You Top 10 Most Watchable *CLASSIC* (as in Prior to 1953) Films (inspired by Cachoo)

[Cyn]

Cachoo, who started the thread asking to list "Your Top 10 Most Watchable Films," got me thinking about older movies, and as such, was my inspiration to start this one, focusing on classic movies from 1953 and prior......

With the Oscars fast approaching, Turner Classic Movies always cranks up their annual "Thirty Days of Oscar" in February and the first three days of March, and their broadcast schedule is almost always a Cinemapalooza™ of Awesome

With that in mind, I'm inspired to ask, "What would your list be of your Top 10 Most Watchable Films Made in or Prior to 1953?"

Inquiring minds want to know

[Alixana]

Goodbye Mr. Chips (with Robert Donat)
Bringing Up Baby
Now Voyager
Stage Door
Mrs. Miniver
It Happened One Night
All the Thin Man movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy (ok, pretty much every movie Myrna was in!!)
African Queen
Laura (and almost every Gene Tierney movie every made)
Singing in the Rain

So difficult to pick only 10

[falling_dance]

Some are great, some are guilty pleasures, some are both.

Casablanca
Citizen Kane
Curse of the Cat People
Fantasia
Gone with the Wind
The Fountainhead
The Heiress
Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train
Under Capricorn

[centerstage01]

I can only pick ten? Crap, this is hard.

In no particular order:

Casablanca (1942)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
National Velvet (1944)
The Thin Man (1934)
Swing Time (1936)
Ninotchka (1939)

[Grannyfan]

Only ten??? In no particular order:

Laura
Palm Beach Story
All About Eve
The Women
Double Indemnity
Now, Voyager
Suspicion
The Spiral Staircase
The Thin Man
Rebecca
The Heiress

[ChelleC]

Casablanca
Citizen Kane
Gone With the Wind
Bringing Up Baby
His Girl Friday
Notorious
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Rebecca
Suspicion

[smurfy]

There are many movies that I love, and many I have not seen Of the ones I have seen, that I love:
Casablanca
Gone With The Wind
The Third Man
My Favorite Wife
Suspicion
Mrs Miniver
Gaslight
Mr Smith Goes to Washington

[Cyn]

I started this thread and forgot to include my own list ......

Again, it's difficult to choose only ten. At this moment and in the mood I'm currently in, here are my choices (in no particular order):


- Harvey (1950) starring Jimmy Stewart
- Anna Karenina (1935) starring Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, and Maureen O'Sullivan
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson
- His Girl Friday (1940) starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and Ralph Bellamy
- The Maltese Falcon (1940) starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor
- Mrs. Miniver (1942) starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Teresa Wright.
- Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939) starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter
- Gaslight (1944) starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and Angela Lansbury
- Duck Soup (1933) starring The Marx Brothers (it was a tossup between this and another Marx Brothers classic, A Night At the Opera (1935))

[Nell411]

I have so many this is going to be hard to narrow down to ten. In no real order:

His Girl Friday
The Thin Man
The Philadelphia Story
The Quiet Man
Rio Grande
Rope
Casablanca
Cheaper By The Dozen
Roman Holiday
Kiss Me Kate

[duane]

I LOVE this topic. These are the 10 movies I watch most (in no particular order):

Leave Her To Heaven (1945)
The Heiress (1949)
Come And Get It (1936)
A Place In The Sun (1951)
Meet Me In St Louis (1944)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
All About Eve (1950)
Sunset Blvd (1950)
Caged (1950)
Son Of Fury (1942)

[magicpixie]

Laura (and almost every Gene Tierney movie every made)

me too! Love Gene Tierney! The two I watch most are Laura and The Mating Season.

Laura
The Mating Season
Casablanca
The Kid (Chaplin)
Exit Smiling (1926)
The Lady Vanishes
A Place in the Sun
Shadow of A Doubt
Lady From Shanghai
All About Eve

Honorable mention to Rita Hayworth's movies with Astaire and Kelly. I'll watch those any time if they're on.

[Cachoo]

It is hard to choose but here goes:

The Thin Man
Philadelphia Story
Casablanca
Mrs. Miniver
It's A Wonderful Life
The Red Shoes
I Remember Mama
High Noon
The Quiet Man
Room For One More

[aliceanne]

I have the entire Fred and Ginger collection. I believe that is 10 right there.

In addition I have "Gaslight" 1943, my favorite version of "Pride and Prejudice" is the Greer Garson/Lawrence Olivier version. I enjoy "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and "Anna and The King of Siam" with Rex Harrison to name a few.

[paskatefan]

Gone with the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
Casablanca
Hans Christian Andersen (not exactly sure of the release year)
Singin' in the Rain
Fantasia
The Three Caballeros
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs
Meet Me in St. Louis
Pinnochio

[Jenny]

I share many favourites with others here:

Rebecca
All About Eve
Now, Voyager (and pretty much anything with Bette Davis)
Meet Me in St Louis (and other Judy Garland classics)
Gaslight
The Thin Man (but only the first one as the rest are under the Production Code and quite watered down)

Two more I'd like to add to the list that I don't see mentioned:

State Fair - 1945 version - I actually took a vacation to the Iowa State Fair and drove the route the family takes because of this movie
Macao - sizzling exotica with Robert Mitchum and Rosalind Russell

[my little pony]

1. man hunt
2. natl velvet
3. christmas in connecticut
4. the third man
5. all about eve
6. easter parade
7. three smart girls
8. bringing up baby
9. the man who came to dinner
10. caablanca

[Karina1974]

Here's mine! Some of my 10 Most Watchables would be on here, but I didn't want to duplicate (also didn't include GWTW because that one is on so many lists already):

- The Postman Always Rings Twice
- The Snake Pit
- Our Dancing Daughters
- Our Blushing Brides
- Cat People
- Pandora's Box
- Diary of a Lost Girl
- Blackmail
- Wintertime - had to throw a couple of Sonja Henie films on here, and Cesar Romero is hysterical in this one.
- It's a Pleasure - Sonja's only film in color. Easily the best-dressed skater in the history of the sport.

[VALuvsMKwan]

Gone with the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
The Women
(All above are 1939)
Now Voyager
The African Queen
Bringing Up Baby
Meet Me in St. Louis
Easter Parade
All about Eve
The Philadelphia Story

3 with Judy Garland and Kate Hepburn
2 with Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Marjorie Main and Cary Grant
1 each with Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Ann Miller, Margaret Hamilton, Marilyn Monroe, Hattie McDaniel, Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire and (as Bette Davis called him) "Little Ronnie Reagan"

[myhoneyhoney]

I can't think of 10 right now but some of my all time faves are:

Meet Me in St. Louis
Gone With the Wind
Marie Antoinette

[Rex]

Baby Face
History Is Made At Night
Dark Victory
Remember The Night
Rebecca
Double Indemnity
Woman of The Year
Now Voyager
In This Our Life
Johnny Belinda