Mary Bradley | On 14, Jan 2015
Approximately 1.36 billion movie tickets were sold last year, making movies by far one of the most popular pastimes.
Movies have remained just as popular as they were from the beginning and have expanded to 3D and IMAX, using technology that gave the world of Avatar its beauty and made us in awe of our own world in Gravity. While hundreds of movies are made every year with million dollar budgets and profits, movies made decades ago still shine.
While the wind chills and the temperatures are low, dive into these classic and beloved movies before the Academy Awards in February.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
If you do not recognize the name Marlon Brando, you’ll recognize the face. A Streetcar Named Desire, based off the Tennessee Williams play, took Brando to new acting levels in 1951 after receiving his first Academy Award nomination for the film. While the story itself is centered on Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh), Brando plays the hot-tempered Stanley Kowalski, who is married to Blanche’s sister, Stella (Kim Hunter). The triangle between Stella, Blanche and Stanley is tense, as Stella struggles between helping her broke, alcoholic sister and keeping Stanley tamed, nevermind that she is also about to have her first child. While the movie is edgy and portrays the difficulties of doomed Blanche DuBois, it is one to catch. And if there’s any takeaway, seeing Brando’s famed “Stella!” shout in action definitely proves why it became a classic in the first place.
(SPOILER) When you watch the film, take note of how the rape scene is handled. It does a good job of implying what is going on without having to show it, unlike explicit scenes in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
Pygmalion (1938)/My Fair Lady (1964)
Pygmalion and My Fair Lady belong together because they are both based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. However, don’t be fooled, this story is not a love story (not, at least, until the very end). Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, played in Pygmalion by Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard, spend days upon days bringing Eliza from a lower class to Henry’s upper class. Henry is a linguistics professor, and after a run-in with Eliza, vows to teach her how to be a lady and speak properly.
The film won an Academy Award for best screenplay and was nominated for three others including best picture, but can definitely still compete with My Fair Lady, which came 26 years later.If you’re an Audrey Hepburn fan, you’re sure to know My Fair Lady, where she plays Eliza Doolittle along with Rex Harrison. Hepburn, in some opinions, played a better post-Higgins Eliza, while Hiller played a better pre-Higgins Eliza. Ultimately, it’s up to each viewer to determine which version is better, though the Academy sure voted in favor of My Fair Lady. While Hepburn didn’t win as many awards as her counterpart Harrison, the film took eight Academy Awards, was nominated for four others and won three Golden Globes.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Miracle on 34th Street is heartwarming whether it’s Christmas Eve or May. Fun fact: the movie was actually released in May 1947 because it was thought more people would see the film during summer.
A Macy’s department store employee, Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara), and her daughter, Susan (Natalie Wood), are firm nonbelievers in Santa until a man is hired to play Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) during the holiday season. Insisting he is Santa Claus, Kringle winds up institutionalized. There certainly are a few Claus traits, such as unwavering generosity and kindness and the ability to speak fluent Dutch to a young girl, but Macy’s employees claim the man is a fake. Miracle on 34th Street questions the Santa Claus nonbelievers and helps viewers look past consumerism.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1964)
There’s a reason ABC plays It’s a Wonderful Life every holiday season. The film’s documentation of George Bailey’s (James Stewart) life goes beyond the surface, and proves there is a meaning and purpose to all lives. Originally released Christmas Day, the film made over $3 million in revenue and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Beginning in the sky, an angel named Clarence (Henry Travers) is told the story of George Bailey and sets out to protect him and ultimately gain his wings.
George’s hometown of Bedford Falls has one man who is determined to control it all: Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore). After George’s uncle loses $8,000 of George’s company money to Potter, everything begins to crumble around him, leading George to put himself on the edge of a bridge. Enter: Clarence. Clarence shows George what life would have been like for those closest to him had he never been born. They start at Bedford Falls, but in a world without George, it’s called Pottersville—and that’s only the beginning of it.
Feature Photo via We Heart It