During lockdown, the world may seem cramped and confined; you’ve read everything on your shelves, you’ve watched your DVDs, and things seems stale. But the internet puts the world at your fingertips. There is a wealth of television, radio plays, films, music, and theatre on YouTube, and of books on Kindle.
When it comes to classic cinema, here are some golden oldies you might like to watch this rainy weekend in lockdown.
One can’t go wrong with the Master of Suspense, genially creepy Alfred Hitchcock. There are the big films – Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho, of course – but there are many lesser known gems.
There’s Sabotage (1936), in which a London anarchist finds murder comes too close to home. In Shadow of a Doubt(1943), a serial killer stays with his relatives in small-town America. In Notorious (1946), Ingrid Bergman marries a Nazi agent to spy on him, and is slowly poisoned. The Paradine Case (1947) and Stage Fright (1950) are underrated examples of the courtroom drama and the theatre murder mystery. To Catch a Thief(1955) is a sunny comedy set on the Riviera, with Cary Grant as an ex-cat burglar. Finally, Hitchcock’s black comedy The Trouble with Harry (1955), in which a corpse turns up in awkward situations.
The Assassination Bureau (1969)
Based on a Jack London novella, this is a witty thriller set in Europe at the turn of the century. An enterprising female reporter (Diana Rigg) employs the head of a murder-for-hire gang (Oliver Reed) to murder himself. There are fights in a French bawdy house, exploding sausages in Vienna, and poisoning in an Italian palazzo. It finishes with a swordfight on horseback in a zeppelin. All done with considerable panache.
Also in this vein are the Michael York Musketeer films and Royal Flash, both written by George Macdonald Fraser, writer of the Flashman historical novels.
The Lion in Winter (1969)
It’s set during Christmas in the court of Henry II (Peter O’Toole), king of England, but there’s little seasonal cheer or goodwill in this historical drama. His wife (Katharine Hepburn) has been in prison for the last decade, and his sons (including Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton) loathe each other. One of the great joys is seeing the sparks fly as the talented cast quarrel and roar – knowing they’ll do it all again next year.
The Producers (1968)
The Producers (1968) – YouTube
Well, talk about bad taste! Failing Broadway impresario Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) hits on the recipe for financial success: get a lot of little old ladies to banknote a flop, then rake in the rewards. He hires the worst director and the worst actors, and puts on the worst play ever written: Springtime for Hitler (‘A gay romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden’). The highlight is the big musical spectacle, with cannons, a Swastika chorus line, and a gigantic portrait of the Führer. Mel Brooks’s best film.
For more entertainment:
Golden oldies not your thing? Check out our entertainment section for more ideas – or why not exercise your brain with a visit to our puzzles page?
