A "friend" has asked me what is a classic film? I didn't have an answer.
Over the years, I have watched so many films that even the definition of films and movies and everything else has changed. I can no longer say "classic films" as casually as I'd like to; I wouldn't know what categories one film needs to put a tick in checkboxes to be considered a classic when movie and films are considered two different things in the matters of motion pictures. Then comes the decades - it is a pressing matter. If a movie is less than 10 years old, will it be considered a classic? How about - are all movies from the 1920s are considered classic? See my dilemma! Then comes language, and boy, now I'm even more confused than I was before because now I have an infinite number of movies and an itch to pick more than one.
Hence, deliberately or inadvertently, "I, me, myself" became the confused one.
Then comes another pressing matter, should I choose a one that everyone will agree on being a classic or should I pick one and let my doubts flow through the others! Hmm, interesting! For the sake of my sanity and everyone else's, let's stick to the English language. I'm sure you'll agree with a few of the choices that are considered classic and loved a lot such as The Kid, It's A Wonderful Life, Gone With The Wind, Sound Of Music - guys, I'm picking out classics, not iconic, however, every one of them is iconic and all classics are not iconic. So, after wracking my brains, for a while, I have carefully selected - It Happened One Night (1934) and Sabrina (1954)
It Happened One Night (1934)
What do I say about the film! What do I say! Is it a classic movie? Most definitely. Is it my favorite? One of my "all-time favorites". I really can't pick favorites. It Happened One Night (1934) is one of the witty and unconventional romantic comedies I have seen and would you look at the year. I'm skipping all the stuff that you can google. The film was called progressive, and it could possibly be that. I don't know how things were during the 1930s but yes it's entirely possible that the situation in the film wasn't casual and quite the contrary. So when my "FREND" (intentional) told me "don't tell me this movie discovered the whole I am gonna show some skin off of my leg and boom a car will stop to pick us up trend", oh yes, the very one. Think of it this way, every trend has started somewhere and then followed by many.
My Thoughts
If you compare films and plots and many so and so, the film lacks quite a punch in some aspects. The plot isn't complex or gut/heart-wrenching. Now, a film is a film, and the reason you like a film or dislike it is fairly your own. And all those lacking didn't bother me one bit. The movie is witty, the dialogues are sarcastic, and may give you ideas for appropriate comebacks. Does that shroud the many flaws? Somewhat, yes. Have I seen better films than this one? Yes, of course. Is it still one of my top favorites? Bloody, yes.
Moving on...
Sabrina (1954)
What can I say, I love old films. I'm not romantic one bit and not a fan of romantic movies but there are a few rom-coms I like, and a few I hate. I love this film as much as I dislike The Notebook. One of the reasons is, I absolutely adore Audrey Hepburn more than any other actress. I haven't started watching black & white films until a few years ago and that too wasn't often. But when I started, Sabrina (1954) was one of the first few films that I had watched and it simply etched in my mind since. Oh, unrequited love and how much it pains. Rest of the cast, crew, and plot you can google.
My Thoughts
As I said, I am not a fan of rom-coms. Maybe I fell in love with how Audrey portrayed her character or maybe I absolutely fell in love with the song La Vie en Rose - could be any other reason. It's not just Audrey's character, also Holden's character that was great - from an airhead womanizer, his character matured and in the end became quite responsible but still somewhat an airhead. And such simple fun there is. If I have disliked one thing about the film is the fact that I have watched so many movies, even the rom-coms, that the plot of this film became somewhat of a cliche and let me remind you I have watched it years ago. Opinions change in a matter of seconds. But something tells me, this film will stay a favorite.
Sometimes you face a dilemma that is, a film that you have loved and a film that you want to write about and they are not the same. And for this, I had written another draft, then cut out a chunk (the chunk of the film I wrote first) and then I added what's in it now. The reason was simple, the one that I had cut out wasn't my absolute favorite but these are.
