The best classic movies of all times to watch this month

They just don’t make ’em like they used to. Sure, modern cinema has its draws — indie gems with purpose, endless franchise installments, Barbie! — but the classics will never die. From black-and-white pictures that flicker on the screen, to bold Technicolor beauties that transport you to another era, watching Old Hollywood movies is like slipping into the silkiest loungewear and asking your partner to pass you the remote while using your best Katharine Hepburn accent. Nothing else compares.

Ahead, a collection of the most perfect rom-coms, moving dramas, and essential Disney favourites. It’s by no means a complete list, but it is comprehensive, and it will turn you into a classic movie fan.

It Happened One Night (1934)

Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs. The greatest rom-com couples of all time have Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert to thank for launching the blended genre. The two classic actors star in what is regarded as cinema’s very first romantic comedy, Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night. A black-and-white gem about a socialite who becomes just the story her reporter love interest is after, it won all five top Oscar Awards back in 1935.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

A weird and wonderful odyssey that takes its sundry characters from a sepia-toned Kansas farm to a candy-coloured Emerald City somewhere over the rainbow, Wizard flips that nostalgia switch, and thanks to its various airings on network TV around the holidays, its popularity shows no signs of fading.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Orson Welles’s nonlinear, mould-breaking mystery about a journalist’s quest to interpret a media mogul’s dying words has taken up permanent residence as the pinnacle of every best-film list. Though dethroned periodically, the film, more than 75 years later, remains a masterpiece. In other words: Kane reigns.

Casablanca (1942)

Here’s looking at the wartime tale about doomed lovers as a film that checks off all the cinematic boxes. A rare feat for a story put to celluloid, the film draws out peak romantic sentiment and narrative tension in critical balance, threading resolution through the narrowest of dramatic needles. It truly is a work of art.

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Hollywood loves making movies about movies, and Sunset Boulevard — often labelled with that elusive descriptor critics hate to use, perfect — just might be the best meta-motion picture in existence. Following an aging silent film star who’s ready for her comeback, it’s satire shrouded in madness and murder.

Vertigo (1958)

Alfred Hitchcock spent decades building a body of work that could fill this entire list. But when pressed, we have to go with the psychological thriller that’s been nipping at the heels of Citizen Kane for that coveted Sight&Sound; top spot. A dizzying tale of obsession, this is one rabbit hole we love to fall down over and over.

Psycho (1960)

Widely considered the film that changed the genre, Hitchcock’s monochromatic horror seismically shifted everything genre buffs thought they knew about their beloved genus. No one is safe, man is the actual monster, and — spoiler alert — the scream queen just may get offed mid-movie. Reek-reek-reek.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

When one thinks epic, one thinks David Lean’s most epic of epics: Lawrence of Arabia. A live-action adventure before live-action CGI was a thing, the multi-Oscar winner stars Peter O’Toole as the titular British lieutenant and spends 216 minutes exploring his exploits in the Arabian desert. Not to be missed.

Mary Poppins (1964)

Julie Andrews is Mary Poppins, a nanny with enchanting powers who works her magic on a family in an effort to bring them all closer. Her grimy yet lovable sidekick? Chimney sweeper Bert, played by the singular Dick Van Dyke. Though it was made in 1964, the classic — and its 2D animation and legendary tunes — is timeless. You’d be hard-pressed to convince us that there’s a better Disney movie out there.

To Sir, With Love (1967)

Before we had Michelle Pfeiffer challenging her inner-city students to a Dylan-Dylan Contest as Louanne Johnson in Dangerous Minds, we had Sidney Poitier wrangling a rowdy bunch of East End teenagers as Mark Thackeray in To Sir, with Love. Equipped with a suitably ’60s soundtrack featuring a lotta harpsichord, the Poitier-fronted drama is sentimental to a point that you may just feel it tugging at those tear ducts.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Though we’d never call Stanley Kubrick a crowd-pleaser, the crowds who love him are beyond pleased with his contemplative contribution to sci-fi. A monumental musical and metaphysical masterpiece about evolution, it’s not only an odyssey through space, but one through the mind of a genius filmmaker.

The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (1972, 1974)

You could consider Francis Ford Coppola’s Corleone mob trilogy one expansive tale to be consumed in one expansive 10+-hour binge, but it’s the first two parts which are most responsible for The Godfather Effect: the study of how Coppola forever changed how Italians are depicted on film.

Jaws (1975)

Unlike Psycho, moviegoers knew what to expect from Steven Spielberg’s aquatic thriller: hungry great white makes dinner out of human flesh. That didn’t make it any less terrifying. What really sets this ba-dum spine-tingler apart, though, is it marks the birth of the summer blockbuster.

The Sound of Music (1965)

The hills are alive with the sound of Julie Andrews singing songs about her favourite things, female deer, and bidding farewell. About a novitiate who is sent to Austria to care for seven children, this classic also stars Christopher Plummer and — believe or not — is the very thing that saved 20th Century Fox from going bankrupt, surpassing Gone with the Wind in box office numbers. Always bet on Jules.

This piece originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar US