Pre-1964 watchlist
by GiraffeDoor | created - 07 Aug 2019 | updated - 24 Mar 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Not Rated | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson
Votes: 74,987
2. Forbidden Games (1952)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Amédée, Laurence Badie
Votes: 13,108 | Gross: $0.01M
3. My Favorite Wife (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Romance
Missing for seven years and presumed dead, a woman returns home on the day of her husband's second marriage.
Director: Garson Kanin | Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, Gail Patrick
Votes: 11,516
4. Rumor of Love (1961)
120 min | Comedy, Romance
A father invents a lurid past for his awkward young nephew to present him as an exciting suitor for his daughter.
Director: Fatin Abdulwahhab | Stars: Omar Sharif, Suad Husni, Youssef Wahbi, Ehsan Sherif
Votes: 1,249
5. Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (1932)
92 min | Comedy, Drama
When a young man inherits his father's lucrative business, he cheats the system to set up three of his college friends with jobs.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Ureo Egawa, Kinuyo Tanaka, Tatsuo Saitô, Harurô Takeda
Votes: 662
6. The Flirtation of Girls (1949)
120 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
In this classic musical, poor old Hamam, a modest arabic teacher, falls in love with the young and beautiful Laila, his aristocratic pupil. Soon, he must decide between his unrealistic feelings or sacrificing his love for her own good.
Director: Anwar Wagdi | Stars: Nagib El-Rihani, Laila Mourad, Anwar Wagdi, Mahmoud Al Meleji
Votes: 584
7. A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama
A kabuki actor's mistress hatches a jealous plot to bring down her lover's son.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Takeshi Sakamoto, Chôko Iida, Kôji Mitsui, Emiko Yagumo
Votes: 3,464
8. La Poison (1951)
Not Rated | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
Through a series of circumstances and plot twists an enterprising man manages to get away with murdering his wife, even though he cheerfully admits his guilt in court.
Director: Sacha Guitry | Stars: Michel Simon, Jean Debucourt, Jacques Varennes, Jeanne Fusier-Gir
Votes: 1,628
9. Phantom (1922)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Romance
A shiftless young man becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman and yearns to find her again.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Alfred Abel, Frida Richard, Aud Egede-Nissen, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
Votes: 1,956
10. For Me and My Gal (1942)
Not Rated | 104 min | Musical, Romance, War
Two vaudeville performers fall in love, but find their relationship tested by the arrival of WWI.
Director: Busby Berkeley | Stars: Judy Garland, George Murphy, Gene Kelly, Mártha Eggerth
Votes: 3,845 | Gross: $4.37M
11. The Cheat (1915)
Not Rated | 59 min | Drama, Romance
A venal, spoiled stockbroker's wife impulsively embezzles $10,000 from the charity she chairs and desperately turns to a Burmese ivory trader to replace the stolen money.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Dean, James Neill
Votes: 2,763 | Gross: $0.21M
12. From Morning to Midnight (1920)
65 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A Cashier in a bank in a small German town is alerted to the power of money by the visit of a rich Italian lady. He embezzles 60, 000 Marks and leaves for the capital city, where he ... See full summary »
Director: Karl Heinz Martin | Stars: Ernst Deutsch, Erna Morena, Roma Bahn, Adolf E. Licho
Votes: 607
13. The Ballad of Narayama (1958)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama
A kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Teiji Takahashi, Yûko Mochizuki, Danko Ichikawa
Votes: 3,790
14. A Page of Madness (1926)
Not Rated | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa | Stars: Masuo Inoue, Ayako Iijima, Yoshie Nakagawa, Hiroshi Nemoto
Votes: 4,575
15. The Red Shoes (1948)
Not Rated | 135 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann
Votes: 39,179 | Gross: $10.90M
16. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Not Rated | 83 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
The Wolf Man tries to warn a dimwitted porter that Dracula wants his brain for Frankenstein monster's body.
Directors: Charles Barton, Walter Lantz | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi
Votes: 19,572 | Gross: $4.80M
17. The Naked City (1948)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor
Votes: 15,506
18. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama
In post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.
Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Elena Altieri
Votes: 175,218 | Gross: $0.33M
19. The Penalty (1920)
Passed | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A deformed criminal mastermind plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs.
Director: Wallace Worsley | Stars: Charles Clary, Doris Pawn, Jim Mason, Lon Chaney
Votes: 2,632
20. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A bitter clown endeavors to rescue the young woman he loves from the lecherous count who once betrayed him.
Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ruth King
Votes: 4,295 | Gross: $0.19M
21. Dante's Inferno (1911)
71 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Loosely adapted from Dante's Divine Comedy and inspired by the illustrations of Gustav Doré the original silent film has been restored and has a new score by Tangerine Dream.
Directors: Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, Giuseppe de Liguoro | Stars: Salvatore Papa, Arturo Pirovano, Giuseppe de Liguoro, Pier Delle Vigne
Votes: 3,457
22. The Student of Prague (1913)
Approved | 85 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Balduin, a student of Prague, leaves his roystering companions in the beer garden, when he finds he has reached the end of his resources. He is scarcely seated in a quiet corner when a ... See full summary »
Directors: Hanns Heinz Ewers, Stellan Rye | Stars: Paul Wegener, Grete Berger, Lyda Salmonova, John Gottowt
Votes: 2,400
23. The Avenging Conscience: or 'Thou Shalt Not Kill' (1914)
Not Rated | 78 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Prevented from dating his sweetheart by his uncle, a young man turns his thoughts to murder.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Henry B. Walthall, Spottiswoode Aitken, Blanche Sweet, George Siegmann
Votes: 1,428
24. Der Hund von Baskerville (1914)
65 min | Crime, Mystery, Horror
In this early version the classic "Hound of the Baskervilles" mystery is not faithfully adapted, Watson's character is absent and there are two Holmes. Holmes' foe is called Stapleton and he menaces Holmes' client Lord Henry and his fiancée, Laura Lyons, masquerading himself as Holmes. Hidden passages, hand bombs and mechanical devices abound, reminding more of a serial than of a Conan Doyle ... See full summary »
Director: Rudolf Meinert | Stars: Alwin Neuß, Friedrich Kühne, Hanni Weisse, Erwin Fichtner
Votes: 147
25. The Ghost Breaker (1914)
60 min | Adventure, Horror
The treasure of the Aragon family has never been found or any trace of it, until one day, while Princess Maria Theresa is looking over her jewels, she drops the casket and a secret ... See full summary »
Directors: Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: H.B. Warner, Rita Stanwood, Theodore Roberts, Betty Johnson
Votes: 44
26. Before the Revolution (1964)
105 min | Drama, Romance
Following the death of his friend, an Italian youth grows increasingly closer to his young aunt.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Adriana Asti, Francesco Barilli, Allen Midgette, Morando Morandini
Votes: 3,060
27. Borom sarret (1963)
20 min | Short, Drama
Boron Sarret is arguably the first film made by a black African. It illustrates poverty in Senegal, particularly for the working man.
Director: Ousmane Sembene | Stars: Ly Abdoulay, Albourah
Votes: 1,521
28. The Silence (1963)
R | 96 min | Drama
Two estranged sisters, Ester and Anna, and Anna's 10-year-old son travel to the Central European country on the verge of war. Ester becomes seriously ill and the three of them move into a hotel in a small town called Timoka.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten, Håkan Jahnberg
Votes: 21,341
29. The Miracle Worker (1962)
Approved | 106 min | Biography, Drama
The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson
Votes: 20,511 | Gross: $5.45M
30. Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
Unrated | 63 min | Comedy, Horror
A crook decides to bump off members of his inept crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea creature. What he doesn't know is that the creature is real.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Antony Carbone, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Robert Towne, Beach Dickerson
Votes: 3,301
31. The Apartment (1960)
Approved | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston
Votes: 196,921 | Gross: $18.60M
Tell Your Friends