The Silver Screen Oasis

Is there any classic film from the advent of sound until 1970 that no matter how many times that you are seen it always brings a tear to your eyes.

"How Green Was My Valley", "It's A Wonderful Life" and others. I remember a discussion on TCM about age and if we cry more at movies as we get older.

Shoot, I was crying at the end of "The Glenn Miller Story" last Sunday.

As a kid, watching old movies on TV, there were always a few that made me cry: THE CHAMP with Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper would usually have me wailing by the time it was over (no matter how many times I saw it) and THE YEARLING was almost unbearable for me to watch; in fact, any movie that had an animal in jeopardy was difficult for me. When I was four years old, my mother took me to a matinee of BAMBI which was in theaters for its 10th anniversary (this was in 1952). It was the very first movie I saw in a theater. But I didn't get too far along into it; by the time Bambi's mother met her fate, I was inconsolable and had to be taken out of the theater. Mom brought me home in a taxi, explaining the whole way back that it was only a cartoon and it didn't really happen. It didn't help. (To this day, I have an aversion to Disney films!)

Recently I was watching BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS with my wife and found myself getting a little misty during that incredibly emotional scene at the end with the cat in the rain.

Dewey1960 wrote:Recently I was watching BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS with my wife and found myself getting a little misty during that incredibly emotional scene at the end with the cat in the rain.

I think Audrey is one of the sexiest actresses of all time, but I just wanted to smack her when she dumped the cat.

jon wrote: "I think Audrey is one of the sexiest actresses of all time, but I just wanted to smack her when she dumped the cat."

Excellent point, Jon, and I think that's precisely what makes the scene so upsetting; it's exactly the LAST thing we would expect her to do! Sniff...sniff...

I guess I'm just a big sissy:

Night of the Hunter (1950)
Three Comrades (1937)
Forbidden Games (1952)
City Lights (1930) If you don't cry at the end of this film there is something wrong with you!
A Patch of Blue (1965)
Umberto D (1953)
Prix de Beaute (1930)
La Strada (1954)
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
Jules and Jim (1962)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
Voyage to Italy (1953)
Curse of the Cat People (1946)
Germania Anna Zero (1947)
Night and Fog (1955)
Europa 51 (1952)
Gertrud (1964)
Reqiuem for a Heavyweight (1962)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Land Without Bread (1933)
Ikiru (1952)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Open City (1946)
Some Came Running (1958)
City for Conquest (1940)
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
The Pawnbroker (1965)
Lonely are the Brave (1962)
The Temptress (1928)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Not to sound "sexist," but this is an interesting trend...is it just the guys that cry at movies? Are you gals in control of your emotions or what?
I have turned into a big cry baby. It's hard for me to see sadness or beauty without, at least, getting choked up. "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Yearling" can bring tears just thinking about them.
Music too. It's impossible for me to get through a Bette Midler album without shedding a tear. And Carole King's "Tapestry." Forget about it!

benwhowell wrote: And Carole King's "Tapestry." Forget about it!

So Far Away is a great song.

Lots of movies make me cry, but two that never fail are:

"Stand up Miss Jem, your fathers' passin"

and

Mrs. Dumbo, swinging and singing to little Dumbo.

I loved the story about Bambi, but here's a good one for you. My friend took her to pre-teens to see Bambi. Halfway through the movie she noticed the girls were gone. She looked around and they were 3 or 4 rows back from her. After the movie, she asked why, and they said they were so embarrassed at how she was sobbing, they moved away!

Anne

Mr. Arkadin wrote: City Lights (1930) If you don't cry at the end of this film there is something wrong with you!

I rented this from the library since I missed it last time it was on TCM. I was absolutely inconsoleable by the end of the film... It's the most powerful and emotional ending sequence I have ever seen.

I know this is silly, but every time Gene Kelley makes that last, grand circle in the rain, I start crying. And when Cyd Charisse does the "Silk Stockings" ballet behind locked doors, I REALLY boo-hoo.

Something about dance just gets me every time. I have season tickets to the Kansas City Ballet, and I always have to take a box of tissues with me!

Red-eyed Nancy

"Imitation of Life" milks a tear out of me (both versions).

mongoII wrote:"Imitation of Life" milks a tear out of me (both versions).

The Lana Turner version does it for me. Susan Kohner is outstanding.

I can't watch "King Kong" any more.

I was awed by that movie when I was young, but as an adult, I've been so adversely affected by the concept of taking an innocent (an animal in this case) from its home and exploiting it so egregiously, and then trying to kill it. It's an awful premise, and just the thought of that poor beast trapped on top of the Empire State Building, being shot at by war planes, is too horrifying even to think about.

It most certainly was not "beauty that killed the beast." It was greed and crass commercialism. It's a great movie, but I can't look at it now without getting really depressed.

"Son of Kong," which is somewhat different, is also very affecting -- that big arm nobly sinking into the water at the end.

Don't even ask about "Old Yeller."

Judith, have you ever seen the episode of "Friends", where Phoebe and the crew are watching "Old Yeller"? At the crucial moment at the end, Phoebs gets up and turns off the tv. Seems her mom always did that, and she is completely clueless as to the real ending. tooooo funny.