The Best Movies & TV of 2009: Classics

One of the sublists of our Best Movies & TV of 2009 is the top 10 Classics on DVD (restricted to movies made before 1970). Believe it or not, there are still worthwhile movies coming out for the first time on DVD. We've also created a separate list below for notable classics that came out on Blu-ray in 2009.  --David

1. Michael Powell Double Feature (Age of Consent, Stairway to Heaven): Because this came out the first week of the year, I almost forgot it. But A Matter of Life and Death (also known as Stairway to Heaven) is a very highly esteemed Powell-Pressburger classic (and a favorite of many filmmakers) that almost came out on DVD a few years ago before it was pulled from the release schedule.
2. Far from the Madding Crowd: Julie Christie in a lyrical 1967 adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel
3. Wagon Master: Not as well-known as other John Ford films and released as almost an afterthought alongside a reworked Ford-Wayne collection and the individual-DVD release of Directed by John Ford. But it's a great work that should be seen by Western fans.
4. Magnificent Obsession (Criterion Collection): Criterion applies its signature treatment to this famous Douglas Sirk weepie, with the 1935 version added as a bonus
5. The Samuel Fuller Film Collection: Seven films the maverick filmmaker either directed or was involved in
6. That Hamilton Woman (Criterion Collection): Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier in a Napoleonic love story directed by Alexander Korda
7. Lonely are the Brave: Kirk Douglas' nearly forgotten 1962 Western
8. Hobson's Choice (Criterion Collection): Another representation by one of the industry's great directors, in this case David Lean with a rare (for him) comedy
9. Man Hunt: Fritz Lang's 1941 thriller about a British big-game hunter who draws a bead on Hitler
10. Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Volume Three: The third volume of the pre-Code series focuses on the work of William Wellman.

Ten classics we're glad to see on Blu-ray this year:

• The Wizard of Oz
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• North by Northwest
• Pinocchio
• Gone with the Wind
• The Wages of Fear
• The Seventh Seal
• Goldfinger
• An American in Paris
• The General

See the rest of the top 100 DVDs, the top 100 Blu-ray discs, and many other lists at http://www.amazon.com/bestmovies2009.

Comments

[joesen on November 01, 2010 at 12:21 AM]

Because this came out the first week of the year, I almost forgot it. But A Matter of Life and Death (also known as Stairway to Heaven) is a very highly esteemed Powell-Pressburger classic (and a favorite of many filmmakers) that almost came out on DVD a few years ago before it was pulled from the release

[xiao on November 15, 2010 at 05:44 PM]

I almost forgot it. But A Matter of Life and Death