Could you please recommend me some great 1930s, 1940s and 1950s movies?

[Stoo]

Some more GREAT ones that nobody has mentioned yet:

"The 39 Steps" (1935)
"White Heat" (1949)
"Paths of Glory" (1957) Not a contemporary story but REQUIRED viewing.
"Touch of Evil" (1958)

(I have a funny feeling that Attila will want to mention Billy Wilder's, "The Apartment", but that one was right on the cusp, in 1960.)

[Violet]

Originally Posted by Gustav

Hey, Vi, thanks for the reassurance. How have you been? and how long have you been a moderator?

I'm alright. Been on the move again, like you. I was made mod about year ago (ironically around the same time I managed to finally meet John Rhys-Davies and Karen Allen and recorded some stuff for the Indycast). Other than that pretty much same old.

And getting back to the topic at hand, I would definitely recommend anything of Hitchcock as he made films in all three decades. It's interesting how his technique changes over time.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Originally Posted by Stoo

Some more GREAT ones that nobody has mentioned yet:

"Paths of Glory" (1957) Not a contemporary story but REQUIRED viewing.

That one has made me shed a tear on several occasions. One of Stanley's finest.

[Attila the Professor]

I owe you a response here, and I'll do more, but here's the 30s, which is easier, since I know it the least of the three. I'll also stick to Hollywood film, since it seems to suit the question. And since I guess I'll make some rules to myself, to allow myself to stretch them, I'm allowing myself as many as three period pictures* and one non-star picture^ in each set of ten. Period pictures reflect, sometimes more strongly, what an era cares about, while the other exemption allows a worthy other to be included.

1930s:

The Public Enemy (William Wellman, 1931)
-Exemplary pre-Code gangster picture w/ James Cagney & Jean Harlow

I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931)
-Socially conscious prison picture w/ Paul Muni

Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1933)
-All-star ensemble comedy/drama w/ Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, and Jean Harlow

Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
-Anarchic, satiric comedy w/ the Marx Brothers & Margaret Dumont

It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)
-Populist screwball comedy w/ Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert

Make Way for Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1935)^
-Sweet, sad, Depression comedic romance about aging, w/ Beulah Bondi, Victor Moore, and Thomas Mitchell

Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936)
-Light New York musical w/ Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz, 1938)*
-Swashbuckling adventure w/ Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, and Basil Rathbone

Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)*
-Iconic Civil War epic w/ Vivian Leigh, Clark Gable, Thomas Mitchell, & Hattie McDaniel

Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939)*
-Unconventional, slow-moving biopic w/ Henry Fonda

1940s:

The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
-Realist Depression adaptation of the novel w/ Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, & John Carradine

The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
-Light, evocative romantic comedy w/ James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, & Frank Morgan

His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
-Fast-paced screwball comedy (contrast w/ above) w/ Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell

Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941)
-Serious, satirical comedy w/ Joel McCrea & Veronica Lake

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
-Hollywood-style war romance w/ Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, & Peter Lorre

Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)*
-Musical heralding onset of post-war darkness w/ Judy Garland & Margaret O'Brien

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
-Quintessential, sharp noir w/ Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, & Edward G. Robinson

The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
-Great post-war story of returning veterans w/ Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, & Harold Russell

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
-Mexican-set adventure noir w/ Humphrey Bogart & Walter Huston

Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948)*
-Community-oriented cavalry Western w/ Henry Fonda & John Wayne

1950s:

A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951)
-Method acting vs. Hollywood w/ Marlon Brando & Vivian Leigh

Them! (Gordon Douglas, 1954)^
-Atomic age anxieties fought by science w/ James Whitmore & giant ants

It's Always Fair Weather (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1955)
-Unconventionally bitter musical seeped in the 50s w/ Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, & Cyd Charisse

All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955)
-Adult melodrama of alienation w/ Jane Wyman & Rock Hudson

Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955)
-Teen melodrama of alienation w/ James Dean, Natalie Wood, & Sal Mineo

Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Todd, 1956)*
-Lengthy, cameo-filled widescreen epic w/ David Niven & Cantinflas

The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)*
-Racism-themed Western shows shift in use of stars w/ John Wayne & Jeffrey Hunter

Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)*
-Methodical, hang-out Western w/ John Wayne, Dean Martin, & Ricky Nelson

North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
-Slick thriller of the ad-man age w/ Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, & James Mason

Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
-Solid, deliberate courtroom drama w/ James Stewart, Lee Remick, & Ben Gazzara

I'm going to throw the 60s in there too, since it's the last decade of the studio system. And because Stoo's comment makes it seem necessary. This decade in particular can't be understood without the British inclusions; read which films seem to be missing as telling in itself.

1960s:

The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
-Sad romantic comedy about NYC offices w/ Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacClaine, & Fred MacMurray

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
-The television aesthetic & non-mystical, non-atomic horror ascend w/ Janet Leigh & Anthony Perkins

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)*
-Elegaic Western shoots holes in myth w/ James Stewart & John Wayne

The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, 1963)
-Comedy auteur skewers Rat Pack & college culture w/ Jerry Lewis

Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
-Cold War black comedy w/ Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Sterling Hayden

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)
-Explicit language and adult themes in documentary-style drama w/ Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Stanley Kramer, 1967)
-Socially conscious drama on race is last pairing w/ Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, & Sidney Poitier

Casino Royale (Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, & Val Guest, 1967)
-The logical conclusion of film excess & a distillation of all 60s pop culture w/ David Niven, Peter Sellers, Orson Welles, Ursula Andress, & Woody Allen

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)*
-American New Wave crime film of youthful rebellion w/ Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty

The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)*
-Violent, men-on-a-mission Western finishes what Liberty Valance started w/ William Holden, Ernest Borgnine & Robert Ryan

[Attila the Professor]

So, what with it being Oscar night...anyone finding the suggestions in this thread useful?

[Montana Smith]

Originally Posted by Le Saboteur

"My Man Godfrey" (1936)

Saw this recently - it's a really fun movie. William Powell is great in it, of course. The very definition of a 'screwball comedy' with some biting satire on the depression era.


A country store was selling bundles of five DVDs for £1 a bundle. My Man Godfrey was on of them, along with Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), Blood on the Sun (1945), Mr. Imperium (1951) and The Last Time I Saw Paris (1955).

Of the others I've only seen Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr.. Though it's outside of the scope of this thread it's worth seeing for the stunts!

I have no idea what the others are going to be like yet.


Bringing Up Baby (1938) is another fine '30s screwball comedy, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

[Montana Smith]

Blood on the Sun (1945) wasn't a spectacular movie by any means, but it is a thriller with a lot of atmosphere.

An American reporter working in Tokyo during the 1930s stands up to the repressive Japanese government, and exposes a secret plot to take over America, and ultimately the world.

As he becomes their public irritation number one intrigue and murder ensue.

The highlight is Cagney's frenzied fight close to the end.

In fact, Bey Logan's commentary on the special edition of Way of the Dragon referenced Cagney's jiu-jitsu in Blood on the Sun, and compared him to that other accomplished dancer, Bruce Lee.