Influential Films
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- DirectorFrank CapraStarsClark GableClaudette ColbertWalter ConnollyA rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.started the screwball films , plus led to lots of films called where "It Happened..."
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyMaureen O'SullivanFormer detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora investigate a murder case, mostly for the fun of it.spawned a seven film series , paired Powell and Loy forever after , and let to countless comedy mysteries with a man / woman team of detectives
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'launched the careers of Orson Welles , Joseph Cotten , Agnes Moorehead , Everett Sloan , Ray Collins and others , influenced other films about tycoons , and gave pretentious directors lots of great bits to steal from
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glenda FarrellA small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.not the first gangster film , but the one that started the great 30s cycle and made Robinson a star
- DirectorChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames ArnessScientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.the first science fiction horror movie , and the original bunch of people in an isolated place picked off one by one by a monster you don't quite see til the end...
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDuane JonesJudith O'DeaKarl HardmanA ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.started the independent slasher boom , and created the modern zombie
- DirectorFrank PavichStarsAlejandro JodorowskyMichel SeydouxH.R. GigerThe story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.a film that was never even made , but influenced Star Wars , and led to the creative team behind Alien
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsClint EastwoodGian Maria VolontèMarianne KochA wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.not the first Italian made western , but the one that all subsequent spaghetti westerns took off , made Clint Eastwood a star , made Gian Maria Volonte a big name in Italy , influenced a million soundtracks
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsAdolphe MenjouPat O'BrienMary BrianA crusading newspaper editor tricks his retiring star reporter into covering one last case.the original hard boiled reporters movie , remade three times , even led to a tv series
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsSylvia SidneyJoel McCreaHumphrey BogartThe lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.gave the world the Dead End Kids , who then appeared in Angels With Dirty Faces , Crime School , Hell's Kitchen , On Dress Parade , Angels Wash Their Faces , and They Made Me A Criminal . spin offs include the Little Tough Guys series - 13 films and serials , the Gas House Kids , the East Side Kids - 22 films , before joining up as The Bowery Boys - 48 films !
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.virtually invented the slasher movie , influenced every Italian Giallo , most Brian De Palma films , led to 3 sequels and a pointless remake , and the Bates Motel tv series , affected every role Anthony Perkins was to play , and led to lots of films with similar titles - Maniac , Paranoiac , Hysteria etc etc
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsSimone SignoretVéra ClouzotPaul MeurisseThe wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.pointlessly remade by hollywood in 1998 , and for TV in the seventies , influenced lots of thrillers , including a whole cycle of Hammer non - horror thrillers , influenced all sorts of films with big twists
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.led to Son of Kong , Mighty Joe Young , remade twice , ultimately led to the Godzilla films - which also led to Japanese Kong films , several laughable Italian monkey films of the seventies , and inspired Ray Harryhausen's entire career
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.made a star of Karloff , kick started the Universal horror cycle , led to six sequels , the 1957 Hammer remake started their horror boom , and gave us Young Frankenstein , not to mention The Munsters...
- DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.made a star of Lugosi , led to five sequels in the Universal series , plus Dracula's Daughter , led to Hammer's Dracula series , and countless vampire films , and influenced Ed Wood
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.apart from the sequels and prequels , spawned countless similar films - Species , Relic , Predator , Xtro , Lifeforce... , started Ridley Scott's hollywood career , made Sigourney Weaver a star , also Dan O'Bannon went onto various horror / sci fi films
- DirectorMelvin Van PeeblesStarsMelvin Van PeeblesHubert ScalesJohn DullaghanAfter saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.led to the blaxploitation boom , and set the style for the films and the soundtracks
- DirectorGerald ThomasStarsKenneth WilliamsCharles HawtreyWilliam HartnellSergeant Grimshawe wants to retire in the flush of success by winning the Star Squad prize with his very last platoon of newly called-up National Servicemen. But what a motley bunch they turn out to be.responsible for the long running Carry On series and countless other british comedy films
- DirectorPaul LeniStarsLaura La PlanteCreighton HaleForrest StanleyRelatives of an eccentric millionaire gather in his spooky mansion on the 20th anniversary of his death for the reading of his will.remade lots of times , the original Old Dark House film , also influenced comedy films - the Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard films , The Ritz Brothers The Gorilla etc
- DirectorIrving CummingsRaoul WalshStarsEdmund LoweWarner BaxterDorothy BurgessA charming, happy-go-lucky bandit in old Arizona plays cat-and-mouse with the sheriff trying to catch him while he romances a local beauty.the first Cisco Kid film , made Warner Baxter a star
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.typified German expressionism , and influenced film noir
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsConrad VeidtAlexandra SorinaFritz StrassnyA world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he doesn't know they once belonged to a murderer.remade as Mad Love , and as The Hands of Orlac 1960 , but see also The Beast With Five Fingers , Hands Of The Strangler , and every disembodied hand / body parts replaced with those from a killer film
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryUrsula AndressBernard LeeA resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program.started the 007 franchise , made Sean Connery a star , the violence , gadgets , sex and one liners influenced all action movies to come , and led to countless sixties spy capers
- DirectorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsRobert HaysJulie HagertyLeslie NielsenAfter the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.led to a sequel , then Police Squad / The Naked Gun and every Leslie Nielsen movie , influenced all the following film parodies and bad taste comedies , and most importantly of all - killed the airplane disaster movie stone dead .
- DirectorWilhelm ThieleStarsDorothy LamourRay MillandAkim TamiroffChristopher Powell is in Malaysia with his fiancée and her father, capturing wild animals. While out hunting, he is attacked by a tiger, and his native guides run away, leaving him for dead. But the tiger is the pet of Ulah, a beautiful young woman who grew up by herself in the jungle. She rescues Chris and takes him back to her cave, where she nurses him to health and falls in love with him. When he eventually returns to camp, she follows. The fiancée is jealous, and the natives don't like Ulah or her pet tiger either, all of which leads to a lot of trouble.the first film with Dorothy Lamour on a tropical island with a chimp and a tiger , see also Hurricane , Her Jungle Love , Typhoon , Aloma Of The South Seas , Beyond The Blue Horizon , Rainbow Island , Donovan's Reef , made fun of in St Louis Blues , and in the Road... movies