All the time, '30s, '40s, '50s and on up. Turner Classic Movies is my favorite channel. :-)

Never. I also love modern music. Pink is a favorite. Or, Tones.

Not usually that old - but some 40s and definitely 50s. And newer, of course.

I discovered 30s and 40s and early 50s movies on YouTube during Covid — both British and US.

The effect of the Hayes Code is evident, as well as pure escapism. Previously I questioned why Depression-era movie goers would want to see rich people cavorting. Nothing like a pandemic and shelter-in-place warnings to make one value mindless entertainment.

There were as many duds and yawners as ever, but easy to click to find something else.

I have a new appreciation for British actors — John Mills, Leslie Howard, James Mason, Margaret Lockwood, Elsa Lancaster, Michael Rennie, and others.

Finding The Third Man on YouTube was a delight, and sent me off to find what other films were available with Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, and Trevor Howard. (Post-war Nazi hunting with Edward G Robinson, Loretta Young, and Orson Welles!)

British films in the late 30s are interesting for their reflection of events — and threats — in Europe as opposed to far fewer in the US.

Not much. I find many of them not to my liking, I'm not sure why.

There are many films on the AFI Top 100 list that I enjoy seeing again every now and then. Not all. Some on the list are from the first half of the 20th century. There are other films not on that list that I also like to watch again every so often that are mostly since the sixties and in ensuing decades.

No. I very, very seldom watch any movies. I do like documentaries tho.

I watch film noir all the time and love the old movies -- 30s, 40s and 50s -- Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Robert Ryan who can be so psychotic!! Norma Shearer and Gene Tierney were just 2 of the knock outs that acted back then. The musicals of the 30s, esp Fred & Ginger, were so light and fun...very uplifting when times are down. And the fashions! I always look to see who did the gowns from Edith Head to Adrian and Jean Louis! People dressed to the nines just to go out after dinner with jewels and sequins and tuxes. I love the depth in the stories, the meanings that can be sent in a glance. I haven't seen a movie in the theater in probably over a decade and can't even remember what it was. But all I remember was getting dizzy and headachy from the loudness and the blurry images from all the fast action in just the trailers, let alone the movie itself.

This month, TCM is showing films of one actor a day. I watched one with Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell just this afternoon.

It does make me feel old though when I talk to a younger person and mention I love old movies....and they start talking about movies from the 1990s or early 2000s! Mention Key Largo and they look at you like you have 2 heads.

I also have used the authors of film noir to find books to read. They were so popular at the time, but have since fallen off the plate. Cornell Woolrich, Phyllis Bottome are 2 that have stood out for me.

Not quite that early but plenty from the 50s. My mother liked movies. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Bridge on River Kwai. I might not admit to you how many times I've seen African Queen.

Funny thing is we've seen no recent movies. I understand there is a theater now at the beach with reclining seats, bar and restaurant service during the films. Maybe DH would enjoy that some rainy afternoon but he's just not a movie theater type. He does like theater style popcorn 😊

Back during VCR days, I loved watching The Thin Man series of movies and almost anything with Fred Astaire or Katharine Hepburn. I also enjoyed Doris Day movies, especially the comedies. My attention span is different now, but I should see if any of those are available for streaming just for fun. Thanks for reminding me.

I love old old movies. Yes, 30's and on, but I'm not into the silents. all else is fair game for me.

I've watched The Thin Man a few times, trying to teach my husband how to banter, haha - he's into it too, for as long as the movie lasts - Love that martini scene (although problematic through a modern lens :))

Last Christmas I binged so many old Christmas movies, I think more from the '40s

Remember the Night (1940) with Barbara Stanwyck and Ed McMurray touched my heart, and Christmas in Connecticutt (1945) also with Barbara Stanwyck was great too, so funny ! (although the lead man lacked chemistry with Barbara)

I love the conversational 'action' and witty repartee, sharpens my mind in a way. Now you've motivated me to find more, I'll follow this thread for more suggestions ! For example, I think I've missed out on Katherine Hepburn's earlier movies

Just remembered, part of my Christmas binge was Stella Dallas (1937) also with Barbara Stanwyck, a super tear- jerker watching her make all of those mistakes in her life just in search of some fun

Off topic, but our local theater is playing Breakfast at Tiffany's Tuesday, 1961, so that'll be fun in an anachronistic way ! (edited to attempt to spell the word right)

Another Edit : I meant Fred McMurray, sorry - I knew him through the years, My Three sons was on our tv every week, and loved him, so sorry I 'flubbered' his name (reference to his disney movie 'flubber')

Thanks everyone for suggestions of actors and movies. Another thing I like is no "F" word. Really getting tired of it in new movies.

I watched so many when we had TCM - love them - especially pre-code 🙂

Lots are available on various free streaming platforms, and YouTube as well.

Hmmm....if I had to name some of my favorites, it'd be so hard. But in no particular order, if you haven't seen them....

Laura

Dial M for Murder

Sorry Wrong Number

Niagara

Beware My Lovely

Cape Fear (the original)

Elmer Gantry

12 Angry Men

Taking of Pelham 123 (the original)

The Night of the Hunter

Now Voyager

The Little Foxes

Leave Her to Heaven

Key Largo

Casablanca (of course!)

Sunset Boulevard

Double Indemnity

The Hitch-hiker

White Heat

....but there are so many more!

There was an "LA Chapter" of the noir fiction school too. Early members were Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. Later ones included Joseph Wambaugh and James Elroy.

Dashiel Hammett deserves mention too but I think other than Maltese Falcon, I'm not sure how many stories were set on the West Coast.

'Murder He Says' is 1945 rather than the 1930s but Fred MacMurray (finally got his name right) really is memorable in this one - the ditty with the clue is a 50-year ear worm for me, you'll know what I mean if you've watched it

I love movies from the 1930s, and I used to watch them partly for the sets. I got a lot of inspiration for furniture designs from watching Marx Brothers movies from that period. We recorded the entire Thin Man series from TCM when we had cable.

I also love Italian movies from the 1960s and Mexican movies from the 1950s, plus I have a collection of DVDs of Soviet movies from the 1970s that I especially like, but the initial menus on the DVDs can be difficult to navigate without knowing a bit of Russian - at least enough to get the menu to switch to English, which requires switching through two or three screens in Russian.

For French movies, I especially like Jacques Tati, mostly from the 1950s, like Mon Oncle:

Kevin bought a DVD set of Jacques Tati movies, and I like pretty much all of them.

I like most older movies more than any of the new. There were clunkers too but I think the pace, the creativity etc are more my speed.

I am going to read this more in depth later, but I have to respond so I don't forget this!

I am so NOT a movie fan in general, but once in a blue moon I will somehow come across an oldie like the ones you've mentioned, and I am blown away.

I remember years ago, right after I got married that late on Friday nights, they would show the real gems and I got caught up in it. There were a bunch of Preston Stugis movies that I watched and I thought they were absolutely brilliant and perfect.

Sigh, they do NOT make movies like that any more.

Fred MacMurray is in one of the great noir movies of all time: Double Indemnity. Also Barbara Stanwyck, and the great Edward G. Robinson. 1944.

Frank Capra movies too are classics.

I understand those who don't like silents, but Buster Keaton's The General is an absolutely phenomenal piece of work.

Yes, Annie! I also enjoy Harold Lloyd films, like Safety Last. And of course pretty much anything by Chaplin.

Not that old...I re-watch a couple like, "When Harry Met Sally", "To Kill a Mockingbird",

"Shawshank Redemption", and a couple more...if I am in the mood. A lot of Tom

Hanks movies are watched over and over.

I have recently been getting snippets of Buster Keaton movies on my Facebook feed. I'd known about him being a brilliant acrobat, but wow, he was really good looking!

Nope, I think the last movie I watched that was near that era was Gone with the Wind and that was at least a decade ago.

I can’t watch really old movies. To my brain most have not aged well but the main reason for me is the acting. I have noticed that the actresses had this weird breathy cadence with their speech very often. I understand not all females sound the same but I find it really annoying to listen to, for me. I remember asking my Mom once why the women sounded like that in those old movies and she said ”it was called acting”. Personally for me, I don’t enjoy those old movies and can’t sit thru them. We are all so different.

I have noticed that the actresses had this weird breathy cadence with their speech very often.

Yes - this goes along with what was called a "Transatlantic accent". You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_American_Speech

Thanks Bookwoman, that was interesting. I always wondered about that.

Now I know.

Very interesting to learn. I thank you too.

My friend Mark Vieira wrote a book on film noir called Into The Dark, 2016, which he autographed for me. Mark especially liked B&W movies, partly, I think, because he is colorblind. I taught Mark how to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver so that he could edit his website himself, but it was difficult to get him to tone down screen colors. He had an affinity for magenta, for some reason, which always hurt my eyes when I worked with him.

Very interesting about the speech patterns. I did always notice the different accents, but what always intrigued me was the cadence. It's so different from how we speak today.

The other morning I stumbled on Me TV and had I think The Big Valley (? it was a western type like Bonanza or something) tv show. There were definitely accents but the voices and tones of their dialogue was so different from what we hear today.

FWIW, I recall a podcast episode about that mid-Atlantic accent and how it came to be in early films, unfortunately I don't recall which podcast. In case anyone wasn't aware, back in the day - especially early on, studio actors were trained by vocal coaches, along with other aspects of their work, like deportment, and glamour/grooming. Anyone remember that scene from Singin' In The Rain?

The blonde woman's voice is annoyingly shrill. I hope it's part of the performance. Who is that?

Edit to add - an observation with a smile that just occurred to me. It's not intended to be critical. It's something easy to do, and I often do so too, when compressing a thought and what results can be odd words or forms.

The term "old 1930s movies" is a bit like saying "ATM machine". The "old" word isn't necessary, there are no new 1930s movies. ;-)

There are very few movies I've ever watched more than once. One that is marvelous for its non-stop dialogue and the diction we're discussing here: "The Lion in Winter", with Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn.

You will judge every other singer to be lacking in breath control, pitch, purity of tone and diction after listening to Irish tennor John McCormack.

The blonde woman's voice is annoyingly shrill. I hope it's part of the performance. Who is that?

That's Jean Hagen, whose real voice was actually very lovely. The conceit of the film, which takes place in the 1920s (but was made in 1952), is that sound has come to motion pictures. Her character, Lina Lamont, who has been a great silent film star, has a terrible voice for the talkies, hence the elocution lessons. It's supposed to be funny.

The movie is one of the greats. I hope that you've at least seen Gene Kelly's star turn:

While looking to find a sample of Hagen's voice, I came upon this interesting presentation and interesting info about her voice and the movie

I knew that they didn't use Debbie Reynolds' real voice, but didn't know that about Jean Hagen's. Thanks! I'll have to listen for that next time I watch the movie.

So many actresses were dubbed when they 'sang', but without attribution in the credits. The most famous example of this is when Marni Nixon sang for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. The actual role should have gone to Julie Andrews, who originated the part on stage, but at that point she was something of an unknown and not considered to be enough of a box office draw. Much as I love Hepburn, Andrews would have been much better in the part and could have done her own singing. Follow me for more movie trivia. ;-)

Nixon also sang for Natalie Wood in the movie version of West Side Story. She taught singing- a friend of mine got to know her in that capacity and has told me she was a very nice person.

One of her sons was the musician Andrew Gold, who had hits with Lonely Boy and Thank You For Being A Friend.

I love old movies as well but don't get the opportunity to watch as often as I'd like.

Ha - I was thinking of this scene, almost forgot about Lina Lamont 😄

Moses Supposes

P.S. There's a big difference between early 1930s 'talkies' and later 1930s movies like Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz - both from 1939 - not comparable @ all, IMO

I like watching old movies too, mainly for the design, clothing and hats. I cringe, however, at all the smokers. I almost choke just watching them filling the air with fumes and sympathize with any performer who has to endure billows emanating from someone in close proximity.

There are a few notable things that have changed since then. One is the dimension of the pages of newspapers has shrunk dramatically.

The other is how sharply telecomm costs have fallen. The idea of chucking coins in to a telephone, each of which would buy you a sandwich for lunch to get 3 min of time, let alone international call costs!