Classic Literature
by karljhickey14 | created - 30 Jul 2017 | updated - 01 Mar 2023 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Oliver Twist (1948)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
In Charles Dickens' classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Francis L. Sullivan
Votes: 13,653
2. Great Expectations (1946)
Approved | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A humble orphan boy in 1810s Kent is given the opportunity to go to London and become a gentleman, with the help of an unknown benefactor.
Director: David Lean | Stars: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Tony Wager, Jean Simmons
Votes: 26,403
3. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Passed | 116 min | Drama, Romance
In 15th-century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 12,280 | Gross: $3.27M
4. Becky Sharp (1935)
Unrated | 84 min | Drama, Romance, War
Against the backdrop of Napoleon's Waterloo campaign, an ambitious woman from a family of entertainers begins a destructive climb up the social ladder.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke
Votes: 1,291
5. Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Approved | 118 min | Drama, Romance
The arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver
Votes: 9,222
6. Wuthering Heights (1939)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson
Votes: 19,767 | Gross: $0.76M
7. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
R | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz
Votes: 75,132 | Gross: $34.70M
8. Les Misérables (1958)
210 min | Drama
Jean Valjean, convicted of a minor crime, spends the rest of his life being pursued by a cruel and unrelenting policeman, Javert.
Director: Jean-Paul Le Chanois | Stars: Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, René Fleur, Julienne Paroli
Votes: 1,780
9. David Copperfield (1935)
Passed | 130 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Freddie Bartholomew, Frank Lawton, Edna May Oliver, Elizabeth Allan
Votes: 4,765
10. Jane Eyre (1943)
Approved | 97 min | Drama, Romance
After a harsh childhood, orphan Jane Eyre is hired by Edward Rochester, the brooding lord of a mysterious manor house, to care for his young daughter.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, Margaret O'Brien, Peggy Ann Garner
Votes: 9,494 | Gross: $3.82M
11. A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Not Rated | 128 min | Drama, History, Romance
A pair of lookalikes, one a former French aristocrat and the other an alcoholic English lawyer, fall in love with the same woman amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution.
Directors: Jack Conway, Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen
Votes: 6,298
12. Crime and Punishment (1935)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama
Man is haunted by a murder he's committed.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Edward Arnold, Peter Lorre, Marian Marsh, Tala Birell
Votes: 2,234
13. Kvinna i vitt (1949)
87 min | Drama
A ghostly woman warns a Victorian heiress about a count and his cohort who are after her fortune.
Director: Arne Mattsson | Stars: Margareta Fahlén, Georg Løkkeberg, Eva Dahlbeck, Karl-Arne Holmsten
Votes: 42
14. Wuthering Heights (1954)
91 min | Drama, Romance
A partial retelling of Wuthering Heights in 19th century Mexico.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Irasema Dilián, Jorge Mistral, Lilia Prado, Ernesto Alonso
Votes: 1,376
15. Macbeth (1948)
Passed | 107 min | Drama, History, War
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Roddy McDowall
Votes: 7,796
16. Othello (1951)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, Romance
The Moorish General Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his Lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality, it is all part of the scheme of a bitter Ensign named Iago.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Micheál MacLiammóir, Robert Coote, Suzanne Cloutier
Votes: 9,454
17. Don Quixote (1992)
Not Rated | 116 min | Comedy, Drama
The story of a Spanish gentlemen gone mad and his dim-witted squire Sancho Panza, who set forth on a journey to right wrongs and accomplish good deeds in the name of chivalry.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Francisco Reiguera, Akim Tamiroff, Pepe Mediavilla, Juan Carlos Ordóñez
Votes: 906
18. Henry V (1944)
Not Rated | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
Director: Laurence Olivier | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer
Votes: 7,069
19. The Lost Moment (1947)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A publisher insinuates himself into the mouldering mansion of the centenarian lover of a renowned but long-dead poet to find his lost love letters.
Director: Martin Gabel | Stars: Robert Cummings, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, Joan Lorring
Votes: 1,333
20. The Innocents (1961)
Not Rated | 100 min | Horror
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave
Votes: 33,060 | Gross: $2.62M
21. La Bête Humaine (1938)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
In this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Julien Carette, Simone Simon, Fernand Ledoux
Votes: 8,421
22. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
Director: Albert Lewin | Stars: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 14,447
23. Manon (1949)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
A classic tale about bitter relationships between a frivolous girl and a soldier is adapted for the post-World War II time.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Serge Reggiani, Michel Auclair, Cécile Aubry, Andrex
Votes: 1,175
24. Jean de Florette (1986)
PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
A greedy landowner and his backward nephew conspire to block the only water source for an adjoining property in order to bankrupt the owner and force him to sell.
Director: Claude Berri | Stars: Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu
Votes: 27,544 | Gross: $4.94M
25. Manon of the Spring (1986)
PG | 113 min | Drama
A beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.
Director: Claude Berri | Stars: Yves Montand, Emmanuelle Béart, Daniel Auteuil, Hippolyte Girardot
Votes: 23,949 | Gross: $3.94M
26. Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
PG | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, History
Famed swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with his cousin Roxane. He has never expressed his love for her as he his large nose undermines his self-confidence. Then he finds a way to express his love to her, indirectly.
Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez, Jacques Weber
Votes: 25,943 | Gross: $15.14M
27. Queen Margot (1994)
R | 161 min | Biography, Drama, History
Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.
Director: Patrice Chéreau | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Vincent Perez
Votes: 18,993 | Gross: $2.02M
28. The Three Musketeers (1973)
PG | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York
Votes: 20,143 | Gross: $22.02M
29. The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974)
PG | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Michael York, Raquel Welch, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain
Votes: 11,708 | Gross: $19.10M
30. The Count of Monte Cristo (1998)
400 min | Adventure, History, Romance
Edmond Dantes is unjustly sent to prison for 18 years. He escapes to reclaim his fiancée Mercedes and revenge against his nemesis, Mondego.
Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Ornella Muti, Jean Rochefort, Pierre Arditi
Votes: 6,970
31. Les Misérables (1935)
Approved | 108 min | Drama, History, Romance
In early-19th-century France, an ex-convict who failed to report to parole is relentlessly pursued over a 20-year period by an obsessive policeman.
Director: Richard Boleslawski | Stars: Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Cedric Hardwicke, Rochelle Hudson
Votes: 3,925
32. The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
When Algernon discovers that his friend, Ernest, has created a fictional brother for whenever he needs a reason to escape dull country life, Algernon poses as the brother, resulting in ever increasing confusion.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: Michael Redgrave, Richard Wattis, Michael Denison, Walter Hudd
Votes: 6,367
33. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947)
Approved | 108 min | Drama
A young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-hearted, grasping uncle.
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Derek Bond, Cedric Hardwicke, Mary Merrall, Sally Ann Howes
Votes: 984
34. The Pickwick Papers (1952)
Approved | 109 min | Comedy, Drama
The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the interesting things they find. In the course of their travels, they repeatedly ... See full summary »
Director: Noel Langley | Stars: James Hayter, James Donald, Nigel Patrick, Joyce Grenfell
Votes: 621
35. Hard Times (1994)
TV-14 | 100 min | Drama
In the first part of this adaptation by Peter Barnes, we are introduced to Tom and Louisa.
Stars: Harriet Walter, Bill Paterson, Alan Bates, Beatie Edney
Votes: 309
Tell Your Friends