NOTORIOUS (1946)

Alfred Hitchcock takes some very standard materials and somehow makes an amazing movie out of them… a great performance by Ingrid Bergman at the center helps, too.

CASABLANCA (1942)

Maybe the classic Old Hollywood movie, made at the height of World War II and maybe one big metaphor for the war itself.

MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)

If Frank Capra’s particular brand of idealistic American mythmaking feels dated today, that may be more our problem than his.