Do you ever check out other peoples DVD collections and feel sad.......... (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

How can anyone fail to be impressed by Casablanca?

Why this prejudice against anything made prior to 1950? I don't get it. Great art lasts; it's timeless. And it's unaffected by the tides of digital technology and improved film stock.

 

[Chuck_C]

I recently watched a silent Buster Keaton DVD - "The General". What a classic! It didn't exactly put my audio system to any test but was a great movie made in the 20's.

 

[Chad R]

Now, I'll admit my collection (the DVDs I own) skew towards the later decades (those which mostly encompass my age). But that doesn't mean I haven't seen plenty of older movies.
I don't own Citizen Kane. I've seen it several times. Whereas I appreciate the film's place in history and the medium it practically invented, I just don't think I'd find myself pulling it off the shelf that often to watch as much as I would Star Wars.
However I own several Billy Wilder classics because I do find myself yanking them down to watch, The Apartment in particular.
It's unfair to judge a person by what he owns and assume it means he doesn't watch older movies.

 

[Chris Richard]

Watch what you like. Who cares what everyone else thinks?

I agree.

I also believe there are so many wonderful, entertaining movies from the past. I don't know how to expose some of my friends to older classics when they are so afraid of B&W movies.

13 of my last 15 DVD purchases have been films from the 20s, 30s and 40s.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I admit I used to feel a certain prejudice against old movies. I suppose it revolved around not wanting to "give in" and embrace an entire era of films that existed before I did--a daunting prospect. There's something to be said about associating real memories with the life and times those old films were orginally made in. But I let myself in slowly, like taking my first swim. First with undisputed classics like Casablanca and Gone With the Wind, then moving on with greater and greater enthusiasm to embrace gems like Rebecca, The Seven Year Itch, The Third Man, To Kill a Mockingbird, The French Connection and innumerable others from the last seven decades.
It's like getting into a new form of music. You might not relate to it at first and you might even "hate" it. But given enough time, patience, and an open mind, you might find yourself sucked in at long last. Heck, millions of old fogeys can't all be wrong about these movies.

 

[Todd Hochard]

I agree.
I also believe there are so many wonderful, entertaining movies from the past

I didn't mean to imply that films from the past aren't entertaining. I simply meant that I do NOT lament/look down on, etc, those that don't share my taste. My taste is mine, not anyone else's.
I think a lot of self-professed "film buffs" feel obligated to watch/like certain films, whether they really do or not. I'm not burdened by this.
I do enjoy many of the so-called classics, and own many, but so what? I also own and enjoy The Postman, so think of me what you will.
Todd

 

[Paul_D]

Watch what you like. Who cares what everyone else thinks?

I feel silly having to explain this. But here goes: I'm not talking about the people that have sampled cinema before 1980 and just don't like it. I'm talking about those who've decided, without any knowledge whatsoever, that older films aren't any good: Those who haven't been exposed to 'classic' cinema. I'm not saying that they SHOULD watch older films. I'm saying that it might open them up to a different world of film to the typical 90s Hollywood flicks. It makes me sad, because there's so much pleasure to be had from experienceing the greats. Thats all.

 

[Craig_T]

We need a better version of Double Indemnity on DVD. This is one of my most-watched discs despite being possibly the worst-quality DVD I own.

 

[Greg_Y]

We need a better version of Double Indemnity on DVD. This is one of my most-watched discs despite being possibly the worst-quality DVD I own.

I wonder how much "work" this title needs to look better. I saw it on TCM the other night and it didn't look too good.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

"Do you ever check out other peoples DVD collections and feel sad?"
Nope, and I don't see why anybody else should.
There's a vast difference between liking and appreciating a film, and actually owning the film on a home video format. A person's DVD collection shouldn't at all be reflective of their attitudes towards older film. I've seen some of the older films (like two Charlie Chaplin films and Birth of a Nation), but I own none of these and that's not to fair to say I hate them because they're black and white.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Ugh! I stew-up so much trouble in these threads I must learn to better fully express my full meaning

Quote:

. This is not to mean that "quality" films were not produced prior to '49, as they most certainly were (Example: Shakespearian Lawrence Olivier). But refers to that, "IMHO", "Movies" had hit their groove as both art and entertainment in the fifties. Widescreen, vibrant colour, special effects, symphonic reproductions that didn't sound like they were recorded in a tin can, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The Fab 50's saw the birth of, once again IMHO, the modern masterpieces that are still be referenced today: The Seven Samurai, The Seventh Seal (I like the number seven), Gojira, Citizen Kane, Ikiru (I like Kurosawa too), so on and so forth.
That should just about clarify everything.

 

[Ray R]

I have to agree with Jonathan Perregaux's last paragraph. I'm becoming more and more interested in old movies. At first many of them seem boring and slow, but then I realized how much harder the script and actors are working. They didn't have the luxury of throwing in a couple big explosions and other special effects to cover up the lack of acting and a lousy script.

The fact that the studios are even spending money on restoring and releasing many of these old classics on DVD is a good sign. Even better is that fact that many people are buying the classics. The masses are only begining to realize what the laser disc nuts have known for a while, having a collection of your favorite movies is worth the investment. Maybe Hollywood will start to lose the "make it all on opening weekend" attitude and return to making films that can generate revenue for decades. We can only hope. I like looking at Cameran Diaz as much as the next guy, but how many movies do we have to see her playing the same charactor.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I feel sorry for them.
I know people who refuse to watch movies older just because they aren't brand new.
They're ignorant and probably lack much of an IQ, but it's not like their opinion matters. Anyone who says "I like movies." is a liar if they don't like movies just because of their age.
As for me...I love all movies regardless of age. My first movie was Star Wars, with the first motion picture being the 1940 Porky Pig cartoon, Ali Baba Bound. I must admit that I dislike many films from 1970-2002, but I still like a lot in this same time period. My film collection has a range from 1896, all the way to 2001. I owe my interest in classic cinema mainly to my uncle who is turned my 1977-1994 into a much greater range. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably shun classics!

 

[Kurt N]

Several years ago, soon after the introduction of compact discs, I read a letter in a magazine (Goldmine?) wherein the writer stated that he would never buy anything that wasn't recorded digitally. This meant no Beatles, Nat King Cole, Elvis, good Sinatra, Kinks, Zappa, Simon & Garfunkel...well, the list could go on forever. I could never understand this willingness to miss out on so much pleasure simply because it was recorded before the advent of the latest technology.

It's this same snobbery that keeps someone from discovering Citizen Kane, My Man Godfrey, Casablanca, and other gems.

It's their loss.

 

[Mark Kalzer]

I encounter this all the time. I may be only 18, but I do have a profound interesting in older movies. While I do think there are some bad movies in that B&W era, my basic philosophy, is that there have ALWAYS been movies that are bad! We have them in the 90's and post 2000 years! What? Just because they're in colour and Dolby Digital 5.1 makes them better?

This all reminds me of a situation in the film studies class at our school, where our teacher introduced us to A Beautiful Mind! (Okay, I know it's a 90s film, but it's foreign and so it follows the same pattern...) Immedietely after the teacher explained that it was foreign with subtitles, many students shouted "NO! FOREIGN FILMS SUCK! I DON'T WANT TO READ ALL CLASS." My urge to kill was beginning to rise at that point, for so many of them refused to even give the movie a chance...They were proved wrong! Many of those same students were in tears at the end of the movie! (I must admit, it might have been eye strain after reading all class, I really didn't check...)

 

[Stu Rosen]

Of course anyone is free to watch, or not watch, what they like. That's not the issue. But I do think it's more than fair to say that if you don't make at least an effort to look at classics from the entire history of film, then your opinion of current film is really not informed.

It's like listening to a great Oasis song. Yes, it's great, and yes, you're entitled to your opinion. But if you have the background and knowledge of the existence of their Fab predecessors, you can put Oasis' contribution into a proper context.

Similarly, you can enjoy a new romantic comedy, but if you haven't seen a classic screwball comedy, or a Preston Sturges classic, you really don't have the context to compare and contrast.

For me, a good example is horror films or anime. I don't know many, and frankly, could care less to educate myself. But wouldn't you say that if I saw a very small handful of such films, that I didn't have the background to understand or appreciate the classics of the genre?

No -- you don't have to have seen the entire AFI best films list to have a valid opinion. But any opinion that draws on a fuller context is necessarily more interesting, at the very least.

Frankly, when I read posts that say, in essence, that "classics" is a term given old films by a small bunch of snobs, all I think is, "boy, you really have to see more films."

 

[Edwin-S]

The attitude regarding "classics" could go the other way. There are probably "film snobs" that think there hasn't been a good film made since nineteen-ought-fifty-nine or how about "film fans" who dismiss animated films as "justa bunch a cartoons for kids"; Dismissively relegating the talent and hard work of thousands of people who chose to work in a non-live action medium to second class status.

The point is is that everyone has their prejudices. Mine happens to be about horror and slasher films. To me they are just complete wastes of celluloid. It is probably the wrong attitude but to me those kinds of films glorify sickening acts of violence for a cheap thrill.

 

[Thomas T]

I'm not much concerned about other people's collections, just my own. My collection is pretty eclectic and encompasses silents, 1930's screwball comedies, 1940's film noirs, 1950's musicals and sci-fi, 1960's French new wave etc. through current 2000/2001 releases.

However, I'm more of a film person than a home theatre person. It's the film I want and though more than welcome to have, I could live without director commentaries, making of documentaries, deleted scenes, remastered 5.1 mixes for mono films etc. I'm generalizing here but I've noticed that it is usually the home theatre buffs and technical geeks that have the film libraries heavily emphasizing the 80's and 90's flicks.

Just an observation, not a judgement.

 

[David Ruiz]

The oldest DVDs that I have in my collection are:

Exorcist (1973)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Halloween (1978)

Other than that, I have only newer films.

 

[Tommy G]

I see alot of people stating watch what you want and who cares what anyone else thinks. To a certain extent, I would agree with this. The reason I say to a certain extent is that I thought that most movies being made were essentially crap. I was not enjoying anything in the theaters. I am not going to say that everything put out these days stinks because there are definite exceptions. But for the most part it seems as if there are a lot of movies with recycled storylines these days. I found out when I was suffering for a period of insomnia that I have a definite liking for the older movies when I caught Casablanca on AMC one night. I was hooked to see as much Bogie as possible after that. I definitely listen to the people on this board a lot more than the critics or the Academy because they have let me down. I guess what I am trying to say is you shouldn't just watch what you want to watch because there are some incredible recommendations from the people of the HTF.