21 Must-See Classic Movies

Robert Mitchum with cigar among group of soldiers in a scene from the film 'The Longest Day,' 1962 — Photo by 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images

The Longest Day, 1962
War Remembered

Three directors tell, with documentary-like detachment, the story of D-Day from both the Allied and Axis perspectives. Accurate or not, The Longest Day recounts the story of Normandy the way those who were there wanted it to be remembered.

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From left: Pierre Fresnay, Jean Gabin in 'Grand Illusion' (aka 'La Grande Illusion'), 1937 — Photo by Everett Collection

Grand Illusion, 1937
War Reconsidered

In one of the greatest war films, barely a shot is fired. Two French soldiers are imprisoned in a World War I camp headed by an aristocratic captain (monocled Erich von Stroheim). A slave to outdated, gentlemanly rules of engagement, he clings to the grandest illusion of all: That war can ever be "civilized." 

'Spirited Away,' (aka 'Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi'), Chihiro, No-Face, 2001 — Photo by Walt Disney Pictures/Everett Collection

Spirited Away, 2001
Animation and the Dream State

Plugging directly into our cerebral cortex, Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki immerses us in the stupefying world of a bathhouse populated by grotesque river gods. The mind-boggling image of a young girl and a white-masked ghost riding across a calm sea in a trolley triggers in us a mild panic attack: "Am I dreaming this?

'Metropolis,' Brigitte Helm (front), 1927 — Photo by Everett Collection

Metropolis, 1927
The Future, Part 1

Fritz Lang's visionary story of class war in a futuristic city is enlivened by humanoid robots, sparking machinery and darkly threatening urban canyons. From Blade Runner to Batman, there's hardly a movie set in a dystopian modern age that doesn't crib from Lang's indelible first look.

Actor Gary Lockwood on the set of '2001: A Space Odyssey,' 1968 — Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
The Future, Part 2

Filmgoers had never seen anything like the starkly terrifying beauty of 2001. Hitting the sci-fi "reset" button, director Stanley Kubrick hurls us into the depths of space to the strains of a 19th century waltz. Can technology be humankind's savior? HAL, the rogue computer, throws that notion right out the pod bay door. 

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