Some classic directors

[Chest Rockwell]

I'm thinking of starting watching some of the old school directors I see sometimes mentioned on Xixax. This includes Fellini, Godard, Bergman, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Truffaut, Clouzot, Cocteau, Melville, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions on movies by them or other directors that I should start with? Any suggestions will help.

Oh, and has anyone seen Kalatozishvili's I am Cuba or Riefenstahl's Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will)? I'm interested in seeing them for some of the camerawork and all that and would like to know if they're worth watching.

[Alethia]

some good american ones (not necessarily in ethnicity, but hollywood based) - capra, ford, curtiz, fleming, robert wise, john huston, howard hawks......

[Ernie]

Here's some of my favorites, I'm not an expert on any of them by any means, I still have a lot to see (never even seen any Kurosawa!)....see, I am getting into 6 different decades at once while still trying to keep up withall the good contemporary stuff so I'm a little overwhelmed....but here's what I can give you for now, glad you have interest.....

WELLES -- Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, The Trial (might be my favorite Welles film)

GODARD -- Breathless, Band of Outsiders, My Life To Live, Contempt, Pierrot le Fou

TRUFFAUT -- The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim, Shoot the Piano Player, Small Change, Day for Night

MELVILLE -- Bob le Flambeur

HAWKS -- Rio Bravo, The Big Sleep, His Girl Friday, Red River, Bringing Up Baby, Only Angels Have Wings

LEONE -- Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, For A Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars

FORD -- The Searchers, The Quiet Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, My Darling Clementine, Stagecoach

HUSTON -- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Maltese Falcon

PREMINGER -- The Man with the Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder, Carmen Jones, Laura

HITCHCOCK -- Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Birds

KAZAN -- On the Waterfront, Splendor in the Grass, A Streetcar Named Desire

WILDER -- Some Like It Hot (only one I've seen)

KEATON -- see it all, get the boxset

CHAPLIN -- The Kid (my favorite), Modern Times, City Lights, The Great Dictator, The Gold Rush

STURGES (JOHN) -- The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape (never seen any of Preston's stuff)

SIRK -- All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind

FRANKENHEIMER -- The Manchurian Candidate

DE SICA -- The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D

MURNAU -- Sunrise

BRESSON -- Pickpocket, Mouchette

CUKOR -- Gone with the Wind, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story,

STEVENS -- A Place in the Sun, Shane

Then just see all these guy's other great films that I didn't recommend you only because I haven't seen them PLUS as many Astaire/Rogers movies as you can as well as "The Third Man", "Singin' in the Rain" and "Night of the Hunter" and before you know it, you've seen most of the real essentials of the 20's through the 50's. And make sure you do one thing, START WITH WELLES....if you haven't already seen of his stuff, start with his stuff....I found myself wishing I had done that. He's the most essential of them all after all. Don't ignore Fellini and Kurosawa and Bergman and all them just cause I left them out either, I'm sure their stuff is fucking amazing, I just haven't seen any of it. Like I said, I have a long way to go.

[Stefen]

Not really that old. But I've always enjoyed most of Hal Ashbys stuff.

[Ernie]

Not really that old. But I've always enjoyed most of Hal Ashbys stuff.

Absolutely, if you haven't seen Ashby, check out Ashby. By the way, clarify if you were talking about the 70's....cause I'll just recommend you "A Decade Under the Influence" which will make you an expert on that golden age. I was trying to list the 60's and back with the exception of Kubrick who I assumed you already knew and Cassavetes who I've always associated with the 70's moreso than the pre 70's - I'm mentioning him now anyway. Run, don't walk to blind buy "Shadows" and "A Woman Under the Influence" right now....buy the Kubrick box set too while you there if you haven't seen any of his stuff. You deserve to be set back a 100 bucks or so for ignoring him this long.

[Stefen]

Not really that old. But I've always enjoyed most of Hal Ashbys stuff.

Absolutely, if you haven't seen Ashby, check out Ashby. Clarify if you were talking about the 70's too by the way. Cause I'll just recommend you "A Decade Under the Influence" which will make you an expert on that golden age.

Definetely agreed on Decade Under The Influence. As a matter of fact do yourself a favor and invest in the $20 a month it costs to become a netflix member.

[Ernie]

Not really that old. But I've always enjoyed most of Hal Ashbys stuff.

Absolutely, if you haven't seen Ashby, check out Ashby. Clarify if you were talking about the 70's too by the way. Cause I'll just recommend you "A Decade Under the Influence" which will make you an expert on that golden age.

Definetely agreed on Decade Under The Influence. As a matter of fact do yourself a favor and invest in the $20 a month it costs to become a netflix member.

I'm going to have to second that too, lol - if you haven't already, join Netflix, no question. I saw so many of the films I mentioned above through them. I have to mention Tuner Classic Movies too, always keep an eye on that for some of this stuff man, it's 24 hours a day with no commercials, imagine all the films they can show. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they've already shown 90% of the stuff listed above, no joke. They repeat all their stuff too though so don't worry, you haven't missed out by any means. I think Cukor's "Holiday" is on tomorrow night (Monday) as a matter of fact. Tape it then rent Welles' stuff and watch it afterwards.

[Gamblour.]

You could always start by watching the Criterions from the beginning.

When I first started getting into older stuff, it always 'seemed' like the big directors and films were:

Fellini - 8 1/2 (I recommend Nights of Cabiria)
Bergman - Seventh Seal
Kurosawa - Seven Samurai (Yojimbo is great too)
Truffaut - 400 Blows
Godard - Breathless
Hitchcock - Rear Window (The 39 Steps is a fucking masterpiece, Vertigo is supposed to be classic too)

I've seen I Am Cuba, it's one of the best movies I've seen, sure you get jerk off over the camera work, but the stories it tells and the whole movie are the best parts.

[soixante]

If you want to go way back, start with D.W. Griffith.  Birth of a Nation in 1915 was the Gone With the Wind/Star Wars/Lord of the Rings of its time.  Then Intolerance followed in 1916.  Many critics consider both films to be the best of all time -- they certainly helped create the medium of cinema we enjoy today.  Griffith also directed Broken Blossoms in 1919, which is considered another masterpiece.  There are other silents of note -- Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Eisenstein's Battleship Potempkin -- in the 1920's.

Someone mentioned netflix -- I use greencine.com, which has a better selection of foreign and obscure films.

[Alethia]

CUKOR -- Gone with the Wind

wasnt it mostly victor fleming though?  i know cukor was uncredited, but does anyone know how big his contribution was to the film?

[cine]

CUKOR -- Gone with the Wind

wasnt it mostly victor fleming though?

Cukor was onboard but Gable didn't like him at all so he was replaced by Fleming, who ended up being replaced by Sam Wood after a while due to health issues.

[Alethia]

some other greats are sam peckinpah

leone (i know he was mentioned but hes worth mentioning twice)

peter bogdanavich

cecil b. demille

david lean

john schlesinger (pre-midnight cowboy, like darling and billy liar)

w.s. van dyke II (he did manhattan melodrama with clark gable)

joseph l. mankiewicz (all about eve)

another great george cukor film is a bill of divorcement with john
barrymore and katherine hepburn

king vidor (billy the kid, some scenes of the wizard of oz, duel in the sun)

and of course elia kazan.....and a definite thumbs up to the welles suggestions too, i agree with those

[Alethia]

thank you cinephile......do you know why only fleming was credited?

[Chest Rockwell]

Thanks ebeaman for those tips, and yes, I have already seen everything of Kubrick's post-Lolita, except the Kirk Douglas ones, oddly enough...something about his chin...

and thanks gamblor. Those ones you listed were the first ones I was going to be buying, except I can't get to 400 Blows without having to buy the whole damned set, and I was going to start with Godard's Contempt for whatever reason. But definitely the first one I wanna start out with overall is 8 1/2, probably La Strada or Le Dolce Vita next for Fellini.

And I was seriously looking into Birth of a Nation (I had previously read about it years ago), but my older brother watched it in a history class and said it sucks, because its so...racist. I don't really care about that though, so I'll probably try to find it. Haven't heard anything of Intolerance or the other silent films.

Is I Am Cuba really that good? Well goddamn, now I really wanna buy it. I'm not sure of Triumph des Willens, though. I've heard it's the best-shot film. ever.

Either way, I'll start looking for the Criterions for cheap. Thanks. Any more help that comes will be most appreciated.

[SoNowThen]

And I was seriously looking into Birth of a Nation (I had previously read about it years ago), but my older brother watched it in a history class and said it sucks, because its so...racist.

that's a kinda simplified and unfair summation....