Best "Classic" movies?

Casablanca and Citizen Kane are seminal.

I recommend Battleship Potemkin as well.

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~ I am tired of ze same old faces! Ze same old things!

Anyone who tells you that Citizen Kane is great just because it was innovative didn't really watch to movie, or watch it well enough at least. It's to this day, one of the most cinematically dense films, as well as one of the best character studies ever committed to film.
The gorgeous physical representation of growing marital separation, culminating with:


What about this incredibly complex shot, encompassing Kane's dead hand, the nurse finding him, the window we've just been slowly focusing in on in the opening montage, and of course, the house that represents Kane's childhood home. ONE FRAME!


The visual pun when that occurs during this long take. The windows are not as they seem:



Kane's figurative and literal overshadowing of Susan Alexander:


These are just a few of the excellent stills from a true masterpiece, not even to mention full scenes and movements, all done in deep focus, allowing the freedom of eye movement. It's nothing less than brilliant, to this day!

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Mubi

why exactly is it one of the best?

The depth of character onscreen as presented not only through narrative, but by framing techniques, something films hardly ever do. There is almost more to be seen in the type and style of each shot than in anything spoken by the characters.

most gene kelly movies.

Citizen Kane is a true classic and I found it one of the most powerful film experiences in my life.

Besides Citizen Kane, I would recommend the following Japanese films (classic must be made before the 1960's):

- Seven Samurai
- Ikiru
- Hidden Fortress
- Late Spring
- Tokyo Story
- Ugetsu
- Sansho the Bailiff

well,that didn't help me to like the film.

I'm a big fan of The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), the story of several servicemen adjusting back to post-WWII life.

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Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/

Was the movie not innovative though, innovative meaning that it introduced elements not before seen in cinema?

It was. For example, deep focus was almost entirely conjured by Toland and Welles, but other things, such as the flashbacks were seen previously (I just saw The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which used them), but Kane is credited with them, partially because they used multiple narrators for the flashbacks, which was unheard of. It was an unusually dark, and daring narrative (if you want to see how gutsy Welles was, look up the origin of "Rosebud" in the film), with an unhappy ending. I think the use of a montage, such as the wonderful dinner montage, was the invention of Welles. The use of low-angle shots was new, especially when they show the ceiling, which was never done because most sets couldn't have ceilings (the set for Kane didn't either, they faked it). The use of shadows are brilliant and almost exclusively found in Welles' films

So yes, Kane was an innovative film, maybe the most innovative film of all time. My reason for ignoring the innovation above, was that many people call Citizen Kane the most innovative, or important film of all time to avoid talking about why, when ignoring influence and innovation, it is such a great film. For most people, Citizen Kane is a film that you see because you're supposed to. I feel that most people don't understand why it's so great when they see it, or are unmoved, so just account its greatness to its innovation, when there is so much more.

You mean, the alleged origin of Rosebud. Both the reason for its use and what it was supposed to refer to have only ever been rumour. That's not to say it's not true, of course. Just that there's no proof.

Also, best thing about Kane? It's script. That's as good as it gets.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

True, and with something like that, it can only ever be a rumor; I just choose to believe it because it makes Orson Welles seem that much cooler.

Some of my favorite classics:


GONE WITH THE WIND
ALL ABOUT EVE
DARK VICTORY
NOW VOYAGER
MILDRED PIERCE
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
NOTORIOUS
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
ALICE ADAMS
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
ON THE TOWN
SINGIN IN THE RAIN
THE BAND WAGON
A PLACE IN THE SUN
IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
ADAM'S RIB
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
PILLOW TALK
LOVER COME BACK
LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME
THE GREAT ESCAPE
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S
THE CHILDREN'S HOURS
SOME CAME RUNNING
GIANT
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE
SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS
GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?
TO SIR, WITH LOVE
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
THE THRILL OF IT ALL
BONNIE AND CLYDE
THE GODDESS
WAIT UNTIL DARK
IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER

My favorites include Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Vertigo and Ben Hur

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

A few of my favourites:

The Godfather 1 and 2
Gone With The Wind
Citizen Kane
The Maltese Falcon
Lots of Hitchcock films
Rashomon

It's A Wonderful Life



City Lights

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Movie Talk Blog : Reviews, Analysis, Discussions

http://bradmovietalk.blogspot.co.uk/?m=0

I forgot Casablanca!

Among my favourites are Adventures of Robin Hood, Ghost and Mrs Muir, Gone With the Wind, Ninotchka, Public Enemy, Queen Christina, Scarface and Scarlet Empress.

I would say, try to burn down movies from IMDB top 250. There are plenty of classics and very good one's at that to be watched there. Not too many foreign languages one, but still enough to keep you busy for a year if you watch 1-3 movies a week. That is how i got my movie appetite going!

Just every pre-70s I have (best to worst):

City lights (1931)
Days of wine and roses (1962)
Harakiri (1962)
The apartment (1960)
Wages of fear (1953)
The great dictator (1940)
Modern times (1936)
Paths of glory (1957)
12 angry men (1957)
The man who shot Liberty Valance (1962)
A page of madness (1926)
For a few dollars more (1965)
Not on your life (1963)
Viridiana (1961)
The treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Make way for tomorrow (1937)
Cat on a hot tin roof (1958)
Psycho (1960)
The Ox-Bow incident (1943)
Repulsion (1965)
Witness for the prosecution (1957)
Sweet smell of success (1957)
Nazarin (1959)
Fantasia (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
El (1952)
The cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Vertigo (1958)
High & low (1963)
Fury (1936)
The killers (1946)
Rebecca (1940)
Chimes at midnight/Falstaff (1965)
Once upon a time in the west (1968)
What ever happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Yojimbo (1961)
Umberto D. (1952)
Dr. Zhivago (1965)
Persona (1966)
Notorious (1946)
Red angel (1966)
The adventures of prince Achmed (1926)
All about Eve (1950)
Welcome, Mr. Marshall! (1953)
A man escaped (1956)
Laura (1944)
Placido (1961)
Out of the past (1947)
Rear window (1954)
How green was my valley (1941)
Strangers on a train (1951)
The seventh seal (1957)
The great escape (1963)
A night at the opera (1935)

You know, I kind of believe that I am quite light with my ratings.