Classic Movies on Amazon Prime Video: What You Can Watch While Self-Quarantining
Many lists have been published in recent days about what new TV shows to binge or which movies to watch, though most have focused only on recent decades. I decided it might be helpful to suggest some classic movies available on streaming services you likely already have, so here goes.
See Also:
NETFLIX - HULU - CRITERION CHANNEL
Next: AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
Amazon Prime is loaded with many classic films of all different varieties, including many public domain titles, dating back to the silent era...
An Introduction to Silent Comedy and Horror
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) dir. Charles Reisner & Buster Keaton
One of the three titans of silent comedy, Buster Keaton made some of the funniest and most creative movies you'll ever see, silent or otherwise. Keaton loved machines and used them often in his movies, building whole plots around trains, boats, and various gadgets just so he could find new ways to tinker with them. Famously known as the "Great Stone Face" because of his deadpan reactions to a wide variety of hazardous situations, (such as the famous moment in Steamboat Bill Jr. when a house falls on him) Keaton performed 99.9% of all of these stunts, actions scenes, chases, in his films, which were far more dangerous than anything you'll see in modern films and at times resulted in serious injury. Though small and wiry, Keaton seems capable of any feat of athleticism and it is really remarkable to see just all that he could do without modern tricks or special effects. Keaton's films are a joyous celebration of fun, humor, spectacle, and man's resolve in the face of impossible odds. If you enjoy, Steamboat Bill Jr. Amazon Prime is also streaming The General (1927), Keaton's most famous and celebrated movie.
Nosferatu (1922) dir. F.W. Murnau
Silent films work so well for comedy because visual humor is so universal and immediate but the medium could also be used to create an atmosphere of terror and thus lends itself perfectly to the horror genre. The German film industry was a hotbed of horror films in the early 1920s with many of the most celebrated films of that period falling into that category. Most famous is F.W. Murnau's adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (the name and characters were changed because the studio couldn't get the rights to the novel from Stoker; she sued) called Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens in Germany, the subtitle translating to a A Symphony of Horror. This is an accurate description as the film is composed like a musical piece around a certain tone and mood, that of creeping terror and atmospheric disturbance. It probably won't be actually scary to modern audiences but it does get under your skin in a very real way. Also, there is a certain beauty to Nosferatu in the way that light, shadow, and stylization of the visual design work together in harmony towards making the atmosphere of the film.
Amazon Prime is also streaming two other classic German horror silent films: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), the granddaddy of all horror films and The Golem (1920), based on a Jewish legend, both even more stylized in German Expressionism than Nosferatu.
Predating even those films is the seminal A Trip to the Moon (1902) made by one of the founders of cinema, Georges Méliès and featuring all sorts of wonderful bits of early movie magic. At less than 20 minutes it is a fun experience and one that is always a hit with children.
A Wide Variety of Classic Comedies
My Man Godfrey (1936) dir. Gregory La Cava
As troubling and awful as our modern crisis now is, it's easy to forget that humanity has faced challenges greater in the past: case-and-point, the Great Depression which also saw food shortages, tanking economy, and millions out of work, and it lasted for over a decade(!) While this may seem like an odd introduction to a section about comedy films, My Man Godfrey deftly combines both Depression-era politics with hilarious screwball comedy. They'll be a time after COVID-19 and during that time many people will be in need of help; a similar situation arises in My Man Godfrey and the film makes a definitive statement: it is the responsibility of those that are better off to help those that are struggling and not to forget the less fortunate. If that sounds preachy, it really isn't presented that way and My Man Godfrey is a truly hilarious movie and a pitch-perfect comedy that makes it easy to forget your own troubles.
Amazon is also streaming the greatest comedy ever made (in my opinion) His Girl Friday, a masterpiece of rapid-fire dialogue, wit, and personality. More conventional comedies from the thirties and forties that are streaming including another financially-based comedy Brewster's Millions (1945), the turn-of-the-century family comedy Life with Father (1947), and Bob Hope's film noir parody My Favorite Brunette (1947).
The Apartment (1960) dir. Billy Wilder
Comedy changed in the late fifties and sixties, becoming more frank and adult in their humor and including more serious, dark moments. The Apartment is a special romantic comedy because while it is certainly funny, it doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of romance: sadness, heartbreak, loneliness, manipulation, and guilt, addressing them in a fairly frank and brutal manner. There aren't really a lot of films that can genuinely make you both cry and laugh out loud multiple times. As far as screenplays go, there are few better written or constructed than The Apartment, both in the way it can arouse multiple disparate feelings in the audience but also how it wraps around on itself and plants seeds which are later harvested in unexpected ways.
The film Billy Wilder made before The Apartment is also streaming on Amazon: Some Like it Hot (1959) might not have the same moments of intense pathos, but it makes up for it by being exponentially funnier, perhaps the funniest movie ever made. Jerry Lewis, as discussed in the previous post on Hulu movies, is a divisive comedian, his best film (by far) The Nutty Professor (1963) is streaming on Amazon.
An Introduction to Alfred Hitchcock
The Lady Vanishes (1938) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
The most famous Hollywood director (perhaps ever?) Alfred Hitchcock's name and work are familiar to even casual movie fans, though most of the focus in on his 1950s and 60s films like Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). Hitchcock's career began with silent films in Britain and he worked there through the thirties, producing a handful of delightfully fun suspense films that have more light comedy and British whimsy than his later, more darkly humorous American thrillers. The Lady Vanishes is most emblematic of this more tame and charming period of Hitchcock's career yet it still contains many of the hallmarks of his suspenseful style: including finding the menace in every day life, the use of point-of-view and perspective, and a love-hate romantic relationship between the leading characters.
Amazon is also streaming several other of Hitchcock's enjoyable thirties films (listed in order of interest): Young and Innocent (1937), Sabotage (1936), Murder! (1930), and Secret Agent (1936).
To Catch a Thief (1955)
After catching up on Hitchcock's thirties period, Amazon also offers one of the director's fifties movies. Though not as celebrated as some of his more famous films from this period, To Catch a Thief is a personal favorite because of the way that it so deftly combines romance, comedy, and suspense. It's one of the directors most romantic and outright fun films, full to the brim with sexiness, wit, and inventiveness. It may not strike home in the obvious ways that other Hitchcock films do, but it is a more laid back and "adult" movie that moves at its own pace and takes the time to marinate the character's relationships in a way that the headlong rush of more straightforward thrillers don't always have time for. Add to that a lovely and talented cast (including leads Grace Kelly and Cary Grant) suitably dressed in costumes by the great Edith Head, stunning locations on the French Riviera, and some of the most beautiful Technicolor (and VistaVision!) cinematography you'll ever see.
A Selection of Horror and Thrillers
Carnival of Souls (1962) dir. Heck Harvey
For a super low-budget film made by and starring essentially nobodies, Carnival of Souls is a surprisingly popular and influential film. Surprising, that is, if you've never seen it. Once watching how the film creates its atmosphere of creeping surreal terror, one can easily understand why the film sticks with people and the ways in which later horror and surrealist directors like George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead) and David Lynch (Blue Velvet) might be inspired by it. Carnival of Souls was made for roughly $33,000, an absolutely ridiculously low sum: for comparison, Night of the Living Dead another sixties low budget horror film, cost nearly four times as much. The budget only really shows itself in the lack of stars and the finale, which can be unintentionally humorous (that is part of the fun!) but everything that comes before that is startlingly effective in what it is trying to accomplish. There are some truly stunning images here, not the least of which is the abandoned Saltair II pavilion, which burned down and was rebuilt a few years later.
Other classic horror films include the brilliant, paranoid science-fiction thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the weird and disturbingly funny Spider Baby (1968), and two goofy Vincent Price camp-comedy-horror films House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Comedy of Terrors (1963).
Charade (1963) dir. Stanley Donen
One of the most purely enjoyable movies ever made, Charade is the perfect romantic-comedy-thriller, it has it all: two great stars (Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant) and a stellar supporting cast, scenes that range from genuinely funny to exciting and suspenseful, great Paris scenery, classic music by Henry Mancini, a memorable credit sequence, and most important of all, spectacular clothes. There really isn't much more to say about Charade other than it is pure, undiluted movie fun and just what humanity needs injected into their veins at this moment in time.
Amazon also has several other excellent thrillers, including the classic early sound adventure film The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Suddenly (1954), which features Frank Sinatra as an insane assassin, and if you're feeling the need for a very particular type of escapism, two prisoner-of-war breakout movies, Stalag 17 (1953) and The Great Escape (1963)
The Gritty World of Film Noir
The Letter (1940) dir. William Wyler
Amazon has a wide and quality selection of film noir and pre-noir crime films from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. The Letter falls between the pre-noir period and the prime years of the genre and as such can be unfairly forgotten despite it having all the hallmarks of the genre: violence, sexual subtext, moral ambiguity, and moody chiaroscuro cinematography. The film also has the great Bette Davis in perhaps her best performance: the way she shifts from brutality and toughness to faux-weakness and victim-hood is truly remarkable to see. Guided by Davis, The Letter is a roller coaster of emotions and shifting power dynamic that starts out with a literal bang, ends with a bitter irony, and doesn't slow down much in between.
Other pre-noir on Amazon include Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937); Algiers (1938), which was influential on Casablanca, and They Made Me a Criminal (1939) featuring the Dead End Kids.
D.O.A. (1949) dir. Rudolph Maté
Similarly comprised of near non-stop suspense is D.O.A., a classic example of film noir fatalism: a man finds out that he has been poisoned and has no idea why. He races against time to find out what has happened to him and who did it, tracking twists and turns all along the way. The film has several major elements that contribute to its success, the first being lead actor Edmond O'Brien who excelled at playing doomed or unlucky individuals, he starts out as a confident business man eventually devolves into a sweaty pile of nerves. The film also benefits greatly from Maté, who was previously one of the great cinematographers, now turned director he creates an inventive and masterful world of odd angles and shadows that accurately translate the state of the main character.
Amazon has a wide variety of film noir, listed in order of interest: Scarlet Street (1945), The Killing (1956), Sunset Boulevard (1950), T-Men (1947), He Walked By Night (1948), Kansas City Confidential (1952), Woman on the Run (1950), Pitfall (1950), and Dressed to Kill (1941)
Classic Hollywood Musicals
Funny Face (1957) dir. Stanley Donen
Nothing quite brightens up a dreary or tough day like a great Hollywood musical and Funny Face certainly applies. Starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, the film is fun, funny, and romantic with some great music (courtesy of George and Ira Gershwin), memorable dances, great costumes, and eye-popping color VistaVision widescreen visuals. Funny Face also stars the fabulous Kay Thompson, who worked as a vocal coach and arranger but is best know to modern audiences as the author of the popular Eloise children's books, which makes total sense when you compare the books to her performance in the film, in which she essentially plays herself.
Amazon's classic musical pickings are slim but they do have another Fred Astaire vehicle, Royal Wedding (1951), in which Astaire famously dances on the walls and ceiling and Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) an otherwise dull biopic that is made enjoyable by a wide variety of performances by the likes of Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, June Allyson, and many others.
For a Good Cry
Love Affair (1939) dir. Leo McCarey
Sometimes you really just need a good cry. Warning, these movies will make you cry and not always in a good way. Love Affair (later remade as the more well-known An Affair to Remember in 1957) is a classic Hollywood romance and a beautiful story and film. It has all the hallmarks of a great romance: two appealing lead characters, tenderly composed love scenes, tragedy, misunderstanding, and finally glorious resolution. Now might not be the time that you'll want to watch a tearjerker, but it can feel good to let it all out at times.
Amazon is also streaming two Italian films by Vittorio De Sica: Shoeshine (1946), which is a real heart-breaker about children in post-War Rome and Miracle in Milan (1951), which starts out a similar way before a glorious climax that will make you cry in a good way. Lastly The Pawnbroker (1964) is the first American film to fully deal with the tragedy and effects of the Holocaust and is devastatingly powerful experience.
PLUS: Some Movies for Younger Viewers
The Court Jester (1956) dir. Melvin Frank & Norman Panama
Against All Flags (1952) dir. George Sherman
Little Women (1949) dir. Mervyn LeRoy
Obviously, one of the most difficult aspects of self-isolating is that many families are having to deal with children that aren't used to being stuck inside and therefore not used to it. These are some movies that, while not perfect might provide a bit of entertainment to younger audiences. The Court Jester has jokes, bright colors, songs, slapstick humor, and exciting but not too harrowing action. Against All Flags is a classic Saturday morning swashbuckling action pirate adventure starring Errol Flynn, there is certainly plenty of action that might be too much for some (and there is also some embarrassingly dumb moments involving a naive princess) but on the whole there is nothing too bad in the movie. Little Women is obviously a classic story and though this might be the worst movie version, it is still a timeless tale that should appeal to any literarily-minded young person.
If you like what you've read here, be sure to check out the book I've written.
Also, consider donating to the Art-House America campaign, which is raising money to keep independent movie theaters afloat during this crisis.
And also follow me on Twitter!
See Also:
NETFLIX - HULU - CRITERION CHANNEL
Next: AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
Amazon Prime is loaded with many classic films of all different varieties, including many public domain titles, dating back to the silent era...
An Introduction to Silent Comedy and Horror
Silent films work so well for comedy because visual humor is so universal and immediate but the medium could also be used to create an atmosphere of terror and thus lends itself perfectly to the horror genre. The German film industry was a hotbed of horror films in the early 1920s with many of the most celebrated films of that period falling into that category. Most famous is F.W. Murnau's adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (the name and characters were changed because the studio couldn't get the rights to the novel from Stoker; she sued) called Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens in Germany, the subtitle translating to a A Symphony of Horror. This is an accurate description as the film is composed like a musical piece around a certain tone and mood, that of creeping terror and atmospheric disturbance. It probably won't be actually scary to modern audiences but it does get under your skin in a very real way. Also, there is a certain beauty to Nosferatu in the way that light, shadow, and stylization of the visual design work together in harmony towards making the atmosphere of the film.
Amazon Prime is also streaming two other classic German horror silent films: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), the granddaddy of all horror films and The Golem (1920), based on a Jewish legend, both even more stylized in German Expressionism than Nosferatu.
Predating even those films is the seminal A Trip to the Moon (1902) made by one of the founders of cinema, Georges Méliès and featuring all sorts of wonderful bits of early movie magic. At less than 20 minutes it is a fun experience and one that is always a hit with children.
A Wide Variety of Classic Comedies
As troubling and awful as our modern crisis now is, it's easy to forget that humanity has faced challenges greater in the past: case-and-point, the Great Depression which also saw food shortages, tanking economy, and millions out of work, and it lasted for over a decade(!) While this may seem like an odd introduction to a section about comedy films, My Man Godfrey deftly combines both Depression-era politics with hilarious screwball comedy. They'll be a time after COVID-19 and during that time many people will be in need of help; a similar situation arises in My Man Godfrey and the film makes a definitive statement: it is the responsibility of those that are better off to help those that are struggling and not to forget the less fortunate. If that sounds preachy, it really isn't presented that way and My Man Godfrey is a truly hilarious movie and a pitch-perfect comedy that makes it easy to forget your own troubles.
Amazon is also streaming the greatest comedy ever made (in my opinion) His Girl Friday, a masterpiece of rapid-fire dialogue, wit, and personality. More conventional comedies from the thirties and forties that are streaming including another financially-based comedy Brewster's Millions (1945), the turn-of-the-century family comedy Life with Father (1947), and Bob Hope's film noir parody My Favorite Brunette (1947).
Comedy changed in the late fifties and sixties, becoming more frank and adult in their humor and including more serious, dark moments. The Apartment is a special romantic comedy because while it is certainly funny, it doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of romance: sadness, heartbreak, loneliness, manipulation, and guilt, addressing them in a fairly frank and brutal manner. There aren't really a lot of films that can genuinely make you both cry and laugh out loud multiple times. As far as screenplays go, there are few better written or constructed than The Apartment, both in the way it can arouse multiple disparate feelings in the audience but also how it wraps around on itself and plants seeds which are later harvested in unexpected ways.
The film Billy Wilder made before The Apartment is also streaming on Amazon: Some Like it Hot (1959) might not have the same moments of intense pathos, but it makes up for it by being exponentially funnier, perhaps the funniest movie ever made. Jerry Lewis, as discussed in the previous post on Hulu movies, is a divisive comedian, his best film (by far) The Nutty Professor (1963) is streaming on Amazon.
An Introduction to Alfred Hitchcock
The most famous Hollywood director (perhaps ever?) Alfred Hitchcock's name and work are familiar to even casual movie fans, though most of the focus in on his 1950s and 60s films like Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). Hitchcock's career began with silent films in Britain and he worked there through the thirties, producing a handful of delightfully fun suspense films that have more light comedy and British whimsy than his later, more darkly humorous American thrillers. The Lady Vanishes is most emblematic of this more tame and charming period of Hitchcock's career yet it still contains many of the hallmarks of his suspenseful style: including finding the menace in every day life, the use of point-of-view and perspective, and a love-hate romantic relationship between the leading characters.
Amazon is also streaming several other of Hitchcock's enjoyable thirties films (listed in order of interest): Young and Innocent (1937), Sabotage (1936), Murder! (1930), and Secret Agent (1936).
A Selection of Horror and Thrillers
Other classic horror films include the brilliant, paranoid science-fiction thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the weird and disturbingly funny Spider Baby (1968), and two goofy Vincent Price camp-comedy-horror films House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Comedy of Terrors (1963).
Amazon also has several other excellent thrillers, including the classic early sound adventure film The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Suddenly (1954), which features Frank Sinatra as an insane assassin, and if you're feeling the need for a very particular type of escapism, two prisoner-of-war breakout movies, Stalag 17 (1953) and The Great Escape (1963)
The Gritty World of Film Noir
Amazon has a wide and quality selection of film noir and pre-noir crime films from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. The Letter falls between the pre-noir period and the prime years of the genre and as such can be unfairly forgotten despite it having all the hallmarks of the genre: violence, sexual subtext, moral ambiguity, and moody chiaroscuro cinematography. The film also has the great Bette Davis in perhaps her best performance: the way she shifts from brutality and toughness to faux-weakness and victim-hood is truly remarkable to see. Guided by Davis, The Letter is a roller coaster of emotions and shifting power dynamic that starts out with a literal bang, ends with a bitter irony, and doesn't slow down much in between.
Other pre-noir on Amazon include Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937); Algiers (1938), which was influential on Casablanca, and They Made Me a Criminal (1939) featuring the Dead End Kids.
Similarly comprised of near non-stop suspense is D.O.A., a classic example of film noir fatalism: a man finds out that he has been poisoned and has no idea why. He races against time to find out what has happened to him and who did it, tracking twists and turns all along the way. The film has several major elements that contribute to its success, the first being lead actor Edmond O'Brien who excelled at playing doomed or unlucky individuals, he starts out as a confident business man eventually devolves into a sweaty pile of nerves. The film also benefits greatly from Maté, who was previously one of the great cinematographers, now turned director he creates an inventive and masterful world of odd angles and shadows that accurately translate the state of the main character.
Amazon has a wide variety of film noir, listed in order of interest: Scarlet Street (1945), The Killing (1956), Sunset Boulevard (1950), T-Men (1947), He Walked By Night (1948), Kansas City Confidential (1952), Woman on the Run (1950), Pitfall (1950), and Dressed to Kill (1941)
Classic Hollywood Musicals
Nothing quite brightens up a dreary or tough day like a great Hollywood musical and Funny Face certainly applies. Starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, the film is fun, funny, and romantic with some great music (courtesy of George and Ira Gershwin), memorable dances, great costumes, and eye-popping color VistaVision widescreen visuals. Funny Face also stars the fabulous Kay Thompson, who worked as a vocal coach and arranger but is best know to modern audiences as the author of the popular Eloise children's books, which makes total sense when you compare the books to her performance in the film, in which she essentially plays herself.
Amazon's classic musical pickings are slim but they do have another Fred Astaire vehicle, Royal Wedding (1951), in which Astaire famously dances on the walls and ceiling and Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) an otherwise dull biopic that is made enjoyable by a wide variety of performances by the likes of Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, June Allyson, and many others.
For a Good Cry
Love Affair (1939) dir. Leo McCarey
Sometimes you really just need a good cry. Warning, these movies will make you cry and not always in a good way. Love Affair (later remade as the more well-known An Affair to Remember in 1957) is a classic Hollywood romance and a beautiful story and film. It has all the hallmarks of a great romance: two appealing lead characters, tenderly composed love scenes, tragedy, misunderstanding, and finally glorious resolution. Now might not be the time that you'll want to watch a tearjerker, but it can feel good to let it all out at times.
Amazon is also streaming two Italian films by Vittorio De Sica: Shoeshine (1946), which is a real heart-breaker about children in post-War Rome and Miracle in Milan (1951), which starts out a similar way before a glorious climax that will make you cry in a good way. Lastly The Pawnbroker (1964) is the first American film to fully deal with the tragedy and effects of the Holocaust and is devastatingly powerful experience.
PLUS: Some Movies for Younger Viewers
The Court Jester (1956) dir. Melvin Frank & Norman Panama
Against All Flags (1952) dir. George Sherman
Little Women (1949) dir. Mervyn LeRoy
Obviously, one of the most difficult aspects of self-isolating is that many families are having to deal with children that aren't used to being stuck inside and therefore not used to it. These are some movies that, while not perfect might provide a bit of entertainment to younger audiences. The Court Jester has jokes, bright colors, songs, slapstick humor, and exciting but not too harrowing action. Against All Flags is a classic Saturday morning swashbuckling action pirate adventure starring Errol Flynn, there is certainly plenty of action that might be too much for some (and there is also some embarrassingly dumb moments involving a naive princess) but on the whole there is nothing too bad in the movie. Little Women is obviously a classic story and though this might be the worst movie version, it is still a timeless tale that should appeal to any literarily-minded young person.
If you like what you've read here, be sure to check out the book I've written.
Also, consider donating to the Art-House America campaign, which is raising money to keep independent movie theaters afloat during this crisis.
And also follow me on Twitter!
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