Old Movies

What is it that makes old movies so good? I just finished watching The African Queen, and I don't see how you could ask for a better film. So many of my favorite movies are older than me. In fact, most of my favorite films are almost twice as old as me. There's Some Like It Hot, All About Eve, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Sunset Boulevard, and The Women. There's It Happened One Night and the peerless 1929 version of The Phantom of the Opera. They all shine like pearls on black velvet, lustrous and sheened with traces of color even though most of these are actually black and white films. The list could go on and on...Gone with the Wind, Double Indemnity, Gaslight, and The Philadelphia Story...each film something to savor slowly and with great relish. My students often ask me if I've seen the latest box office smash, and I almost always have to tell them no. Who has time for the ephemeral when all these eternal greats are to be had?