Watched The Boys from Brazil recently, and marveled at how contemporary the references in a 52-year-old movie can be.
Casual, mindless racism. Echoes of the Proud Boys. Mad doctors with obsessive ideas, the kind that spew vaccine mis-info on Fox.
The YouTube vault of old movies rivals Criterion, TCM and a few niche streamers for movie buffs. Brit black and whites from the 1930s-1980s. U.S. indies from the same period.
Art films unspool on YouTube un-interupted.
All a click away in the web's best search engine. (Search by star: Peck, Olivier, Mason, Hopkins.)
The algorithm tosses 30 more oldies at you.
This summer, YouTube's old movies provide welcome relief to Netflix's ho-hum dramas and endless murder porn. Prime? In the doldrums.
Besides the flick above on YouTube, I've enjoyed...
Five Fingers -- James Mason as a Brit Nazi spy.
The Naked Edge -- Gregory Peck in a murder.
White Dog -- Samuel Fuller's dog horror show.
The Paladin Affair -- Early Alfred Hitchcock.
Frenzy -- Hitchcock's necktie strangler.
Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Hopalong, Roy--all the Saturday matinee serials are on YouTube. Ditto Charlie Chan, Nick and Nora Charles, endless hours of classic Warner cartoons.
If you're paying bucks for a streamer that seems ever less fun, check out an unexpected oldies vault. Old is new.
And free is even better.
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