Reel Old Movies

It’s football championship season in the U.S., but classic movie lovers have football films all year long.  In classic movie land, football has been a favorite plot line for decades. Like the sport itself, football movies flourished in the 1920s and 1930s. As this list of football movies from Wikipedia shows , tried-and-true storylines keep getting repeated up to the present day: prison game matchups, nerd-becomes-hero, comeback from injury, the cost of winning and more.  Most lists concentrate on more modern movies, so we’ve rounded up a few pre-1960 football flicks that we’ve enjoyed.  So whether you’re looking for an alternative to the football talk or you just can’t get enough, here are a few choices that are touchdowns for classic movie lovers: The Freshman (1925) One of the biggest hits of comedian Harold Lloyd’s career, “The Freshman” follows Lloyd’s character as he attempts to be popular on a college campus, including participating in a slapstick football game th...

The 2022 movie “Babylon” dives into the transition from silent to talkies in Hollywood with an ensemble cast that includes Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Jean Smart and Diego Calva.  But “Babylon” isn’t the first movie to be set among the glittery world of showbiz or portray a cinematic past. The movie industry has a storied history in putting itself – or at least a made-for-Hollywood version of itself – up on the big screen.  While there are numerous modern movies as well, let's look at these Old Hollywood classics that took audiences inside movie magic: Singin' in the Rain (1952) The plot of "Babylon" mines similar territory as "Singin' in the Rain" – the 1952 musical looks back at the transition to talkies 25 years before. Gene Kelly is Don Lockwood, the silent screen star who is making the leap to sound with comedic and musical help from Debbie Reynolds' Kathy (an aspiring actress) and Donald O'Connor's Cosmo. The scene stealer is Jean Hage...

Movie lovers know that old movies are priceless: the memories, the enjoyment, the emotion. But what to get that classic movie lover as a holiday gift that they don’t already have – and that isn’t a copy of a movie they already own? 

Whether it’s blood and gore or creepfest thrills or just a classic monster movie – what do these movies all have in common? Enough scares to last all year long.  If you’re looking for classic horror movie favorites or searching out new frightful films for the Halloween season, here are a few ideas for when you want to jump and shiver.  It’s a mix of popular fright favorites, horror classics, psychological thrillers and hidden gems, from the silent era into the 1960s. What would you add to the list? What would you remove? Share your thoughts @ReelOldMovies on Instagram.   The Phantom of the Opera (1925) While in more modern interpretations, the phantom is portrayed as a singing misdirected figure, the 1925 silent movie version showed the phantom is all his most obsessed and grotesque glory. Lon Chaney, the Man of a Thousand Faces, created the Phantom’s skull-like look himself and the big “reveal” scene would make audiences recoil for generations. Night of the Hunter ...

In honor of 2022’s National Silent Movie Day on September 29, check out these silent film classics that are considered must-see favorites by silent film fans.