Your Favorite Classic Films (Non-Noir)

[Keith]

What are your top favorite pre-1959 classic films that aren't Film Noir.

[Movie Memories]

This is an easy one for me as it is what my own little site is about.

These are pulled from my site, and in no particular order, include:

The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938
High Noon 1952
Duck Soup 1933
A Night at the Opera 1935
The Wizard of Oz 1939
Rebel Without A Cause 1955
All About Eve 1950
The Grapes of Wrath 1940
The Best Years of Our Lives 1946
The Ten Commandments 1956
Casablanca 1942 (some feel its noir, some not)
King Kong 1933
Stagecoach 1939
Singin' In the Rain 1952
Gone With the Wind 1939
Paths of Glory 1957
Shane 1953
My Darling Clementine 1946
Top Hat 1935

This is a sampling of the many films that I would consider as my favorites, for a variety of reasons, over the years.

[Keith]

It changes frequently, but these are my personal favorite classics.

1. Rear Window (1954)
2. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
3. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
4. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
5. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
6. His Girl Friday (1940)
7. 12 Angry Men (1957)
8. Modern Times (1936)
9. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
10. Harvey (1950)

[Nauga]

High Noon
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Women
The Bad Seed
The Best Years of Our Lives
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Thin Man
Cape Fear
Dr. Strangelove


I feel like I'm missing some obvious ones that won't come to mind...

[Adam Lounsbery]

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
City Lights (1931)
Freaks (1932)
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Thing From Another World (1951)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Some Like It Hot (1959)

[Andrew666]

Wow! This is a big ask - let me think - my top ten today might be:

- All Quiet on the Western Front
- M
- Siegfried
- Anything with Louise Brooks



- Battleship Potemkin
- Gold
- Orphee
- Mahal



- The Hidden Fortress
- Some Like It Hot

[Adam Lounsbery]

- The Hidden Fortress

How could I forget Kurosawa?!? Pre-1959, some of his films are big favorites for me ... "Stray Dog" and "Seven Samurai," especially.

[philsunset]

My classic favs:

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
The Thin Man (1934)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
The Rules of the Game (1939)
Casablanca (1942)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Ikiru (1952)
The Band Wagon (1953)
Garden of Evil (1954)
Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Men in War (1957)

[Steve-O]

my list is boring. A few are noirish too...

Cat People
King Kong (and Son of Kong)
Treasure of Sierra Madre
Bride of Frankenstein (I find the original to be a bit to "stagy"... Dracula too. I also prefer The Creature from the Black Lagoon over The Wolf Man.)
It's a Wonderful Life
Casablanca
Tarzan, the Ape Man (and the two that followed... before Boy.)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Crime Without Passion
Bad Day at Black Rock


This is off the top of my head... I'm sure there's some glaring omissions (all of Hitchcock, westerns especially)

[Movie Memories]

Some teriffic films mentioned here that could go on almost anyone's list of favorites. I'm never any good at "best of" film lists; the more I think about them the longer the list gets.

[Nauga]

I'm never any good at "best of" film lists; the more I think about them the longer the list gets.

I'm trying to get enough time together to write a new blog and I was thinking of doing a "Hall of Shame" for the movies I hate to love. I was mulling it over yesterday and there's quite a few doozies on my guilty pleasures list.

[Movie Memories]

"Hall of Shame" for the movies I hate to love.

Sounds like an interesting idea. I hope you find the time, I'd love to see your list.

[HighGallows]

Pre-1959?

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
The Night Of The Hunter (1955) - Some count it as film noir, but I don't; it's too bizarre and cannot really fit into any category.
Casablanca (1942)
Notorious (1946) - Again, some count it as film noir, but I don't; it's less noir and more espionage thriller. Definitely noirish though.
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)
Dial M For Murder (1954)
The Informer (1935)
Little Caesar (1931)
Rear Window (1954)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Dracula (1931)
Vertigo (1958)
Rebecca (1940)
High Noon (1952)
The Searchers (1956)
The Story Of G.I. Joe (1945)
Fantasia (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Gunga Din (1939)
Sergeant York (1941)

[Roger Wade]

My favourite non-noir classic films are mostly French, German and Italian. My best loved American movies are noir!

1. Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)
2. Les Dames de Bois de Boulogne (1945)
3. Le Grand Illusion (1937)
4. Madame de... (1953)
5. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
6. Senso (1954)
7. L'Innocente (1976)
8. Der Letzte Mann (1923)
9. Der Blaue Engel (1929)
10. Maskerade (1934)

[windyclover]

I like Rebecca, Casablanca and Gone With the Wind.

[Dark Corner]

The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Jezebel, Edge of Darkness, The Caine Munity, The Stand-In, Bride of Frankenstein, A Walk in the Sun, The Best Years of our Lives, Rebecca, Red River, The Searchers, The African Queen, Dark Victory, Mr Smith goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, Some Like It Hot, Hobson's Choice, Bridge over the River Kwai, Stalag 17, Executive Suite....
there are a few.

[WilderIndemnity]

In order:

Seven Samurai (1954)
Rear Window (1954)
Vertigo (1958)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Some Like it Hot (1959)
Roman Holiday (1953)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
All About Eve (1950)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

[noirton mcgraw]

... all of the universal horror classics , the sherlock holmes classics with basil rathbone and nigel bruce...

[thatguy]

I know some consider Hitchcock thrillers & French poetic realism noir so I left those off

No particular order:

The Tall T 1957
The Quiet Man 1952
The Lusty Men 1952
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954
Singin' in the Rain 1952
Paths of Glory 1957
Some Came Running 1958
A Streetcar Named Desire 1951
On the Waterfront 1954
The Band Wagon 1953
The Naked Spur 1953
Vera Cruz 1954
Animal Farm 1954
The Man with the Golden Arm 1955
Wild Strawberries 1957
Garden of Evil 1954
Man Without a Star 1955
The Big Country 1958
Man of the West 1958
Bad Day at Black Rock 1955
Johnny Guitar 1954
The Wages of Fear 1953
Seven Samurai 1954
Rio Bravo 1959
The Searchers 1956
Rancho Notorious 1952
The Vikings 1958
Winchester '73 1950
Pickpocket 1959
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 1957
Rebel Without a Cause 1955
Jubal 1956
Harvey 1950
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956
Guys and Dolls 1955
12 Angry Men 1957
Ben-Hur 1959
The Seventh Seal 1957
Rashomon 1950
An American in Paris 1951
High Noon 1952
Diabolique 1955
Duel in the Sun 1946
The Magnificent Ambersons 1942
My Darling Clementine 1946
Arsenic and Old Lace 1944
It's a Wonderful Life 1946
To Have and Have Not 1944
Casablanca 1942
Citizen Kane 1941
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948
Pursued 1947
Yellow Sky 1948
The Ox-Bow Incident 1943
The Fountainhead 1949
Black Narcissus 1947
Broadway Melody of 1940 1940
The Red Shoes 1948
On the Town 1949
Meet John Doe 1941
Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949
Bicycle Thieves 1948
The Roaring Twenties 1939
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 1932
Top Hat 1935
Swing Time 1936
Holiday 1938
The Informer 1935
Dodsworth 1936
Only Angels Have Wings 1939
Angels with Dirty Faces 1938
The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938
Gone with the Wind 1939
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939
The Champ 1931
Shanghai Express 1932
Fury 1936
The Awful Truth 1937
Lost Horizon 1937
Stagecoach 1939
Wild Boys of the Road 1933
Bombshell 1933
A Day at the Races 1937

[noirton mcgraw]

here's a few of my non noir favorites, a mixed bag :The Manster (1959) Indestructible Man (1956) Curse of the Faceless Man (1958)(with naration by morris ankrum, one of my favorite bit characters) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Hell's Five Hours (1958) On the Waterfront (1954)
Crime School (1938)(cy kendall, one of my favorites always plays a great heavy or bad guy)
Al Capone (1959) The Wild Party (1956)
The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) How to Make a Monster (1958)
Blackwell's Island (1939)(another favorite character bit character of mine Stanley Fields)
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959) Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) They Made Me a Criminal (1939) Boots Malone (1952) Stalag 17 (1953)
Stakeout on Dope Street (1958) King Kong (1933) The Oklahoma Kid (1939)
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) The Werewolf (1956) The Vampire (1957) Larceny, Inc. (1942) Manpower (1941) All the King's Men (1949)
House on Haunted Hill (1959) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Voodoo Island (1957)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) Werewolf of London (1935) The Unholy Three (1930)