30-49

[stoutfellow]

My niece M is the youngest of my five niblings. She and I hadn't had much to do with one another until a couple of years ago, when chance gave us an opportunity for a longish conversation. Last year, at Christmastime, we got into a discussion of movies; she told me that she liked old-style black and white movies, and I offered to give her some recommendations. I finally had time to draw them up a couple of weeks ago, and sent her (in two installments) a list of twenty-five of my favorite movies from the thirties and forties. (I said "my favorites"; I'm not sure I was entirely accurate in that - there were several late deletions and replacements - but they're certainly among my favorites.) For whoever's interested, the list is under the cut, in chronological order.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
The Thin Man (1934)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Stage Door (1937)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Ninotchka (1939)
The Great Dictator (1940)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Fantasia (1940)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Ball of Fire (1941)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Casablanca (1942)
Double Indemnity (1944)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Notorious (1946)
Key Largo (1948)
North by Northwest (1949)
White Heat (1949)
Adam's Rib (1949)

The alert might claim an excess of Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, and Cary Grant; I reject the very concept.

ETA: Apparently I can't distinguish the "cut" button from the "blockquote" button, if I'm not paying enough attention.