Pandora's Box (1929), Mahanagar (1963), Lazybones (1925), Charulata (1964), Light Keeps Me Company (2000), The Young and the Damned (1950), Umberto D. (1952), Faust (1926) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Classic Cinema movies.
Storyline: G.W. Pabst's account of a young woman's downfall emphasizes years of her catering to her sexual appetite.
Plot Keywords: silent film, psychological drama, moral decay, sexual liberation, tragedy, social criticism, fate ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: An Indian woman (Madhabi Mukherjee) becomes the breadwinner when her husband (Anil Chatterjee) loses his banking job.
Plot Keywords: indian cinema, social realism, family drama, female protagonist, urban life, middle class, gender roles ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: "Lazybones" Steve (Buck Jones) is fawned over by his girlfriend, Agnes (Jane Novak) and doting mother. But, when he saves Agnes' sister from a suicide attempt, this loafer suddenly finds himself raising her secret newborn daughter, Kit. His easy life turns hard when the town assumes she's his illegitimate child. Steve is called to fight in World War I, and when he returns Kit is no longer a picked-on kid but a beautiful woman (Madge Bellamy). Then his love becomes not quite so paternal.
Plot Keywords: silent film, comedy, drama, romance, slice of life, character study, slacker ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Charu lives a lonely and idle life in 1870s India. Although her husband Bhupati devotes more time to his newspaper than to their marriage, he sees her loneliness and asks his brother-in-law,Umapada to keep her company. At the same time Bhupati's own cousin, Amal, a would-be writer comes home finishing his college education. However, after several months, Charu and Amal's feelings for each other move beyond literary friendship.—Erik Gregersen <erik@astro.asutexas.edu>
Plot Keywords: romance, marriage, loneliness, intellectual, 19th century, india, literature ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Director Carl-Gustaf Nykvist visits colleagues and friends of his father, Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist.
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, cinematography, film history, director, interviews, black and white photography ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Hell-bent on revenge, the cocky reform-school runaway, El Jaibo, returns to his old neighbourhood in post-World-War-II Mexico City's poor and squalid slums, to reunite with his faithful gang of juvenile delinquents and street urchins. However, as the dangerous ringleader lives and breathes retribution, his destructive obsession to find the informant who supposedly sent him to jail will intricately interweave his bitter fate with that of Pedro, his weak and unwitting accessory, in a despicable act of pure evil. In the end, are humans inherently good or bad--and above all--is immorality contingent with society?
Plot Keywords: social realism, poverty, violence, moral dilemma, social injustice, coming of age, despair ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Umberto Ferrari, aged government-pensioner, attends a street demonstration held by his fellow pensioners. The police dispense the crowd and Umberto returns to his cheap furnished room which he shares with his dog Flick. Umberto's lone friend is Maria, servant of the boarding house. She is a simple girl who is pregnant by one of two soldiers and neither will admit to being the father. When Umberto's landlady Antonia demands the rent owed her and threatens eviction if she is not paid, Umberto tries desperately to raise the money by selling his books and watch. He is too proud to beg in the streets and can not get a loan from any of his acquaintances. He contracts a sore throat, is admitted to a hospital and this puts a delay on his financial difficulty. Discharged, he finds that his dog is gone and, following a frantic search, locates him in the city dog pound. His room has been taken over by the landlady and the now-homeless Unberto determines to find a place for his beloved dog, and ...
Plot Keywords: loneliness, poverty, elderly, social marginalization, humanity, struggle for survival, emotional bond ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist. During a plague, Faust despairs and burns his books after failing to stop death; Satan sends Mephisto to tempt Faust, first with insight into treating the plague and then with a day's return to youth. Mephisto is clever, timing the end of this 24 hours as Faust embraces the beautiful Duchess of Parma. Faust trades his soul for youth. Some time later, he's bored, and demands on Easter Sunday that Mephisto take him home. Faust promptly sees and falls in love with the beautiful Gretchen, whose liaison with him brings her dishonor. Is there redemption? Who wins the wager?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: silent film, gothic, dark fantasy, moral dilemma, supernatural elements, tragedy, literary adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In this fable-morality subtitled "A Song of Two Humans", the "evil" temptress is a city woman who bewitches farmer Anses and tries to convince him to murder his neglected wife, Indre.
Plot Keywords: silent film, marital crisis, moral dilemma, murder plot, redemption, classic cinema, black and white ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: After securing a major victory on the battlefield, Taketoti Washizu and one of his commanders, Yoshiaki Miki, find themselves lost in the maze-like Spider's Web forest. They come across a spirit-like seer who tells them of their future: both have been promoted because of their victory that day; Washizu will someday be the Great Lord of the Spider's Web castle while Miki's son will someday rule as Great Lord as well. When they arrive at the castle, they learn that the first part of the prophecy is correct. Washizu has no desire to become Great Lord but his ambitious wife urges him to reconsider. When the current Great Lord makes a surprise visit to his garrison outpost, Washizu is again promoted to commander of his vanguard but his wife reminds him of the danger that comes with the position. As pressure mounts, Wahizu takes action leading to its inevitable conclusion.
Plot Keywords: japanese, drama, tragedy, black and white, classic cinema, betrayal, ambition ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. It is the annual fair in Holstenwall. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep. When Alan asks Cesare about his future, Cesare answers that he will die before dawn. The next morning Alan is found dead. Francis suspects Cesare of being the murderer, and starts spying on him and Dr. Caligari. The following night Cesare is going to stab Jane in her bed, but softens when he sees the beautiful woman, and instead of committing another murder, he abducts her. Jane's father awakens because of the noise, and he and some servants follow the fleeing Cesare. When Cesare cannot outrun his pursuers anymore, he gently places Jane down on the ground, and runs away. Francis and the police investigate the caravan of Dr. Caligari, but the ...
Plot Keywords: silent film, horror, psychological thriller, surrealism, black and white, classic cinema, mystery ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: An aging boxer (Robert Ryan) leaves his crying wife (Audrey Totter), then crosses the street for a fixed fight.
Plot Keywords: film noir, boxing, crime, drama, sports, underdog, greed ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Narrated by Sydney Pollack, film critic Richard Schickel's dazzling two-hour plus documentary to one of the towering figures in film: Charles Chaplin. Hardcore Chaplin fans may not find much new material here, but more unfamiliar admirers will gain some valuable information about one of the most famous personalities of the 20th century. Schickel has constructed the documentary as a chronological survey of Chaplin's work, starting with his most significant shorts and covering all of his features. Schickel supports his narration with testimony from artists familiar with Chaplin's work and family members who offer personal insights into the comedian's life. The documentary plays down but doesn't ignore the controversies that swirled around Chaplin's private life. But the main focus is on the films. They include some of the best-loved movies of all time. Clips from "Kid Auto Races at Venice," the 1914 Keystone short in which Chaplin first used his Tramp costume, reveal a startlingly modern technique and sensibility, as if the filmmakers were predicting and mocking reality TV. Subsequent shorts show Chaplin refining his 'Little Tramp' character while absorbing the essentials of filmmaking. By the time he made "Easy Street," in 1917, Chaplin had perfected a combination of knockabout farce and Victorian sentiment that still proves irresistible. Chaplin's early features, including "The Kid," "The Gold Rush" and "City Lights," were such blockbuster hits that he could essentially ignore the coming of sound for almost a decade. Those making appearances on the program include Woody Allen, Richard Attenborough, Jeanine Basinger, Claire Bloom, Geraldine Chaplin. Sydney Chaplin, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Milos Forman, Bill Irwin, Norman Lloyd, Marcel Marceau, David Raksin, David Robinson, Andrew Sarris, Martin Scorsese and Jeffrey Vance.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: biography, documentary, film history, silent film, comedy, hollywood, filmmaking ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In tiny Anarene, Texas, in the lull between World War Two and the Korean Conflict, Sonny and Duane are best friends. Enduring that awkward period of life between boyhood and manhood, the two pass their time the best way they know how -- with the movie house, football, and girls. Jacy is Duane's steady, wanted by every boy in school, and she knows it. Her daddy is rich and her mom is good looking and loose. It's the general consensus that whoever wins Jacy's heart will be set for life. But Anarene is dying a quiet death as folks head for the big cities to make their livings and raise their kids. The boys are torn between a future somewhere out there beyond the borders of town or making do with their inheritance of a run-down pool hall and a decrepit movie house -- the legacy of their friend and mentor, Sam the Lion. As high school graduation approaches, they learn some difficult lessons about love, loneliness, and jealousy. Then folks stop attending the second-run features at the movie...
Plot Keywords: coming of age, drama, small-town life, 1950s, texas, nostalgia, friendship ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This story opens in 1938 in Rome, where Marcello has just taken a job working for Mussollini and is courting a beautiful young woman who will make him even more of a conformist. Marcello is going to Paris on his honeymoon and his bosses have an assignment for him there. Look up an old professor who fled Italy when the fascists came into power. At the border of Italy and France, where Marcello and his bride have to change trains, his bosses give him a gun with a silencer. In a flashback to 1917, we learn why sex and violence are linked in Marcello's mind.
Plot Keywords: political thriller, psychological analysis, fascism, moral dilemma, identity crisis, betrayal, power ...
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