Classics, a list by Orpheus

9.0

/968210/

88

/16216/

85

/9632/

4.6

/1286853/

100

/63/

97

/6765/

97

/18/

4.0

age 12+

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.

91

8.5

/563962/

82

/9351/

83

/6950/

4.4

/758503/

99

/134/

95

/8885/

100

/18/

4.0

age 10+

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

91

8.5

/649536/

82

/9260/

81

/5858/

4.3

/724125/

99

/135/

95

/19579/

100

/18/

4.0

age 10+

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

90

8.4

/258545/

81

/3742/

83

/2829/

4.4

/326940/

98

/125/

95

/3486/

94

/32/

4.0

age 13+

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

90

8.5

/777532/

82

/14258/

84

/10710/

4.3

/1246057/

97

/118/

95

/10325/

97

/18/

4.0

age 14+

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

90

8.2

/147911/

79

/2287/

81

/1642/

4.4

/132450/

99

/110/

94

/2747/

98

/15/

4.0

age 12+

From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.

89

8.3

/216273/

81

/3989/

81

/2537/

4.4

/329365/

93

/107/

94

/2385/

94

/21/

4.0

age 13+

Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.

89

8.2

/455399/

80

/8221/

82

/6156/

4.2

/740688/

93

/98/

92

/6508/

100

/32/

4.0

age 13+

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

89

8.2

/140239/

79

/2005/

79

/1294/

4.3

/82178/

100

/54/

93

/1450/

98

/10/

4.0

age 13+

Two jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the way of their journey.

89

8.3

/179480/

80

/2804/

81

/1955/

4.3

/203439/

97

/110/

95

/2255/

95

/18/

4.0

age 12+

An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.

89

8.6

/549485/

84

/9344/

82

/4729/

4.4

/703880/

94

/97/

95

/14103/

89

/17/

4.0

age 9+

A holiday favourite for generations... George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

89

8.5

/282955/

82

/4478/

82

/3949/

4.3

/252214/

98

/113/

95

/1797/

96

/4/

age 6+

A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time..

89

8.2

/490258/

79

/7450/

79

/5867/

4.2

/590114/

99

/132/

90

/11626/

100

/19/

4.0

age 12+

Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

89

8.4

/236235/

81

/3644/

82

/3165/

4.5

/277050/

96

/77/

95

/1856/

90

/18/

4.0

age 13+

A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

88

8.1

/176290/

77

/2298/

78

/1705/

4.2

/134590/

99

/115/

95

/3157/

91

/15/

4.0

age 13+

A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.

88

8.0

/39202/

77

/697/

76

/557/

4.2

/62025/

98

/62/

91

/532/

100

/5/

4.0

New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.

88

8.1

/193657/

78

/3060/

79

/2026/

4.2

/177978/

99

/97/

93

/3386/

97

/30/

4.0

age 13+

In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.

87

7.9

/113006/

76

/1982/

77

/1696/

4.1

/108549/

96

/53/

91

/1696/

100

/17/

4.0

age 11+

In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.

87

7.9

/114164/

76

/1726/

78

/1543/

4.2

/96972/

96

/85/

92

/1684/

99

/24/

4.0

When a car bomb explodes on the American side of the U.S./Mexico border, Mexican drug enforcement agent Miguel Vargas begins his investigation, along with American police captain Hank Quinlan. When Vargas begins to suspect that Quinlan and his shady partner, Menzies, are planting evidence to frame an innocent man, his investigations into their possible corruption quickly put himself and his new bride, Susie, in jeopardy.

87

8.1

/76707/

77

/979/

77

/708/

4.2

/45002/

98

/97/

93

/867/

93

/17/

4.0

age 13+

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

87

8.1

/246796/

78

/3975/

78

/2279/

4.2

/109378/

96

/103/

93

/2260/

88

/16/

4.0

age 11+

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

87

8.1

/10494/

79

/278/

75

/211/

4.2

/19462/

100

/21/

92

/142/

4.0

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

87

8.0

/17971/

77

/368/

75

/261/

4.2

/24878/

97

/37/

90

/298/

93

/20/

4.0

age 10+

General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.

87

8.0

/27497/

79

/602/

77

/450/

4.3

/49993/

97

/38/

93

/635/

4.0

age 10+

A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.

87

8.1

/107499/

76

/1450/

78

/1065/

4.2

/57882/

100

/49/

88

/1136/

96

/16/

4.0

age 12+

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

87

8.0

/72734/

78

/1599/

78

/1220/

4.2

/68930/

96

/50/

90

/1203/

93

/18/

4.0

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

87

8.0

/106428/

77

/2189/

78

/1756/

4.3

/221585/

93

/87/

90

/1894/

97

/21/

4.0

In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.

87

7.9

/173207/

76

/2898/

77

/1819/

3.9

/135929/

99

/111/

91

/2982/

97

/16/

4.0

age 12+

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

87

8.2

/353560/

78

/5178/

79

/4273/

3.9

/234765/

90

/103/

92

/18576/

97

/19/

4.0

age 10+

The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

86

8.0

/41583/

77

/663/

76

/583/

4.1

/23702/

100

/51/

93

/729/

4.0

age 13+

When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.

86

7.9

/55232/

77

/1131/

76

/875/

4.0

/69286/

100

/64/

90

/775/

4.0

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.

86

7.7

/37402/

76

/670/

73

/568/

4.0

/33887/

100

/32/

87

/474/

96

/15/

4.0

Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and protégé.

86

7.9

/119234/

75

/1829/

76

/1438/

4.0

/144036/

97

/63/

89

/2832/

97

/20/

4.0

age 14+

A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.

86

8.0

/43691/

78

/1147/

80

/803/

4.2

/91102/

99

/96/

91

/813/

96

/15/

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

86

7.8

/58038/

75

/1229/

76

/1194/

4.0

/87974/

100

/48/

86

/803/

93

/15/

4.0

age 11+

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

86

7.8

/74669/

74

/1371/

75

/1105/

4.0

/75459/

100

/54/

89

/1216/

94

/15/

4.0

In sleepy Santa Rosa, restless young Charlie’s world brightens when her sophisticated Uncle Charlie arrives for a long visit. But as his behavior grows increasingly strange, she begins to suspect that her beloved uncle may be hiding a terrible secret—and that danger has quietly entered her home.

86

7.9

/57332/

76

/1232/

74

/823/

3.9

/42300/

100

/52/

89

/1578/

97

/5/

4.0

age 8+

Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.

86

8.0

/77009/

78

/1655/

79

/1109/

4.2

/84585/

100

/53/

91

/822/

95

/15/

age 13+

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

86

7.9

/104686/

76

/1992/

76

/1662/

4.0

/142728/

96

/48/

92

/1286/

91

/15/

4.0

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

86

8.4

/159517/

82

/2420/

82

/1593/

4.4

/112148/

100

/41/

95

/744/

76

/12/

age 11+

An ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder cases of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending a man being tried for the murder of a socialite.

86

7.9

/148047/

76

/2580/

77

/1817/

4.1

/156832/

98

/60/

92

/1908/

88

/15/

4.0

age 14+

A charming psychopath tries to coerce a tennis star into his theory that two strangers can commit the perfect crime by exchanging murders—each killing the other’s most-hated person.

86

8.4

/257293/

82

/4211/

82

/3579/

4.3

/171374/

92

/52/

95

/1899/

3.5

age 10+

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

85

7.8

/77902/

77

/1267/

76

/941/

4.0

/87443/

100

/104/

92

/2645/

96

/13/

age 11+

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

85

8.1

/49070/

79

/1065/

78

/797/

4.3

/63376/

96

/54/

93

/369/

86

/13/

age 11+

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

85

8.1

/161503/

78

/2491/

79

/1912/

4.1

/151087/

98

/105/

92

/2137/

86

/16/

age 14+

Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.

85

8.0

/47965/

78

/905/

76

/679/

4.3

/99616/

94

/47/

91

/1079/

92

/16/

age 11+

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

85

7.9

/94788/

76

/1635/

76

/1119/

4.0

/75195/

96

/68/

91

/1676/

86

/19/

4.0

age 12+

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

85

7.9

/43829/

77

/805/

76

/628/

4.1

/52687/

93

/41/

92

/641/

85

/19/