Best Films - American films

American cinema: All genres (Page 1 of 28)

12 Angry Men (1957)

Sidney Lumet

In a New York court room, a lengthy murder trial is nearing its conclusion. Once the judge has delivered his closing statements, the twelve members of the jury are led away to the jury room. Here, they must decide whether the defendant, a young Puerto Rican man, is guilty or innocent of the charge of stabbing his father to death... [More...]

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Stanley Kubrick

Millions of years ago, a tribe of herbivorous apelike hominids discover a mysterious black monolith which immediately exerts a strange influence over them. They learn how to kill other animals, to fashion bones into weapons and to assert their control over the world around them. Cut to the year 2001 AD, and Dr Heywood Floyd arrives at an American base on the moon where a remarkable discovery has been made... [More...]

42nd Street (1933)

Lloyd Bacon

In 1932, with America in the Satanic grip of the Great Depression, work for singers and dancers is hard to come by. So, when Broadway producers Jones and Barry announce that they are putting on a new show entitled Pretty Lady, there is a virtual stampede to the auditions. The great Julian Marsh is hired to director the show... [More...]

7th Heaven (1927)

Frank Borzage

Paris, 1914. Chico, an atheistic loner, has grown tired of toiling in the sewers and hopes that one day he will become a street washer like his neighbour Gobin. Meanwhile, sisters Diane and Nana receive an unexpected visit from their wealthy relatives, who offer them the prospect of a better life. When Diane admits to being a prostitute, her relatives turn their back on her and her sister... [More...]

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

Nathan Juran

Sinbad the Sailor is returning to Baghdad with the Princess Parisa, whom he intends to marry to secure a lasting peace between their two countries. On the way, he and his crew land on the island of Colossa to replenish their stock of food and water. Here, Sinbad meets the sorcerer Sokurah, just as his men manage to get on the wrong side of a giant one-eyed monster, the Cyclops... [More...]

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Richard Attenborough

September, 1944. D-Day has come and gone but the allied advance has slowed to a crawl owing to over-extended supply lines. Field Marshal Montgomery and General Paton are both confident that they can win the war with one more decisive push. U.S. President Eisenhower backs Montgomery’s plan – codenamed Operation Market Garden - to land 35,000 paratroops behind enemy lines to secure half a dozen bridges in Holland... [More...]

A Chump at Oxford (1940)

Alfred J. Goulding

Down to their last six dollars, Stan and Ollie are reduced to posing as a husband and wife to secure the post of butler and housemaid to the wealthy Vandeveers. Needless to say, Stan and Ollie’s attempts to help out at a dinner party end disastrously and the duo are soon back in the gutter looking for work... [More...]

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Stanley Kubrick

Alex DeLarge is a Beethoven-loving juvenile delinquent who spends his evenings indulging in orgies of violence with his droogies. This involves beating up rival gangs, breaking into houses and generally having a good time before heading back to the Korova Milk Bar for some nourishing lactose-based refreshment... [More...]

A Damsel in Distress (1937)

George Stevens

Everyone at Tottleigh Castle knows that Lady Alyce Marshmorton is about to get married, but no one knows for certain who the lucky man will be. When the servants hold a wager, houseboy Albert bets that Lady Alyce will take as her husband a complete stranger, whilst the butler Keggs is confident that she will select her mother’s favourite, a jazz-loving buffoon named Reggie... [More...]

A Day at the Races (1937)

Sam Wood

Judy Standish is the unhappy owner of a sanatorium which faces closure unless she can raise the money to pay the mortgage. Her only hope is her wealthy client Emily Upjohn, an inveterate hypochondriac, but she has opted to leave the sanatorium when the doctors tell her that there is nothing wrong with her... [More...]

A Double Life (1947)

George Cukor

Anthony John is a renowned stage actor who, against his better judgement, allows himself to be coaxed into playing the lead role in Shakespeare’s Othello. The part of the jealous husband who ultimately murders his beloved wife turns out to be appropriate for John, for he has a jealous streak and still claims ownership of his ex-wife Brita... [More...]

A Farewell to Arms (1932)

Frank Borzage

During World War I, a young American, Frederick Henry, enlists as an ambulance driver in the Italian army. He meets and falls in love with a young English nurse, Catherine Barkley. Badly injured in a bombardment, Henry ends up in a hospital in Milan, where he is cared for by his beloved Catherine. As Henry recovers, he and Catherine pursue an idyllic romance, which ends all to soon when Henry is sent back to the Front... [More...]

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

Charles Crichton

London gangster George Thomason has masterminded the perfect jewel robbery, which he is about to put into action with his henchman Ken Pile, an animal-lover with a crippling stutter, and a pair of Americans - Wanda Gerschwitz and Otto West. The latter pretend to be brother and sister but are in fact lovers who intend to double-cross George and Ken after the robbery... [More...]

A Foreign Affair (1948)

Billy Wilder

After WWII, an American government committee arrives in Berlin to carry out an investigation into the morale of US troops. Congresswoman Phoebe Frost is appalled to see American soldiers fraternising with German women, and one woman in particular – nightclub singer Erika Von Schluetow. The latter is known to have had close associations with high-ranking Nazi officials and so Miss Frost enlists the help of GI John Pringle to establish why she hasn’t been indicted, not knowing that Pringle is the man who is protecting her..... [More...]

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

One bright Saturday morning, three friends, Deborah, Rita and Lora, are about to take a party of school children on a riverside picnic when a messenger hands them a letter. The letter is from their mutual friend, Addie Ross, who simply states that she has just stolen one of their husbands. Each woman has reason to think her husband may want to leave her... [More...]

A Night at the Opera (1935)

Sam Wood

By donating money to Otis B. Driftwood, an opera promoter of dubious repute, wealthy widow Mrs Claypool hopes to buy her way into high society. Whilst in Milan, Driftwood signs up an unknown chorus singer, Riccardo, mistaking him for the great tenor Lassparri. The latter is signed up for the New York opera company by another promoter, Gottlieb... [More...]

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Wes Craven

Tina and Nancy, two teenagers in a cosy American suburb, experience the same terrifying dream in which they are attacked by a disfigured man in a hat, with razor-sharp knives attached to his fingers. One night, during a sleepover with their boyfriends Rod and Glen, Tina is brutally murdered. The killing is witnessed by Rod, who sees Tina slashed by invisible knives and dragged onto the ceiling... [More...]

A Passage to India (1984)

David Lean

In the 1920s, Adela Quested makes the journey from England to India, where she intends to marry her fiancé, Ronny Heaslop, the magistrate of a provincial town named Chandrapore. She is accompanied by Heaslop’s elderly mother, Mrs Moore, who, having barely set foot in the country, becomes disgusted by the way in which the local population suffer under British colonialism... [More...]

A Place in the Sun (1951)

George Stevens

George Eastman, the son of poor missionary workers, is surprised when his uncle, the successful businessman Charles Eastman, offers him a job at one of his factories. George is happy to start as a production line worker believing that this will lead to better things, although he is not yet aware of the enormous social gulf that separates him from the wealthy Eastmans... [More...]

A Star Is Born (1954)

George Cukor

Onetime matinee idol Norman Maine has lost both his public and the confidence of the studio bosses who employ him, and he hastens his decline by drowning his sorrows in alcohol. One evening, he is intent on making a spectacle of himself at a charity gala event, but he is rescued by a young nightclub singer, Esther Blodgett... [More...]

1 2 3 4 5 ... 26 27 28 Next

A-Z