly matched the motion picture! Much.. much extraordinary atmosphere than modern days over-abuse with loudness effect to buy shocks from audiences... 10 years in planning this movie production!

And Thanks for showing your personal review on so alot Alfred Hitchcock movies in another thread. I need some effort to digest!

Right now i will clear up some 'modern times' movies first.

P/s: I never watch Casablanca.. Ahhhh~ Only read out that's the most intelligent movie scriptwriting ever produced in Hollywood.

Sorry i just introduced a very popular classic movie as well now.~

dinodog_Jr

I'm glad you enjoy!!

Kwaidan (1964)

This is probably one of the most... haunting movie I have ever watched!

There are a total of 4 short stories that I would rename as

1) There is no fury like a woman scorned, even if you are a Samurai!! I believe this movie influence more modern movies like Nang-Nak (1999) (Thai). It is able to built up the suspense and then the reveal. My favorite story of the four.

2) For Pete's sake, keep you promise. This story is actually a retelling of Japanese folklore. I also believe this is the exact story for the Hong Kong movie Golden Swallow (1987) with Cherie Chung. If only us men, can learn to keep our mouths shut!! Life would be wonderful....

3) Like applying suntan lotion and insect repellent, do NOT miss a spot!! This is a spooking story, and visually memorable. I remember a snapshot of this short was used as the cover for the Laserdisc. Not for the faint hearted. I also believe this movie inspired movie like Shaw Brother's (who borrowed heavily from Japan) Hex (1980) which is actually a retelling of the French movie Les Diaboliques (1955, which is based on the french novel Celle qui n'était plus, by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac).

4) Conscience is a bit©h. So much so that you cannot even have a drink without panicking...

The Japanese, especially their 50s and 60s stuff was made with alot of artistry.

This is a very visually stunning movie, even to date.

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jan 11 2014, 11:27 PM

** Deleted **

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jan 11 2014, 11:27 PM

lol want to tarik ppl.. <--- smiley from one of the trackers

never know the hound of the baskerville is one of the Basil Rathbone's collection. is it part of the Sherlock Holmes collection?

I havent got to watch some of the movie yet.

here's some sypnosis of The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment (1999)
nice movie and have dramatic ending
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=3082517&hl=

here's the sypnosis of Valley of the Dolls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Dolls





i am not sure which movie is campy .

can u share the camp movie u watch? and whats ur favorite?


I have several non mainstream movie english and non english as well after 1980 till today.

I will be collecting silent film, screwball comedy and black and white movie. i am into it more.
Specially movies by Marion Davies. I am avid fan of hers.

She's talented and is very funny. One of the most gorgeous actress in her era

She's one of some of the successful and talented actress who transition from silent film to talkies (early sound era of black and white movie with sound and dialogue post silent film). She dont like black and white sound film though coz she has slight stutter. But look at her amazing acting during talkies era





lol she spoof some of the actress in the era





she has been portrayed by several actress in many movies like Citizen Kane including Kirsten Dunst in Cat's Meow. KD is talented actress too, and she almost hit life like of Marion's on screen and off screen character







you know what, I never watch Citizen Kane before. I always thought it was overrated and there might be something off as i have "feeling" that I would never want or have to mood to get to watch the movie, whenever I want to watch it, I feel "meh" Its like I have 6th sense something in the movie is off.

Till recently , this week when i got to watch - Captured on Film - The true story of Marion Davies - narrated by Charlize Theron







Then I know why . Citizen Kane is base on/depicting the life of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies (his mistress) falsify the true life of both of them. What an insult to her. Yet the movie make it big and brain wash all ppl who watch it thinking Marion Davies is that in nature..

one of the part is In the biography docu - True story of Marion Davies, William always protected Marion and would never let her spiral down into alcoholism, but Citizen Kane tells it differently

It wasnt justified ... no movie will ever justify the life of Marion Davies.. she should deserve better.

She is kind and nice as well, help a kid who sells news paper in the street to get into the set and become an actor

http://www.decofilms.com/mariondavies/biography.htm



I hope everyone who watched Citizen Kane got to know her more and got watch The true story of Marion Davies .

I will never watch Citizen Kane. F you Orson Welles




This post has been edited by supermoto: Jan 12 2014, 01:13 AM

The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

It turns out, of all the classic movies I have watched, I rarely watched Columbia's stuff. I believe today it the first time I have watched a movie with... Rita Hayworth!!

Madonna actually got it right:



This is the first time I watched this movie and it is interesting!

I really don't know Orson Welles materials well.

He and Rita Hayworth apparently were married when this was made.

Rita Hayworth was Columbia's biggest star and Orson Welles previous movie, Citizen Kane (1941) did not do so well.

Because of Rita Hayworth, This movie got made, and it did not make any money when it was first release. But, since then it is consider a very good example of what Film Noir is!!

Story is interesting, although a little strange.

Alot had been written about the ending of the movie, but for me, I think the Courtroom scene is the money shot!!

They REALLY do not make movies like they use to.

If you like mystery and film noir, give this a go.

My Two Sen.

supermoto Marion Davies had stunning eyes.

I wonder if her material have survive to date and whether any studios/distributors are willing to give them a HD transfer/remaster....

Quoting from Little Britain:

hey man...this 2 will sap all your old skool movie mentality over 2 the next level easily

this was the first ever classic movie discovery which made me dig in 4 more black and while silent hollywood and over 2 talkies

may i present 2 you *drum roll* tada





this 2 piece of hollywood history will always be the most significant grandeur ever made in the 20th century

DW griffith will always be the godfather of all hollywood directors that is 6 hours of epicness that will never be seen again

i will die very happy death if this 2 piece gets the bluray treatment and sound remastering

This post has been edited by skylinelover: Mar 23 2014, 11:00 AM