Free YouTube Movies Worth Watching

Charly is an interesting SF film adopted from the book, Flowers of Algernon by Daniel Keyes. It is a character study of one man, Charlie Gordon. Charlie is a 32-year-old developmentally disabled man who has the opportunity to undergo a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities. This procedure had already been performed on a laboratory mouse, Algernon, with remarkable results. Charlie will be the first human subject.

 

Catherine Morland is taken to Bath, England by the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Allen and introduces her to Georgian society. There she meets the social-climbing Isabella and John Thorpe, the handsome Henry Tilney and elegant Eleanor Tilney. After making an impression on Henry and Eleanor's father, the Tilneys invite her to their country mansion, Northanger Abbey. Catherine falls in love with Henry but realizes that love can be fickle and that money - and not just love - is an important consideration in the marriage business. The story is based on Jane Austen's novel of the same name, "Northanger Abbey."

 

Classic. Not crazy about the copy (think I've seen it in HD - see if I can find it). But yeah, the performances of Claire Bloom and especially Cliff Robertson as Charly are pretty good - and convincing. Thanks.

 

Man, is it tough to make Jane Austen interesting on film. In fact, adapting most Victorian era writers to film is problematic. Moving post cards from a bygone era are how most turn out (imo). Lets face it, the intrigue of those writers (Austen, Bronte, Wharton) is mostly internal and movies are primarily about external relationships. Been looking for a nice copy of the 1996 Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow on The Tube. Haven't seen that Austen adaptation yet. Here's another film treatment of Austen -


Manfield Park (1999, Patricia Rozema) 7.1 iMDB rating
Fanny, born into a poor family, is sent away to live with wealthy uncle Sir Thomas, his wife and their four children, where she'll be brought up for a proper introduction to society.
Haven't watched this one yet. Looks promising.

 

Marat/Sade (1967, Peter Brook)
In an insane asylum, Marquis de Sade directs Jean Paul Marat's last days through a theater play. The actors are the patients.
Great copy of this legendary horror classic.

 

One of the few Victorian adaptions aside from the James/Ivory productions is the BBC's adaption of Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live now. Part of it is because it's still timely about corporate greed, selling stocks, etc. to expand one man's empire. The only thing I can find on YT is these short 15 minute-segment versions, but I guess they'll play automatically after you watch the first episode.

 

Aladdin (1992, Ron Clements/John Musker)
A kindhearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.
Waited years to see this (I remember selling it when I was a young clerk) but never realized how bad the storytelling is. First, it has little to do with any of the tales of The Arabian Knights, is chock full of stereotypes and abysmal dialogue and moves at such a disjointed and frentic pace that makes you suspect the filmmakers assumed young audiences (of the time) were being spoonfed ritalin. The animation, however, is superb. Too bad its wasted on such a nonsensical story. And, no, the songs don't save it. And Robin Williams (Glod Bless him) doesn't save it. Worth a single viewing (or, at least a peek) for posterity's sake.

 

The Young Lions (1958, Edward Dmytryk)
The film attempts to show the German, American and French sides of the war through the live of three soldiers.
Taut war melodrama starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin, all who give great performances. Take the art direction with a greain of salt (or forget about it altogether) and enjoy the interplay between characters trying to find coherence in absurd situations. Oscar nod to Joe MacDonald for cinematography.

 

Compulsion (1959, Richard Fleischer)
Two wealthy law-school students go on trial for murder in this version of the Leopold-Loeb case.
One of the better trial dramas from the 50s, with good performances from the two leads and an effective Orson Welles appearance as a weary counciler to the two students.

 

Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)
Meeting a stranger in a railway station in Lancashire, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.
Nothing novel about that description but it's how the story is told that's everything. Of course, this old flicker has been the butt of jokes for decades (Nichols and May are hilarious) but it's still oddly compelling. Great copy.

 

Of the old style animated films, I like Aladdin. Williams did a great job with it.

A Brief History of Time (1991)
This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

 

Father O'Malley, the unconventional priest from (it's a sequel to) 'Going My Way', continues his work for the Catholic Church. This time he is sent to St. Mary's, a run-down parochial school on the verge of condemnation. He and Sister Benedict work together in an attempt to save the school, though their differing methods often lead to good-natured disagreements.

 

Comedy, a man and his second wife are haunted by the ghost of his first wife.

 

Williams was having fun. Last of the hand drawn Disney gems. Story ain’t worth a nickel.

 

The Hunter (2011, Daniel Nettheim)
Willem Dafoe plays a mercenary sent by a shadowy corporation to the untamed wilderness of Tasmania to track down a tiger thought to be extinct, whose genetic code holds the secret to a dangerous weapon.
I'm one of many who'll watch Dafoe in nearly anything. This one has a rep for great footage of the Tasmanian (Australia) wilderness, despite its dubious premise.

 

Here's a better version, with burned in subs, though. Thanks.

 

Did you ever see Bergman's Hedda Gabler? Classic. Her later work (Autumn Sonata, Hedda, The Human Voice, Gilda) is generally far more interesting to watch than her early Hollywood days, though I've yet to watch this one. I hear she boxes.

 

Re: Did you ever see Bergman's Hedda Gabler?

No, I've not seen that. I'll have to do a search. I'd never heard of it. She does a pretty good job in just about anything. Thanks.

 

Whoa. That was pretty dark. Resolved ok but, man, Defoe always manages to pick these dark energy projects. Good final message, though.

 

The Killing Fields (1984, Roland Joffé)
Two professional journalists attempt to cover the on-going chaos in Cambodia at the Vietnam War's aftermath during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign in 1975.

 

Naked (1993, Mike Leigh)
An unemployed Mancunian vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.
One of Mike Leigh's darkest. "Here there is no plot, no characters to identify with, no hope. But there is care: The filmmakers care enough about these people to observe them very closely, to note how they look and sound and what they feel."- Roger Ebert

 

Film Critics are putting together their top ten list.

 

Some interesting Soviet/Russian cinema being posted on the Mosfilm channel -all with subtitles. I especially like the WW2 films, Liberation and White Tiger.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Mosfilm_eng/videos

 

Educating Rita (1983, Lewis Gilbert)
An alcoholic professor has been hired by a working-class girl for higher education.
Nice spin on the Pygmalian story. Oscar nods for the two leads and the screenplay adapted by playwright, Willy Russell.

 

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974, Martin Scorsese)
A recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
Modest, slow-moving, early Scorsese film with good performances by Ellen Burstyn (Oscar) and Kris Kristofferson. Nice cameo from Harvey Keitel whose charcater seemed to come straight off the Mean Streets set. Of course, this was the movie that inspired the tv show, Alice with Linda Lavin.