An Academy Awards Night Tradition

On Sunday, again, I won’t be watching the AA for numerous reasons, not the least of which being that I haven’t seen any theatre movies this past year.
Instead, I will hunker down to watch a quality movie made before 2000 that I want to re-see or check out for the first time from my large collection of DVDs.
I haven’t picked ‘the one’ yet, though I do have a list I’ll share with you.

(one of the contenders this year for Sunday viewing)

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning–a ’60s British flick that launched Albert Finney’s ( a favorite actor) career
-Chaplin’s City Lights, a veritable soundless romantic classic featuring Chaplin’s Tramp at his most endearing
-the first Sleuth with Olivier and Caine who give two Best Actor quality performances in one of the most intriguing whodunit explorations of reality and illusion from the silver screen
North by Northwest–easily one of Hitchcock’s most interesting mainstream thrillers with Cary Grant at his wittiest and super music by one of the top film composers of all time Bernard Herrmann
A Witness for the Prosecution–Billy Wilder’s humorous, suspenseful adaptation of Agatha Christie’s play with Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, and Marlene Dietrich at their best
The Best Years of Our Lives–William Wyler’s post-war emotional coming-home tale of three returning soldiers with a Best AA Supporting performance by an actual WWII veteran
Wuthering Heights (Dalton pre-Bond version)–shot in color and on location
A Farewell to Arms (Rock Hudson version)–a Hemingway hero romance with a nurse based on a true story
From Here to Eternity–one of director Fred Zinnemann’s best about Americans’ relationships overseas in WWII featuring great performances by many stars including Sinatra, Borgnine, Lancaster, Kerr, and many others
A Man for All Seasons–movie’s introduction to a great British actor–Paul Scofield, and a very thoughtful, conflicted martyr from history–Sir Thomas More.
A Room with a View–another Merchant-Ivory drama-romance based on an E.M. Forster novel, shot Italy this time, with the usual likable British character actor performances, especially by the likes of Denholm Elliott

Decisions, decisions. So which one would you pick if you were in my situation?

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply