Top 10 Classic Movies You Should Be Watching Right Now

/ Lisa R. Howeler

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s prompt was Non-bookish Freebie (The sky is the limit here. Make a top ten list on any topic of your choosing, bookish or not!)

So I decided to share ten movies I think all of you should watch at some point in your lives, but preferably right now. I have watched all of them and two of them are my favorites. Guess which two in the comments for fun!

  1. The Third Man (1949)

Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, “The Third Man” stars Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to find him dead. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a “third man” present at the time of Harry’s death, running into interference from British officer Maj. Calloway (Trevor Howard) and falling head-over-heels for Harry’s grief-stricken lover, Anna (Alida Valli).

2. The Young In Heart (1938)

A swank family of swindlers that includes father “Sahib,” (Roland Young), wife Marmy, son Richard (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) and daughter George-Anne (Janet Gaynor), fall upon hard times in France and return home to London destitute. The family befriends a wealthy spinster, Miss Ellen Fortune, and after they rescue her when their train crashes, she invites them to stay with her. Initially planning to prey on Miss Ellen, the family is swayed by her goodness and begins to change in shocking ways.

3. The Quiet Man (1952)

Boxer Sean Thornton leaves America and returns to his native Ireland, hoping to buy his family’s homestead and live in peace. In doing so, he runs afoul of Will Danaher, who long coveted the property. Spitefully, Will objects when his fiery sister, Mary Kate, begins a romance with Sean, and refuses to hand over her dowry. Mary Kate refuses to consummate the marriage until Sean retrieves the money.

4. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and, together with fellow soldier Allen Melvin (James Edwards), races to uncover a terrible plot.

5. The Thin Man (1934)

The story of a retired detective who, while spending much of his time managing his wife’s considerable fortune and consuming quantities of alcohol, is asked to follow the trail of a missing inventor. Although reluctant to interrupt his holiday in Manhattan, he is persuaded to investigate by his wife’s craving for adventure, and together they embark upon a case that leads to the disclosure of deception and murder.

6. Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Harried paleontologist David Huxley (Cary Grant) has to make a good impression on society matron Mrs. Random (May Robson), who is considering donating one million dollars to his museum. On the day before his wedding, Huxley meets Mrs. Random’s high-spirited young niece, Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), a madcap adventuress who immediately falls for the straitlaced scientist. The ever-growing chaos — including a missing dinosaur bone and a pet leopard — threatens to swallow him whole.

7. Suspicion (1941)

Charming scoundrel Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) woos wealthy but plain Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine), who runs away with him despite the warnings of her disapproving father (Cedric Hardwicke). After their marriage, Johnnie’s risky financial ventures cause Lina to suspect he’s becoming involved in unscrupulous dealings. When his dear friend and business partner, Beaky (Nigel Bruce), dies under suspicious circumstances on a business trip, she fears her husband might kill her for her inheritance.

 

8. Singing in the Rain (1952)

When the transition is being made from silent films to `talkies’, everyone has trouble adapting. Don and Lina have been cast repeatedly as a romantic couple, but when their latest film is remade into a musical, only Don has the voice for the new singing part. After a lot of practise with a diction coach, Lina still sounds terrible, and Kathy, a bright young aspiring actress, is hired to record over her voice.

9. Gaslight (1944)

After the death of her famous opera-singing aunt, Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is sent to study in Italy to become a great opera singer as well. While there, she falls in love with the charming Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The two return to London, and Paula begins to notice strange goings-on: missing pictures, strange footsteps in the night and gaslights that dim without being touched. As she fights to retain her sanity, her new husband’s intentions come into question.

10. The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (1947)

Artist playboy Dickie Nugent (Cary Grant) appears before beautiful judge Margaret Turner (Myrna Loy) for fighting at a nightclub, and charms her into dismissing the charge. That same day, Dickie happens to lecture at a high school, where Margaret’s teenage sister, Susan (Shirley Temple), falls head-over-heels for him. Things get complicated when Susan sneaks away and is found in Dickie’s apartment, and downright zany when he is court ordered to date the teen as a way of easing her attraction.

Have you ever seen any of these movies? What did you think?

To find more movie suggestions or “reviews” click HERE.

Lisa R. Howeler is a blogger, homeschool mom, and writes cozy mysteries.

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

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44 thoughts on “Top 10 Classic Movies You Should Be Watching Right Now”

  1. Pingback: Sunday Bookends: Cooler weather, mysteries, and Summer of Angela wrapping up | Boondock Ramblings

    • Well, we only have so much time to watch everything so it totally makes sense if you can’t get to them! Plus everyone likes different stuff so one I like might not be what others like and vice versa. I think I am going to rewatch all the Thin Man movies this winter. It would be a lot of fun.

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  5. Singing in the Rain is one of my favorites! Bringing Up Baby is really great, too.

    Hollywood really isn’t coming up with much new. This is the perfect time for the younger generation to discover these classic hits!

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  7. Good post–I’ll be exploring your blog more. Thank you for commenting at mine today. I love several of these, but when I watched the Quiet Man most recently, I could understand why young women today were upset. I understand the story and still love it, but John Wayne’s reputation has been severely tarnished. I like knowing the whole story on someone but reverse the right to still like their work.

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    • Why yes they are! Good guesses! though I’m sure I must have mentioned it at some point. Or several times. Ha! Honestly, Singing in the Rain is fun other than this really long dance scene half way through that I always fast forward through. Each of the movies have good points. The Thin Man has some more humor in it. Anything with William Powell and Myrna Loy in it is fun

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    • Yes, I did do a Spring with Cary and she’s right about other movies being better 😄 but I thought I’d pick one where he plays a bit of different character and one that is less popular. And, yep, they did a remake of The Manchurian Candidate with Denzil Washington in 2004.

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  19. I don’t know “The Quiet Man” and “The Manchurian Candidate” and it has been a while since I watched “The Thin Man” and “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” (actually I didn’t even remember I had the second one), but all the others are very vivid in my head.
    I would probably have picked different Cary Grant movies myself – To Catch a Thief, Walk Don’t Run, Philadelphia Story, North by Northwest, Holiday. Can you tell I’m just happy to see Cary Grant? 😉

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