Classic Films & Music: Legendary Movies

The Wasp Woman -1959 (HD) | Starring Susan Cabot. The Wasp Woman (also known as The Bee Girl and Insect Woman) is a 1959 American independent science-fiction horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, and Barboura Morris. The film was originally released by Filmgroup as a double feature with Beast from Haunted Cave. To pad out the film's running time when it was released to television two years later, a new prologue was added by director Jack Hill.

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Orson Welles. Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay. The picture was Welles's first feature film. Citizen Kane is frequently cited as the greatest film ever made.

Sherlock Holmes & the Spider Woman is a 1943 mystery film starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, the seventh of fourteen such films the pair were involved in. As with all of the Universal Studios films in the series, the film is set in then-present day as opposed to the Victorian setting of the original stories. This film incorporates elements from the 1890 novel The Sign of the Four, as well as the short stories "The Final Problem", "The Adventure of the Empty House", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and makes explicit reference to "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot". Remastered by Rueda Books & Arts

The Stranger - 1946 by Orson Welles (HD) | Starring Loretta Young. The Stranger is a 1946 American thriller film noir directed and co-written by Orson Welles, starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young and Orson Welles. Welles's third completed feature film as director and his first film noir, it centers on a war crimes investigator tracking a high-ranking Nazi fugitive to a Connecticut town. It is the first Hollywood film to present documentary footage of the Holocaust. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion (then-called the ‘Grand International Prize’) at the 8th Venice International Film Festival. Screenwriter Victor Trivas received an Oscar nomination for Best Story. The film entered the public domain when its copyright was not renewed. "George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time." Wikipedia

Second Chorus - 1940 (HD) | Starring Paulette Goddard & Fred Astaire. Second Chorus is a 1940 Hollywood musical comedy film starring Paulette Goddard and Fred Astaire and featuring Artie Shaw, Burgess Meredith and Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie Hanighen and Hal Borne, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by H. C. Potter and produced independently for Paramount Pictures by Boris Morros, with associate producers Robert Stillman and (uncredited) Fred Astaire. The film's copyright expired in 1968 and it is now in the public domain.

The Outlaw - 1943 (HD) : Starring Jane Russell. The Outlaw is a 1943 American Western film directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jack Buetel, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell and Walter Huston. Hughes also produced the film, and Howard Hawks served as an uncredited co-director. The film is notable as Russell's breakthrough role to becoming a sex symbol and Hollywood icon. Later advertising billed Russell as the sole star. The Outlaw is an early example of a psychological Western.

Napoleon - 1927 (Childhood: snowball fight). Napoléon is a 1927 French silent epic historical film, produced, and directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of Napoleon's early years. It is also the only film to use Polyvision (for the finale).

Battleship Potemkin - 1925 (Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov & More | HD): SM Eisenstein. Battleship Potemkin, directed by Sergej M. Eisenstein. Edited and remastered by Rueda Books & Arts, with its main texts in Spanish and subtitles in English. Music by the great Russian composers: Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Rachmaninov and Karsakov. "The Battleship Potemkin (Russian: Броненосец Потёмкин, or Bronenósets Potemkin) is a 1925 silent historical drama film directed by Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. The film depicts the mutiny that occurred on the battleship Potemkin in 1905, when the crew rebelled against the officers of the tsarist army. The film is considered one of the best in the history of cinema. It was named the best film in history at the 1958 Brussels General Exhibition." Wikipedia. This work is currently part of the public domain #tchaikovsky #classicalmusic

Pandora's Box (German: Die Büchse der Pandora) is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and starring Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, and Francis Lederer. The film follows Lulu, a seductive young woman whose uninhibited nature brings ruin to herself and those who love her. It is based on Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist ("Earth Spirit", 1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora ("Pandora's Box", 1904). Dismissed by critics on its initial release, Pandora's Box was later rediscovered by film scholars as a classic of Weimar German cinema.

The Cameraman (Mozart | HD) is a 1928 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton. Starring Keaton and Marceline Day. The Cameraman was Keaton's first film with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is considered by fans and critics to be Keaton still in top form, and it was added to the National Film Registry in 2005 as being deemed " #culturally , #historically , or #aesthetically significant." Within a little over a year, however, MGM would take away Keaton's creative control over his pictures, thereby causing drastic and long-lasting harm to his career. Keaton later called the move to MGM "the worst mistake of my career." The film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2024. Musically Edited by Rueda Books & Arts with Mozart Music. #silentfilm #classicmovies #comedy #blackandwhite #classicalmusic #mozart #comedyfilms #keaton

My Man Godfrey is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard, who had been briefly married years before appearing together in the film. The screenplay for My Man Godfrey was written by Morrie Ryskind, with uncredited contributions by La Cava, based on 1101 Park Avenue, a short novel by Eric S. Hatch. The story concerns a socialite who hires a derelict to be her family's butler, and then falls in love with him. "In 1999, the original version of My Man Godfrey was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. The film was remade in 1957 with June Allyson and David Niven in the starring roles." Wikipedia *Remastered by Rueda Books & Arts #comedy #blackandwhite

The Immigrant (Vivaldi | HD) is a 1917 American silent romantic comedy short written and directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring Edna Purviance, Chaplin and Eric Campbell. Charlie Chaplin’s silent movie depicts the story of two European immigrants’ journey to the United States. The 24-minute film was made at a time of increasing anti-immigrant prejudice, decades after a record number of Eastern European Jews, Italians, Greeks, Armenians, and others made their way to the United States. The film first shows the misfortunes of an unnamed immigrant (Chaplin) on board a steamship on his way to America, where he meets the love of his life, represented by the beautiful actress Edna Purviance. "Olga Edna Purviance (October 21, 1895 – January 13, 1958) was an American actress of the silent film era. She was the leading lady in many of Charlie Chaplin's early films and in a span of eight years, she appeared in over 30 films with him. Her name was pronounced "pur-VIE-unce" as verified by Chaplin in his spoken narration of one of his films." Wikipedia Musically edited by Rueda Books & Arts with music by Antonio Vivaldi.

Closely Watched Trains - 1966 (HD): Oscar Award. Closely Watched Trains (Czech: Ostře Sledované Vlaky) is a 1966 Czechoslovakian New Wave coming-of-age comedy film directed by Jiří Menzel and is one of the best-known films of the Czechoslovak New Wave. It was released in the United Kingdom as Closely Observed Trains. It is a story about a young man working at a train station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. The film is based on a 1965 novel by Bohumil Hrabal. It was produced by Barrandov Studios and filmed on location in Central Bohemia. Released outside Czechoslovakia during 1967, it received widespread acclaim and won the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 40th Academy Awards in 1968. Nowadays the movie is assessed as one of the finest works of the Czech New Cinema.

Wings - 1927 (Gershwin | HD): Starring Clara Bow. Wings is a 1927 American silent and synchronized sound film known for winning the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Due to the general public's apathy towards silent films, the film was quickly re-released in 1928 with synchronized sound. While the sound version of the film has no audible dialogue, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The film stars Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and Richard Arlen. Rogers and Arlen portray World War I combat pilots in a romantic rivalry over a woman. It was produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman, and released by Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. Gary Cooper appears in a small role, which helped launch his career in Hollywood. The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2023. Remastered and musically edited by Rueda Books & Arts.

Moonlight (Clair de lune | 4K) : Debussy & Beethoven | Space Images ‘Clair de lune’, meaning moonlight, was written by the Impressionist French composer Claude Debussy. Claude Debussy started writing the incredibly romantic piano piece Clair de lune in 1890 when he was just 28. The title means ‘Moonlight’ and the piece is actually part of the four-movement work Suite Bergamasque. ‘Clair de lune’ takes its title from an atmospheric poem by the French poet Paul Verlaine which depicts the soul as somewhere full of music ‘in a minor key’ where birds are inspired to sing by the ‘sad and beautiful’ light of the moon. Debussy's Moonlight 0:00 Moonlight Sonata is the popular name for the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven. The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. The name Moonlight Sonata (German: Mondscheinsonate) grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death. The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favorite even in his own day. Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties, after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata. Beethoven's Moonlight 4:51

The Black Tulip - 1964 (HD). The Black Tulip is a Franco-Italian-Spanish swashbuckling film directed by Christian-Jaque, released in theaters in 1964. This film, which is one of the most broadcast cinema films on French television channels, has only a distant connection with the eponymous novel by Alexandre Dumas which is nevertheless credited in the film's credits as having inspired it.

His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The plot centers on a newspaper editor named Walter Burns who is about to lose his ace reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, newly engaged to another man. Burns suggests they cover one more story together, getting themselves entangled in the case of murderer Earl Williams as Burns desperately tries to win back his wife. Remastered by Rueda Books & Arts.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (known as Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed in German) is a 1926 German animated fairytale film by Lotte Reiniger. The story is based on elements from the One Thousand and One Nights written by Hanna Diyab, including "Aladdin," "The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Perī-Bānū", and "The Ebony Horse." It is the oldest surviving animated feature film. (Two earlier ones had been made in Argentina by Quirino Cristiani, but they are considered to be lost.) The Adventures of Prince Achmed features a silhouette animation technique Reiniger had invented that involved manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera. The technique she used for the camera is similar to Wayang shadow puppets, though hers were animated frame by frame, not manipulated in live action. The original prints featured color tinting. Reiniger also used the first form of a multiplane camera in making the film, one of the most important devices in pre digital animation. Several famous avant-garde animators worked on this film with Lotte Reiniger, among them Walter Ruttmann, Berthold Bartosch, and Carl Koch.

The Phantom of the Opera - 1925 (Bizet | HD). The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American - French silent horror film adaptation of the French Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star. The film remains most famous for Chaney's ghastly, self-devised make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere. The picture also features Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis and Snitz Edwards. The last surviving cast member was Carla Laemmle (1909-2014), niece of producer Carl Laemmle, who played a small role as a "prima ballerina" in the film when she was about 15 years old. The film was released on September 6, 1925, premiering at the Astor Theatre in New York. Musically Edited by Rueda Books & Arts with Bizet Music, with the following exceptions: 40:29 Don Juan Triunphant (Played in the movie) 42:14 and at the end: La Poule de Rameau "In 1953, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication." Wikipedia #silentfilm #classicmovies #blackandwhite #classicalmusic #bizet

The Last Man on Earth is a 1964 post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film based on the 1954 novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. The film was produced by Robert L. Lippert and directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, and stars Vincent Price and Franca Bettoia. The screenplay was written in part by Matheson, but he was dissatisfied with the result and chose to be credited as "Logan Swanson". William Leicester, Furio M. Monetti, and Ubaldo Ragona finished the script. The Last Man on Earth was filmed in Rome, with scenes being completed at Esposizione Universale Roma. It was released in the United States by American International Pictures. In the 1980s, the film entered the public domain. Sound and Music edited by Rueda Books & Arts.

Meet John Doe is a 1941 American comedy-drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, written by Robert Riskin, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist with the involvement of a hired homeless man and pursued by the paper's wealthy owner. It became a box-office hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story. It was ranked No. 49 in AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Cheers. In 1969, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. It was the first of two features Capra made for Warner Brothers, after he left Columbia Pictures, the other being Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Remastered by Rueda Books & Arts.

The Great Train Robbery - 1903 (HD): First Western Movie. The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American silent film made by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It follows a gang of outlaws who hold up and rob a steam locomotive at a station in the American West, flee across mountainous terrain, and are finally defeated by a posse of locals. The short film draws on many sources, including a robust existing tradition of Western films, recent European innovations in film technique, the play of the same name by Scott Marble, the popularity of train-themed films, and possibly real-life incidents involving outlaws such as Butch Cassidy. Porter supervised and photographed the film in New York and New Jersey in November 1903; the Edison studio began selling it to vaudeville houses and other venues in the following month. The cast included Justus D. Barnes and G. M. Anderson, who may have also helped with planning and staging. Porter's storytelling approach, though not particularly innovative or unusual for 1903, allowed him to include many popular techniques of the time, including scenes staged in wide shots, a matte effect, and an attempt to indicate simultaneous action across multiple scenes. Camera pans, location shooting, and moments of violent action helped give The Great Train Robbery a sense of rough-edged immediacy. A special close-up shot, which was unconnected to the story and could either begin or end the film depending on the projectionist's whim, showed Barnes, as the outlaw leader, emptying his gun directly into the camera. Due in part to its popular and accessible subject matter, as well as to its dynamic action and violence, The Great Train Robbery was an unprecedented commercial success. Though it did not significantly influence or advance the Western film genre, it was widely distributed and copied, including in a parody by Porter himself. During the twentieth century, inaccurate legends about The Great Train Robbery developed, claiming it was the first Western or even the first film to tell a story. Film scholars have repeatedly disproved these claims, demonstrating that The Great Train Robbery was a stylistic dead-end for its maker and genre; its commercial success and mythic place in American film lore nonetheless remain undisputed. The film, especially the close-up of Barnes, has become iconic in American culture, appearing in numerous film and television references and homages. In 1990, The Great Train Robbery was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being " #culturally , #historically , or #aesthetically significant ". Remastered and Musically edited by Rueda Books & Arts. The entire film was edited with Scott Joplin's music, one of the best North American composer of the 19th century. Scott Joplin: The Entertainer 3:20 #western #silentfilm #classicmovies

Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne & Claire Trevor. The screenplay by Dudley Nichols is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a #stagecoach through dangerous #apache territory. The film has long been recognized as an important work that transcends the #western genre. Philosopher Robert B. Pippin has observed that both the collection of characters and their journey "are archetypal rather than merely individual" and that the film is a "mythic representation of the #american aspiration toward a form of politically meaningful equality. In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or #aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. Still, Stagecoach has not avoided controversy. Like most Westerns of the era, its depiction of Native Americans as simplistic savages has been criticized. Stagecoach was the first of many Westerns that Ford shot in Monument Valley, on the Arizona–Utah border in the American Southwest. Many of the movies Ford shot there also starred John Wayne. Scenes from Stagecoach, including a sequence introducing John Wayne's character the Ringo Kid, blended shots of Monument Valley with shots filmed on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, RKO Encino Movie Ranch, and other locations. Geographic incongruities are visible throughout the film, including the closing scene where Ringo ( #johnwayne ) and Dallas (Trevor) depart Lordsburg, in southwestern New Mexico , by way of Monument Valley. *Remastered by Rueda Books & Arts

Charade (Subs in Spanish and French) is a 1963 American film, produced and directed by Stanley Donen, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. It spans three genres: suspense thriller, romance and comedy. The cast also features a legendary team, with: Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, and Jacques Marin. "Charade was praised by critics for its screenplay and the chemistry between Grant and Hepburn. It has been called "the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made". It was filmed on location in Paris and contains animated titles by Maurice Binder. Henry Mancini's score features the popular theme song, "Charade". "In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Now the film is parte of the public domain" Wikipedia

Ugly Duckling (4K). The Ugly Duckling (re-titled as Ugly Duckling in reissues) is an animated short film by Walt Disney, based on the 1843 fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen. The film was directed by Jack Cutting and Clyde Geronimi, and released in theaters on April 7, 1939. An earlier Silly Symphony animated short based on this fairy tale had been produced in black and white in 1931: https://rumble.com/v4moace-the-ugly-duckling-1931-mozart-version.html The 1939 color film won the 1940 Oscar for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), and also happened to be the last entry in the Silly Symphony series, although it was branded in certain releases as a special one-shot cartoon. Remastered and musically reissued with Tchaikovsky's masterpiece, The Swan's Lake, by Rueda Books & Arts.