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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2017 19:15:28 GMT
Thought this would be an interesting topic for anyone who wants to share.
I mostly watch older films, even films from the 70's can be too modern for me sometimes. And as I was thinking about this the other day I started to realize why I love classic films so much more than I like new films.
1/ The actors/characters are adults. They look like adults, act like adults, are adults. They aren't having teenage style meltdowns in their mid 30's, they aren't doing gross or stupid things. They have grace and are mature.
2/ Black and White. B&W sets a tone and makes me feel like I am looking through a window into another world.
3/ The women are beautiful and dress impeccably. I love the glamour.
4/ The way the men and women respond to each other. The romance.
5/ Escapism, sure, some of these films feature social agenda's of the time. But it was a different time and ages ago. I can deal with it. For the most part though it is just entertainment.
6/ The storylines are more interesting and involved. Some of these films are slow but they aren't dull. Even the comedies are funnier than they are now.
7/ Star power. These people look and act like stars. I don't get that from most of the actors around now.
8/ Sentimentality. I grew up on old films, born in the 70's I was watching Ma and Pa Kettle and old war movies etc all the time. I like the memories it brings back.
So why do you like classic films?
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Post by vegalyra on Feb 7, 2017 21:27:29 GMT
Great list. I agree with all of your points. I would add the scripts are generally written for a more mature audience, although younger viewers can enjoy most of the films from the era as well. They don't pander to a youth culture that can't/won't appreciate art. I have to admit though that I do appreciate quite a bit of 1970's and early 1980's films as well though. My favorite era is the 1930's to very early 1960's however.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2017 2:44:28 GMT
I love 80's films actually. For some reason 70's films usually leave me flat, they have a dark vibe about them for some reason. For me anyway.
Yep the 30's to early 60's really had it right.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2017 3:53:07 GMT
I love 80's films actually. For some reason 70's films usually leave me flat, they have a dark vibe about them for some reason. For me anyway. Yep the 30's to early 60's really had it right. That's the collapse of the studio system you are seeing, JMHO, and the recovery spurred on by the likes of Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg and more. A pretty long read on the collapse of the studio system. |
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Feb 8, 2017 4:00:22 GMT
I particularly like seeing fashions, cars, interior design, etc....but my favourite part: most old films have steady camerawork. Whoever invented shakycam should be shot.
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Post by snsurone on Feb 9, 2017 15:01:42 GMT
I love classic films for the reasons the OP said (although there are some great classic films in color).
And also because they lack the nudity, graphic sex, violence, blood and gore of later movies.
Even pre-Code films required the use of imagination.
Today, everything is all CGI or stupid rom-coms/rom-drams, catering to the kiddie/teen demographic.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2017 20:37:51 GMT
@homergreg
Thanks, I always figured there was some reason for it. The quality and the tone of the films themselves just dropped so much.
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Post by louise on Feb 11, 2017 5:07:05 GMT
I love many old films, but not all the old films I like feature people behaving maturely. Sometimes they are very silly indeed, as in Bringing Up Baby for example, or Ask a Policeman. I don't care about them being black and white, in fact some I think would definitely have been geeat in colour. I always think particularly of a period comedy called La Kermesse Heroique, set in 17th century Flanders. I always think that would have looked gorgeous in colour.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2017 20:24:21 GMT
I love many old films, but not all the old films I like feature people behaving maturely. Sometimes they are very silly indeed, as in Bringing Up Baby for example, or Ask a Policeman. I don't care about them being black and white, in fact some I think would definitely have been geeat in colour. I always think particularly of a period comedy called La Kermesse Heroique, set in 17th century Flanders. I always think that would have looked gorgeous in colour. I love Bringing Up Baby, and maybe it is the fashion or just that the characters aren't on drugs but even in that movie they seemed a lot more mature and together than the characters I see in modern films. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2017 21:34:43 GMT
Great list,@morlock. I would add: - Men, back before they had vulva-envy, back before they were women! (No synthetic aka IVF'd men) - No tattoos, except on sailors, killers and creepy people, where they belong. - White people galore, YaY! (I LOVE White men!!!) - Hats! I love men in hats, particularly fedoras (even better with a pinstripe suit). Remember when you could tell someone's job by their hat? Be it nurse, soda jerk, bell boy, milk delivery man, cop, everyone had a bazillion hats for every occasion! So far I've seen Errol Flynn sporting a fedora, cowboy hat, pith helmet, top hat, sailor cap, bomb helmet and I forget what else! - Normalcy! IE no one bitching about liberal nonsense like gay marriage and no accusing regular people (who aren't on drugs and/or dont suffer from gay brain/gay logic) of made up crap like homophobia and other idiocies like that. No gays bullying normal people. - Houses with walls!!! Walls galore, YaY! And closed kitchens. - Fabulous huge fireplaces. I love them! And of course, as you said, stars that were stars, maintained proper decorum and decency, had mystique instead of revealing all and would rather die of shame rather than pull a Lisa *crass* Rinna on camera. There's probably more, I love watching how people lived in a White conquered nation before drugs stupefied 90+% of the population!  Yeah I notice that too, the men really are men and the women are women. Ok, there is a lot of Domestic violence but the women seem to hold their own when they want to. Not to mention they have their own methods of laying down the law. I love that the women are glamorous as well, no tatts, no flat shoes, hair always done, wonderful dresses. I love how they swish around rather than walk like wharfies. Oh yes, I do love the homegenity of all white people. Reminds me of a much simpler more unified time. Hats rock. Ahhh no PC agendas. I also love how classy life seemed to be and how peaceful it all was. Yes, they are just movies but you can get a sense of what it was like, how the standards were so much higher for everything. I also like how the cops did their jobs and fought crime. Often violently. And in regards to your other post, leaving things to the imagination really makes a difference, I was watching 99 River Street and there is a scene where they find a body in a box, they don't show the body at all, but you can tell from the women's reactions that it is horrifying. No need for blood and guts. Yet these days that is what they would show and the actors would barely act or respond at all. |
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Post by NK19 on Feb 14, 2017 9:33:35 GMT
2/ Black and White. B&W sets a tone and makes me feel like I am looking through a window into another world. Oh yes, I do love the homegenity of all white people. Reminds me of a much simpler more unified time. Make up your mind, ffs.  Jokes aside, I watch classic movies for the same reason that I watch contemporary movies: In the hopes of finding something that is either entertaining, thought-provoking, or a combination of both. Movie-making is an artform and good art is (or should be) timeless. Those who prefer old movies to new tend to romanticize them in a disproportional way; in reality, there was a lot of cinematic garbage produced in the classic era. It's just that they have been mostly forgotten with time, which leaves us with the higher quality ones. Channels like TCM are naturally bound to mainly show the best ones, akin to how a "greatest hits of decade x" compilation album would create a distortion to the listener of what type of the material the decade really did produce as a whole. By establishing that the ratio of good/bad motion pictures is more or less the same throughout the decades, I guess it all boils down to personal taste as far as who you prefer the most goes. You have very well-reasoned explanations for why you prefer classic movies. Yet, I would say that the 2nd & 8th points in particular have a (possibly subconcious) affect on your other points because there a certain things that don't quite add up to how things really were. I speak from an empirical film-historic perspective here. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 10:34:05 GMT
Thought this would be an interesting topic for anyone who wants to share. I mostly watch older films, even films from the 70's can be too modern for me sometimes. And as I was thinking about this the other day I started to realize why I love classic films so much more than I like new films. 1/ The actors/characters are adults. They look like adults, act like adults, are adults. They aren't having teenage style meltdowns in their mid 30's, they aren't doing gross or stupid things. They have grace and are mature. 2/ Black and White. B&W sets a tone and makes me feel like I am looking through a window into another world. 3/ The women are beautiful and dress impeccably. I love the glamour. 4/ The way the men and women respond to each other. The romance. 5/ Escapism, sure, some of these films feature social agenda's of the time. But it was a different time and ages ago. I can deal with it. For the most part though it is just entertainment. 6/ The storylines are more interesting and involved. Some of these films are slow but they aren't dull. Even the comedies are funnier than they are now. 7/ Star power. These people look and act like stars. I don't get that from most of the actors around now. 8/ Sentimentality. I grew up on old films, born in the 70's I was watching Ma and Pa Kettle and old war movies etc all the time. I like the memories it brings back. So why do you like classic films? |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 10:54:57 GMT
I love classic films for the many reasons that you've listed, Morlock, plus they were unique. Each film was different, had a good plot (just think of the film noir "Impact" with Brian Donlevy and Helen Walker). Today when we go to the movie theater, it's too many times variations of the same theme. One spy movie after another. One end time movie after another (no more "Hunger Games" for me, please!)and so on. Only very few newer movies from the past 20 years stand out for me(like the "The Next 3 Days" (Russell Crowe), the first two "Bridget Jones" movies, "Tell No One" with François Cluzet, "Déjà vu" (Denzel Washington), "Double Jeopardy" (Ashley Judd), "The DaVinci Code", "Bridge of Spies" (Tom Hanks), "Cellular" (Kim Basinger), "Flight Plan" (Jodie Foster) "Fire Wall" (Harrison Ford), "Killing Me Softly" (Joseph Fiennes), "Panic Room" (Jodie Foster) and of course "The Silence of the Lambs" (Jodie Foster)). There are still so many good novels out there like "Landscape of Lies" by Peter Watson and "Gold Coast" by Nelson DeMille and many others that I could list, but instead of filming these, Hollywood produces formula movies over and over again.  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 12:26:43 GMT
I love classic films for the many reasons that you've listed, Morlock, plus they were unique. Each film was different, had a good plot (just think of the film noir "Impact" with Brian Donlevy and Helen Walker). Today when we go to the movie theater, it's too many times variations of the same theme. One spy movie after another. One end time movie after another (no more "Hunger Games" for me, please!)and so on. Only very few newer movies from the past 20 years stand out for me(like the "The Next 3 Days" (Russell Crowe), the first two "Bridget Jones" movies, "Tell No One" with François Cluzet, "Déjà vu" (Denzel Washington), "Double Jeopardy" (Ashley Judd), "The DaVinci Code", "Bridge of Spies" (Tom Hanks), "Cellular" (Kim Basinger), "Flight Plan" (Jodie Foster) "Fire Wall" (Harrison Ford), "Killing Me Softly" (Joseph Fiennes), "Panic Room" (Jodie Foster) and of course "The Silence of the Lambs" (Jodie Foster)). There are still so many good novels out there like "Landscape of Lies" by Peter Watson and "Gold Coast" by Nelson DeMille and many others that I could list, but instead of filming these, Hollywood produces formula movies over and over again. Yep that was another thing I was thinking of. Like when they made Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. it was more of an action hero which we have plenty of. And the first reboot of Star Trek they did felt more like Star Wars. They lose the point of the story itself. And some don't even have a story it is more like a 90 min music video just a montage of scenes and when the film ends you feel cheated and empty. |
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Post by jrdmln on Feb 19, 2017 22:42:38 GMT
I like classic movies because the stories were better written. The actors in old movies could act. A lot of old movies were more lighthearted and didn't deal with as many serious or inappropriate subject matters. I like how a lot of old movies were escapist. I especially like the old comedies that were lighthearted. I think that the 1930s to the early 1960s were the best decades for movies. My favorite decades for movies are the 1930s and 1940s. I like how old movies didn't have nudity, graphic violence, sex scenes, and a lot of cussing. Even the precode movies of the early 1930s were not that bad and did leave things to the imagination for the most part and were not trashy compared to movies from the late 1960s onwards. Movies these days have too much cussing, graphic violence, sex scenes. A lot of movies these days also seem too focused on CGI special effects instead of the story in movies.
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Post by novastar6 on Feb 20, 2017 6:35:19 GMT
I like classic movies because the stories were better written. The actors in old movies could act. A lot of old movies were more lighthearted and didn't deal with as many serious or inappropriate subject matters. I like how a lot of old movies were escapist. I especially like the old comedies that were lighthearted. I think that the 1930s to the early 1960s were the best decades for movies. My favorite decades for movies are the 1930s and 1940s. I like how old movies didn't have nudity, graphic violence, sex scenes, and a lot of cussing. Even the precode movies of the early 1930s were not that bad and did leave things to the imagination for the most part and were not trashy compared to movies from the late 1960s onwards. Movies these days have too much cussing, graphic violence, sex scenes. A lot of movies these days also seem too focused on CGI special effects instead of the story in movies. Have to agree, and on the note of precode, I would like to elaborate, perfect example, Old Dark House, you'd NEVER see any woman in the later 30s wearing the kind of dress Gloria Stuart had on after changing out of her wet clothes. And Rebecca speaking about 'your soft white flesh and how to please your man', and yet even here there were limits, she didn't have to spell out what went on in the house when they were growing up, you still got the picture. |
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Post by novastar6 on Feb 20, 2017 6:37:28 GMT
Thought this would be an interesting topic for anyone who wants to share. I mostly watch older films, even films from the 70's can be too modern for me sometimes. And as I was thinking about this the other day I started to realize why I love classic films so much more than I like new films. 1/ The actors/characters are adults. They look like adults, act like adults, are adults. They aren't having teenage style meltdowns in their mid 30's, they aren't doing gross or stupid things. They have grace and are mature. 2/ Black and White. B&W sets a tone and makes me feel like I am looking through a window into another world. 3/ The women are beautiful and dress impeccably. I love the glamour. 4/ The way the men and women respond to each other. The romance. 5/ Escapism, sure, some of these films feature social agenda's of the time. But it was a different time and ages ago. I can deal with it. For the most part though it is just entertainment. 6/ The storylines are more interesting and involved. Some of these films are slow but they aren't dull. Even the comedies are funnier than they are now. 7/ Star power. These people look and act like stars. I don't get that from most of the actors around now. 8/ Sentimentality. I grew up on old films, born in the 70's I was watching Ma and Pa Kettle and old war movies etc all the time. I like the memories it brings back. So why do you like classic films? Excellent list, and I have to agree in large. Though I like 70s movies, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Walking Tall, When a Stranger Calls, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Harold and Maude, they have something to them you won't find anymore. |
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Apr 21, 2017 1:40:47 GMT
There was a sense that there was always an effort to make a quality product, every time. Even what they then thought of as a lesser picture, some are beloved classics today. Many actors were skilled dancers or could ride a horse. Sentimentalness or nostalgia aside, there is just great entertainment to be had. As a history lover, they are often a great source of insight to their particular time period. I never used to really seek out or enjoy many old movies, until I got older myself, now I'm playing catch-up!
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Apr 21, 2017 1:51:00 GMT
I love 80's films actually. For some reason 70's films usually leave me flat, they have a dark vibe about them for some reason. For me anyway. Yep the 30's to early 60's really had it right. That dark vibe serves those movies well, when stuff happened, you really felt it. It's why 70's horror movies scare me the most. I was also a child then, when anything you saw in a movie really affected you. |
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Post by jeffersoncody on Apr 21, 2017 10:21:35 GMT
Thought this would be an interesting topic for anyone who wants to share. I mostly watch older films, even films from the 70's can be too modern for me sometimes. And as I was thinking about this the other day I started to realize why I love classic films so much more than I like new films. 1/ The actors/characters are adults. They look like adults, act like adults, are adults. They aren't having teenage style meltdowns in their mid 30's, they aren't doing gross or stupid things. They have grace and are mature. 2/ Black and White. B&W sets a tone and makes me feel like I am looking through a window into another world. 3/ The women are beautiful and dress impeccably. I love the glamour. 4/ The way the men and women respond to each other. The romance. 5/ Escapism, sure, some of these films feature social agenda's of the time. But it was a different time and ages ago. I can deal with it. For the most part though it is just entertainment. 6/ The storylines are more interesting and involved. Some of these films are slow but they aren't dull. Even the comedies are funnier than they are now. 7/ Star power. These people look and act like stars. I don't get that from most of the actors around now. 8/ Sentimentality. I grew up on old films, born in the 70's I was watching Ma and Pa Kettle and old war movies etc all the time. I like the memories it brings back. So why do you like classic films? One of the things I love most about classic films is that everybody smokes, and drinks. Makes me feel right at home. |
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