Classic Movies - Dramas, Melodramas and Biographies
If you're in the mood for a classic movie that will make you cry, tell you the great stories from Shakespeare to Faulkner, or inspire you with Hollywood biopics of real-life heroes, sports legends, inventors and scientists, this is the place: drama and biography in classic old films.
All About Eve
Meow! The classic movie about an aging Broadway star (Bette Davis) and the scheming young wannabe (Anne Baxter) who wants to take over the star's career and her life. "All About Eve" earned the 1950 Best Oscar.
Meow! The classic movie about an aging Broadway star (Bette Davis) and the scheming young wannabe (Anne Baxter) who wants to take over the star's career and her life. "All About Eve" earned the 1950 Best Oscar.
George Lucas's American Graffiti
American Graffiti is George Lucas's fond look back at his small-town California upbringing. A funny, touching coming of age story, it influenced dozens of films to come and launched the film careers of Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Martin Smith and Paul LeMat.
American Graffiti is George Lucas's fond look back at his small-town California upbringing. A funny, touching coming of age story, it influenced dozens of films to come and launched the film careers of Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Martin Smith and Paul LeMat.
She Done Him Wrong - Racy Mae West
Mae West utters her most famous - and most often misquoted line - in She Done Him Wrong, a scandalous melodrama that shot Cary Grant to stardom in 1933. Sexual frankness and racy songs helped spur enduring censorship after the blue-nose backlash to She Done Him Wrong.
Mae West utters her most famous - and most often misquoted line - in She Done Him Wrong, a scandalous melodrama that shot Cary Grant to stardom in 1933. Sexual frankness and racy songs helped spur enduring censorship after the blue-nose backlash to She Done Him Wrong.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The best film ever made about the power of greed to corrupt men's souls. Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston in a sweeping tale of fortunes made and lost in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.
The best film ever made about the power of greed to corrupt men's souls. Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston in a sweeping tale of fortunes made and lost in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.
To Kill a Mockingbird
In Depression-era Alabama, softspoken lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) takes on the case of a black man accused of assaulting a white woman. To Kill a Mockingbird is the classic coming-of-age movie from Harper Lee's best-selling novel.
In Depression-era Alabama, softspoken lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) takes on the case of a black man accused of assaulting a white woman. To Kill a Mockingbird is the classic coming-of-age movie from Harper Lee's best-selling novel.
Sergeant York
A sharp-shooting pacifist from the backwoods of Tennessee becomes an unlikely war hero in the true story of Sergeant York and his courage in WWI. A great classic movie starring Gary Cooper wrestling with duty to God and country.
A sharp-shooting pacifist from the backwoods of Tennessee becomes an unlikely war hero in the true story of Sergeant York and his courage in WWI. A great classic movie starring Gary Cooper wrestling with duty to God and country.
Meet John Doe on Stage
I never thought of Meet John Doe - the final film in Frank Capra's "common man" trilogy -as musical theater material. But there it is, premiering so far off Broadway that it's in Washington,DC. Hard to imagine without Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, but the critics seem to be happy.
I never thought of Meet John Doe - the final film in Frank Capra's "common man" trilogy -as musical theater material. But there it is, premiering so far off Broadway that it's in Washington,DC. Hard to imagine without Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, but the critics seem to be happy.
The Birth of a Nation
D.W. Griffith's silent Civil War epic influenced not just the movie-making industry, but the nation as a whole. Controversial for its racism and credited with helping the Ku Klux Klan grow beyond the south, the 1915 film is as much a historical document as a drama. A must for the serious film student.
D.W. Griffith's silent Civil War epic influenced not just the movie-making industry, but the nation as a whole. Controversial for its racism and credited with helping the Ku Klux Klan grow beyond the south, the 1915 film is as much a historical document as a drama. A must for the serious film student.
Paul Muni - 1930s Biopic King
Actors love biopics for the Oscar potential - a tradition as old as this 1937 TIME magazine cover of Paul Muni - no household name today, but king of film biographies in his day. TIME featured him after his award-winning turn as Louis Pasteur, just as his life of Emile Zola was coming out. The cover story is worth a read for the mannered style of the 1930s.
Actors love biopics for the Oscar potential - a tradition as old as this 1937 TIME magazine cover of Paul Muni - no household name today, but king of film biographies in his day. TIME featured him after his award-winning turn as Louis Pasteur, just as his life of Emile Zola was coming out. The cover story is worth a read for the mannered style of the 1930s.