My Hallowe'en Guide to Old Movies

Black and Whites and Other Old Movies (in no particular order)


Not to sound preachy, but I do feel some older movies are under-appreciated by our youth. More than ten years ago, popular television stations would broadcast these movies during prime-time.  Now, we have stations like Turner Classic Movies that resurrects and restores these classics. The AMC Channel shows more popular gore flicks, while TCM goes into obscure, and even silent, films (sidenote: AMC used to be that way, but that was long ago before the commercials). Older films are like fine wine, you just need to know where to look:

• Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) - Starring Carey Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, and Peter Lorre. This movie was an adaptation of Joseph Kesselring's play. Mortimer Brewster, a sour drama critic, marries the girl of his dreams on Halloween night. When he comes home to tell his aunts the wonderful news, he learns they have been poisoning their tenants. This is a wonderful comedy that everyone will enjoy. Carey Grant's performance is phenomenal! 

• Bell, Book and Candle (1958) - Starring Jimmy Stewart (see Vertigo), Kim Novac (see Vertigo), Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot), and Elsa Lancaster (Mary Poppins).  First opened as a play in 1950, this movie takes place in Greenwich Village where a modern witch who initially casts a lovespell on a customer and then,  falls in-love with him. I saw this film on TCM while I was sick. I am so glad they televised it! It's an adorable story with comical performances by Jack Lemmon and Elsa Lancaster! If you are looking for a bubbly, romantic movie -- this is the movie to watch! 

• Masque of the Red Death (1964) - I am a Poe enthusiast and if you want to see Edgar Allan Poe's stories performed well, anything with Vincent Price will certainly satisfy your hunger for suspense. If you never seen or enjoyed a Vincent Price (Edward Scissorhands) film, then you must begin with The Masque of the Red Death. During an epidemic, a greedy prince allows only his aristocratic friends to stay in his castle while he refuses refuge to his frightened peasants. He holds an extravagant masque (a.k.a. a costume ball) for his guests, but soon notices an unwanted stranger in their amidst.  Don't judge this movie by it's date!  It's really menacing. Starring Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher, and David Weston. 

• House of Usher (1960) - Another Poe short story comes to life! Starring Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, and Harry Ellerbe. After Philip returns from an arduous journey, he visits the Usher house to see his love, Madeline. When Madeline and her brother, Roderick, begin to behave oddly, Philip believes it has something to do with the family's past. 

• The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) -Starring Don Knotts (Andy Griffith Show) and Joan Staley. Luther Heggs, typesetter for the Rachel Courier Express, is asked to stay in the old Simmons mansion where the town's famous murder-suicide took place twenty years prior. Heggs becomes a local celebrity until it's inheritor tries to sue him. This is a comedy filled with temperamental ghosts and old organs. A very deserving addition to any Hallowe'en collection. 

• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) - This movie is meant for the romantics. Starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady). Lucy Muir moves into a seaside cottage in 1900. As she becomes settled into the house, she encounters the cottage's original owner, Captain Gregg.  Mrs. Muir tries everything to cast out Captain Gregg, but he refuses to leave. They come to an agreement and later, transforms into friendship. When a love interest begins to visit, Mrs. Muir must confront her romantic feelings about the captain.  

• The Ghost Breakers (1940) - Starring Bob Hope. Once a play, then filmed twice as a silent, and again, remade two more times in 1940 and 1953 (starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in Scared Stiff) -- The Ghost Breaker has gotten around in Hollywood and I suggest you watch this comedy. A radio broadcaster and a beautiful heiress become wrapped in scandal when they meet perchance in a hotel. Even at it's "scariest" moments, Hope cracks a joke and sends me laughing.  Also featuring Paulette Goddard, Anthony Quinn, and Willie Best.

• The Haunting (1963) - Based off of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, and Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story). A doctor, trying to scientifically prove the existence of ghosts, lures a bunch of paranormal believers into a supposed haunted house. As they explore the estate, the house begins to play on their insecurities. The 1999 remake, starring Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Owen Wilson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones (The Haunting), is nothing like the original. This movie will surely make you question the line between the normal and the insane.

• The Nanny (1965) - Now, this movie right here, made me fear babysitters, especially nannies! Later in Bette Davis' career, she began to appear in more psycho-biddy themed films like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?  and  Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (which I also recommend). The Nanny is one of her best movies, in my humble opinion, and it is downright terrifying!  Nanny is in charge of Joey Fane, a boy accused of drowning his kid sister, after he returns home from a mental institution. Joey refuses to eat or sleep near Nanny because he believes Nanny is trying to kill him. Is Joey delirious or is Nanny hiding a something from the family? Don't watch this alone or with any babysitters, for that matter.

• The Spiral Staircase (1945) - A slew of murders targeting women with disabilities hits the neighborhood and Mrs. Warren fears for her mute companion, Helen Capel, might be next. Mrs. Warren asks her physician to watch Helen, but when another murder takes place inside the Warren Mansion, Helen's safety becomes questionable. Starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, and Kent Smith. 

• The Uninvited (1944) - Stella by Starlight and Mary Meredith: two names you will never forget after watching this specific film. Not to be confused with 2009 movie, Roderick Fitzgerald and his sister, Pamela, purchase an abandoned mansion on the  English coastline. Once they hear rumors about the house's history, their fascination turns into suspicion and fear. Starring Ray Milland (see Dial M For Murder), Ruth Hussey (The Philadelphia Story), Donald Crip (How Green Was My Valley), and Cornelia Otis Skinner. 

• Village of the Damned (1960) - On a dark and stormy night, my father sat me down and introduced me to this awesome (in it's truest form) thriller. Midwich is a little village nestled in the English countryside. The town has normal people with standard jobs who live in ordinary homes. One day, it all changes when the entire village falls victim to a mysterious sleep. Several months later, all the women capable of reproducing, bear blond haired children. Strange? Indeed. When the children begin using there vision to control the townsfolk, one man tries to stop them. Starring George Sanders (See Rebecca), Barbara Shelley, Martin Stephens, and Michael Gwynn.

• Witness to Murder (1954) - This film is one of the many reasons why Barbara Stanwyck is a pro. Cheryl Draper witnesses a strangling outside her home, but no one will believe her. The police find no evidence to report the crime (not even a body). The killer stalks Cheryl, sets her up, and leaves her to question her own validity. Starring Barbara Stanwyck (Meet John Doe), George Sanders (See Rebecca), Gary Merrill, and Jesse White. 

And you can't forget these Alfred Hitchcock classics:

A little bio about Alfred Hitchcock:
 One of 20th Century's most renown suspense thriller directors ever. He is what other directors, like M.Night Shyamalan, try to aspire to. He was one of the first directors to manipulate the audience's emotions through the character's point of view. During film-making, he made cameo appearances (sound familiar?) that propelled him as a cultural figure. He is truly the Master of Suspense.

• The Birds (1963) - Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, and Jessica Tandy. When I heard they were trying to remake this classic, I was astounded. I feel no one could top the superb performances by Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor. Most of the other Hitchcock remakes are sub par to the originals so whoever takes this project on will have to fill the Master's shoes. Anyway, Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, follows Mitch Brenner to Bodega Bay after he plays a little prank on her. After her arrival, the birds begin to attack the people without any probable cause. If you haven't seen it, you really should. Based off of The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier.

• Vertigo (1958) - Jimmy Stewart starred in many of Hitchcock movies, but Vertigo portrays Stewart in a very different light. Back in the day, movies suggesting sex were considered riské and Hitchcock pushed the envelope in his story plots. He always found a way to make sexual innuendo tasteful (by today's standards).  While pursuing a perp, a former detective develops vertigo due to a terrible fall. After much humiliation, he finally finds a gig watching a man's elusive wife who is supposedly either possessed by a dead relative or just plain mad. When the detective falls in love with his client's wife, all hell breaks loose. The beginning may seem a little slow, but it picks up quickly. Starring Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. 

• Rear Window (1954) - I know, I am a sucker for Stewart, but he's a great actor! When L.B. Jeffries breaks his leg during an action shot, all he can do is gaze through his rear window. He watches his neighbor's daily routines, giving them quirky nicknames and commenting on their personal lives. He becomes suspicious when Mr. Thorwald's wife disappears and soon, his curiosity puts everyone he cares about in danger. Starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, and Thelma Ritter. This movie is a real nail-bitter!

• Rebecca (1940) - "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden with supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me[...]." Based off of Daphne Du Maurier's suspense novel, Rebecca. Starring Sir Lawrence Olivier (Hamlet),  Joan Fontaine (Jane Eyre), George Sanders, and Judith Anderson. Rebecca was on TCM during one October and I sat down with my family, expecting a dull, tiring movie. Boy, was I wrong! Joan Fontaine plays a ladies' companion vacationing in the French Riviera. One day she meets Maxim de Winter, a wealthy widower from Cornwall, and they have a whirlwind marriage. When they return to their Gothic estate in Cornwall, the new misses discovers a latent secret that leaves her suspicious of the late Rebecca de Winter. A definite movie for the ladies!

• Strangers on a Train (1951) -"He does my murder, I do his."Based off of Patricia Highsmith's novel. When Bruno Antony meets his idol, professional tennis player and promising politician Guy Haines, the meeting starts off casual and fun. As soon as Bruno discusses how to create the perfect murder a criss-cross scheme (i.e. murdering the other guy's enemy), things become perilous for Haines. Strangers on a Train is a mind-wrenching film where Hitchcock experiments with black humor (refer here) and the abnormal mind. Starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Robert Walker. 

• Marnie (1964) -Many critics feel Marnie, starring Tippie Hedren (see The Birds) and Sean Connery (James Bond), is one of last good movies of Hitchcock's career peak. Originally, Hitchcock wanted Princess Grace (a.k.a Grace Kelly) to play the female lead but, she was unable to. Based on Winston Graham's novel, the movie is about a cool blonde, afflicted by her troubling past, who cons businesses in order to care for her ailing mother. After Rutherland's company owner catches her stealing, he blackmails the woman into marrying him. I remember that Marnie was Hedren's final movie collaboration with Hitchcock due to his controlling personality. Love this movie! Give it a shot!

• Dial M For Murder (1954) - Starring Grace Kelly, Ray Milland (see The Uninvited), and Robert Cummings (Saboteur). A wealthy London woman has a brief affair with an American writer while her husband, a tennis player, is abroad. When her husband returns, he decides to end his career and dedicates his time to his lovely wife (how peculiar). Although she destroys the American writer's love letters, somehow one letter is stolen. Who is trying to blackmail her? This understated movie is filled with edge-of-the-seat suspense! Add it to your list, this October.

There are so many great, old movies and I wish I could list them all. If you have never seen a old film -- this is a great list to begin from!