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Here is the list I compiled from this thread
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4392539/posts

Chickensoup
Morse trilogy Morse, Lewis and Endeavor
Gentlemen prefer Blonds,
Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend
Harvey
the original All Creatures Great and Small,
the Poirot series,
Babbetes Feast
Primer
Signs, singing in the Rain
It happened one night
Mrs. Miniver
Blast From the Past,
Galaxy Quest
Christmas in Connecticut
Make Way for Tomorrow.
Secondhand Lions is very wholesome and life affirming.
The thin man series with William Powell and Myrna loy.
being there with peter sellers.
Babys day out for modern slapstick.
Watch Strictly Ballroom - it’s an Aussie film with great music and great love story and humor.
White Christmas.
********True Grit: original or remake.
Stand by Me
The King’s Speech.
My Man Godfrey
It Happened One Night
The Big Sleep
Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals are worth a watch. Songs that are perennials on soundtracks because of the great melodies. South Pacific, Carousel, Sound of Music ...
Destination Moon is now out on Blu-ray. 1950, details the first trip into space. Co-written by Robert A. Heinlein. I love it.
Some of my favorites
Key largo
The cowboys
Casa Blanca
Fried green tomatoes
The green mile
Shawshank redemption
Shane
October Sky, Apollo 13, Dunkirk.
My wife likes “A Long Hot Summer” with Paul Newman
“Casablanca” which might be too heavy.
“The Sting” with Newman and Redford.

old John Candy comedies. He was so good in “Uncle Buck”, “Who’s Harry Crumb”, “The Great Outdoors” and “Spaceballs”.
If you have streaming capability check out Tubi Channel. It is I believe one of the Roku channels. Tubi has tons of classic movies classified in three groups. They are all free with ads. The are there, lots and lots of the really good ones, not the junk
Star Trek, the original series, motion picture 6 box set is good
Saving Private Ryan?
The Philadelphia Story
The 49th Parallel (Brit/Canadian WWII propaganda flick, but really well done with an exceptional cast)
Nero Wolfe series (A & E, directed by Timothy Hutton)(a little murder mystery violence, but the show is about the characters, no worse than Poirot)
Jeeves & Wooster (ha ha funny but still worth it, minus Season 4, when it went off the rails)
Martin Chuzzlewit (BBC, 1980s)
The Man Who Would Be King (faithful to the Kipling short story, a little violent)
1970s Columbo series (similar to Poirot)
North by Northwest
DRAFT DAY is the best football movie.

23 posted on 8/20/2026, 5:06:20 PM by spintreebob
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To: bert
Could I pay for no ads?
If you liked the Poirot series, you might like the Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett.
Brett is far and away the best Holmes, in my opinion.
The complete Granada TV series is available on Amazon. It’s rather pricey at around $100.
Bringing
Hatari! John Wayne, Red Buttons. Directed by Howard Hawks. Just the right amount of comedy and adventure. One of my top 5 movies of all time. Happy ending.
Temple Grandin, nice true story
Second Hand Lions, not a true story, but you kind of wish it was.
Gifted Hands, true story
Whit Stillman made a bunch of films about young people in urban settings that were eminently watchable - Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco ...
For stupid, schmaltzy comedy, Adam Sandler.
entire Audrey Hepburn catalog The most popular one is Roman Holiday.
How to Steal a Million with lots of charm and a touch of adventure.
Oliver! Scrooge (the musical),
shaggy dog, t
that darn cat,
what’s up doc,
Oscar (Sylvester Stallone), the happiest millionaire.
***********any Disney live action movie pre-1970 should fit the bill
The Notebook....if your heart can take it.
H.G. Wells. ‘The Man Who Could Work Miracles’. The film about this story was made in 1937 and is a delightful movie to enjoy.
Since You Went Away”. “
The Best Years of Our Lives” is also excellent.
Try “Seeking Persephone”
Live a Little, Love a Little and
Viva Las Vegas.
“Only Angels Have Wings” starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur?
Darkest Hour
Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett.
Kung Fu Hustle
Shaolin Football both with Steven Chow
The Hustle (About con stealing from the greedy) with Adrian Lester
47 Charlie Chan movies are available for free.
Father Goose with Cary Grant. I
Babe made me feel warm in a special way.
The Quiet Man (John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara)
Miss Marple Mysteries (the Joan Hickson series)
Lovejoy (Ian McShane series)
Jonathan Creek Mysteries
Blackadder series
Monarch of the Glens
If you liked the “Morse” series, you might want to try “Endeavor” (Morse as a young detective) and “Lewis” (after Morse’s death, his Detective Sergeant after promotion to Inspector).
“Life on Mars” and
“Ashes To Ashes” (British detective time-travel series)
Band of Brothers Blu Ray set
Or John Adams HBO miniseries with Paul Giamatti
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Band of Brothers Blu Ray set
“The Sheep Detective” was funny, clever and sweet. I mean yes there is a murder in the beginning but it is farcical (the sheep talk) and it is not violent or bloody, more like, a body is discovered. Redemptive as well.
The Ugly Truth with Gerard Butler.
For laughs Blazing Saddles and Used Cars. Some language.
Think you have it hard? Watch The Wild Bunch, arguably the best western movie. Action packed, again some language.
Double Indemnity with Fred McMurray great movie.
Soylent Green.
The Cabin in the Woods.
‘The Southerner’, it is a solid American film and “The life of the poor Tucker family who worked as cotton pluggers and decided to get their own ground, but nature was against them.”
“The Southerner is a 1945 American drama film directed by Jean Renoir and based on the 1941 novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Director, Original Music Score, and Sound. Renoir was named Best Director by the National Board of Review, which also named the film the third best of 1945”
State Fair with Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews. Best in Show.
Mission Impossible
The Prisoner
Burn Notice
The Hustle
‘The Archers’, Powell and Pressburger.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,
I Know Where I’m Going,
A Matter of Life and Death are set during WWII. Worth watching more than once
Lavender Hill Mob. Many of these can be found on YouTube.
Firefly, the series
Serenity the movie that followed after the series cancellation.
Master and Commander, although there is violence involved since it’s about Napoleonic-era naval warfare.
White Christmas
Sisters
Just about any Peter Sellers movie.
Lolita 1962
Being There 1979
Treasure Island 1950
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1964
Spartacus 1960
Grand Prix 1966
The Italian Job 1969
Ford v Ferrari 2019
Le Mans 1971
“To Kill A Mockingbird” with Gregory Peck. It’s got sadness but also speaks of courage and decency.
Moneyball
The Martian
Big Fish
Saving Mr. Banks
O Brother Where Art Thou?
The Sixth Sense
The Terminal
Meet Joe Black
The Imitation Game
Rush
Ford Vs. Ferrari
Arrival
The Help
Hugo
The Hundred-Foot Journey
The King’s Speech
The Gumball Rally
I have three other Go-To Christmas movies that I watch each year: “Scrooged” (Bill Murray), “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol”, and ... ha-ha ... “Die Hard”.
As a side-note, I watched “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” every year as a youngster. I was well into my teens before I discovered that all of the other “Christmas Carol” movies weren’t musicals as was the Mr. Magoo version.
Trip to Bountiful with Geraldine Page.
The Trouble With Harry
My Favorite Wife
Along Came Jones
The Villian
The Rear Window
Only Angels Have Wings. I
“Red Dust” with Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. Probably steps over the “syrupy” line more than OAHW but it’s checked due to the fact that Harlow is a prostitute and they don’t do more than tease each other.
The Trouble With Harry
My Favorite Wife
Harvey
Along Came Jones
The Villian
The Rear Window
The Hallelujah Trail
Random Harvest -— a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It stars Ronald Colman as a shell-shocked World War I amnesiac and Greer Garson as the music-hall singer who loves him. Based on James Hilton’s 1941 novel, the film received seven Academy Award nominations.
African Queen
Smokey and the Bandit
Porky’s
Cherry 2000, and Freejack.
“Secondhand Lions is very wholesome and life affirming.”
“Planes, Trains and Automobiles” Steve Martin and John Candy.
Best Years Of Our Lives
GEM — Global Entertainment Movies free on YOUTUB
“ The Big Sleep”
“Regarding Henry”, a Harrison Ford sleeper.
NEW TRICKS and it’s even better than I remembered. About a group of retired police looking at cold cases with new technology. Very human, amusing, extremely well acted and non-violent. It often leaves a smile on your face. Highly recommended.
DVD “COLD MOUNTAIN” ,Good Music, Scenic and I’ve watched it a hundred times.
Arsenic and Old Lace.
The Court Jester.
Captain Blood.
Witness for the Prosecution.
Midsomer Murders.
The Avengers. The TV series not the movie
Dr Who. The classic ones
Secretariat.
Any Marx Bros film
Lady Hawke
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, World
Ford v Ferrari
The Princess Bride
Separate Tables
Blythe Spirit. The older one.
The Importance of Being Earnest, with Michael Redgrave.
Peter Sellers as Richard III doing “It’s been a hard day’s night”.
I’ve been binge watching Midsomer Murders. Free on Pluto tv. Of course, it is murders...
They’re still making them -— since 1997!
“Lilies of the Field” with Sidney Poitier,
A Simple Twist of Fate
Operation Petticoat
To Catch a Thief
The House Sitter
The Out Of Towners
Charade
“Foyle’s War.”
American Beauty
Volunteers had John Candy and Tom Hanks. I could be mistaken.
Simple Twist of Fate” is such a great movie.
Princess Mononoke
Flow
Mr. Roberts.
“North by Northwest”.Hitchcock directing
“A Mighty Wind”, it’s a Christopher Guest mockumentary about a memorial reunion concert for a man
108 posted on 8/20/2026, 6:24:51 PM by jocon307 (DEMOCRATS DELENDA EST)
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To: OldHarbor
“Have you tried your local library ? Some offer streaming of videos via your library card”
Amelie (French, subtitled)
The Dinner Game (French, subtitled)
Remember the Titans
Mom and Dad Save the World
I Married an Axe Murderer
Stay Tuned
Austin Powers
You also might try Mystery Science Theater 3000 and their many spoofs.
“Eiffel” wasn’t bad. The documentary about building his tower was even better. No silly love story to distract from the engineering.
The Martian is an outstanding movie that satisfies
Murder My Sweet
Where the Crawdads Sing
The World’s Fastest Indian.
the far side of the world”.
Song of Music
Lovejoy Mysteries with Ian McShane from the late 80s - early 90s.

The Quiet Man” (1952, John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara)

Arsenic and Old Lace.
Father of the Bride (both the Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn or the Steve Martin versions are good).
1940s noirs.
Terminator Salvation.
The Music Man starring Shirley Jones and Robert Preston
Pocket Money starring Paul Newman and Lee Marvin
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
“The More the Merrier” - Charles Coburn, Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea share a flat during the housing shortage in WW2 DC.
Mr. Bean has always tickled my giggle box in ways few others have. I used to watch his DVD collection
Inn of the Sixth Happiness
The Egg and I. I also recommend the book.
The “Road” movies with Hope and Crosby.
The Spanish Prisoner.
Topper. BOth the movie and the series.
Topper Returns.
Auntie Mame (How could I have left this one off before!?)
The Red Shoes.
The Devil at 4’O’clock.
Noises Off.
“Blackadder”.Funny...not slapstick funny but “intellectual” funny. Check it out...I’ll bet you’ll like it. But skip the first season...different writers than the excellent succeeding seasons.
Hilarious! I’m not sure why he gets me so good, it may be how he keeps such a straight face while delivering the punch line, like few can or will do. Thanks!
Foyle’s War
The Gilded Age
Mission Impossible (TV series)
Grand Hotel
A French Village
Hawaii Five-O [Jack Lord]
Maigret
The Crown
Danger Man
Brideshead Revisited,
NCIS, JAG,
Nash Bridges over the air.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue, which was a sleeper hit in its time. It stars Don DeFore and Gale Storm.
Ball of Fire, with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.
Man from Snowy River
The Black Stallion
Red Dog
Amazing Stories
World’s Fastest Indian
Holes
Second Hand Lions
Major Payne
The Right Stuff

Malcom in the Middle
Emergency
Anything from Donald P. Bellisario in the 80s

The nice thing about out the online streaming services is they will fill your “watch next” with movies similar to what you have watched before.

145 posted on 8/20/2026, 8:33:41 PM by Organic Panic ( )
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To: Chickensoup
Forgot about one of my “finds” last year. Rental Family.
It is partly in Japanese so, subtitles for part of it, and in my humble opinion brings up questions that people really need to think about. We are not quite as far down the road as Japan but it is looming.

Would really enjoy hearing your opinion of it.

For old TV series you might enjoy Columbo or Cadfael if you like medieval mysteries. Lovejoy is another series that you might like.

146 posted on 8/20/2026, 8:35:13 PM by Harmless Teddy Bear (I just want FReepers to READ THE ARTICLE. And then think 30 secs before pounding keyboard.)
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To: Chickensoup
Personally, i would recommend one of my all-time favorites in “The Count Of Monte Cristo” starring Jim Caveizel. Period-piece with an intense storyline, based on the novel by Frwnch author Alexandre Dumas. You won’t be sorry.

147 posted on 8/20/2026, 8:35:34 PM by Spacetrucker
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To: Chickensoup
Other stuff:

Sandford & Son
Benny Hill
Bizarre
Lawrence of Arabia
The Saint
Mutiny on the Bounty
Get Smart
Lord Jim
5 Fingers
Key Largo
The Blue Max
Chinatown
Bonnie & Clyde
The Untouchables
Monty Python
The Young Lions
Fawlty Towers
Birdman of Alcatraz
Cape Fear
Blazing Saddles
Star Trek [original]
“The Fall Of The House Of Usher”. Vincent Price is
Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister are two excellent British political comedy series.
One, Two, Three is a manic comedy set in early Cold War Berlin, with James Cagney as the local head of Coca Cola who has to talk and scheme his way out of a complicated scrape. The visiting daughter of the head of Coca Cola is under his care and gets engaged to a scruffy young East German Communist.
Treasure of the Sierra Madre,
The Big Sleep,
The African Queen, and
The Maltese Falcon
“Somewhere In Time” beautiful story.
Seven Days in May
Kung Fu
Gone With the Wild
Dragnet
Cannon
Laugh-In
Green Acres
The Big Valley
Twilight Zone
Monk
Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone
The Great Escape
The Hawaiians
The Ten Commandments
Cleopatra
Funny Girl
The Wild, Wild West
The Rockford Files
Bannon
Roots
Ken Burns series
“Flora and Ulysses”... About a young girl and a squirrel with superpowers.
Hail Mary”.
Ben Hur
Twelve O Clock High
I Remember Mama
Daddy Long leggs
A Damsel in Distress
Brigadoon
The Incredible Shrinking Man 1950s
Final Countdown
20,00O Leagues Under the Sea
Anne of Greene Gables
The Holdovers” 2023 (mostly overlooked and that’s a shame)
“Song Sung Blue” 2025 particularly if you’re a Neil Diamond fan,
Goodbye Mr. Chips (Greer Garson)
Doctor Zhivago
Jaws
Star Wars
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Murder, She Wrote
Trading Places
To the Manor Born
The Train
Patton
A Bridge Too Far
The River Kwai
MacGyver
Sopranos
The Sting
Twelve O’clock High
Goodbye Mr Chips ...clip
Varsity Flight I love both versions of that film! Robert Donat / Greer Garson and the one with Peter
The original Pink Panther had a great ensemble cast (and didn’t depend on the Clouseau character to drive all the laughs). The original sequel to that film is A Shot In The Dark, also funny but turning more into something that focused on Peter Sellers’ character). I would categorize both as sophisticated comedies, at least in retrospect.
‘ The Great Race
“Chariots of Fire” is another really good one that meets the original criteria.
The Corn is Green. Bette Davis
Miss Lilly Moffat:
Sullivan’s Travels 1941
Pride of the Yankees
Remarkably Bright Creatures, starring Sally Field as an older widow who conquers her boredom by taking a night job as the cleaner in an aquarium, where she develops a caring connection to its large Pacific octopus. The story unfolds vital memories of her lost son. It is a visually lovely film, with a gentle pace, and Sally remains a really good actress.
Hornblower starring Ioan Gruffudd as young Horatio Hornblower?
The Bridges at Tokyo Ri
Kiss My Firm, but Pliant Lips”. We immediately knew it was gonna be a hit.
“Cold Mountain”
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is great from start to finish.
Big Night about two brothers who open an Italian restaurant. Exactly as you describe, funny and sweet
The Sting
1941, but its a comedy
Kelly’s Heroes
Oceans 11 and 13, skip 12
Temple Grandin. Everyone I have recommended it to loved it.
Draft Day.
“Hatari!” Yes!
“The Gumball Rally”!!!!
“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”!
“The Holdovers” but...I am a big fan of Paul Giamatti, so I am biased!
Big Night
“Scent of A Woman”
“Tommy Boy” with Chris Farley and David Spade is a good comedy!
“The Penguins of Madagascar” for a fun movie!
“Captains Courageous” with Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore and John Carradine.
Continental Divide, starring John Belushi and Blair Brown.
It Happened in Brooklyn. Kathryn Grayson, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante
The Gumball Rally: “Franco is ready. The race-eh, can begin.” (YT video)
“The Message
Nouvelle Vague (2025): the most delightfully old-fashioned film I
Song Sung Blue (2025): starting over, accepting a second chance
The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025) and The Friend (2024): gentle humor, finding a companion to cope with loss and move ahead.
Love at First Sight (2023)
American Fiction (2023): a completely wholesome throwback romantic
See How They Run (2022): a completely delightful Agatha Christie style film with a completely perfect comedic tapdance between Constable Stalker (Saiorse Ronan) and Insector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell); the verbal tapdance is hilarious in a dry British sort of way. Yes, there’s a bit of Agatha Christie level violence, because you can’t have an Agatha Christie murder mystery without someone getting killed.
Coda (2021): a throwback comedy that caught the perfect actress at the perfect age with the perfect
The Dig (2021): Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes have an excellent backyard excavation.
Little Women (2019): another remake of a classic story; good people stumble their way to happy
Tolkien (2019): how Beren met Luthien in real life.
Arrival (2016): high concept sci fi with two lonely people accidentally finding each other in the process of saving the world.
Signs as favorites. Anyhow:
Hamnet (2025);
Sentimental Value (2025);
The Outrun (2024);
The Promised Land (2023);
The Holdovers (2023);
Past Lives (2023);
Living (2022);
Drive My Car (2021);
After Yang (2021); I
’m Your Man (2021);
Another Round (2020);
The Professor and the Madman (2019);
Leave No Trace (2018);
Columbus (2017);
Paterson (2026).
The Music Man.
The Quiet Man
Pride and Prejudice miniseries (the David Rintoul or the Colin Firth versions)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (with James Cagney)
Sherlock Holmes (the Jeremy Brett and/or Basil Rathbone versions)
Legend of 1900 Jazz musical prodigy, fiction where baby born on a ship is abandoned by his mother and adopted by a coal worker on the ship. He has no nationality, grows up and lives on ship
entertaining guest with his musical gifts.
Knute Rockne, All American
Thomas Edison Young Thomas Edison