Recently I've been watching a lot of films from the 30s/40s/50s/60s. Not unusual for me, perhaps, but I'm watching films I wasn't previously acquainted with. I thought I'd start reviewing some of them, particularly because I'm coming across some real gems that maybe other people will be interested in. My definition of 'classic' may stretch from time to time but, essentially, I'll take it as any film that has an actor in it who is best known for works in those earlier decades.
Carnival Boat (1932) - William Boyd, Ginger Rogers
Penguin Pool Murder (1932) - James Gleason, Edna May Oliver
The Half-Naked Truth (1932) - Frank Morgan, Lee Tracy, Lupe Velez
Ann Vickers (1933) - Irene Dunne, Walter Huston, Edna May Oliver
Christopher Strong (1933) - Billie Burke, Helen Chandler, Colin Clive, Katharine Hepburn
Flying Down to Rio (1933) - Fred Astaire, Dolores del Rio, Gene Raymond, Ginger Rogers
Morning Glory (1933) - Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Katharine Hepburn, Adolphe Menjou
Of Human Bondage (1934) - Bette Davis, Frances Dee, Leslie Howard, Kay Johnson
The Gay Divorcee (1934) - Fred Astaire, Edward Everett Horton, Ginger Rogers
The Little Minister (1934) - John Beal, Alan Hale, Katharine Hepburn
Sing and Like It (1934) - Edward Everett Horton, Pert Kelton, Nat Pendleton, Zasu Pitts
Star of Midnight (1934) - Leslie Fenton, Gene Lockhart, William Powell, Ginger Rogers
Annie Oakley (1935) - Melvyn Douglas, Preston Foster, Barbara Stanwyck
Enchanted April (1935) - Ann Harding, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen
Murder on a Honeymoon (1935) - James Gleason, Edna May Oliver
Sylvia Scarlett (1935) - Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Brian Aherne, Edmund Gwenn
The Informer (1935) - Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Victor McLaglen
Mary Of Scotland (1936) - Florence Eldridge, Katharine Hepburn, Fredric March
Swing Time (1936) - Fred Astaire, Helen Broderick, Ginger Rogers
The Bride Walks Out (1936) - Gene Raymond, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Young
The Adventures of Michael Strogoff (1937) - Fay Bainter, Margot Grahame, Anton Walbrook
Bringing Up Baby (1938) - Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn
The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, May Whitty
The Mad Miss Manton (1938) - Henry Fonda, Sam Levene, Barbara Stanwyck
Vivacious Lady (1938) - Charles Coburn, Ginger Rogers, James Stewart,
Bachelor Mother (1939) - Charles Coburn, David Niven, Ginger Rogers
Love Affair (1939) - Charles Boyer, Irene Dunne
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) - Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Nanette Fabray, Errol Flynn
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) - Fred Astaire, Edna May Oliver, Ginger Rogers
Wuthering Heights (1939) - David Niven, Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier
Curtain Call (1940) - Barbara Read, Donald MacBride, Alan Mowbray
Foreign Correspondent (1940) - Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, Joel McCrea, George Sanders
Gaslight (1940) - Frank Pettingell, Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard
Irene (1940) - Billie Burke, Ray Milland, Anna Neagle, May Robson
Kitty Foyle (1940) - Gladys Cooper, James Craig, Dennis Morgan, Ginger Rogers
Lucky Partners (1940) - Spring Byington, Jack Carson, Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers
My Favourite Wife (1940) - Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott
Pride and Prejudice (1940) - Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Edna May Oliver
Primrose Path (1940) - Joel McCrea, Ginger Rogers
Rebecca (1940) - Judith Anderson, Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, George Sanders
Second Chorus (1940) - Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith
The Philadelphia Story (1940) - Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart
The Stars Look Down (1940) - Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave
They Knew What They Wanted (1940) - Harry Carey, William Gargan, Charles Laughton, Carole Lombard
Blossoms in the Dust (1941) - Felix Bressart, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon
Footlight Fever (1941) - Donald MacBride, Alan Mowbray, Elisabeth Risdon
Mrs & Mrs Smith (1941) - Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery, Gene Raymond
Suspicion (1941) - Nigel Bruce, Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant
The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) - Jean Arthur, Spring Byington, Charles Coburn
I Married a Witch (1942) - Veronica Lake, Fredic March
Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942) - Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Walter Slezak
The Big Street (1942) - Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Agnes Moorehead
The First of the Few (1942) - Leslie Howard, Rosamund John, David Niven
Went The Day Well? (1942) - David Farrar, Muriel George, Frank Lawton
Flight for Freedom (1943) - Fred MacMurray, Herbert Marshall, Rosalind Russell
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) - Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper, Katina Paxinou
Government Girl (1943) - Olivia de Havilland, Sonny Tufts
Higher and Higher (1943) - Jack Haley, Michele Morgan, Frank Sinatra, Mary Wickes
Jane Eyre (1943) - Joan Fontaine, Margaret O'Brien, Orson Welles
Millions Like Us (1943) - Anne Crawford, Gordon Jackson, Basil Radford, Patricia Roc
Mr Lucky (1943) - Gladys Cooper, Laraine Day, Cary Grant
Tender Comrade (1943) - Ruth Hussey, Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan
The Gentle Sex (1943) - Joan Greenwood, Rosamund John, Lilli Palmer, Barbara Waring
The Outlaw (1943) - Jack Buetel, Walter Huston, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell
The Sky's the Limit (1943) - Fred Astaire, Robert Benchley, Joan Leslie
Double Indemnity (1944) - Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck
Experiment Perilous (1944) - Olive Blakeney, George Brent, Hedy Lamarr, Paul Lukas
Hotel Reserve (1944) - Herbet Lom, James Mason, Lucie Mannheim
Lifeboat (1944) - Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak
None But the Lonely Heart (1944) - Ethel Barrymore, Cary Grant, Jane Wyatt
This Happy Breed (1944) - Stanley Holloway, Celia Johnson, Robert Newton, John Mills
Brief Encounter (1945) - Stanley Holloway, Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) - Pamela Brown, Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey
Lady on a Train (1945) - David Bruce, Deanna Durbin, Edward Everett Horton
Spellbound (1945) - Ingrid Bergman, Michael Chekov, Gregory Peck
The House on 92nd Street (1945) - William Eythe, Signe Hasso, Lloyd Nolan
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - Kim Hunter, David Niven
Bedlam (1946) - Billy House, Boris Karloff, Anna Lee
Cloak and Dagger (1946) - Robert Alda, Gary Cooper, Lilli Palmer
From This Day Forward (1946) - Rosemary DeCamp, Joan Fontaine, Harry Morgan, Mark Stevens
Notorious (1946) - Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains
Sister Kenny (1946) - Dean Jagger, Alexander Knox, Rosalind Russell
The Captive Heart (1946) - Gordon Jackson, Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave
The Dark Mirror (1946) - Lew Ayres, Olivia de Havilland
A Double Life (1947) - Ronald Colman, Edmond O'Brien, Shelley Winters
Black Narcissus (1947) - Kathleen Byron, David Farrar, Deborah Kerr
Hue and Cry (1947) - Harry Fowler, Alastair Sim, Jack Warner
The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer (1947) - Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple
The Bishop's Wife (1947) - Gladys Cooper, Cary Grant, David Niven, Loretta Young
The Fabulous Dorseys (1947) - Janet Blair, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey
The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947) - Felix Aylmer, Robert Morley
The Lost Moment (1947) - Robert Cummings, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) - Boris Karloff, Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo
They Won't Believe Me (1947) - Jane Greer, Susan Hayward, Rita Johnson, Robert Young
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) - Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan
Macbeth (1948) - Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Orson Welles
Scott of the Antarctic (1948) - Derek Bond, John Mills, Kenneth More
The Velvet Touch (1948) - Sydney Greenstreet, Rosalind Russell, Claire Trevor
Holiday Affair (1949) - Wendell Corey, Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness, Dennis Price
The History of Mr Polly (1949) - Megs Jenkins, John Mills
The Red Pony (1949) - Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum
All About Eve (1950) - Anne Baxter, Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, George Sanders
Born to Be Bad (1950) - Joan Fontaine, Joan Leslie, Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott
Father of the Bride (1950) - Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy
Odette (1950) - Trevor Howard, Anna Neagle, Peter Ustinov
Never a Dull Moment (1950) - Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray, Natalie Wood
Sunset Boulevard (1950) - William Holden, Gloria Swanson
The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) - Joyce Grenfell, Margaret Rutherford, Alastair Sim
Double Dynamite (1951) - Groucho Marx, Jane Russell, Frank Sinatra
His Kind of Woman (1951) - Robert Mitchum, Vincent Price, Jane Russell
The African Queen (1951) - Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn
The Great Caruso (1951) - Ann Blyth, Mario Lanza
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) - Eddie Bracken, Janet Leigh, Tony Martin, Ann Miller
Angel Face (1952) - Leon Ames, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons
Hindle Wakes (1952) - Lisa Daniely, Leslie Dwyer, Joan Hickson
Monkey Business (1952) - Charles Coburn, Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers
Son of Paleface (1952) - Bob Hope, Roy Rogers, Jane Russell
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) - Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Brad Sullivan, Lana Turner
The Big Trees (1952) - Kirk Douglas, Eve Miller
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) - Gloria Grahame, Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, James Stewart, Cornel Wilde
The Las Vegas Story (1952) - Hoagy Carmichael, Brad Dexter, Victor Mature, Vincent Price, Jane Russell
From Here to Eternity (1953) - Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra
Genevieve (1953) - John Gregson, Kay Kendall, Kenneth More, Dinah Sheridan
I Confess (1953) - Brian Aherne, Anne Baxter, Montgomery Clift, Karl Malden
Mogambo (1953) - Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly
Roman Holiday (1953)
The French Line (1953) - Arthur Hunnicutt, Gilbert Roland, Jane Russell
An Inspector Calls (1954) - Alastair Sim, Brian Worth, Arthur Young
Beau Brummell (1954)
Doctor in the House (1954)
Hobson's Choice (1954) - Brenda de Banzie, Charles Laughton, John Mills
On the Waterfront (1954) - Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint
River of No Return (1954)
Sabrina (1954)
The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) - Tony Curtis, David Farrar, Janet Leigh, Barbara Rush
The Glenn Miller Story (1954) - June Allyson, James Stewart
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Kismet (1955) - Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, Howard Keel
Picnic (1955)
The Constant Husband (1955) - Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, Cecil Parker
The Ladykillers (1955)
The Virgin Queen (1955)
To Catch a Thief (1955) - Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis
Anastasia (1956)
Bhowani Junction (1956)
Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957)
Kiss Them For Me (1957)
Saint Joan (1957) - John Gielgud, Jean Seberg, Richard Widmark
The Admirable Crichton (1957)
Silk Stockings (1957) - Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jules Munshin, Janis Paige
The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
Town on Trial (1957) - Barbara Bates, Charles Coburn, John Mills
A Night To Remember (1958)
A Tale of Two Cities (1958) - Dirk Bogarde, Cecil Parker, Dorothy Tutin
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) - Burl Ives, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor
Indiscreet (1958)
Party Girl (1958)
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) - Ingrid Bergman, Robert Donat, Curd Jurgens
The Vikings (1958)
Tom Thumb (1958) - Peter Sellers, Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
The Nun's Story (1959) - Peter Finch, Audrey Hepburn, Dean Jagger
They Came to Cordura (1959) - Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin
Conspiracy of Hearts (1960)
School for Scoundrels (1960) - Ian Carmichael, Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas
Flower Drum Song (1961) - Juanita Hall, Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta
Lover Come Back (1961)
Victim (1961)
Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
How the West Was Won (1962) - Walter Brennan, James Stewart, Debbie Reynolds
In Search of the Castaways (1962) - Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills, George Sanders
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) - Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra
Charade (1963) - Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
Heavens Above! (1963) - Isabel Jeans, Cecil Parker, Peter Sellers
Summer Magic (1963) - Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire, Hayley Mills
Becket (1964) - Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole
Do Not Disturb (1965)
That Darn Cat! (1965) - Dean Jones, Hayley Mills, Roddy McDowall
A Man For All Seasons (1966)
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) - Doris Day, Paul Lynde, Rod Taylor
The Trouble With Angels (1966)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) - Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy
Murphy's War (1971)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974) - Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Funny Lady (1975) - James Caan, Barbra Streisand
Rooster Cogburn (1975) - Katharine Hepburn, John Wayne
The Hindenburg (1975)
Death on the Nile (1978)
The Lady Vanishes (1979)
The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
