Classic Drama
Classic Drama is where you will find most of those great films you either grew up with or have heard of but never got round to seeing. Generally dramatic productions made between 1928 and 1965 fill this section. "Silents" and contempory "Drama" (post 1965) can be found under their respective headings..
Right: Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd gaze into one another's eyes in "Ben Hur"
The 400 Blows (1959)
8.1/10
Director: Francois Truffaut
Starring: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy
Aka 'Les quatre cents coups'. Francois Truffaut's first feature is also his most personal. Told through the eyes of Truffaut's cinematic counterpart,... Read more
Bicycle Thieves ( aka The Bicycle Thief ) (1948)
8.3/10
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Starring: Lianella Carell, Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola
Aka 'The Bicycle Thief.' Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1948 drama of desperation and survival in Italy's post-war depression earned a special Oscar fo... Read more
Citizen Kane (1941)
8.4/10
Director: Orson Welles
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane
Generally regarded as the greatest and most influential films of all time; Orson Welles directorial debut (he was only 25!) is the story of newspaper... Read more
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
8.6/10
Director: Frank Capra
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Donna Reed
Classic bittersweet comedy/drama that is the quintessential Frank Capra film. James Stewart is a banker living in the typical American small town of B... Read more
Breathless ( A bout de souffle ) (1960)
7.9/10
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Daniel Boulanger, Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Henri-Jacques Huet
A.k.a. "A bout de souffle". There was before "Breathless", and there was after "Breathless". Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with th... Read more
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
8/10
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra, Henry Silva, Janet Leigh, Laurence Harvey
One of the finest political thrillers ever made. John Frankenheimer's blend of Cold War paranoia and sly satire stars Laurence Harvey as a former Kore... Read more
Gone with the Wind (1939)
8.2/10
Director: Victor Fleming
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Clark Gable
Based on one of the best-selling books of all time, "Gone with the Wind" stands among the greatest epic dramas ever filmed. Vivien Leigh is the strong... Read more
Lord of the Flies (1963)
7/10
Director: Peter Brook
Starring: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin
"Lord of the Flies" is famed theater director Peter Brook's daring translation of William Golding's brilliant novel. The story of thirty English sch... Read more
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
8.1/10
Director: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, Slim Summerville, John Wray
One of the first and most powerful war films ever made, director Lewis Milestone's adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque novel follows a group of ide... Read more
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
8/10
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden
Blanche du Bois, the magnificently brooding Vivien Leigh, a faded descendant of the once-proud Southern gentry, comes to live with her matter-of-fact... Read more