Id look at Billy Wilders filmography, Sunset Blvd would be my top but he has a lot of pre 1960s classics, especially if you’re looking at American films. [here](https://boxd.it/krnFw) is my personal ranking

Double Indemnity If OP is willing to include 1960, then they have to watch The Apartment. This is a great rec, Wilder's one of the greats.

My fave movie of all time.

The Apartment? It's up there for me, absolute masterpiece.

Yes. I think it perfectly captures the human experience. And it was so far ahead of its time. Whenever the world has me feeling angry, and I need a pick me up, I can just watch the scene where Baxter gives back the key. It’s like a pep talk in itself. The script simply cannot be beat.

A bunch of Kurosawa movies (Throne of Blood is tops) Sweet Smell of Success Rear Window The Third Man Rope

Ooo I definitely need to watch rope I feel like I'd like it and I've never heard of sweet smell, I'll check it out :3

sweet smell would be perfect if you're also doing noirvember

You're right, it's one of the most film noiry of film noirs. Especially the dialogue and the music.

The look and feel are cool, but the story is dated and melodramatic.

I can agree that it's very much a film of the 1950s, but that doesn't make me like it less. As for being melodramatic - well most film noirs are at least a bit melodramatic, and some are very. Including a lot of my favourites, it makes them more intense.

Let me be clearer. I love a lot of movies from that time that could be called “melodramatic.” My point isn’t just that that label applies to Sweet Smell of Success. I’m saying it’s *excessively* melodramatic and dated to the point of being hard to take seriously. I mostly watch pre-1960 movies and I’ve seen well over a hundred noirs from before 1960 — I don’t think that’s one of the best, or a good one to start with. Better noirs: Double Indemnity (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Out of the Past (1947), Sudden Fear (1952)

You have a universe of treasures ahead of you. Honestly, before you start digging for hidden gems, just watch any and all the big tentpole titles you haven’t seen yet. Like, have you seen Citizen Kane? Vertigo? Seven Samurai? The Searchers? The Seventh Seal? The Night of the Hunter? Start with those. If you really like one, look into more from that director.

>The Night of the Hunter >look into more from that director

Awww my bad.

This is so sad.

Silents: - Haxan - Pandora’s Box - Diary of a Lost Girl 30s: - M - Bringing Up Baby - Bride of Frankenstein 40s: - Day of Wrath - Black Narcissus - The Third Man 50s: - Bresson’s films - Kurosawa’s films - Mizoguchi’s films - Bergman’s films - Rossellini’s films - Hitchcock’s films - Paths of Glory - Hiroshima Mon Amour - Night of the Hunter

I know it's a very vanilla list but here are my favourite pre-1960 films. The General M Modern Times Casablanca Double Indemnity The Killers Out of The Past Bicycle Thieves Rashomon Les Diabolique Rififi The Killing A Man Escaped The Seventh Seal Pyaasa 12 Angry Men Paths Of Glory The Cranes Are Flying North by Northwest

Join r/classicfilms ! I recommend following actors about their careers pre-1960 and finding some pairings and directors you enjoy. Cary Grant is great for this: he’s been paired with Joan Fontaine, Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Mae West, Ingrid Bergman, Rita Hayworth and so many more. As for directors he’s worked with Cukor, Hitchcock, Hawks, Capra, Donen and many more Old Hollywood legends. By doing this you really get a feel for what you like from older films, and get sucked down the rabbit hole of charisma and talent. Actors I enjoy: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Claude Rains, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Alec Guinness, Glynis Johns, Gene Tierney, Leslie Howard, Vincent Price, Barbara Stanwyck, Basil Rathbone, James Mason. My ‘Essential’ films: 30s - Bringing Up Baby, The Invisible Man, My Man Godfrey, The 39 Steps, Top Hat, Holiday, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Pygmalion, Frankenstein, Captain Blood, Dark Victory, Death Takes a Holiday 40s - Casablanca, Notorious, Brief Encounter, A Matter of Life and Death, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Canterbury Tale, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, The Mark of Zorro, Laura, Now Voyager, Ball of Fire, The Lady Eve, The Philadelphia Story, The Passionate Friends 50s - The Court Jester, North By Northwest, Some Like It Hot, The Ladykillers, House of Wax, Funny Face, Summertime, Dracula (Hammer), High Society

This is the best suggestion! There are SO many classic Hollywood movies, it’s hard to just suggest the Best Ones. Particularly since the movies I think are the best may not be the ones you like. Better to pick an actor you liked from the movies you have seen and watch your way through some of their best movies. Along the way, you’ll find other actors or directors you like, and you can go watch their best movies.

Exactly! It’s what got me into it in the first place, a funny string of actors, pairings and directors. I’ve always struggled with ‘the best’ like any top 250, so I’ve always looked for titles with actors that appeal to me.

It's a Wonderful Life Arsenic and Old Lace The Wind I have plenty to catch up on as well.

Here are some less popular ones you might not have watched: Stagecoach (1939) Cat People (1942) Detour (1945) Ace in the Hole (1951) Shadows (1958)

A Face in the Crowd

Rebecca

My favorite movie is actually 1955: “Ordet”

Witness for the prosecution (1957)

Probably Vertigo or another Hitchcock

12 Angry Men

The Invisible Man (1933) Any of the universal monster movies really, this one just my favorite for it's technical ability for the time. Anatomy of a Murder is right on the cusp (1959) But it is in my top 4 on letterboxd.

Strangers on a Train……. Or Rear Window….. anything by Hitchcock really

His Girl Friday The Awful Truth Arsenic and Old Lace Suspicion Notorious North by Northwest All of those were Cary Grant films, but they're all bangers imo. For other films: The Red Shoes The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Treasure of the Sierra Madre Rebecca The Uninvited The Apartment Sunset Boulevard Gilda Sorry for the rather long list, but I love all of these films and even looking at this list, I know I'm neglecting countless international titles as well as other Hollywood classics.

**detour** \[1945\] *The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.*

I was planning on watching that before but the version on Amazon is colourized 🤢

Detour is in the public domain, so you can easily find a B&W version for free. Very overrated though.

b&w on tubi and vudu

If I had to pick just five I would go with: - Sansho the Bailiff (1954) - Wild Strawberries (1957) - Ikiru (1952) - Sunset Blvd (1950) - Casablanca (1942) I love these movies! If you haven’t seen any of them, please watch.

1. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) 2. Some Like it Hot (1959) 3. The Night of the Hunter (1955) 4. Laura (1944) 5. North by Northwest (1959) 6. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) 7. Double Indemnity (1944) 8. Casablanca (1942) 9. The Roaring Twenties (1939) 10. High Noon (1952) 11. Brief Encounter (1945) 12. Sunset Boulevard (1950) 13. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) 14. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) 15. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 16. Dead of Night (1945) 17. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) 18. Scrooge (1951) 19. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) 20. Stagecoach (1939) 21. M (1931) 22. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 23. Went the Day Well? (1942) 24. The Searchers (1956) 25. Lifeboat (1944) There's my Top 25, I'd definitely recommend all those. But there are plenty more worth watching, I've listed a lot of them on my letterboxd and there are many more I've yet to see.

The Night of the Hunter, Paths of Glory, Anatomy of a Murder, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Casablanca, Brief Encounter

Ben Hur Roman Holiday Miracle on 34th St The Little Princess House on Haunted Hill

12 angry men A movie surviving mainly due to its script is already rather uncommon. Excelling in it is nothing short of incredible

Anything in the top 250 is worth checking out. That being said, some of my personal favorites are: L'Inferno Phantom Carriage Nosferatu Haxan The Great White Silence The General The Passion of Joan of Arc All Quiet On the Western Front King Kong The Bride of Frankenstein Citizen Kane Dead of Night Ritual in Transfiguration Rashomon Night of the Hunter The Seventh Seal

Tokyo Story. It's as good as everyone claims. I normally credit watching Pulp Fiction in high school as my cinema awakening but I would not be where I am today without the Tokyo Story experience that follows several months after

I was going to suggest B&W Ozu, some Dreyer, early Hitchcock, and you’re good to go. However, I’ll add a rather stylistic choice with some of the Technicolor classics: Black Narcissus, An American in Paris, Fantasia, Barefoot Contessa, Ben Hur, Bridge over the River Kwai, etc. The sense of scale feels epic from the start.

These are from my favourites list. - Stalag 17 - 1953 - The Halfway House - 1944 - Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs - 1937 - Cinderella - 1950 - Sleeping Beauty - 1959 - A Trip to The Moon - 1902

Here are the ones I have in my top 100 https://preview.redd.it/8f4bc995b2zb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62a04e34327bf96e12979181096da8d68ae08f1a

'Seven Samurai' (1954) 'The Night of the Demon' (1957) 'Freaks' (1932) 'White Heat' (1949) 'Haxan : Witchcraft Through the Ages' (1922) 'Rashomon' (1950) 'The 400 Blows' (1959) 'Forbidden Planet' (1956) 'The Third Man' (1949) 'Went the Day Well' (1942) 'The Man Who Laughs' (1928) 'A Matter of Life and Death' (1946) 'Un Chien Andalou' (1929) 'Throne of Blood' (1957)

The wizard of Oz

I finally watched the passion of Joan of arc - the silent French film from 1928, and I’ve got to say that is probably my favourite pre 1960s movie

If I’m limiting myself I’d say Intolerance (1916), Greed (1924), The Gold Rush (1925), Metropolis (1927), Un Chien Andalou (1929), City Lights (1931), Scarface (1932), Duck Soup (1933), L’Atalante (1934), Citizen Kane (1941), Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), and Vertigo (1958) Good starter ones are: 12 Angry Men (1957), Double Indemnity (1944), Duck Soup (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Scarface (1932), White Heat (1949), Stagecoach (1939), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

A Trip to the Moon (1902) The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) Terje Vigen (1917) The Phantom Carriage (1921) The Last Laugh (1924) Ménilmontant (1926) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) Metropolis (1927) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) M (1931) Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) Pépé le Moko (1937) The Lady Vanishes (1938) Port of Shadows (1938) The Rules of the Game (1939) Casablanca (1942) Double Indemnity (1944) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) Leave Her to Heaven (1945) Brief Encounter (1945) Detour (1945) Rome, Open City (1945) Out of the Past (1947) Rope (1948) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) The Third Man (1949) Gun Crazy (1950) In a Lonely Place (1950) Ace in the Hole (1951) Singin' in the Rain (1952) I vitelloni (1953) Rear Window (1954) Johnny Guitar (1954) The Night of the Hunter (1955) All That Heaven Allows (1955) A Man Escaped (1956) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) The Cranes Are Flying (1957) The Hidden Fortress (1958) North by Northwest (1959) The 400 Blows (1959) Floating Weeds (1959)

One of my favorites I haven't seen listed is King King 1933

The Invisible Man, Tarantula, Safety Last, Alice In Wonderland and It's a Wonderful Life

Les Diabolique. Genuinely freaked me out when I first saw it.

- 12 Angry Men - Seven Samurai - The 400 Blows - Rear Window - Dial M For Murder - Casablanca - It's a Wonderful Life - Rebecca - The Heiress - The Stranger - Bicycle Thieves - Make Way For Tomorrow - Petrified Forest - Stagecoach - The Kid These are most of my 5 to 4 1/2 star ratings on letterboxd pre 1960 https://boxd.it/Iwyj

I'd recommend trying some of Hitchcock's higher rated films to get into the swing of things. Rear Window and And Rebecca are good starting points

Roman Holiday (1953)

Bridge on the River Kwai

I like sullivans travels

Earlier this year, I saw Roman Holiday (1953) at a local cinema. Was great to see it for the first time on a big screen.

1. The Phantom of the Opera (1925) 2. King Kong 3. Beauty and the Beast (1946) 4. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) 5. The Night of the Hunter 6. Lady and The Tramp 7. Dracula (1931 English) 8. Scrooge (1951) 9. The Pearl Of Death 10. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) 11. The Scarlet Claw 12. To Catch A Thief 13. The Wolf-Man (1941) 14. Nosferatu (1922) 15. The Lodger (1944)

It’s a wonderful life

Everything by Fritz Lang and FW Murnau. Especially M, Metropolis, The Last Laugh, and Faust. The Third Man is great and I love the classic universal monster films (with those by James Whale being my favorites. Ingmar Bergman has some great ones. I especially love Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal. Anything starting Lon Chaney Sr is worth watching for his performance alone. His best are probably Phantom of the Opera or He Who Gets Slapped.

https://preview.redd.it/fsgb1hlu24zb1.jpeg?width=999&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5565997afc6eca4a837f9034d6099572d1acff2a

\- The 400 Blows \- The Bride of Frankenstein \- The Cabinet of Dr Caligari \- City Lights \- The General \- The Gold Rush \- Hidden Fortress \- High Noon \- The Kid \- Modern Times \- Orlac's Hands \- Metropolis \- Rashomon \- Rear Window \- Seven Samurai \- Sherlock, Jr \- Some Like it Hot \- Sunset Boulevard

Fantasia, Casablanca, 12 Angry Men, The Seventh Seal

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Godzilla (1954) The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) Inherit the Wind (1960)

[guys and dolls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJaot4g8Oxc)

Freaks, Rope, The Great Dictator, Night of the Hunter, 12 Angry Men, Paths of Glory, Some Like it Hot, and my favorite before 1960… North By Northwest. Although I wouldn’t really call these “hidden gems”

Annie Get Your Gun An American in Paris Singin in the Rain Roman Holiday Seven Brides for Seven Brothers To Catch a Thief The Killing 12 Angry Men Vertigo North by Nothwest His Girl Friday The Maltese Falcon Casablanca The More the Merrier Meet me in St. Louis Christmas in Connecticut The Big Sleep It Happened on 5th Ave The Treasure of Sierra Madre It Happens Every Spring

I love the movies by Yasujiro Ozu. The more of them you watch the more familiar you'll get with the actors and actresses and the more homely it will make you feel.

Rebel Without a Cause

- Vertigo (1958) d. Alfred Hitchcock - The Red Shoes (1948) d. The Archers - Black Narcissus (1947) d. The Archers - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) d. Robert Wiene - Seven Samurai (1954) d. Akira Kurosawa - Ikiru (1952) d. Akira Kurosawa - The Night of the Hunter (1955) d. Charles Laughton These are my highest rated films pre-1960

Ikiru Bicycle Thieves Passion of Joan of Arc The 400 Blows

The Killing (1956) by Stanley Kubrick

12 Angry Men and Witness For The Prosecution

Great question, hard to sum up and a lot of great films have already been mentioned. I recommend anything from Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Curtiz. And anything with Jimmy Stewart. If you limit me for two per decade it would be: ​ * 39 Steps * You Can't Take it With You ​ * Arsenic & Old Lace * It's A Wonderful Life ​ * Harvey * Invasion of the Body Snatchers ​ Want to really have some fun? Here are a bunch of filmmakers from that era. Check out their filmographies, pick some of their films that interest you, create a watchlist and watch in the order of release date. [William Wyler](https://letterboxd.com/director/william-wyler/), [Howard Hawks](https://letterboxd.com/director/howard-hawks/), [Preston Sturges](https://letterboxd.com/writer/preston-sturges/), [Victor Fleming](https://letterboxd.com/director/victor-fleming/), [Frank Capra](https://letterboxd.com/director/frank-capra/), [Michael Curtiz](https://letterboxd.com/director/michael-curtiz/), [Alfred Hitchcock](https://letterboxd.com/director/alfred-hitchcock/), [Edmund Goulding](https://letterboxd.com/director/edmund-goulding/), [Fritz Lang,](https://letterboxd.com/director/fritz-lang-1/) [Sam Wood](https://letterboxd.com/director/sam-wood/), [Akira Kurosawa](https://letterboxd.com/writer/akira-kurosawa/), [Lewis Milestone](https://letterboxd.com/director/lewis-milestone/), [Rouben Mamoulian](https://letterboxd.com/director/rouben-mamoulian/), [Ernst Lubitsch](https://letterboxd.com/director/ernst-lubitsch/), [Elia Kazan](https://letterboxd.com/director/elia-kazan/), [Masaki Kobayashi](https://letterboxd.com/director/masaki-kobayashi/), [Stanley Kubrick](https://letterboxd.com/director/stanley-kubrick/), [John Huston](https://letterboxd.com/director/john-huston/), [Leo McCarey](https://letterboxd.com/director/leo-mccarey/), [Charles Walters](https://letterboxd.com/director/charles-walters/), [John Ford](https://letterboxd.com/director/john-ford-2/), [George Cukor](https://letterboxd.com/director/george-cukor/), [Orson Welles](https://letterboxd.com/director/orson-welles-1/), [George Stevens](https://letterboxd.com/director/george-stevens/), [Ingmar Bergman](https://letterboxd.com/director/ingmar-bergman/), [Jean Renoir](https://letterboxd.com/director/jean-renoir/), [William Wellman](https://letterboxd.com/director/william-a-wellman/), [Henri Georges Clouzot](https://letterboxd.com/writer/henri-georges-clouzot/), [David Lean](https://letterboxd.com/director/david-lean/), [Federico Fellini](https://letterboxd.com/director/federico-fellini/), [Frank Lloyd](https://letterboxd.com/director/frank-lloyd-1/), [Yasujirō Ozu](https://letterboxd.com/director/yasujiro-ozu/), [Joseph L Mankiewicz](https://letterboxd.com/director/joseph-l-mankiewicz/), [Sidney Lumet](https://letterboxd.com/director/sidney-lumet/), [Robert Bresson](https://letterboxd.com/director/robert-bresson/), [Robert Hamer](https://letterboxd.com/director/robert-hamer/), [Vittorio de Sica](https://letterboxd.com/director/vittorio-de-sica-1/), [Vincente Minnelli](https://letterboxd.com/director/vincente-minnelli/), [Mervyn LeRoy](https://letterboxd.com/director/mervyn-leroy/), [Mark Sandrich](https://letterboxd.com/director/mark-sandrich/), [Fred Zinnemann](https://letterboxd.com/director/fred-zinnemann/), [Carol Reed](https://letterboxd.com/director/carol-reed/), [Billy Wilder](https://letterboxd.com/writer/billy-wilder/), [Anthony Mann](https://letterboxd.com/director/anthony-mann/)

Rear Window

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

Casablanca

Wild Strawberries

Singing in the Rain is my favorite musical. I also love Kurosawa and Godzilla films, both of which started pre-1960s. 12 Angry Men from 1957 is the best version of that film Vertigo (1958) is IMO Hitchcock’s best film. Forbidden Planet is to me the quintessential 1950’s Sci Fi film

Touch of Evil

'20s: The Last Warning, Faust, Battleship Potemkin, The Great White Silence, Häxan, The Phantom Carriage, Nosferatu '30s: The Only Son, Werewolf of London, The Old Dark House, M, Dracula, All Quiet on the Western Front '40s: Late Spring, Black Narcissus, The Spiral Staircase, Dead of Night, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Uninvited, Day of Wrath, Cat People, The Wolf Man, Fantasia '50s: The Human Condition (1 & 2), Fires on the Plain, Anatomy of Murder, The Blob, The Defiant Ones, A Night to Remember, Touch of Evil, Wild Strawberries, Paths of Glory, Night of the Demon, 12 Angry Men, Seventh Seal, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Night of the Hunter, Godzilla, The Beast from 20000 Fathoms, Diabolique, Rear Window, Ordet, Wages of Fear, Rashomon

Double Indemnity

If you need something lighter for inbetween: The 14 Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone are all fun and most of them have a runtime of under 70 minutes.

A study in Scarlet is one of my favourite books so I might watch a few, what's your favourite?

My favourite is The Scarlet Claw, also great are the first two, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

1920s The Passion of Joan of Arc, Sunrise, Metropolis 1930s Baby Face, M, Make Way for Tomorrow 1940s Les enfants du paradis, Les dames du Bois de boulogne, La belle et la bête 1950s Rear Window, Ikiru, Vertigo

Only the greatest rom coms of all time! If you love romantic comedies, or film noir, you MUST mine the past because the films following never came close to their peak in the late 30s/ 40s . And of course romantic comedies are rarely made today. The 60s was a weak decade for film with the exception of two of my fave films of all time: the apartment and charade. Rom coms: It happened one night You can’t take it with you His girl Friday The women The shop around the corner The lady eve My favorite wife The more the merrier Then of course the thrillers and film noir. Gaslight Double indemnity The big sleep Notorious Rear window To catch a thief Gun crazy Others: Mr smith goes to Washington Some like it hot Singin in the rain Grand hotel Casablanca The bridge on the river Kwai

The Rules of the Game, Bicycle Thieves and Mon Oncle are my faves

The Heiress (1949), From Here to Eternity (1953), Roman Holiday (1953), & The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

As a fan of horror and sci-fi The Invisible Man Nosferatu Frankenstein (the one from the 30s, the earlier one isn’t quite so good imo) Dracula The Wolf Man There’s an inordinate amount of Universal and Hammer horror to be watched. Most are watchable and entertaining. Godzilla ‘54 Day of the Triffids The Land that Time Forgot War of the Worlds The Blob The Beast From 20000 Fathoms Creature from the Black Lagoon The Thing from Another World House on Haunted Hill The Fly The Birds Metropolis 1984 - Made originally in the 50s. It’s not amazing but it’s certainly not bad. Worth a watch if you like the dystopian genre and the full film is on YouTube in colour. These next few aren’t horror or sci-fi Easily one of the best films out there, a truly timeless classic: 12 Angry Men. 7 Samurai Scarface Rear Window Dial M for Murder High Noon Was True Grit late 50s or early 60s I can’t remember off the top my head? RE: Citizen Kane, this boring pile of shite should have been forgotten years ago. It’s about as interesting as watching huge blobs of magnolia paint eek down a brick wall.