Can Anybody Recommend Some Classic Movies To Watch On Amazon Prime Video?

Could you narrow down the years you are looking at more?

Go thru the Oscar nominees.

Does it have to be a film?

R1 Honestly, anything from the late 20’s to the late 50’s. I know it’s a broad stroke, but particularly 30’s and 40’s, around Clark Gable times. Although I’m not opposed to some good James Dean or Liz Taylor films.

Here are some timeless classics that I never get tired of:

"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright. Four returning WWII servicemen from different backgrounds find that adjustment to civilian life is a challenge.

"Casablanca" (1943) Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman. Bittersweet love story of a nightclub owner who is suddenly confronted with a romance from his past. A timeless wartime romantic classic.

"His Girl Friday" (1936) Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell. Newspaper editor tries to keep his ex-wife, who is also his star reporter from leaving to get married and leaving the paper. Wonderful snappy dialogue.

"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds. Hilarious musical send-up of Hollywood's transition from silent films to talkies.

"Psycho" (1960) Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins. Hitchcock's tale of a creepy motel owner with a mother complex who befriends a woman who is on the run after embezzling from her employer. One of the best horror films ever made.

"Top Hat" (1935) Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers. Classic movies' greatest dance team in one of their best vehicles. Hilarious supporting performances from Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore and Helen Broderick.

R1 Oh, also Cary Grant, Judy Garland, and Humphrey Bogart films. I’m a sucker for those three.

Disregard my comment, I misread your post title

R5 Thank you so much!

Here's what I would call Datalounge's particular favorites among classic Golden Age movies--these are not necessarily MY favorites, but these are the ones that get discussed the most here:

"The Bride of Frankenstein"

"Show Boat" (1936)

"Bringing Up Baby"

"The Women"

"The Wizard of Oz"

"Gone with the Wind"

"Rebecca"

"Shadow of a Doubt"

"Meet Me in St. Louis"

"The Palm Beach Story"

"Now, Voyager"

"Mildred Pierce"

"Leave Her to Heaven"

"All About Eve"

"Sunset Boulevard"

"A Streetcar Named Desire"

"The Heiress"

"Singin' in the Rain"

"Picnic"

"A Place in the Sun"

"A Star is Born" (Judy Garland/James Mason version)

"How to Marry a Millionaire"

"Auntie Mame"

"Rear Window"

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

"Vertigo"

"Suddenly, Last Summer"

"Touch of Evil"

"Psycho"

"The Birds"

"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Anything after (including "Valley of the Dolls"), however beloved, is not Golden Age.

There are thousands more (and it will seem heretical I've left out films with Garbo, Alice Faye, the Marx Brothers, Fred Astaire, Lana Turner, Barbra Stanwyck, etc. etc.), but I would say these are the ones most discussed here.

Wow r9 I wish Netflix had classics!

Get a subscription to the Criterion Channel.

Happened to glance at Amazon after seeing Op's question and started watching a Nigerian film dramatizing the ebola outbreak in Lagos of several years ago. Surprisingly good.

OP, you sure have come to the right place. This thread will have 10 parts by the time I wake up.

R 5 typed that from memory.

R5

"I Want to Live!" (1958) starring the divine Helen Lawson in her Oscar-winning role!

R11 I’m sticking to Amazon for movies and Hulu for TV, every service after that is pointless to me.

OP, you have some great titles to start with from the excellent suggestions above.

Since you mentioned Cary Grant, another to consider is The Awful Truth (1937), with Grant and Irene Dunne. It's a hilarious screwball comedy. Dunne and Grant are great together. They teamed again for another comedy - My Favorite Wife (1940), which is almost as funny.

Have you seen any of the Thin Man movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy? This classic series is worth checking out. I would start with the first - The Thin Man (1934). There are a number of others in the series, some better than others but all amusing. I don't think the order you watch matters after seeing the first one.

Note that many of those mentioned are not free, including my suggestions. I'm never sure when people say Prime if they mean free on Prime or just available on Amazon for streaming (at a price).

Oh, and, if you haven't seen Laura (1944), it's a must. Great movie.

At this point, OP, a sense of the type of movie you like best would be helpful. Musicals? Comedy? Film noir? Soapy but wonderful dramas (aka "women's pictures")? There are so many of each genre, the recommendations could go on for hundreds of replies.

I heartily recommend this~

R79 This is where it gets tricky, because when it comes to film I don’t have a particular genre that I like, and I don’t really hate any genres either. As long as the film has either a well written script, interesting visuals, or both I’m on board regardless of genre. My favorite genres tend to be the darker comedies and the dramas, stuff like Arsenic and Old Lace as well as films like Penny Serenade. Thanks for all the great suggestions above!

I think All About Eve might be the #1 classic favorite of DL, just based on how many threads I have seen of it over the years. And once a new one is started, it fills up very quickly.

OP how old are you? If ONLY there was a way, nowadays, to easily find a list of great films! There's just no information anywhere.

If ONLY there was respected film critic who would have shared an easy way to find great movies by year. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. Classic movie information is about as difficult to find as interesting documentaries about Sanskrit theatre.

I know, you must be cousin of twat who said he wanted to discover "old music" such as Nancy Sinatra.

I heard there was once a thing as a "film journal". That's where egg heads argued about so-called classic movies and so called great directors. I don't know anything about that. I think it was back in the Civil War times when they made that old movie Gone With The Wind. But I heard you can find a list from such a "journal".

R23/R24/R25 I specifically asked for classic movies that were available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Now, I know having a learning disability must make reading a bit difficult for you, but couldn’t you have tried to figure that out via context clues?

It's asking a lot for people to scour through what's available on Amazon, R26. People kindly gave you lists of classic films. Do the fucking work and figure out if they're available. Ungrateful cunt.

R27 What do you think I’ve been doing, you fucking dunce?

R27 What do you think I’ve been doing, you fucking dunce?

R28, criticizing people for not taking the time to give you customized lists, you cloying moron.

R30 R30 No, I’m criticizing you for being a sarcastic asshole for no reason and for your inability to read. I’m not asking for the moon on a string, and I haven’t had to be rude to anybody but you, because nobody except for you has had the right cluster of mental disorders to be a crazy douchebag out of nowhere. What the fuck is wrong with you? I’ve thanked the people who are giving my lists, where the fuck did you get the idea that I’ve been rude to them? I haven’t gotten mad at anybody for not giving me the right list? Who pissed in your motherfucking cereal, psycho?

Oh honey, OP. There's more than one person snarking at you.

For Christmas, I suggest three Barbara Stanwyck films: "Remember the Night" (1940), "Meet John Doe" (1941) and "Christmas in Connecticut". They all have different themes, but you will definitely feel the spirit of the season.

I remember My Man Godfrey, with William Powell and Carole Lombard, was fun to watch. I found on Amazon Prime and is free, at least for me in the U.K.

OP, here’s a site that lets you sort through what’s available on Amazon. You can narrow down by years, IMDB ratings, etc. Unfortunately, although Amazon has I think the largest selection of classic movies, not all of the ones mentioned in this thread are available for streaming.

“Notorious” (1946) is among the best films Hitchcock, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman ever made.

‘You Can't Take it With You’ with the always delightful, Jean Arthur.

‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ has a great ensemble cast, especially a wonderfully bitchy, Ann Sheridan.

‘The Pride of the Yankees’ if you need a good cry.

OP is insufferable.

OP, like it or not, you ARE going to have to do the actual work of finding what is and is not on amazon. No one is going to do that for you.

[quote] ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ has a great ensemble cast, especially a wonderfully bitchy, Ann Sheridan.

It's also fun to see how they slipped by the Hays Code. Plainly nobody there understood the meaning when Bette Davis is called a simpering Sappho. Plus how did Sheridan's obvious bralessness get by. Most fun is the main characters are all based on then current celebrities like Noel Coward, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Lawrence, and Harpo Marx.

^Ann Sheridan’s bralessnesd is very noticeable in HD. Hey blouse us practically see-through. Have you ever noticed the little hand shaped buttons?

I love ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’. I wstch it every Christmas Eve.

Penny Serenade with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. It's a big weeper but it's one of my favorites.

I believe these are available on Amazon Prime:

The 39 Steps (Hitchcock)

The African Queen (Katharine Hepburn & Humphrey Bogart)

The Apartment (Billy Wilder)

Charade (Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn)

Some Like it Hot (another Billy Wilder film)

Of Human Bondage (Bette Davis in her first great role)

The Stranger (Orson Welles)

R14, Yes, I did compose that list from memory (except for blanking out on one actor's name and having to look it up). How did you know?

"Although I’m not opposed to some good James Dean or Liz Taylor films."

There are only three James Dean movies; he died after completing his third. They're all classics: "East of Eden", "Rebel Without a Cause", and "Giant".

Personally, I find Liz awful and unwatchable in everything (including the otherwise great "Giant".)

"Chinatown."

"The Doughgirls" from Warner Brothers, 1944, starring Jane Wyman, Jack Carson, Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith and a very funny Eve Arden, stealing every scene with an outrageous Russian accent, is one of my all-time favorites. It is a bit dated (set in overcrowded wartime Washington D.C.), but has a ton of laughs.

Not a recommendation but a bit of a whinge - why is the AP catalogue so limited for U.K. users?

My particular interest in films is B-movie cult or obscure American movies, but whenever I go to rent or buy one from Prime I’m informed that I need a U.S. credit card or gift card with a matching U.S. address to purchase. It’s so frustrating.

The latest roadblock to my viewing was with the film KILL ME AGAIN (1989) with Joanne Whalley, which I can either buy as a used/foreign DVD with shoddy transfer from a U.K. seller for a tenner inc. P&P (fair enough price but I don’t want knockoff DVDs cluttering my house in 2020), or new shipped from the U.S. at even higher cost.

I just want to rent it or stream it so I can review and get screengrabs. Netflix don’t carry it and as far as I’ve searched there’s no working mirrors to steam from on any “free” sites either. Tearing my hair out! If anyone can help I’d be much obliged.

OP IS NOT ASKING FOR GENERAL CLASSIC FILM RECOMMENDATIONS, you dimwits.

They want to know what classic films they should watch on Amazon Prime!

Jesus Christ!

[quote]R37 The Man Who Came to Dinner’ has a great ensemble cast, especially a wonderfully bitchy Ann Sheridan.

She was better in the sequel, [italic]The Man Who Came In My Dinner.

OP, you probably know this tip — but one of the best things about Amazon Prime is the tab at the top that says "Viewers also watched ... "

I've found a lot of good stuff that way when I've enjoyed a particular movie.