Classic Movies on the Criterion Channel: 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.
Previously Covered: NETFLIX - HULU - AMAZON PRIME
Next: THE CRITERION CHANNEL
This is obviously the mother-lode when it comes to classic movies from all eras and from all around the world. Most importantly, the Criterion Channel also contains a wealth of supplemental material - interviews, video essays, and more - that help enrich the experience of watching and understanding the movies. Criterion as a company is also a leading light in the preservation, restoration, and appreciation of cinema and it is highly recommended and encouraged that you support them, you will not be disappointed.
NOTE: I've chosen to mostly focus on "classic" films from 40+ years ago and usually far more but the Criterion Channel also has a wide variety of great modern films from around the world as well. Fortunately, the Channel is well curated with introductions to many collections that will make it easy to find these films.
Silent Comedy: The Other Two
The Circus (1928) dir. Charlie Chaplin
In the post about movies on Amazon, I discussed Buster Keaton, one of the three great silent comedy stars, a trio that also includes Charlie Chaplin, certainly the most famous of the three. In the prime of his career, Chaplin's Tramp was not only the most recognizable character but also the most famous person in the world, beloved in a multitude of countries (even today, statues of Chaplin can be found in locations as varied as England, Slovakia, and India). Chaplin's Tramp character is the ultimate outsider and underdog with his ragged over-sized clothes and diminutive stature, constantly being rejected by proper society. Thus positioned on the fringes Chaplin is able to comment (and lampoon) society and human nature, though that isn't always his primary concern. Chaplin made his movies with two goals in mind: make the audience laugh, make them cry. The combination of laughter and pathos (usually derived from a romance subplot) is the definition of his films and what makes them so special. For better or worse, Chaplin was an extreme perfectionist and supreme egotist, rarely letting any other character in his films be the focus for very long, which is a double-edged sword: on one hand, audiences connect even more deeply to the Tramp, but as a result, there aren't many other characters in his films that you care much about. The Circus is a good starting point for Chaplin because it has all the hallmarks of a Chaplin film - it's funny, moving, and inventive - but is also probably his worst feature-length silent film. Worse is a relative term of course since it is still a great movie, but when watching the next films, you'll only have up to go despite starting at such a high level.
After The Circus, my recommended order would be The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), The Kid (1921), then Modern Times (1936). After that there are the many comedy shorts Chaplin made, of which I especially recommend A Dog's Life (1918). And then there are Chaplin's full sound films, which in general are of lesser quality and can be watched in any order but only after having seen all the silents.
Speedy (1928) dir. Ted Wilde & Harold Lloyd
Though not always as critically acclaimed as either Keaton or Chaplin, Harold Lloyd was every bit their equal (and the most popular of the the trio with the public for many years) and is easily the funniest to modern eyes. Lloyd embodied the go-getter, can-do spirit of the 1920s, usually playing a young man who can surely make good if only he's given a chance. His movies also embodied the time and place of the twenties better than just about any other, full of the life, optimism, swinging jazz and flappers but in a much truer fashion than, say, The Great Gatsby, because it is street-level view of the common man as opposed to Fitzgerald's idle, boozy lost generation. The other hallmark of Lloyd is the romance element which takes on a lighter, more sweetly romantic-comedy tone than the pathos of Chaplin, Lloyd's character inevitably has a girl that he must, in some way, prove himself - or at least in his own mind. The female characters in Lloyd's movies are often far wiser and autonomous than in either Keaton or Chaplin, where they end up more as objects (to be venerated by Chaplin and saved from peril by Keaton). Lloyd divided his comedies into two types: character studies that focused more on development and smaller moments and action films in which he devised some spectacular chase scene or dangerous stunt to build the film around. Speedy is a great starting point because it combines the two and therefore gives you a taste of both sides of Lloyd. The movie also features some incredible footage of New York City in 1928, a wonderful sequence on Coney Island, and a cameo by baseball legend Babe Ruth!
If you found that the smaller comedic and character moments in Speedy were your favorite part, The Freshman (1925) and The Kid Brother (1927) are logical next steps while fans of the trolley chase scenes should watch Safety Last! (1923) and For Heaven's Sake (1926). Of many available shorts, Never Weaken (1921) is especially recommended.
More Silent Classics
Destiny (1921) dir. Fritz Lang
The Criterion Channel has many other silent films streaming, including the remarkable German fantasy Destiny. The film is about a woman who must bargain with Death personified (the German title of the film translates to Weary Death) for the life of her dead lover. This plays out in a series of stories within the story where the woman inhabits three characters throughout history - one in the Middle East of the past, one in Venice during the Renaissance, and one in ancient China - and save each character's lover. The film is very complex and interconnected, taking many turns beyond this point that would be spoiled by discussing but suffice to say it is an incredible, one of a kind movie that will legitimately move you to tears at times. Fritz Lang is renowned for his ability to create striking and powerful images and Destiny is a primary example, be it through camera placement, staging, trick photography, or set design. Silent movies don't get much better than Destiny.
Häxan (1922) dir. Benjamin Christensen
Häxan is one of the most unique, bizarre, and incredible movies ever made and that isn't an overstatement. Häxan (pronounced heck-sen) blends documentary elements with stylized fictional sequences, all of which are used as a way of documenting the history of “witchcraft through the ages.” This includes crazy nuns, demons, black magic, midnight reveries, torture, and kissing the devil's butt (among many other things). Director Christensen (who also narrates the film and “stars” as the Devil) uses both fact and fiction to tell the history of beliefs and superstitions about witchcraft, Satan, and the occult and the result is almost unbelievably creepy, unsettling, weird, and great. However, Häxan isn’t just interested in concocting entertaining images of witchcraft to teach about medieval practices and but also in educating modern audiences on the danger of misdiagnosing mental illness. Christensen’s thesis is one that is not widely held, that much of what was once considered to be witchcraft and resulting in the torture and death of innocent people was in fact the result of different types of mental illness like somnambulism and kleptomania. Though the world has come a long way from both the middle ages and 1922, mental illness is still not being handled in an optimum manner even by professionals, let alone the average person who still views it with negative connotations and fear, embarrassment, and derision. Häxan makes this point very well, though of course, the main attraction for the film will always be from a purely entertainment standpoint, which isn’t surprising considering just how fun it is to watch. Part of what makes the film so enjoyable is that it isn’t dour or dark but filled with quite a bit of tongue in cheek humor. Make no mistake, this is a really weird movie that can be creepy at times and there are some darkly disturbing scenes (mostly involving the interrogation and torture of innocent people) but on the whole, Häxan has a playful tone.
Some other great silent films on The Criterion Channel include Body and Soul (1925) directed by pioneering African-American auteur Oscar Micheaux and starring the great Paul Robeson, the Swedish dark fantasy The Phantom Carriage (1921), which is a great followup for those that liked Destiny, and two films directed by Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer: Vampyr (1932), which might be the best horror film ever made, and The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) which might be the best movie ever made, period.
The Cinema of France
Diabolique (1955) dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
The best thing about the Criterion Channel is the remarkable selection of some of the greatest films from all around the world, including heavy-hitters like France, the birthplace of cinema. Within French cinema, there are several distinct periods all worth exploring so I have just selected two films that I think many will enjoy and then provided a more detailed breakdown later. Diabolique (released as Les diaboliques or The Devils in France) is a psychological horror-thriller film made by France's master of suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot. Revealing more than a little bit of the plot would spoil what is a fantastically suspenseful and surprising film in which the barriers between reality and hallucination seem to be tearing. There are many twists and turns and final reveal that still shocks even after you have seen it. Clouzot's films are often about the breaking down of people, society, and morality and Diabolique is no different. Be warned, Clouzot is a misanthropic director and his films won't necessarily leave you encouraged about the state of humanity, but they will leave you entertained, thrilled, and thoughtful.
If you enjoyed Diabolique, the Criterion Channel is also streaming Clouzot's Le Corbeau (1943) about a small French town torn apart by a mysterious poison pen letter writer and The Wages of Fear (1953) a remarkably tense film about the transportation of unstable nitro across rough mountain roads. Also streaming are Jules Dassin's Rififi (1955), the ultimate crime-heist movies and Georges Franju's brilliantly surreal horror film Eyes without a Face (1960)
Elevator to the Gallows (1958) dir. Louis Malle
French crime-thriller Elevator to the Gallows has quite a bit going for it. First and foremost is star Jeanne Moreau, the most important actor in French film from the late-fifties and sixties, and director Malle is content to just show her walking around nighttime streets, content that her face will tell more stories than pages of dialogue. These scenes (and the movie as a whole) also benefit from the atmosphere created through the music of jazz legend Miles Davis and his quintet, who wrote and improvised the score to remarkable effect. Also evident is the beautiful, moody cinematography by Henri Decaë, one of the most important French cinematographers of his era, that makes especially effective use of the naturalistic lighting of dark city streets. Though the story is interesting and suspenseful with several shocking moments, twists, and reversals, it is really the atmosphere of the film - created by Malle, Moreau, Davis, and Decaë - that make it so memorable and set it apart from other doomed criminal-lover films.
Elevator to the Gallows is often considered an immediate precursor to the French Nouvelle Vague (or New Wave) movement, many films of which are streaming on the Criterion Channel. For a primer of this movement watch: François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959), Jean-Luc Goddard's Breathless (1960), Claude Charbol Les Cousins (1959), Alain Resnais' Hiroshima mon amour (1959), Éric Rohmer's The Sign of Leo (1962), Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7, and Jacques Rivette's Paris Belongs to Us (1961). From there, just pick the films liked the most and explore more of the director's filmography from there.
A Breakdown of French Film History from the 30s to the 60s
1930s: Poetical Realism - Atmospheric and often very romantic drama films, including some of the best films ever made: Jean Renoir's Toni (1935) and The Rules of the Game (1939), Jean Vigo's L'Atalante (1934), and Marcel Carné's Hôtel du Nord
1940s: The Occupation - Made during the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, these films were often restricted to fantastic or period settings but still managed, in their own subtle way, to comment on the current situations: Clouzot's Le Corbeau, and Carné's Les visiteurs du soir (1942) and Children of Paradise (1945).
1950s: Post-War, Pre-New Wave - Though often denigrated, this period features some all-time great movies by definitive masters: the Clouzot films, Max Ophüls beautiful romantic dramas Le Ronde (1950), The Earrings of Mademe de... (1953), and Lola Montès (1955), Jean Pierre Melville's tales of resistance and gangsters like Le silence de la mer (1949), Robert Bresson's minimalist fables A Man Escaped (1956) and Pickpocket (1959), and Renoir's Technicolor spectacle films The Golden Coach (1952) and French Cancan (1955).
1960s: The Nouvelle Vague - The New Wave of French film rejected many established forms of cinematic storytelling and tried to do things in a new and different way, embracing location shooting, mobile cameras, unconventional editing, and often existential storytelling. See above for a list of foundational films in the movement.
The Cinema of Japan
Late Spring (1949) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
Japanese movies are characterized by beautiful and emotionally powerful stories that directly reflect the culture in which they were made. As a nipponophile, this is my favorite type of world cinema and though most people will just associate Japanese movies with samurai, there is a treasure trove of different types of films to explore: period and contemporary dramas and tragedies, mystical ghost stories, epic action films, and slick modern crime films. Though the samurai films, particularly those made by Akira Kurosawa are immensely entertaining, great films that are more on western audience's wavelength, they aren't really an ideal example of Japanese cinema, which tends to be slower, more contemplative, and focused on women, families, and the dynamics between generations and the past and future. In that way, films by directors like Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Mikio Naruse are far more emblematic of Japanese movies than the popular Kurosawa samurai films, great though they may be. Ozu is a director that some find it takes time to sync-up with, but once you are on his contemplative wavelength, there is so much wonder, beauty, and emotion in his quietly heartbreaking films. Late Spring is a great starting point because it has many of the hallmarks of an Ozu film: gentle conflict between generations with themes of love and duty that seems to be shot in a simple style but is constructed with extreme care and attention to detail. It is also an all-time great film and a great introduction to Japanese film, just be prepared for a slower pace.
The Criterion Channel is streaming over thirty Ozu films, ranging from silent films to the 1960s, and all of them are worth your time. A few highlights: the comedic silent film I Was Born But... (1932), heartbreaking Tokyo Story (1953), and Ozu's late color masterpieces like Floating Weeds (1959) and The End of Summer (1961).
Also streaming are over 15 films directed by Mikio Naruse, who operates in a similar area (contemporary, female-centric domestic dramas) but with an equally great style all his own: deceptively simple stories and filmmaking which in fact contains worlds of emotion and meaning. Floating Clouds (1955), Flowing (1956), and When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) are great starting points.
The Ballad of Narayama (1958) dir. Keisuke Kinoshita
Part of the style of Japanese cinema is directly influenced by the country's history of stage performances, not just kabuki but also the noh and kyogen traditions. Early Japanese cinema was often a recreation of these styles (with male actors mostly still playing female characters for quite some time) but eventually, a more cinematic approach was developed but elements of these older traditions, particularly the music, still remained. The Ballad of Narayama, though still retaining a cinematic style, goes even further in recreating the look and feel of classic Japanese theater with stunning results. Far from looking static or stagy, the film blends movies and theater into a unique impressionistic presentation: shot exclusively on soundstages it doesn't attempt to replicate reality and uses startling transitions from scene to scene, such as the background suddenly falling away from one scene so that the camera can move forward into the next. The results are wonderful, as is the beautiful widescreen Fujicolor cinematography, all of which is contrasted by the tragic and occasionally disturbing (but immensely moving) story.
Kinoshita is an underappreciated director and the Criterion Channel has over 40(!) of his films streaming. Unlike the rigid styles of Ozu and Naruse, Kinoshita's films are characterized by the wide variety of approaches he takes to different stories and subjects. You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (1955), The Rose on His Arm (1956), The River Fuefuki (1960) and Children of Nagasaki (1983) demonstrate this.
Also streaming are over a dozen films by my favorite Japanese director, Kenji Mizoguchi. Like Ozu and Naruse, Mizoguchi's films usually center on female characters (and the ways in which they are marginalized and mistreated) but in other ways he is quite different from them, using elaborate camera movement and long takes to wring the most feeling out of a scene. Mizoguchi's films are powerful and heartbreaking and some of the best include Ugetsu (1953), Sansho the Bailiff (1954), A Story from Chikamatsu (1954), and Street of Shame (1955).
Then of course there is Kurosawa, who makes the most immediately accessible and traditionally exciting Japanese films Yojimbo (1961) is a great place to start with his samurai films while Stray Dog (1949) or High and Low (1963) are tremendous modern crime stories, and Ikiru (1952) is a moving contemporary tragedy seemingly more in line with the other Japanese filmmakers but decidedly Kurosawan in style and theme.
The Cinema of Italy
Paisan (1946) dir. Roberto Rossellini
Immediately following the liberation of Rome by American forces in 1944, filmmaker Roberto Rossellini started making a fictional film that documented the plight of Italian citizens under Nazi occupation and those that were fighting against the tyranny. The resulting film Rome, Open City (1945) revolutionized Italian movies and fully birthed the 1940s and 50s "neo-realist" movement. Rossellini quickly followed up Rome, Open City with Paisan, about the relations between the invading American liberators and the Italians they encountered. Broken up into six separate, unconnected episodes each cover a different aspect of the relationship, seen through the eyes of American soldiers (black and white), nurses, chaplains, and the OSS as they encounter simple villagers, children, destitute peasants, young women, monks, and freedom fighters. Paisan is made in the traditional neo-realist style, utilizing almost exclusively real-life locations (which was easy since so much of the country was destroyed during the war, leaving plenty of realistic settings) and many non-professional actors, which occasionally produces some questionable performances (the Americans are particularly bad) but it doesn't really matter, the film is great in spite of them because of the powerful way in which Rossellini films it and the realness to the story that makes it feel like something more than a fictional film but never less than a work of created art either.
Some other neo-realist films streaming on the Criterion Channel: Rossellini's Rome, Open City, Germany: Year Zero (1948), and Stromboli (1950) and Vittorio De Sica's famous Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Umberto D. (1952). The Battle of Algiers (1966) was made after the neo-realist period but shares many hallmarks of the movement and is one of the best and most vivid war films ever made.
L'Eclisse (1962) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Following the neo-realist movement, Italian cinema became known for its individualistic directors and the hyper-cool style of the 1960s. Defining both those attributes to a "T" are Michelangelo Antonioni's films, all of which star beautiful, stylish people and are made in his distinct style of long takes, camera movements, and slow, contemplative pace. Plot is of secondary importance to Antonioni, who instead focuses on the moods and themes he is trying evoke. In the case of L'Eclisse the theme is one of modern discontent and the disconnection between adults. This ennui (a common term associated with Antonioni) is manifested in characters who try and fail to connect to each other and to the world and instead go through life - even life that is full of exciting events - looking only for ways in which they can drown their lack of purpose and feeling. No director is able to present the cold reality and frailty of human relationships better than Antonioni. If this sounds depressing well, it kind of is but it is also intellectually and emotionally stimulating, despite a seemingly cold and detached style. A common criticism of Antonioni is that "nothing happens" and in a purely plot-point sense, that is somewhat true, but the joy of these films isn't find out what happens next but deconstructing the motivations and feelings of the characters as well as just what the director is trying to say. This type of puzzling film may not be everyone's style but if you check your expectations at the door and meet the film on its own terms, chances are you'll enjoy it.
Some other recommended Italian films of the period streaming: Antonioni's own masterworks L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and Red Desert (1964), idiosyncratic director Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria (1957) and 81/2 (1963), chic and stylish examination of celebrity I Knew Her Well (1965), and the psychologically intense Fists in the Pocket (1965)
Il sorpasso (1962) dir. Dino Risi
If war and existential despair are too heavy for you in these times, the Criterion Channel is also streaming the classic Italian road comedy Il sorpasso which translates to "the overtaking," (as with a car on a road). Like most road movies, Il sorpasso is of episodic nature as two men take a journey by car and engage in a variety of comedic misadventures. The strength of the film comes from the two main characters who are complete opposites that complement each other in surprising ways. Most importantly, unlike the protagonists of modern road comedies, they aren't complete buffoons or jokes but complicated and deep characters whose exterior personalities are disguising deeper issues. It is quite a funny movie, though being Italian and in Italian one should expect a different experience than even an American comedy of the same era. However, in some ways that works to the movies strength, making it feel fresh and different when compared to the tried-and-true formulas and style of American comedies.
The Rest of the World
Charulata (1964) dir. Satyajit Ray
India has a rich tradition of cinema dating back to silent era but didn't achieve any level of international acclaim or popularity until Bengali director Satyajit Ray's 1955 coming-of-age drama Pather Panchali put India on the movie map. Ray lead the way and was followed by Ritwik Ghatak, Guru Dutt, and others proving that Indian cinema was about far more than just Bollywood musicals (not that there is anything wrong with Bollywood!) Released internationally as The Lonely Wife, Charulata is one of Ray's best films, if not his crowning achievement overall. A heartbreaking portrait of a woman (the great Madhabi Mukherjee) and marriage in turn-of-the-century India under British rule, Charulata is about more than just a domestic drama, like the great films of Kenji Mizoguchi and Max Ophuls it uses the plight of women in the past to comment on their present situation, how things have changed but more importantly how they haven't. Though it couldn't be known at the time, part of the greatness of those movies and Charulata is that they remain relevant because they comment on what sadly will be eternal issues regarding the plight of women and the nature of relationships.
The Criterion Channel is also streaming more than 15 other Ray films, including the famous Pather Panchali and the rest of the Apu Trilogy (Aparajito and Apur Sansar), the internationally acclaimed The Music Room (1958), and The Home and the World (1984), a late-career masterpiece.
Fanny and Alexander (1982) dir. Ingmar Bergman
Like India, Swedish cinema dates back to the early days of film but unlike that country, Sweden had international success all the way back in the silent era with directors like Victor Seastrom (Sjöström) and Mauritz Stiller achieve acclaim that eventually brought them to Hollywood. Beginning with the famous movie The Seventh Seal (1957), Ingmar Bergman became not only Sweden's most renowned director but one of the most famous directors in the world thanks to acclaimed masterpieces like Persona (1966) and Cries and Whispers (1972), among many others. As great as Bergman is, there is no arguing that his work can be difficult to approach for the uninitiated or unprepared, which is why Fanny and Alexander is such an ideal starting point: it contains many of the hallmarks of a Bergman film - oneirism, blurring of dreams, reality, spirituality and magic, overt symbolism, and a heavily personal influence - but they are contained within a familiar story structure: the coming-of-age family drama. Based at least partially on Bergman's own childhood, Fanny and Alexander is both heartwarming and breaking and a truly beautiful film with stunning color cinematography by the great Sven Nykvist. An unforgettable experience, like most of Bergman's work. Released in two versions, there is a 188-minute theatrical version of Fanny and Alexander and a 312-minute television cut that was released as a mini-series. I highly recommend that you watch the longer version, it has everything the theatrical version has plus so much more. The Criterion Channel has it split up into three parts so just treat it like a miniseries and watch it in parts and I promise you'll love every minute.
Also streaming are nearly 40(!) other Bergman films. Some other recommendations when starting out with Bergman: comedy-of-manners Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the famous The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries (1957), which is probably Bergman's most accessible early movie, Autumn Sonata (1978), with Ingrid Bergman, after which you can move on to some of the more heavy hitters: Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Persona, Shame (1968), Cries and Whispers, and Scenes from a Marriage (1973), and if you're feeling really adventurous, some of the more horrific films like The Virgin Spring (1960) and Hour of the Wolf (1968).
If Fanny and Alexander's 312-minute run time is too short for you, you can stream Sergei Bondarchuk's 422-minute adaptation of War and Peace (1967) it is the film for you! Luckily it is also split into four parts for easier watching. It's also a remarkable example of epic filmmaking, stunning in scope and spectacle. Elsewhere in Soviet cinema you have The Cranes are Flying (1957) a virtuoso war film by Georgian director Mikhail Kalatozov that features some of the most stunning camerawork you'll ever see, and Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood (1962), a film told with powerful imagery through the perspective of an orphaned boy. Czech and Polish cinema too is heavily represented, including two more war films: the tense and experimental Diamonds of the Night (1964) and Andrzej Wajda's Kanal (1956), a claustrophobic, near-horror film about Polish resistance fighters fleeing Nazis through sewers. Kanal is part of a brilliant trilogy of war films by Wajda that also includes A Generation (1955) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958). I'd also be remiss not to mention Carl Dreyer's hypnotic Ordet (1955), a personal favorite and one of the most overwhelmingly powerful films ever made: it starts slow and methodical but soon builds to an almost unbearable crescendo.
English Language Classics
Only Angels Have Wings (1939) dir. Howard Hawks
Of course, there are plenty of great English language films streaming as well. If you have a hankering for a classic Hollywood film, it's hard to go wrong with Only Angels Have Wings, a film that is funny, exciting, and surprisingly moving. Featuring a collection of daring mail plane pilots, Only Angels Have Wings is a typical Hawks films in which the understated professionalism and respect of the characters is of upmost importance, far more so than the action. Though there is plenty of exciting flying scenes, they are primarily used as a means to deepen and evolve the relationships between the many characters, which is what Hawks' movies are all about. Pay close attention to the relationships, how they change, and the almighty importance of respect, both for oneself and earning it from others. With great performances by a cast featuring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and a young Rita Hayworth, Only Angels Have Wings is on the best films ever made and a pure roller coaster ride of emotions.
A Night to Remember (1958) dir. Roy Ward Baker
Only Angels Have Wings examines men and women in a difficult and dangerous situation but flying planes over the Andes is nothing compared to what the characters in A Night to Remember face. Of course, real life people on the RMS Titanic also faced this situation which makes the film all the more powerful, especially because of the way the film depicts the disaster. Unlike some other movies about the Titanic, A Night to Remember doesn't boil down a tragedy to a couple of lovers but casts a wide net and features a massive ensemble cast that spans from the captain down to the humblest crew member and from the richest, upper class passengers to the working class packed into steerage. This approach gives a full accounting not just of the tragedy but of little moments of triumph, sacrifice, kindness, and spirit that define humanity at their best in the worst situations. For a 1958 film, it is also remarkably well done in terms of special effects: at no point do you feel like you're seeing something blatantly fake and in many ways, it has aged better than some of the dated CGI in that other movie about the Titanic.
Some other interesting films now streaming: The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) is a delightful fantasy-parable with some great performances and special effects that pairs nicely with Blithe Spirit (1945) a supernatural comedy about a dead wife come back to haunt her husband and his second wife. Speaking of comedies, To Be or Not To Be (1942) is one of the best ever made, a black comedy set in Poland under German occupation that pokes fun at the Nazi, their ideology, and practices. It was not well received when released and considered to be in bad taste, but today we can recognize it for the classic it is. For those looking for a little romance, Michael Powell's I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) is a lovely little film about a driven London girl who travels to the Hebrides and finds a new way of life and love. Filmed on location, it has some stunning photography and wonderful performances by the great Roger Livesey and Wendy Hiller. Likewise, The Strawberry Blonde (1941) is an underappreciated comedy-romance full of charm and humor. If romance isn't your thing and you want some gritty crime dramas, there is a whole collection called Columbia Noir that features some of the best film noir ever made - Gilda (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), In a Lonely Place (1950), The Big Heat (1953) - as well as lesser know classics like My Name is Julia Ross (1945), Pushover (1954), Drive a Crooked Road (1954), and more.
Olympic Glory
Tokyo Olympiad (1965) dir. Kon Ichikawa
The 2020 Olympics have been postponed to 2021 but if you find yourself in need of an international athletic fix, the Criterion Channel has 100 years of Olympic documentaries available to stream, many of which are delightful and fascinating. Since the 2020 Olympics were to be held in Tokyo, it is only fitting that you watch the documentary made about the 1964 Tokyo games. Luckily, Tokyo Olympiad is also the best sports documentary (and movie) ever made, how fortunate! Directed by Kon Ichikawa, a world director of many great fictional films like An Actor's Revenge (1963) and Odd Obsession (1959), uses a wide variety of techniques - slow motion, black-and-white film, multiple cameras, use and lack of sound - to create a unique cinematic vision that focuses the look and feel of the Olympics and the athletes competing in them as opposed to a more traditional documentary approach. This is a sports documentary filmed by a master feature film director and is composed and edited as such, with camera angles and lenses selected for maximum visual impact rather than just to get the most amount of visual information across.
The Godzilla Films
Destroy All Monsters (1968) dir. Ishirō Honda
The Criterion Channel isn't all highbrow foreign films and documentaries, there are a wide variety of pure fun movies available as well. Case-in-point the collection of Godzilla films ranging from the original 1954 version all the way to 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. The films range from enjoyable great to enjoyably bad (but always enjoyable) and are a great way to spend an afternoon or evening with the whole family, as the special effects ensure that they aren't really scary. Really, they can be watched in any order though it would make sense to watch the original first. After that, anything really goes though some (King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) are better than others. This includes Destroy All Monsters, the one-stop shop for kaiju-battle action. Featuring a whopping ten monsters (plus Godzilla), it gives you the most bang for your buck and exemplifies all the things that make these films so great.
If you want to keep the campy science fiction fun going, you can also stream the original version of The Blob (1958) which features the titular monster, a legendary theme song (by The Five Blobs!), and the oldest teenagers to ever appear in a movie.
Musicals
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) dir. Jacques Demy
If you prefer your escapism to have more rhythm to it, there are plenty of musical streaming options as well. For something a little different, check out The Young Girls of Rochefort, a French musical starring the delightful duo of Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac (real life sisters though not twins) with musical by the great Michel Legrand and a supporting performance by a dubbed Gene Kelly! Made in the style of a 1950s Hollywood musical but with a French lean and far more experimentation, The Young Girls of Rochefort is one of the most enjoyable musical experiences you can ever find, with elaborate dance sequences, humor, weirdness, fantastic costumes and sets, and widescreen cotton-candy color cinematography. It doesn't get more fun than this.
Demy's earlier musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) is also streaming. Umbrellas is less conventional (it tells a bittersweet love story and is "sung through" that is all the dialogue is sung) and is all the better for it. It's a sublime and unforgettable film and one of the best ever made, musical or otherwise.
If you want your musicals in English, you can watch Footlight Parade (1933) with absurdly over-the-top musical sequences directed by Busby Berkeley or a selection of great Rita Hayworth musicals (listed in order of interest): Cover Girl (1944), You Were Never Lovelier (1942), You'll Never Get Rich (1941), Pal Joey (1957), and Down to Earth (1947).
A Concert in Your Living Room
Stop Making Sense (1984) dir. Jonathan Demme
If you prefer your music to be documentary style, there are several interesting concert films streaming, including arguably the best one ever made, Talking Head's Stop Making Sense. Coming at a point in their career when their music was a blend of New Wave, African rhythms, and funk, Stop Making Sense presents and eclectic collection of styles, almost all of which which are highly dance-able and fun. Though nominally a four person group, this version of the band is stuffed with all sorts of extra musicians and backup singers to expand the band's sound's complexity and fullness of sound. You don't need to be familiar with the Talking Heads at all to enjoy this, especially because frontman David Byrne keeps things interesting with costume changes, weird dances, and explosions of energy. Because the music is so easy to dance to and Byrne so magnetic, Stop Making Sense also makes great viewing for kids who love to dance and jump around and is a good way to kill an hour-and-a-half.
Other concert films streaming include The Complete Monterey Pop (1968) collection, which features performances by Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Simon & Garfunkel and many more at the 1968 Monterey Pop Festival. Gimme Shelter (1970) follows the 1969 U.S. tour of The Rolling Stones, doing more than just presenting the songs but also examining the counterculture of the time, the good vibes suddenly turned bad during the Altamont Speedway Free Festival where multiple people were injured or killed, including one man stabbed and beaten to death by the Hell's Angels (needless to say, this one ain't for kids).
Good For Younger Viewers
There are quite a few films streaming that ARE good for kids, though of course at the parent's discretion. This includes several films starring young Indian actor Sabu: The Thief of Bagdad (1940) was a primary inspiration for Disney's Aladdin (to almost a funny extreme of "borrowing"), as is The Jungle Book (1942) which is great because of Sabu, beautiful Technicolor, and the use of predominately real animals. Elephant Boy (1937) and The Drum (1939) are also excellent films for kids. For more action-adventure you have Jason and the Argonauts (1963) with special effects by Ray Harryhausen, including the famous fighting skeletons, it's a great way to introduce kids to Greek mythology as well.
Less conventionally, you have the films of Jacques Tati, a French comedian influenced by silent comedians like Chaplin and Keaton (silent comedies, incidentally, are also good for kids!). Though there is talking in his films (it's subtitled) they are primarily visual and have a lot of fun gags and jokes that children should enjoy. Mon oncle (1958) is a good starting point. Also in French is Zazie dans le Métro (1960) a surreal comedy about a little girl (Zazie) who has a series of adventures in the Paris metro. Lastly, if your kid shows a proclivity for subtitled films there is also Ozu's Good Morning (1959) a charming little film about two Japanese boys who go on a silence strike until their parents buy them a television. Though it still features typical Ozu themes of generational and family conflict, it also has some gentle scatological humor and plenty for kids to enjoy as well as parents.
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Previously Covered: NETFLIX - HULU - AMAZON PRIME
Next: THE CRITERION CHANNEL
This is obviously the mother-lode when it comes to classic movies from all eras and from all around the world. Most importantly, the Criterion Channel also contains a wealth of supplemental material - interviews, video essays, and more - that help enrich the experience of watching and understanding the movies. Criterion as a company is also a leading light in the preservation, restoration, and appreciation of cinema and it is highly recommended and encouraged that you support them, you will not be disappointed.
NOTE: I've chosen to mostly focus on "classic" films from 40+ years ago and usually far more but the Criterion Channel also has a wide variety of great modern films from around the world as well. Fortunately, the Channel is well curated with introductions to many collections that will make it easy to find these films.
Silent Comedy: The Other Two
In the post about movies on Amazon, I discussed Buster Keaton, one of the three great silent comedy stars, a trio that also includes Charlie Chaplin, certainly the most famous of the three. In the prime of his career, Chaplin's Tramp was not only the most recognizable character but also the most famous person in the world, beloved in a multitude of countries (even today, statues of Chaplin can be found in locations as varied as England, Slovakia, and India). Chaplin's Tramp character is the ultimate outsider and underdog with his ragged over-sized clothes and diminutive stature, constantly being rejected by proper society. Thus positioned on the fringes Chaplin is able to comment (and lampoon) society and human nature, though that isn't always his primary concern. Chaplin made his movies with two goals in mind: make the audience laugh, make them cry. The combination of laughter and pathos (usually derived from a romance subplot) is the definition of his films and what makes them so special. For better or worse, Chaplin was an extreme perfectionist and supreme egotist, rarely letting any other character in his films be the focus for very long, which is a double-edged sword: on one hand, audiences connect even more deeply to the Tramp, but as a result, there aren't many other characters in his films that you care much about. The Circus is a good starting point for Chaplin because it has all the hallmarks of a Chaplin film - it's funny, moving, and inventive - but is also probably his worst feature-length silent film. Worse is a relative term of course since it is still a great movie, but when watching the next films, you'll only have up to go despite starting at such a high level.
After The Circus, my recommended order would be The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), The Kid (1921), then Modern Times (1936). After that there are the many comedy shorts Chaplin made, of which I especially recommend A Dog's Life (1918). And then there are Chaplin's full sound films, which in general are of lesser quality and can be watched in any order but only after having seen all the silents.
Though not always as critically acclaimed as either Keaton or Chaplin, Harold Lloyd was every bit their equal (and the most popular of the the trio with the public for many years) and is easily the funniest to modern eyes. Lloyd embodied the go-getter, can-do spirit of the 1920s, usually playing a young man who can surely make good if only he's given a chance. His movies also embodied the time and place of the twenties better than just about any other, full of the life, optimism, swinging jazz and flappers but in a much truer fashion than, say, The Great Gatsby, because it is street-level view of the common man as opposed to Fitzgerald's idle, boozy lost generation. The other hallmark of Lloyd is the romance element which takes on a lighter, more sweetly romantic-comedy tone than the pathos of Chaplin, Lloyd's character inevitably has a girl that he must, in some way, prove himself - or at least in his own mind. The female characters in Lloyd's movies are often far wiser and autonomous than in either Keaton or Chaplin, where they end up more as objects (to be venerated by Chaplin and saved from peril by Keaton). Lloyd divided his comedies into two types: character studies that focused more on development and smaller moments and action films in which he devised some spectacular chase scene or dangerous stunt to build the film around. Speedy is a great starting point because it combines the two and therefore gives you a taste of both sides of Lloyd. The movie also features some incredible footage of New York City in 1928, a wonderful sequence on Coney Island, and a cameo by baseball legend Babe Ruth!
If you found that the smaller comedic and character moments in Speedy were your favorite part, The Freshman (1925) and The Kid Brother (1927) are logical next steps while fans of the trolley chase scenes should watch Safety Last! (1923) and For Heaven's Sake (1926). Of many available shorts, Never Weaken (1921) is especially recommended.
More Silent Classics
The Criterion Channel has many other silent films streaming, including the remarkable German fantasy Destiny. The film is about a woman who must bargain with Death personified (the German title of the film translates to Weary Death) for the life of her dead lover. This plays out in a series of stories within the story where the woman inhabits three characters throughout history - one in the Middle East of the past, one in Venice during the Renaissance, and one in ancient China - and save each character's lover. The film is very complex and interconnected, taking many turns beyond this point that would be spoiled by discussing but suffice to say it is an incredible, one of a kind movie that will legitimately move you to tears at times. Fritz Lang is renowned for his ability to create striking and powerful images and Destiny is a primary example, be it through camera placement, staging, trick photography, or set design. Silent movies don't get much better than Destiny.
Häxan is one of the most unique, bizarre, and incredible movies ever made and that isn't an overstatement. Häxan (pronounced heck-sen) blends documentary elements with stylized fictional sequences, all of which are used as a way of documenting the history of “witchcraft through the ages.” This includes crazy nuns, demons, black magic, midnight reveries, torture, and kissing the devil's butt (among many other things). Director Christensen (who also narrates the film and “stars” as the Devil) uses both fact and fiction to tell the history of beliefs and superstitions about witchcraft, Satan, and the occult and the result is almost unbelievably creepy, unsettling, weird, and great. However, Häxan isn’t just interested in concocting entertaining images of witchcraft to teach about medieval practices and but also in educating modern audiences on the danger of misdiagnosing mental illness. Christensen’s thesis is one that is not widely held, that much of what was once considered to be witchcraft and resulting in the torture and death of innocent people was in fact the result of different types of mental illness like somnambulism and kleptomania. Though the world has come a long way from both the middle ages and 1922, mental illness is still not being handled in an optimum manner even by professionals, let alone the average person who still views it with negative connotations and fear, embarrassment, and derision. Häxan makes this point very well, though of course, the main attraction for the film will always be from a purely entertainment standpoint, which isn’t surprising considering just how fun it is to watch. Part of what makes the film so enjoyable is that it isn’t dour or dark but filled with quite a bit of tongue in cheek humor. Make no mistake, this is a really weird movie that can be creepy at times and there are some darkly disturbing scenes (mostly involving the interrogation and torture of innocent people) but on the whole, Häxan has a playful tone.
Some other great silent films on The Criterion Channel include Body and Soul (1925) directed by pioneering African-American auteur Oscar Micheaux and starring the great Paul Robeson, the Swedish dark fantasy The Phantom Carriage (1921), which is a great followup for those that liked Destiny, and two films directed by Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer: Vampyr (1932), which might be the best horror film ever made, and The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) which might be the best movie ever made, period.
The Cinema of France
The best thing about the Criterion Channel is the remarkable selection of some of the greatest films from all around the world, including heavy-hitters like France, the birthplace of cinema. Within French cinema, there are several distinct periods all worth exploring so I have just selected two films that I think many will enjoy and then provided a more detailed breakdown later. Diabolique (released as Les diaboliques or The Devils in France) is a psychological horror-thriller film made by France's master of suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot. Revealing more than a little bit of the plot would spoil what is a fantastically suspenseful and surprising film in which the barriers between reality and hallucination seem to be tearing. There are many twists and turns and final reveal that still shocks even after you have seen it. Clouzot's films are often about the breaking down of people, society, and morality and Diabolique is no different. Be warned, Clouzot is a misanthropic director and his films won't necessarily leave you encouraged about the state of humanity, but they will leave you entertained, thrilled, and thoughtful.
If you enjoyed Diabolique, the Criterion Channel is also streaming Clouzot's Le Corbeau (1943) about a small French town torn apart by a mysterious poison pen letter writer and The Wages of Fear (1953) a remarkably tense film about the transportation of unstable nitro across rough mountain roads. Also streaming are Jules Dassin's Rififi (1955), the ultimate crime-heist movies and Georges Franju's brilliantly surreal horror film Eyes without a Face (1960)
French crime-thriller Elevator to the Gallows has quite a bit going for it. First and foremost is star Jeanne Moreau, the most important actor in French film from the late-fifties and sixties, and director Malle is content to just show her walking around nighttime streets, content that her face will tell more stories than pages of dialogue. These scenes (and the movie as a whole) also benefit from the atmosphere created through the music of jazz legend Miles Davis and his quintet, who wrote and improvised the score to remarkable effect. Also evident is the beautiful, moody cinematography by Henri Decaë, one of the most important French cinematographers of his era, that makes especially effective use of the naturalistic lighting of dark city streets. Though the story is interesting and suspenseful with several shocking moments, twists, and reversals, it is really the atmosphere of the film - created by Malle, Moreau, Davis, and Decaë - that make it so memorable and set it apart from other doomed criminal-lover films.
Elevator to the Gallows is often considered an immediate precursor to the French Nouvelle Vague (or New Wave) movement, many films of which are streaming on the Criterion Channel. For a primer of this movement watch: François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959), Jean-Luc Goddard's Breathless (1960), Claude Charbol Les Cousins (1959), Alain Resnais' Hiroshima mon amour (1959), Éric Rohmer's The Sign of Leo (1962), Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7, and Jacques Rivette's Paris Belongs to Us (1961). From there, just pick the films liked the most and explore more of the director's filmography from there.
1930s: Poetical Realism - Atmospheric and often very romantic drama films, including some of the best films ever made: Jean Renoir's Toni (1935) and The Rules of the Game (1939), Jean Vigo's L'Atalante (1934), and Marcel Carné's Hôtel du Nord
1940s: The Occupation - Made during the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, these films were often restricted to fantastic or period settings but still managed, in their own subtle way, to comment on the current situations: Clouzot's Le Corbeau, and Carné's Les visiteurs du soir (1942) and Children of Paradise (1945).
1950s: Post-War, Pre-New Wave - Though often denigrated, this period features some all-time great movies by definitive masters: the Clouzot films, Max Ophüls beautiful romantic dramas Le Ronde (1950), The Earrings of Mademe de... (1953), and Lola Montès (1955), Jean Pierre Melville's tales of resistance and gangsters like Le silence de la mer (1949), Robert Bresson's minimalist fables A Man Escaped (1956) and Pickpocket (1959), and Renoir's Technicolor spectacle films The Golden Coach (1952) and French Cancan (1955).
1960s: The Nouvelle Vague - The New Wave of French film rejected many established forms of cinematic storytelling and tried to do things in a new and different way, embracing location shooting, mobile cameras, unconventional editing, and often existential storytelling. See above for a list of foundational films in the movement.
The Cinema of Japan
Japanese movies are characterized by beautiful and emotionally powerful stories that directly reflect the culture in which they were made. As a nipponophile, this is my favorite type of world cinema and though most people will just associate Japanese movies with samurai, there is a treasure trove of different types of films to explore: period and contemporary dramas and tragedies, mystical ghost stories, epic action films, and slick modern crime films. Though the samurai films, particularly those made by Akira Kurosawa are immensely entertaining, great films that are more on western audience's wavelength, they aren't really an ideal example of Japanese cinema, which tends to be slower, more contemplative, and focused on women, families, and the dynamics between generations and the past and future. In that way, films by directors like Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Mikio Naruse are far more emblematic of Japanese movies than the popular Kurosawa samurai films, great though they may be. Ozu is a director that some find it takes time to sync-up with, but once you are on his contemplative wavelength, there is so much wonder, beauty, and emotion in his quietly heartbreaking films. Late Spring is a great starting point because it has many of the hallmarks of an Ozu film: gentle conflict between generations with themes of love and duty that seems to be shot in a simple style but is constructed with extreme care and attention to detail. It is also an all-time great film and a great introduction to Japanese film, just be prepared for a slower pace.
The Criterion Channel is streaming over thirty Ozu films, ranging from silent films to the 1960s, and all of them are worth your time. A few highlights: the comedic silent film I Was Born But... (1932), heartbreaking Tokyo Story (1953), and Ozu's late color masterpieces like Floating Weeds (1959) and The End of Summer (1961).
Also streaming are over 15 films directed by Mikio Naruse, who operates in a similar area (contemporary, female-centric domestic dramas) but with an equally great style all his own: deceptively simple stories and filmmaking which in fact contains worlds of emotion and meaning. Floating Clouds (1955), Flowing (1956), and When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) are great starting points.
Part of the style of Japanese cinema is directly influenced by the country's history of stage performances, not just kabuki but also the noh and kyogen traditions. Early Japanese cinema was often a recreation of these styles (with male actors mostly still playing female characters for quite some time) but eventually, a more cinematic approach was developed but elements of these older traditions, particularly the music, still remained. The Ballad of Narayama, though still retaining a cinematic style, goes even further in recreating the look and feel of classic Japanese theater with stunning results. Far from looking static or stagy, the film blends movies and theater into a unique impressionistic presentation: shot exclusively on soundstages it doesn't attempt to replicate reality and uses startling transitions from scene to scene, such as the background suddenly falling away from one scene so that the camera can move forward into the next. The results are wonderful, as is the beautiful widescreen Fujicolor cinematography, all of which is contrasted by the tragic and occasionally disturbing (but immensely moving) story.
Kinoshita is an underappreciated director and the Criterion Channel has over 40(!) of his films streaming. Unlike the rigid styles of Ozu and Naruse, Kinoshita's films are characterized by the wide variety of approaches he takes to different stories and subjects. You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (1955), The Rose on His Arm (1956), The River Fuefuki (1960) and Children of Nagasaki (1983) demonstrate this.
Then of course there is Kurosawa, who makes the most immediately accessible and traditionally exciting Japanese films Yojimbo (1961) is a great place to start with his samurai films while Stray Dog (1949) or High and Low (1963) are tremendous modern crime stories, and Ikiru (1952) is a moving contemporary tragedy seemingly more in line with the other Japanese filmmakers but decidedly Kurosawan in style and theme.
The Cinema of Italy
Immediately following the liberation of Rome by American forces in 1944, filmmaker Roberto Rossellini started making a fictional film that documented the plight of Italian citizens under Nazi occupation and those that were fighting against the tyranny. The resulting film Rome, Open City (1945) revolutionized Italian movies and fully birthed the 1940s and 50s "neo-realist" movement. Rossellini quickly followed up Rome, Open City with Paisan, about the relations between the invading American liberators and the Italians they encountered. Broken up into six separate, unconnected episodes each cover a different aspect of the relationship, seen through the eyes of American soldiers (black and white), nurses, chaplains, and the OSS as they encounter simple villagers, children, destitute peasants, young women, monks, and freedom fighters. Paisan is made in the traditional neo-realist style, utilizing almost exclusively real-life locations (which was easy since so much of the country was destroyed during the war, leaving plenty of realistic settings) and many non-professional actors, which occasionally produces some questionable performances (the Americans are particularly bad) but it doesn't really matter, the film is great in spite of them because of the powerful way in which Rossellini films it and the realness to the story that makes it feel like something more than a fictional film but never less than a work of created art either.
Some other neo-realist films streaming on the Criterion Channel: Rossellini's Rome, Open City, Germany: Year Zero (1948), and Stromboli (1950) and Vittorio De Sica's famous Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Umberto D. (1952). The Battle of Algiers (1966) was made after the neo-realist period but shares many hallmarks of the movement and is one of the best and most vivid war films ever made.
Following the neo-realist movement, Italian cinema became known for its individualistic directors and the hyper-cool style of the 1960s. Defining both those attributes to a "T" are Michelangelo Antonioni's films, all of which star beautiful, stylish people and are made in his distinct style of long takes, camera movements, and slow, contemplative pace. Plot is of secondary importance to Antonioni, who instead focuses on the moods and themes he is trying evoke. In the case of L'Eclisse the theme is one of modern discontent and the disconnection between adults. This ennui (a common term associated with Antonioni) is manifested in characters who try and fail to connect to each other and to the world and instead go through life - even life that is full of exciting events - looking only for ways in which they can drown their lack of purpose and feeling. No director is able to present the cold reality and frailty of human relationships better than Antonioni. If this sounds depressing well, it kind of is but it is also intellectually and emotionally stimulating, despite a seemingly cold and detached style. A common criticism of Antonioni is that "nothing happens" and in a purely plot-point sense, that is somewhat true, but the joy of these films isn't find out what happens next but deconstructing the motivations and feelings of the characters as well as just what the director is trying to say. This type of puzzling film may not be everyone's style but if you check your expectations at the door and meet the film on its own terms, chances are you'll enjoy it.
Some other recommended Italian films of the period streaming: Antonioni's own masterworks L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and Red Desert (1964), idiosyncratic director Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria (1957) and 81/2 (1963), chic and stylish examination of celebrity I Knew Her Well (1965), and the psychologically intense Fists in the Pocket (1965)
If war and existential despair are too heavy for you in these times, the Criterion Channel is also streaming the classic Italian road comedy Il sorpasso which translates to "the overtaking," (as with a car on a road). Like most road movies, Il sorpasso is of episodic nature as two men take a journey by car and engage in a variety of comedic misadventures. The strength of the film comes from the two main characters who are complete opposites that complement each other in surprising ways. Most importantly, unlike the protagonists of modern road comedies, they aren't complete buffoons or jokes but complicated and deep characters whose exterior personalities are disguising deeper issues. It is quite a funny movie, though being Italian and in Italian one should expect a different experience than even an American comedy of the same era. However, in some ways that works to the movies strength, making it feel fresh and different when compared to the tried-and-true formulas and style of American comedies.
The Rest of the World
India has a rich tradition of cinema dating back to silent era but didn't achieve any level of international acclaim or popularity until Bengali director Satyajit Ray's 1955 coming-of-age drama Pather Panchali put India on the movie map. Ray lead the way and was followed by Ritwik Ghatak, Guru Dutt, and others proving that Indian cinema was about far more than just Bollywood musicals (not that there is anything wrong with Bollywood!) Released internationally as The Lonely Wife, Charulata is one of Ray's best films, if not his crowning achievement overall. A heartbreaking portrait of a woman (the great Madhabi Mukherjee) and marriage in turn-of-the-century India under British rule, Charulata is about more than just a domestic drama, like the great films of Kenji Mizoguchi and Max Ophuls it uses the plight of women in the past to comment on their present situation, how things have changed but more importantly how they haven't. Though it couldn't be known at the time, part of the greatness of those movies and Charulata is that they remain relevant because they comment on what sadly will be eternal issues regarding the plight of women and the nature of relationships.
The Criterion Channel is also streaming more than 15 other Ray films, including the famous Pather Panchali and the rest of the Apu Trilogy (Aparajito and Apur Sansar), the internationally acclaimed The Music Room (1958), and The Home and the World (1984), a late-career masterpiece.
Like India, Swedish cinema dates back to the early days of film but unlike that country, Sweden had international success all the way back in the silent era with directors like Victor Seastrom (Sjöström) and Mauritz Stiller achieve acclaim that eventually brought them to Hollywood. Beginning with the famous movie The Seventh Seal (1957), Ingmar Bergman became not only Sweden's most renowned director but one of the most famous directors in the world thanks to acclaimed masterpieces like Persona (1966) and Cries and Whispers (1972), among many others. As great as Bergman is, there is no arguing that his work can be difficult to approach for the uninitiated or unprepared, which is why Fanny and Alexander is such an ideal starting point: it contains many of the hallmarks of a Bergman film - oneirism, blurring of dreams, reality, spirituality and magic, overt symbolism, and a heavily personal influence - but they are contained within a familiar story structure: the coming-of-age family drama. Based at least partially on Bergman's own childhood, Fanny and Alexander is both heartwarming and breaking and a truly beautiful film with stunning color cinematography by the great Sven Nykvist. An unforgettable experience, like most of Bergman's work. Released in two versions, there is a 188-minute theatrical version of Fanny and Alexander and a 312-minute television cut that was released as a mini-series. I highly recommend that you watch the longer version, it has everything the theatrical version has plus so much more. The Criterion Channel has it split up into three parts so just treat it like a miniseries and watch it in parts and I promise you'll love every minute.
Also streaming are nearly 40(!) other Bergman films. Some other recommendations when starting out with Bergman: comedy-of-manners Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the famous The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries (1957), which is probably Bergman's most accessible early movie, Autumn Sonata (1978), with Ingrid Bergman, after which you can move on to some of the more heavy hitters: Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Persona, Shame (1968), Cries and Whispers, and Scenes from a Marriage (1973), and if you're feeling really adventurous, some of the more horrific films like The Virgin Spring (1960) and Hour of the Wolf (1968).
English Language Classics
Of course, there are plenty of great English language films streaming as well. If you have a hankering for a classic Hollywood film, it's hard to go wrong with Only Angels Have Wings, a film that is funny, exciting, and surprisingly moving. Featuring a collection of daring mail plane pilots, Only Angels Have Wings is a typical Hawks films in which the understated professionalism and respect of the characters is of upmost importance, far more so than the action. Though there is plenty of exciting flying scenes, they are primarily used as a means to deepen and evolve the relationships between the many characters, which is what Hawks' movies are all about. Pay close attention to the relationships, how they change, and the almighty importance of respect, both for oneself and earning it from others. With great performances by a cast featuring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and a young Rita Hayworth, Only Angels Have Wings is on the best films ever made and a pure roller coaster ride of emotions.
Only Angels Have Wings examines men and women in a difficult and dangerous situation but flying planes over the Andes is nothing compared to what the characters in A Night to Remember face. Of course, real life people on the RMS Titanic also faced this situation which makes the film all the more powerful, especially because of the way the film depicts the disaster. Unlike some other movies about the Titanic, A Night to Remember doesn't boil down a tragedy to a couple of lovers but casts a wide net and features a massive ensemble cast that spans from the captain down to the humblest crew member and from the richest, upper class passengers to the working class packed into steerage. This approach gives a full accounting not just of the tragedy but of little moments of triumph, sacrifice, kindness, and spirit that define humanity at their best in the worst situations. For a 1958 film, it is also remarkably well done in terms of special effects: at no point do you feel like you're seeing something blatantly fake and in many ways, it has aged better than some of the dated CGI in that other movie about the Titanic.
Olympic Glory
The 2020 Olympics have been postponed to 2021 but if you find yourself in need of an international athletic fix, the Criterion Channel has 100 years of Olympic documentaries available to stream, many of which are delightful and fascinating. Since the 2020 Olympics were to be held in Tokyo, it is only fitting that you watch the documentary made about the 1964 Tokyo games. Luckily, Tokyo Olympiad is also the best sports documentary (and movie) ever made, how fortunate! Directed by Kon Ichikawa, a world director of many great fictional films like An Actor's Revenge (1963) and Odd Obsession (1959), uses a wide variety of techniques - slow motion, black-and-white film, multiple cameras, use and lack of sound - to create a unique cinematic vision that focuses the look and feel of the Olympics and the athletes competing in them as opposed to a more traditional documentary approach. This is a sports documentary filmed by a master feature film director and is composed and edited as such, with camera angles and lenses selected for maximum visual impact rather than just to get the most amount of visual information across.
The Godzilla Films
The Criterion Channel isn't all highbrow foreign films and documentaries, there are a wide variety of pure fun movies available as well. Case-in-point the collection of Godzilla films ranging from the original 1954 version all the way to 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. The films range from enjoyable great to enjoyably bad (but always enjoyable) and are a great way to spend an afternoon or evening with the whole family, as the special effects ensure that they aren't really scary. Really, they can be watched in any order though it would make sense to watch the original first. After that, anything really goes though some (King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) are better than others. This includes Destroy All Monsters, the one-stop shop for kaiju-battle action. Featuring a whopping ten monsters (plus Godzilla), it gives you the most bang for your buck and exemplifies all the things that make these films so great.
If you want to keep the campy science fiction fun going, you can also stream the original version of The Blob (1958) which features the titular monster, a legendary theme song (by The Five Blobs!), and the oldest teenagers to ever appear in a movie.
Musicals
If you prefer your escapism to have more rhythm to it, there are plenty of musical streaming options as well. For something a little different, check out The Young Girls of Rochefort, a French musical starring the delightful duo of Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac (real life sisters though not twins) with musical by the great Michel Legrand and a supporting performance by a dubbed Gene Kelly! Made in the style of a 1950s Hollywood musical but with a French lean and far more experimentation, The Young Girls of Rochefort is one of the most enjoyable musical experiences you can ever find, with elaborate dance sequences, humor, weirdness, fantastic costumes and sets, and widescreen cotton-candy color cinematography. It doesn't get more fun than this.
Demy's earlier musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) is also streaming. Umbrellas is less conventional (it tells a bittersweet love story and is "sung through" that is all the dialogue is sung) and is all the better for it. It's a sublime and unforgettable film and one of the best ever made, musical or otherwise.
If you want your musicals in English, you can watch Footlight Parade (1933) with absurdly over-the-top musical sequences directed by Busby Berkeley or a selection of great Rita Hayworth musicals (listed in order of interest): Cover Girl (1944), You Were Never Lovelier (1942), You'll Never Get Rich (1941), Pal Joey (1957), and Down to Earth (1947).
A Concert in Your Living Room
If you prefer your music to be documentary style, there are several interesting concert films streaming, including arguably the best one ever made, Talking Head's Stop Making Sense. Coming at a point in their career when their music was a blend of New Wave, African rhythms, and funk, Stop Making Sense presents and eclectic collection of styles, almost all of which which are highly dance-able and fun. Though nominally a four person group, this version of the band is stuffed with all sorts of extra musicians and backup singers to expand the band's sound's complexity and fullness of sound. You don't need to be familiar with the Talking Heads at all to enjoy this, especially because frontman David Byrne keeps things interesting with costume changes, weird dances, and explosions of energy. Because the music is so easy to dance to and Byrne so magnetic, Stop Making Sense also makes great viewing for kids who love to dance and jump around and is a good way to kill an hour-and-a-half.
Other concert films streaming include The Complete Monterey Pop (1968) collection, which features performances by Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Simon & Garfunkel and many more at the 1968 Monterey Pop Festival. Gimme Shelter (1970) follows the 1969 U.S. tour of The Rolling Stones, doing more than just presenting the songs but also examining the counterculture of the time, the good vibes suddenly turned bad during the Altamont Speedway Free Festival where multiple people were injured or killed, including one man stabbed and beaten to death by the Hell's Angels (needless to say, this one ain't for kids).
Good For Younger Viewers
Less conventionally, you have the films of Jacques Tati, a French comedian influenced by silent comedians like Chaplin and Keaton (silent comedies, incidentally, are also good for kids!). Though there is talking in his films (it's subtitled) they are primarily visual and have a lot of fun gags and jokes that children should enjoy. Mon oncle (1958) is a good starting point. Also in French is Zazie dans le Métro (1960) a surreal comedy about a little girl (Zazie) who has a series of adventures in the Paris metro. Lastly, if your kid shows a proclivity for subtitled films there is also Ozu's Good Morning (1959) a charming little film about two Japanese boys who go on a silence strike until their parents buy them a television. Though it still features typical Ozu themes of generational and family conflict, it also has some gentle scatological humor and plenty for kids to enjoy as well as parents.
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