The 40 Best Classic Movies Of All Time

40. Frankenstein (1931)

James Whale directed Boris Karloff in Frankenstein in a way that would define their legacies forever.

39. Philadelphia Story (1940)

The Philadelphia Story follows Tracy Lord (Hepburn) as she navigates life after her first marriage to Dexter Haven (Grant) ended and her upcoming wedding to the super-rich George Kittredge (John Howard)

38. Anatomy of a Murder

Anatomy of a Murder’s extreme realism in court comes from the fact that the film is based on a novel by the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker (under the pen name Robert Traver) about a real-life court case in which Voelker was the defense attorney.

37. Nosferatu (1922)

Now one of the most famous silent movies ever made, 1922’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the novel that essentially codified the idea of a vampire in the Western world.

36. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Before Walt Disney enlisted a team of 750 animators, assistants, and background artists to sketch out more than two million pieces of art for the creation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a feature-length animation had never been done before.

35. Rashomon (1950)

Rashomon is about reality and perception, truth and how it can be manipulated, told from four different points of view – the bandit’s story, the wife’s story, the samurai’s story, and the woodcutter’s story.

34. Pinocchio

Pinocchio is known as one of Disney’s darkest animated films in the entire company’s catalog, even though the source material was darker.

33. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is the third film in Sergio Leone’s “Man with No Name” trilogy, though it is actually a prequel to the first two films, A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965).

32. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Robert Mitchum stars in The Night of the Hunter as Reverence Harry Powell, a drifter whose easy charm and handiness with scripture disguise his true nature as a misogynistic murderer and thief.

31. Repulsion

The 1965 psychological horror film stars French legend Catherine Deneuve as Carol, a beautiful and withdrawn woman living with her sister in London. From the beginning of the film, it is clear that Carol finds even the sight of men troubling, but little could have prepared audiences for just what would come next.

30. King Kong

The original King Kong was released in 1933 and starred Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot, along with a number of dinosaurs that made Skull Island a scary place to traverse.

29. A Streetcar Named Desire

Directed by Elia Kazan (who is also known for another best classic movie, On the Waterfront), this 1951 film captured the play’s theme of fantasy versus reality as well as the critical social commentary of women’s post-war dependence on men in a way that no other rendition of Williams’ play has yet to accomplish.

28. Bride of Frankenstein

Bride of Frankenstein had the unenviable task of following a movie that impacted the world so heavily that it is still the definitive telling of one of the most famous stories in the world. But the 1935 sequel to Frankenstein somehow managed to pull it off, with critics often making the argument that it actually is better than the original.

27. Metropolis

The 1927 German expressionist film is the bedrock of cinematic sci-fi as we know it, with its elements seen in everything from Star Wars to Blade Runner to Minority Report. While Metropolis was met with mixed reviews upon release, it has justly come to be seen as one of the greatest movies of all time.

26. The Adventures of Robin Hood

If you like your classic films with a heavy dose of swashbuckling fun, then 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood is your kind of flick. The fun and adventure are on full display, added to it by some romance between stars Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, playing Robin of Locksley and Maid Marian to the hilt.

25. North by Northwest

North by Northwest would mark the fourth and final time Hitchcock would work with one of his favorite male actors, Cary Grant, as they had previously teamed up for Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), and To Catch a Thief (1955).

24. Grapes of Wrath

Creating a film based on a classic American novel is a good starting point for making a classic movie, but it’s not always a surefire thing. The movie has to be just as good as the novel, if not better, for audiences to accept the adaptation and welcome it as a classic film.

23. On the Waterfront

As far as crime dramas go, nothing compares to 1954’s On the Waterfront, directed by legendary filmmaker Elia Kazan. Depicting the corruption and violence plaguing longshoremen on the waterfronts in Hoboken, New Jersey, the movie was ranked in 1997 by the American Film Institute as one of the top 10 greatest movies of all time.

22. Dr. Strangelove

Director Stanley Kubrick hit it out of the park when he introduced global audiences to the satirical black comedy movie Dr. Strangelove. Otherwise known as Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the Cold War is placed into focus as a potential nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union becomes a reality.

21. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Along with Bogart, the film stars Tim Holt and John Huston’s father, Walter Huston. The film is based on B. Traven’s 1927 novel of the same name and is set in 1925. It tells the story of two oppressed men (Bogart and Holt) who decide to join forces with an old prospector in their search for gold in Mexico. It is a partnership that is fraught with danger and ultimately death.

20. Rear Window

Rear Window is the story of a man who is confined to a wheelchair and spends his time spying on the apartment across the street through a telephoto lens and binoculars. This thrilling mystery stars James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Wendell Corey and is often considered Hitchcock’s best film.

19. Sunset Blvd.

Sunset Blvd. is the story of a silent era golden star actress who has been rejected by Hollywood as she aged and motion pictures changed into talking films. Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond, the aging actress, and William Holden plays a young screenwriter who meets the jilted actress and believes he can use her to better his career.

18. The Godfather

The classic began as a 1969 Mario Puzo novel, one for which he helped write the screenplay with the film’s director, Francis Ford Coppola. Both Coppola and Puzo had to go to bat several times in order to get the cast they so desired, which included Marlon Brando (who nobody wanted), Al Pacino (someone else nobody wanted), James Caan, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Diane Keaton, and a certain horses head.

17. It Happened One Night

Directed by Frank Capra, the movie stars Claudette Colbert as spoiled socialite Ellie Andrews who falls in love with Peter Warne, a recently fired news reporter portrayed by Clark Gable. The two travel together from Florida to New York by bus but get stranded when the bus leaves them high and dry. It Happened One Night is a road trip comedy, romance epic, and influential film all rolled into one.

16. It’s a Wonderful Life

Like many classics, It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t fully appreciated at the time of its release. In fact, the film starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Henry Travers was a theatrical flop. It wasn’t until It’s a Wonderful Life hit the public domain 30 years later, in 1976, and the movie started airing on television that it became an instant Christmas classic.

15. Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz was a high-budget production with a grand cast of actors and amazingly decorated sound stages that brought the Land of Oz to life in a way that had not been done in previous adaptations. However, its high-budget cost meant that even though it was moderately popular upon its release, it failed to make any profit for the studio until its re-release 10 years later.

14. Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia is a classic title that is widely thought of as one of the greatest films ever made. The 1962 epic, with a 210-minute running time, is based on the true-life story of T.E. Lawrence and the book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, which Lawrence wrote in 1926.

13. Gone with the Wind

Though Gone With the Wind is a film of epic proportion (it’s one of the longest movies ever created) and follows a heart-wrenching story of love and war, one of the main reasons for Gone With the Wind’s survival against the times is in a large part due to the protagonist, Miss Scarlett O’Hara herself.

12. The Maltese Falcon

Believe it or not, the 1941 Humphrey Bogart classic, The Maltese Falcon, is actually a remake of the 1931 film of the same name. The difference here, though, is that Bogart’s film, which introduces him to the world as private detective, Sam Spade, was written by Hollywood legend, John Huston, making his directorial debut.

11. Tokyo Story

Starring Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama as an aging couple visiting their many grown children in Tokyo, Tokyo Story brings emotions to the surface when their family seemingly ignores the elderly couple.

10. Seven Samurai

The story, which Kurosawa also helped write, is set in 1586 and follows a small Japanese village of farmers who are looking for ways to protect themselves from a group of bandits planning to make a return to steal all of their food. The villagers decide to go into town to hire samurai to help protect them.

9. The Third Man

The Third Man stars Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, a man who moves to Vienna for a job but discovers his friend Harry has died there. The events leading up to Harry’s death are suspicious at best, and Martins takes it upon himself to investigate the matter.

8. 12 Angry Men

The courtroom drama focuses on the 12-man jury, who are tasked to deliberate, then come to a decision to convict or acquit a teenager charged with the murder of his father.

7. Some Like it Hot

With names like Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis, it is hard to go wrong, especially when they have been given a fun script and direction by one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, Billy Wilder.

6. Double Indemnity

The first of Billy Wilder’s directorial efforts to hit this list is Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, and Porter Hall. The film’s title refers to the provision in insurance law that pays a claimant double the amount of an insurance policy if the death of a person is the result of an accident.

5. Vertigo

Alfred Hitchcock was known as the Master of Suspense, and movies like Vertigo helped with that moniker. The film, released in 1958, came towards the latter portion of Hitchcock’s career, but it left an indelible mark.

4. Singin’ in the Rain

The lighthearted and comedic musical classic Singin’ in the Rain follows three movie stars as Hollywood transitions from the silent film era to the historical introduction of talkie films.

3. Psycho

Psycho is a film that broke all of the rules. It killed the main character in the middle of the movie during the iconic shower scene. It employed jump cuts, when most editors avoid those, throwing in more than 90 breaks in only 45 seconds. It also pushed the boundaries of what could be shown on screen by opening with a post-coital scene and even flushing a toilet in frame.

2. All About Eve

Starring Bette Davis and Anne Baxter as feuding Broadway stars, All About Eve is regarded as the only movie in the history of the Academy Awards to receive four female acting nominations.

1. Casablanca

There are many reasons Casablanca has stood the test of time and continues to be called one of the greatest classic movies of all time. First off, there are the film’s three stars – Humphrey Bogart as Rick, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa, and Paul Henreid as Victor Laszlo. What a trifecta of talent, right there.

Secondly, Casablanca has some of the most memorable lines in movie history. “Here’s looking at you, kid,” “We’ll always have Paris,” “Kiss me as if it were the last time,” and, of course, “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.”