Old Movies New to Streaming in February

Lately, my movie viewing choices are determined by my streaming services. It's easy--then I don't have to make decisions. Here are some new-to-streaming goodies to check out in Febraury.

Hulu:

• MCLINTOCK! (Producer’s Cut) - As previously discussed, it is currently streaming for free, but what's in this Producer's Cut? I'm going to find out.
  
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 60th Anniversary
  
• Terms of Endearment

 Amazon Prime:

• A Fistful of Dollars
• The Fly (1986)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  

 HBO Max

• West Side Story (1961)

Great Classic Films You Can Stream Right Now for FREE

These days, if I can't stream something, is it really worth watching?? Ok well, the answer is yes because, sadly, there are hardly any Judy Garland movies streaming. Nonetheless, there are some great movies that are streaming for FREE right now on apps like Pluto, Plex, Roku, and Hoopla (which requires a sign up through your local library). Some of them have ads but it's a small price to pay for a great movie without having to get up off the couch and put on a Blu Ray.

Here's a list of some of my favorites. If you're looking for more options, check out JustWatch.com where you can search and see what's available for free or through subscription services.

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Gaslight - Roku

Guys & Dolls - Roku, Pluto

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - Roku, Pluto

Till the Clouds Roll By - Plex, Roku, Pluto - There's a painful lack of musicals streaming, so here's one if you need it.

Cactus Flower - Plex - I just love this wonderfully 60's movie. 

That Touch of Mink - Pluto - I love it. Doris Day, Cary Grant, sexual innuendo. Have you ever noticed that Doris Day tends to sing a weird dramatic song while she's considering whether or not to sleep with her leading man? She does.

Houseboat - Pluto - Truly one of my favorites!

McLintock! - Roku, Plex - I mean, McLintock. What can I say? It's a movie with an exclamation point in the title. Classic Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne shenanigans.

Rio Grande - Pluto - I'm not super into westerns, but ... Maureen O'Hara.

Indiscreet - Pluto

The Grass is Greener - Pluto - This may not be the most amazing movie but Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr are always delightful together and it has its moments.

Roman Holiday - Pluto - A handful of great Audrey Hepburn movies coming up!

Charade - Roku, Plex

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Hoopla

Sabrina (1954 and 1995!) - Pluto

The African Queen - Pluto - It's been years since I've seen this one. Might have to give it a watch.

To Catch A Thief - Pluto

The House of Usher - Pluto - If you're in the mood for some corny Vincent Price horror movies, you're in luck...

The House on Haunted Hill - Roku, Pluto

The Last Man on Earth - Roku, Pluto

The Raven - Pluto

The Pit and the Pendulum - Pluto

The Tingler - Roku, Pluto, Plex

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And some non-movie honorable mentions. The Roku channel has lots of great old TV shows if you need to binge:

Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Alfred Hitchcock Hour

The Doris Day Show

The Carol Burnett Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show

Classic Potty Mouths

If you like watching classic film stars swear, I've found the show for you.

I was perusing the Roku channel to see what gems I could find and it did not disappoint. I happened across Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored and thought, how "uncensored" could these old-timers be? The answer is, they liked to swear.

But seriously, this was super fun to watch. It's not too often we get to see Gary Cooper, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and plenty of others breaking character and just being themselves.

It's definitely worth a watch and is free on the Roku Channel or the IMDb TV app.

I'm Baaaaaack

Ok, well the last time I posted anything here was in 2014. Honestly, I kind of forgot about this until Google told me I had some unclaimed ad money from this blog. Fabulous!

My posts before this were sporadic, but I'm determined to keep up with it this time. My love for old things hasn't changed!

So, what's been taking up my time the last 8 years? Mostly taking care of children. There are three of them. My oldest, Eliza, is 10. Did I name her after My Fair Lady. YES. Also, when we were dating my husband randomly told me he'd always liked the name Eliza and that's how I knew we were going to get married.

My son, Harrison, is 8. Is he named after Rex Harrison? YES. Is he named after Harrison Ford. YES. George Harrison? YES. Also, it's a family name. It's just the name that keeps on giving!

My second daughter, Amelia, is 5. She's not named after anything, we just thought it was cute.

What else has changed? I no longer have TCM and we stream everything. My old movie supply generally comes from the library. I mostly watch my kids watch Disney movies. Some of them are good. I have not done a great job of showing them classic films, but they do have an enduring love for Bye Bye Birdie and Elvis videos on Youtube. We've watched a handful of Judy Garland movies, most of which they are not super impressed with, but I will win them over yet!

Now that all the children are in school all day, I'm hoping I have time to write more. Perhaps this blog will start chronicling our adventures watching old movies as a family, or reacquainting myself with them on my own. Either way, I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

The Best Non-Christmas Christmas Movies

(Look, I won't go on with a new post without acknowledging the fact that it's been two years since I last posted. I doubt anybody's even looking at this blog anymore. I had two kids and things got busy. But I still love this blog so I'm going to try to post again. For real!)

My husband and I have a pretty intense ongoing debate about what defines a Christmas movie. Let's just say that my definition is a little more liberal than his. With that in mind, here is my list of the best Christmas movies that may or may not actually be Christmas movies. You should still watch them every Christmas. And any other time during the year. Because maybe they're not Christmas movies. But maybe they are.

1. Meet Me In St. Louis. Listen people, this movie has an extremely famous Christmas song in it. You can't get a classic Christmas song from a non Christmas movie. That just doesn't make sense.

2. In the Good Old Summertime. Alright, I admit that with the word 'Summertime" in the title, this one could be confused for a regular movie, but just like in Meet Me in St. Louis, the climax of the movie happens at Christmas. There's snow and bells and merriment. There's also a less-famous, way lamer Christmas song sung by Judy. But it's a Christmas song nonetheless.

3. An Affair to Remember. Remember when (spoiler alert!) Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr totally get together at the end of the movie? Yeah, that's during Christmas. In fact, I'm watching it right now because ... it's a Christmas movie!

4. The Sound of Music. Hey wait, this one is not a Christmas movie at all. Except somehow everyone decided that it was. I don't agree, but I don't mind this misconception because it means that it's on TV every Christmas. Nobody can complain about that!

Honorable mention because it's not an old movie: You've Got Mail. There's a Christmas song in it. I think by now we know that according to my rules, that makes it a Christmas movie.

So there you go. I know I'm missing some. What did I forgot? And make sure you watch these movies before Christmas!

Move Over, Darling ... In Real Life

I love watching my old movies with my husband. He never complains and he often offers a new perspective on movies I've seen dozens of times. Sometimes he has deep insights that I've never thought about before. Other times (maybe most of the time) his observations are along the lines of, "This story line is getting really ridiculous."

Such was the case the other night when we watched Move Over, Darling, the Doris Day/James Garner classic. The husband may be right. The story line gets somewhat out of control towards the middle and it's not helped by Doris Day and her sometimes ... enthusiastic ... acting. But it's called entertainment, man. Someday I will show him My Favorite Wife. Somehow that one feels a little less ridiculous even with the same story. Also, Cary Grant. Can't go wrong.

Anyway, halfway through the movie my husband started wondering if there have been cases like this in real life, which prompted a quick Google search. We found that there is a legal precedent for this very situation called the Enoch Arden law, based off a poem with a similar, though much more tragic story. In addition, the movies are based off this poem as well and use the name Arden. It's all coming together!

Just when I was getting discouraged at the fact that I wasn't finding any actual stories with this theme, I ran across this amazing article from the Toronto Daily Star on November 19, 1945 profiling 11 cases of the Enoch Arden law and their outcomes after lots of men were presumed dead during World War 2. Read it, it's fantastic.

So I got much more than I bargained for after watching a silly Doris Day movie. I guess I need to keep showing my husband some classics. And pretty soon he won't even notice when a story line is getting really ridiculous.

I've Missed You

Well, it's a travesty that I haven't posted on this blog in about a year and a half! I'm ashamed. But I had a baby in September 2011 and things have just been ... busy.

Even more disturbing is that my viewing of old movies has decreased dramatically. And after two years of watching crappy new movies and every single episode of LOST on Netflix, it's time that I come back to the good stuff. None of those things are as satisfying as a good old, sex, violence, and language-less movie. I miss old movies. I miss this blog. So I'm going to try to start writing regularly again.

It'll be fun!