Casablanca
Michael Curtiz’s much loved landmark romance features Humphrey Bogart at the top of his game as Rick Blaine, a cynical American in Nazi occupied Morocco. Taking place in Northern Africa during the fledgling days of the Second World War: An expatriate runs into a past flame, with unforeseeable complications.
Gone With the Wind
The American classic featuring a manipulative woman, played by Vivien Leigh and a rogue of a man, Cary Grant, carrying on a tumultuous love affair, based in America’s south in the course of the Civil War, and later the Reconstruction.
The Shawshank Redemption
Based on a short story written by Stephen King; two prisoners bond over several years, finding comfort and eventual salvation through displays of common decency.
It features one of the most memorable prison escapes in movie history.
The Godfather
Francis Ford Coppola’s mafia classic. The aged leader of an organized crime family transitions control of his nefarious empire to his hesitant son. Featuring some of the most ill quoted and memorable scenes of all time, this is a must see.
Rear Window
A man confined to a wheelchair spies on the neighbors from the rear window of his apartment and becomes certain that one of them murdered someone. Alfred Hitchcock’s voyeuristic classic features Stewart and Kelly navigating the numerous ins and outs of this nail-biting thriller.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Another movie starring James Stewart, an angel assists a compassionate but increasingly frustrated business person by showing him what life could have been if he was never born.
Citizen Kane
Directed by and starring Orson Welles’s, this masterful fictional biopic surrounding the titular tycoon was the new standard for all of the films that followed. After the passing of a newspaper tycoon, several news reporters wrack their brains to discover the meaning behind his final words.
The Wizard of Oz
Victor Fleming directed this timeless 1939 musical boasting several of the most beloved musical numbers in film history, not to mention a star turn by Minnesota native Judy Garland. Dorothy Gale, swept away to mysterious land in a twister, embarks on a journey to see the mighty Wizard with the ability to help her find her way home. If you are a fan of this one, consider a production of Wicked at Apollo Victoria Theatre.
To Kill a Mockingbird
In a movie based on Harper Lee’s classic novel, Atticus Finch, an attorney in the American South during the Great Depression, defends an African American man during an undeserved rape trial, and his children against prejudice.
Schindler’s List
Steven Spielberg’s classic, set in Poland during the Second World War, Oskar Schindler progressively becomes concerned for the Jewish workforce in his factories after witnessing the persecution of the Nazis.
