Movies that Have Aged Well, and Those that Haven't

[AlexDourm]

Haven't seen any of the silent Laurel and Hardy reels, but Chaplin and Keaton definitely aren't exceptions for me. Keaton is a little more palatable because he was essentially the first film stuntman, and some of his acrobatics are neat to this day, but both guys relied on vaudeville-style (where both guys came from) physical comedy that is slow-moving, dull, and antiquated for today's audiences.

I appreciate them as two amazing pioneers, but aside from Keaton's 15-minute shorts, I have a hard time suffering through anything either of them made.

I am not too crazy about them myself either. I have the impression though that enough people could still enjoy those works that we could say they have aged well, especially when compared to the majority of other silent era works, but without such a comparison as well. When I was growing up (80s/90s) they still got plenty of TV time and enjoyed a seemingly broad level of at least base appeal (this account is biased obviously, can't speak for every place). Maybe I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if most teenagers in the 80s/90s had only heard the name of for example Cary Grant or Henry Fonda or Kirk Douglas in passing, if at all, and if they didn't know what they look like, but I can't imagine many of them not knowing L&H and "Charlot". Today I couldn't tell you about the present teenagers, but the ones of then are still around

[90sCoffee]

I'd say Citizen Kane has aged poorly. Greatest film of all time yet a tonne of people me included find it a bit of a snooze fest and nothing too profound about it. The reason that it's ranked so high we all know has to do more with how great and significant the cinematography was at the time not the actual storyline or script. It's well directed and well acted but far far far more entertaining classics.

Hitchcock movies in general have aged well especially Dial M For Murder which just has a deliciously evil plot and villain not to mention Grace Kelly but the one Hitchcock movie I found to be a drag was Vertigo. It looks gorgeous in HD and colour of course and uses some nice story telling techniques but once you take those out, it's a slow paced drab film. I knew that ending was coming as well, just plain boring compared to other Hitchcock films.

I know that The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Once Upon A Time In The West are two of the big westerns but Once Upon A TIme In The West feels like it drags on with a bunch of close-up shots, western music, and slow pacing minus a jump here and there even though it's the nicer looking of the two visually.

His Girl Friday is an overrated film. It's quick paced delivery is impressive and takes away from the film at the same time. The way the characters change seems hard to follow and the ending was unimpressive.

[ShogunRua]

I'd say Citizen Kane has aged poorly. Greatest film of all time yet a tonne of people me included find it a bit of a snooze fest and nothing too profound about it. The reason that it's ranked so high we all know has to do more with how great and significant the cinematography was at the time not the actual storyline or script. It's well directed and well acted but far far far more entertaining classics.

Hitchcock movies in general have aged well especially Dial M For Murder which just has a deliciously evil plot and villain not to mention Grace Kelly but the one Hitchcock movie I found to be a drag was Vertigo. It looks gorgeous in HD and colour of course and uses some nice story telling techniques but once you take those out, it's a slow paced drab film. I knew that ending was coming as well, just plain boring compared to other Hitchcock films.

I would switch these two around.

For me, Citizen Kane has aged exceptionally well. It's fast-paced and engaging, with great dialogue. There is no filler or slow sequences filled with few events. Not the greatest film ever, but a masterpiece to this day. Hell, it could almost be a modern-day movie, black and white photography aside. Compare it, by contrast, to something like Casablanca, which is hard to envision in any decade past the 50s.

Meanwhile, I find Hitchock films to be dull "snooze fests", as you put them. Sitting through The Birds or even Psycho is an incredible chore nowadays.

I know that The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Once Upon A Time In The West are two of the big westerns but Once Upon A TIme In The West feels like it drags on with a bunch of close-up shots, western music, and slow pacing minus a jump here and there even though it's the nicer looking of the two visually.

Sergio Leone films are notoriously slow-paced, and this was as much of a concern for 60's audiences as it is for modern ones.

[afx237vi]

I'm a big Hitchcock fan, but he was pretty old-fashioned when it came to making films. His reliance on things like rear projection and matte paintings as backgrounds were dated even when the films were being released. I mean, look at this shot from Marnie:



If you didn't know, would you believe that was from a film made in 1964?

[AlexDourm]

Would you guys say the 'classic' Looney Tunes have aged well? Not what this thread is looking for I guess but I feel like it deserves a special mention cause I struggle to think of anything more worthy of that description

[ShogunRua]

Would you guys say the 'classic' Looney Tunes have aged well? Not what this thread is looking for I guess but I feel like it deserves a special mention cause I struggle to think of anything more worthy of that description

I would agree with you, but also note that this is true for the vast majority of children's cartoons. Popeye has also aged very well. And hell, Tom and Jerry has probably aged even better than Looney Tunes.

In fact, the list of children's cartoons that have not aged well would be far shorter. (Betty Boop would be at the top of the list, and that was long before the majority of the Looney Tunes shorts)

[90sCoffee]

For me, Citizen Kane has aged exceptionally well. It's fast-paced and engaging, with great dialogue. There is no filler or slow sequences filled with few events. Not the greatest film ever, but a masterpiece to this day. Hell, it could almost be a modern-day movie, black and white photography aside. Compare it, by contrast, to something like Casablanca, which is hard to envision in any decade past the 50s.

Meanwhile, I find Hitchock films to be dull "snooze fests", as you put them. Sitting through The Birds or even Psycho is an incredible chore nowadays.

The dialogue in Citizen Kane is not slow and the scenes move a lot quicker back and forth but there's just not that much of a plot. A man dies, newspapers try to find out what his last word mean (interesting up to know and seems like it's going in a good direction), one reporter interviews a bunch of people who recount significant portions of Kane's life where he basically becomes rich and has set up a newspaper (still interesting) and it slowly falls apart (becomes boring). Like I said, not a bad film but the actual events recounted don't live up to the earlier portion and there's a reason why film critics love this film more than the average person I've met anyways.

Hitchcock films had the problem of taking far too long to set up and get going. The Lady Vanishes was useless until they got on the train and the lady vanished. Rebeca seemed like a snoozefest that built up too slowly until around 60% in but at least there's some suspense that comes eventually and something does happen. In Strangers On A Train or Dial M For Murder or North By Northwest, the suspense and problem starts a lot earlier into the movie (I've never watched The Birds or Psycho tbh).

Casablanca holds up pretty well imo, it also is a bit slow until 1/3rd of the way in but there's some sort of clear dilemma which is apparent like in most war films. Only thing weird about it is that it barely shows any shots out on the street and most of it is indoors as if it might as well be set in LA but if it was filmed today, there would probably be more sceens on the streets or showing the grittier side of the war.

Also, I can't explain it but I don't think The Seventh Seal holds up very well. I love/hated that movie both at the same time, the theme and dialogue hold up but there's something off about it.