subject: How Up To Date Are You On Your Classic Films? [print this page] If you ask most folks what is a film buff, they will respond with something like a person who sees a lot of movies. This is not the definition of a film buff but rather the definition of a film goer. Big Difference. A true film buff does a lot more than sit in front of the television or in a theater watching movies, classic or not. A genuine film aficionado is knowledgeable about the boffo Hollywood movies of today and yesterday, right down to the most obscure classics no one has ever seen but him.
A film buff is the go-to guy when people have a question regarding any film's subject matter, leading men and women, quotes or even actors in minor supporting roles. If you consider yourself to be a film buff, you better be sure you've got all your ducks in a row.
With that in mind, here are 5 classic films now available on public domain that every self-respecting film buff really needs to see.
1) Badlands of Dakota: This western film, set during the Great Gold Rush, marked the debut of leading man Robert Stack, better known by many for his role as Eliot Ness in television's "The Untouchables."
2) Slave Girl: Featuring George Brent and Yvonne De Carlo, "Slave Girl" is, as Loving the Classics states, "The sort of fare that the Universal higher-ups used to dismiss, nonetheless, this kind of entertainment (along with the equally lowbrow Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa Kettle pictures) paid the bills for the studio's more ponderous projects." The wisecracking "Humpy", voiced by Buddy Hackett, is one of many high points in this little-known classic film.
3) Cargo to Capetown: This classic made it to the late night movies of early television. Some of you may be old enough to have seen it, even though it is not exactly a children's movie. It stars Broderick Crawford as First Mate Johnny Phelan on a rusty old oil tanker with a villainous Steve Conway aboard. It is a memorable film but whether it should be ranked as an "A" movie, a "B" or something else, it should be put on your "A" list of classic films.
4) Antony and Cleopatra: Which one, you may well ask. There have been hundreds of remakes of this movie. I am referring here to Shakespeare's classic drama portrayed in 1913 as an Italian adaptation starring Ida Carloni Talli, Bruto Castellani and Matilde di Marzio. "Marcantonio e Cleopatra" ("Antony and Cleopatra") was considered to be one of the most outstanding films of its time.
5) The Hound of the Baskervilles: Needless to say, anyone's classic film list must include at least one reference to Sherlock Holmes, and this one is a dark, brooding Sherlock Holmes film at his classic best.
So, have you seen all these films? Which ones haven't you seen? How many have you not even heard of? And you call yourself a film buff? Naughty, naughty. Now get thee to a theater or film rental store and polish up your film buffness so you can be justifiably proud of the title and can hold your own in a discussion of multitudinous movies past and present.
