The Cheat (1915), Murder! (1930), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Salaam Namaste (2005), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), A Patch of Blue (1965), Mildred Pierce (1945), Bawarchi (1972) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Melodrama movies.
Storyline: Vienna has built a saloon outside of town, and she hopes to build her own town once the railroad is put through, but the townsfolk want her gone. When four men hold up a stagecoach and kill a man the town officials, led by Emma Small, come to the saloon to grab four of Vienna's friends, the Dancin' Kid and his men. Vienna stands strong against them, and is aided by the presence of an old acquaintance of hers, Johnny Guitar, who is not what he seems.
Plot Keywords: western, psychological drama, revenge, romance, gunfight, betrayal, loneliness ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A powerful rendering of the tragedy of Elektra by Euripides, second in a trilogy. The film begins with a summary treatment without dialogue of the action of the preceding play, The Agamemnon, in which the wicked Queen Clytemnestra and her lover Aesgisthes murder her husband Agamemnon upon his return from the Trojan War.—Paul Brians <brians@wsu.edu>
Plot Keywords: tragedy, revenge, adaptation, black and white, 1960s, italian cinema, theatrical adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Schoolteacher and family man Ed Avery, who's been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts, is hospitalized with what's diagnosed as a rare inflammation of the arteries. Told by doctors that he probably has only months to live, Ed agrees to an experimental treatment: doses of the hormone cortisone. Ed makes a remarkable recovery, and returns home to his wife, Lou, and their son, Richie. He must keep taking cortisone tablets regularly to prevent a recurrence of his illness. But the "miracle" cure turns into its own nightmare as Ed starts to abuse the tablets, causing him to experience increasingly wild mood swings.—Eugene Kim <genekim@concentric.net>
Plot Keywords: drama, family, psychological, social critique, film noir, 1950s, drug abuse ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: While conducting a symphony orchestra, Sir Alfred De Carter imagines three different ways of dealing with his wife's suspected infidelity, then tries acting out his fantasies, but things do not go as well in reality as they did in his imagination.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
Plot Keywords: black comedy, murder, jealousy, classical music, revenge, suspense, misunderstanding ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Leo and Ulrich are life long friends. Home, on leave from their military training, Leo sees the beautiful Felicitas at the railroad station. Awed by her beauty, they meet again at the ball and quietly leave together. In her room, her husband, about whom she has neglected to inform Leo, comes in and challenges Leo to a duel. The duel is done, the Count is killed and Felicitas is a widow. Leo, however, is 'requested' to serve 5 years in Africa and he tells Ulrich to watch over Felicitas while he is gone. After 3 years, Ulrich is able to get a pardon for Leo and all that Leo thinks about on the way home is Felicitas. When he arrives, he learns that Felicitas has married Ulrich. Felicitas likes that Ulrich is rich and she never told Ulrich the truth about Leo and her. Leo is crushed and does not visit them which saddens Ulrich as he does not know the reason why. Leo tries to stay away from her, but Felicitas uses every opportunity to tempt him to return to her as her lover. She creating a deadly triangle with the two life long friends.—Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
Plot Keywords: silent film, romance, drama, melodrama, black and white, love triangle, forbidden love ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Cary Scott is a widow with two grown children. She's been leading a quiet life since her husband died, socializing with a small circle of friends. Her children no longer live with her full-time but come home every weekend. She's not unhappy but also doesn't realize how bored she is. Her friend Sara Warren encourages her to get a television set to keep her company but she doesn't want that either. She develops a friendship with Ron Kirby who owns his own nursery and comes every spring and fall to trim her trees. Ron is much younger than Cary and their friendship soon turns to love. Her circle of friends are surprised that she is seeing such a younger man and she might be prepared to overlook that - Ron certainly doesn't care about the differences in their ages - but when her son and daughter vehemently object, she decides to sacrifice her own feelings for their happiness. Over time however, she realizes that her children will be spending less and less time with her as they pursue their...
Plot Keywords: romance, drama, social class, forbidden love, suburban life, widow, social pressure ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Sir Juda plans to take over the vast estate of Ranimaa, but finds out that the beneficiary is her son, Ravi Verma. He asks Ravi's girlfriend to marry him, and then have him killed accidentally, which she does. This devastates Ranimaa, and leaves the estate open for Sir Juda to take over. Years later, Monty Oberoi, who is a popular singer, surfaces into this story. He has visions of a murder taking place, and is unable to comprehend the meaning of these visions. His travesl take him to Ranimaa's estate, and it is then that he realizes the reason and motive of his birth.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
Plot Keywords: bollywood, musical, drama, reincarnation, romance, revenge, supernatural ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Jealous of best friend Kit, a critically acclaimed but financially unsuccessful author and playwright, Millie writes a novel, the first in a string of bestselling trashy novels. After eight years of neglect and taking a backseat to Millie's fame, her husband Preston leaves her. Another decade passes and Kit announces her intention of marrying the decade-younger Rudd. Millie thinks Preston wishes to reconcile, only to discover he is engaged. He also admits that he was in love with Kit, who had turned down his many advances. Feeling Kit to blame for the failure of her marriage, Millie flies into a rage and confronts Kit. Later, learning of Rudd's affection for Millie's daughter Diedre, Kit graciously steps aside to bless their union. In the end, Millie and Kit make up, sharing a champagne toast for each one's old acquaintance.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, classic, black and white, 1940s, female lead, hollywood ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Actor Lester Blaine has all but landed the lead in Myra Hudson's new play when Myra vetoes him because, to her, he doesn't look like a "romantic leading man." On a train from New York to San Francisco, Blaine sets out to prove Myra wrong...by romancing her. Is he sincere, or does he have a dark ulterior motive? The answer brings on a game of cat and mouse; but who's the cat and who's the mouse?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: film noir, thriller, drama, suspense, crime, mystery, psychological thriller ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: On 24 October 1955, the hard-work geologist of the Hadley Oil Company Mitch Wayne meets the executive secretary Lucy Moore in the office of her boss Bill Ryan in New York and invites her to go to a conference with the alcoholic playboy and son of a tycoon Kyle Hadley. On the way of the meeting, he confesses that they had traveled from Houston to New York to satisfy the wish of the reckless Kyle, who is his best friend since their childhood, of eating a sandwich from club 21 and the meeting was just a pretext to Kyle's father Jasper Hadley. Mitch and Kyle immediately fall in love for Lucy, and Kyle unsuccessfully uses his money to impress Lucy; then he opens his heart and proposes Lucy. They get married and travel to Acapulco and the insecure Kyle stops drinking. Meanwhile, Kyle's sister Marylee is an easy woman and has a non-corresponded crush on Mitch that sees her as a sister. One year later, Kyle discovers that he has a problem and might be sterile and starts drinking again. The jealous Marylee poisons Kyle telling that his wife and Mitch are having a love affair. When Lucy finds that she is pregnant, Kyle believes that the baby belongs to Mitch and his mistrust leads to a tragedy.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, family, wealthy family, tragedy, desire, alcoholism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Adaptation of the Broadway musical. Magnolia Hawks is the lovely but protected, and thus very naive, daughter of Cap'n Andy Hawks, the genial proprietor of a show boat that cruises the Missisippi, and his nagging wife, Parthy. She is best friends with the show boat's star, Julie LaVerne, but Julie and her husband Steve are forced to leave when it is revealed that Julie has "Negro" blood in her, thereby breaking the state law by being married to the white Steve. Magnolia replaces Julie as the show boat's female star, and the show's new male star is the suave gambler Gaylord Ravenal. "Nola" and Gaylord fall in love and marry against Parthy's wishes. They and their young daughter lead the high life when Gaylord is lucky in gambling, but live like dirt when he's unlucky. During one such unlucky streak, a broken Gaylord leaves Nola, and she is forced to start over by returning to the stage. Like Old Man River, as the famous song from this show goes, she just keeps rollin' along.—Tommy Peter
Plot Keywords: musical, romance, drama, classic, black-and-white, adaptation, broadway ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Captain Wade Hunnicutt is the wealthiest and most powerful citizen in his Texan town; he is also a notorious womanizer, which has turned his wife Hannah against him. She has brought up their son Theron to be dependent upon her; but as he reaches adulthood, Hunnicutt insists on taking over his upbringing, initiating him in hunting and other masculine pursuits, under the watchful eye of Rafe, Hunnicutt's loyal employee. But Theron's new lifestyle leads him into a love-affair with a local girl, and thence to his learning things about his parents that were previously hidden from him.—David Levene <D.S.Levene@durham.ac.uk>
Plot Keywords: drama, family, romance, american, classic, black and white, father-son relationship ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Shankar (Dharmendra), Vijay (Vijay Arora), and Ratan (Tariq) are three brothers. On their father's birthday, their mother taught them a song titled "Yaadon Ki Baaraat" which they held dearly to their hearts. As fate may have it, one day, the boys' father witnessed a robbery by Shakaal (Ajit), and his henchmen. To protect their identity, Shakal decided to kill the boys' father before he could go to the police. So one night, Shakaal and his men storm into the boys' father's room and kill both their mother and father. Shankar and Vijay witness the act and flee. They make their way to a passing train, where Shankar is separated from Vijay. Several years pass by and the boys have grown up. Shankar is haunted by the memory of his parent's murder and is now joined by his friend Usman on a crime spree around the city. Vijay was adopted by a fairly wealthy man who is the grounds keeper to the love of his life, Sonita (Zeenat Aman) And Ratan, was raised by the boys' maid, and changed his name to Monto. With his new identity, Monto started a band and does gigs a hotels for a living. Their only hope of reuniting is by remembering the song their mother had taught them... Yaadon Ki Baaraat.—gavin@sunny_deol2009@yahoo.com
Plot Keywords: action, adventure, crime, drama, family, revenge, brothers ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic tale of an orphan who runs away from the orphanage and hooks up with a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor.
Plot Keywords: musical, drama, family, classic, british, adaptation, charles dickens ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Domineering Harriet Craig holds more regard for her home and its possessions than she does for any person in her life. Among those she treats like household objects are her kind husband Walter, whom she has lied to about her inability to have children; her cousin Claire, whom she treats like a secretary; and her servants whom she treats like slaves.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>
Plot Keywords: drama, family, marriage, manipulation, female lead, psychological drama, film noir ...
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