Classic Film Collection
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO PREPARATION FOR THE NEW LIBRARY OF BIRMINGHAM. THIS COLLECTION IS PRESENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR VIEWING. HOWEVER THERE ARE A NUMBER OF CLASSIC FILMS AVAILABLE FOR LOAN IN THE LENDING SECTION -FLOOR 1 OF THE CENTRAL LIBRARY.
The Arts section on Floor 3 now has a collection of Classic Films to view on DVD. These may be of interest to the film buff , film students or budding film makers.
They are all classics of their genre, or made by famous directors like Alfred Hitchcock or Frank Capra. Many are Oscar winners. The collection spans the decades of the twentieth century to present.They range from early silent classics like "BIrth Of A Nation" (1915) to "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008). Many come with added discs with additional footage and directors commentary.
These films cannot be borrowed but can be viewed on Floor 4 of the Central Library. This makes sure that any interested users can have ready access to them.
We do have some borrowable classic film DVDs in the Central Lending service area on floor 1 on the Central Library. All films are in English unless otherwise stated. (v) denotes a video format.
| Film name | Director | Main actor (s) | Year |
| Airplane | Jim Abrahams, David & Jerry Zucker | Robert Hayes, Julie Hegarty ,Leslie Neilsen | 1980 |
| Alien | Ridley Scott | John Hurt , Sigorney Weaver | 1979 |
| All About Eve | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Bette Davis,George Sanders | 1950 |
| All About My Mother (Spanish) (v) | Pedro Almodovar | Cecilia Roth, Antonia San Juan, Penelope Cruz | 1999 |
| Alphaville (French) | Jean-Luc Godard | Eddie Constatine, Anna Karina , Akim Tamiroff | 1965 |
| Amelie (French) | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Audrey Tautou,Dominique Pinon | 2001 |
| An American In Paris | Vincente Minnelli | Gene Kelly , Leslie Caron | 1951 |
| An Affair To Remember | Leo McCarey | Cary Grant ,Deborah Kerr | 1957 |
| The Apartment | Billy Wilder | Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine | 1960 |
| Apocalypse Now -redux version | Francis Ford Coppola | Marlon Brando,Robert Duvall ,Martin Sheen | 1979 |
| Back To The Future | Robert Zemeckis | Michael J Fox, Christopher LLoyd | 1985 |
| Badlands | Terrence Malick | Martin Sheen , Sissy Spacek | 1973 |
| The Battleship Potempkin (Russian) | Sergei Eisenstein | Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov | 1925 |
| Ben-Hur | William Wyler | Charlton Heston,Stephen Boyd | 1959 |
| The Best Year's Of Our Lives | William Wyler | Myrna Loy, Fredric March | 1946 |
| Bringing Up Baby | Howard Hawks | Cary Grant ,Katharine Hepburn | 1938 |
| Betty Blue (French) | Jean Jacques Beineix | Gerard Damon, Consuelo De Haviland | 1986 |
| The Bicycle Thieves (Italian) | Vittorio de Sica | Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Salamerenda | 1948 |
| The Birth Of A Nation | D.W. Griffith | Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall | 1915 |
| Blade Runner | Ridley Scott | Harrison Ford , Rutger Hauer ,Sean Young | 1982 |
| Blazing Saddles | Mel Brooks | Clevedon Little, Gene Wilder | 1974 |
| Bridge Over The River Kwai | David Lean | William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa | 1957 |
| Brief Encounter | David Lean | Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson | 1945 |
| Caberet | Bob Fosse | Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey | 1972 |
| Carry On Up The Kyber | Peter Rogers | Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey | 1968 |
| Casablanca (v) | Hal B. Wallis | Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains | 1942 |
| Catch Me If You Can | Stephen Speilberg | Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen | 2002 |
| Chariots Of Fire | Hugh Hudson | Ben Cross, Ian Charleson | 1981 |
| Chicago | Rob Marshall | Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere | 2002 |
| Chinatown | Roman Palanski | Jack Nicolson, Faye Dunaway | 1974 |
| Citizen Kane (v) | Orson Welles | Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Everett Sloane | 1941 |
| City Of God (Brazil) | Fernando Meirelles | Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino Da Hora | 2003 |
| Close Encounters Of The Third Kind | Stephen Speilberg | Richard Dreyfuss,Teri Garr | 1978 |
| Clerks | Kevin Smith | Brian O' Halloran, Jeff Anderson | 1994 |
| Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Chinese) | Ang Lee | Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, Ziyi Zang | 2000 |
| Dark Star | John Carpenter | Brain Narelle, Dre Pahich | 1974 |
| The Day The Earth Stood Still | Robert Wise | Michael Rennie , Patricia Neal | 1952 |
| The Deer Hunter | Michael Cimino | Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep , John Cazale | 1978 |
| Deliverance | John Boorman | Jon Voight Burt Reynolds | 1972 |
| Dr Strangelove | Stanley Kubrick | George C. Scott, Peter Sellers,Sterling Hayden | 1963 |
| Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder | Fred Macmurray, Barbara Stanwyck | 1944 |
| Duck Soup | Leo McCarey | Grioucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx | 1933 |
| E.T. | Steven Speilberg | Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore | 1982 |
| Easy Rider (v) | Dennis Hopper | Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson | 1969 |
| Effi Briest (German) (v) | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Hanna Schygulla, Wolfgang Schenck, Ulli Lommel | 1974 |
| 42nd Street | Lloyd Bacon | Warner Baxter, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers | 1933 |
| Fanny and Alexander (Swedish) | Ingmar Bergman | Pernilla Allwin,Bertil Guve | 1982 |
| Fargo (v) | JoelCoen,Ethan Coen | Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi,Peter Stormare | 1996 |
| Forbidden Planet | Fred Wilcox | Walter Pigeon,Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen | 1956 |
| Forrest Gump | Robert Zemeckis | Tom Hanks,Sally Field, Gary Sinise | 1994 |
| Four Lions | Chris Morris | 2010 | |
| Full Metal Jacket | Stanley Kubrick | Adam Baldwin, Matthew Modine | 1987 |
| Get Carter | Mike Hodges | Michael Caine ,Britt Eckland | 1971 |
| The Godfather parts 1 , 2 and 3 | Francis Ford Coppola | Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan,Robert De Niro | 1972-74.1990 |
| Gone With The Wind | Victor Fleming,George Cukor, Sam Wood | Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh | 1939 |
| The Graduate | Mike Nichols | Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft | 1967 |
| The Green Mile | Frank Darabont | Tom Hanks,Michael Clarke Duncan | 2000 |
| Hidden (French) | Michael Haneke | Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche | 2005 |
| High Society | Charles Walters | Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra | 1956 |
| Ikiru (Japanese) (v) | Akira Kurosawa | Takashi Shimura, Shinichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka | 1952 |
| In The Mood For Love (Chinese) | Wong Kar -Wai | Tony Leung Chin-Wai, Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk | 2000 |
| Indiana Jones & the Raiders Of The Lost Ark | Steven Speilberg | Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman | 1981 |
| It Happened One Night (in box set Directed by Frank Capra) | Frank Capra | Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert | 1934 |
| The Italian Job | Peter Collinson | Michael Caine, Noel Coward | 1969 |
| It's A Wonderful Life (in box set Directed by Frank Capra) | Frank Capra | James Stewart, Donna Reed | 1946 |
| Ivan The Terrible (Russian) | Sergei Eisenstein | Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman | 1944 |
| The Jazz Singer | Alan Crosland | Al Jolson, May McAvoy | 1927 |
| Jules And Jim (French) | Francois Truffaut | Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre | 1962 |
| Kind Hearts And Coronets | Robert Hamer | Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Arthur Lowe | 1949 |
| King Of Comedy | Martin Scorsese | Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis | 1982 |
| La Dolce Vita (Italian) | Federico Fellini | Anita Ekberg, Marcello Mastroianni | 1960 |
| The Ladykillers | Alexander Mackendrick | Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Alec Guiness | 1955 |
| Lawrence Of Arabia (v) | David Lean | Peter O'Toole, Claude Rains | 1962 |
| Les Enfants Du Paradis (French) | Marcel Carne | Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault | 1945 |
| Les Vacances De M.Hulot (French) | Jacques Tati | Jacques Tati , Nathalie Pascaud | 1953 |
| Logan's Run | Michael Anderson | Michael York, Jenny Agutter | 1976 |
| The Maltese Falcon | John Huston | Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor | 1941 |
| Manhattan | Woody Allen | Woody Allen, Diane Keaton | 1979 |
| Mash | Robert Altman | Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould | 1969 |
| Metropolis | Fritz Lang | Alfred Able, Gustav Frolich | 1927 |
| Midnight Cowboy | John Schlesinger | Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight | 1969 |
| Moliere (French) | Laurent Tirard | Romain Duris,Fabruce Luchini | 2006 |
| Monty Python And The Holy Grail | Terry Gilliam,Terry Jones | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle,Michael Palin, Terry Jones | 1974 |
| Monty Python's Life Of Brian | Terry Jones | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle,Michael Palin, Terry Jones | 1979 |
| Mr Smith Goes To Washington (in box set Directed by Frank Capra) | Frank Capra | Jean Arthur, James Stewart | 1939 |
| Mulholland Drive | David Lynch | Naomi Watts, Laura Harring | 2001 |
| My Name Is Khan (Indian - Hindi) | Karan Johar | Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol | 2010 |
| Naked Gun Trilogy | Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams | Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley | 1988 - 94 |
| Night Of The Hunter | Charles Laughton | Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters | 1955 |
| North By North West | Alfred Hitchcock | Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason | 1959 |
| The Odd Couple | Gene Saks | Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau | 1967 |
| Paths Of Glory | Stanley Kubrick | Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker | 1957 |
| The Piano (v) | Jane Campion | Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill | 1993 |
| Planet Of The Apes | Arthur P Jacobs | Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell | 1968 |
| The Producers | Mel Brooks | Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder | 1968 |
| Psycho | Alfred Hitchcock | Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh | 1960 |
| Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino | John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman | 1994 |
| Raajneeti (India-Hindi) | Prakash Jha | Ranbir Kapoor ,Naseeruddin Shah | 2010 |
| Rashomon (Jap) | Akira Kurosawa | Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori | 1950 |
| La Regle Du Jeu (French) | Jean Renoir | Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor | 1939 |
| Rear Window | Alfred Hitchcock | James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Frank Cady | 1954 |
| Roman Holiday | William Wyler | Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn | 1953 |
| Schindler's List | Stephen Speilberg | Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes | 1993 |
| The Searchers (v) | John Ford | John Wayne,Natalie Wood | 1956 |
| Seven Samurai (Japanese) |
Akira Kurosawa |
Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura | 1954 |
|
Seventh Seal (Swedish) |
Ingmar Bergman | Max Von Sydow, Bibi Andersson | 1957 |
| Shall We Dance (with Top Hat) | Mark Sandrich | Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers | 1937 |
| Shawshank Redemption |
Frank Darabont |
Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman | 1994 |
|
Siegfried (v) |
Fritz Lang | Paul Richter,Margarete Schon | 1924 |
| Singing In The Rain (with The Wizard Of Oz) | Gene Kelly | Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds | 1952 |
| Slumdog Millionaire | Danny Boyle | Dev Patel, Freida Pinto | 2008 |
| Solaris (Russian) | Andrei Tarkovsky | Natalya Bondarchuk , Donatas Banionas | 1972 |
| Some LIke It Hot | Billy Wilder | Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon | 1959 |
| Spirit Of The Beehive (Spanish) |
Victor Erice |
Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera | 1973 |
| Spirited Away | Hayao Miyazaki | 2005 | |
| Stagecoach (v) | John Ford | John Wayne, Claire Trevor | 1939 |
|
Star Wars 4,5,6 A New Hope The Empire Strikes Back Return Of the Jedi |
George Lucas | Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill | 1977 - 1983 |
|
Strictly Ballroom |
Baz Luhrmann | Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice,BIll Hunter | 1992 |
| Summer Interlude (Swedish) | Ingmar Bergman | Maj-Britt Nilsson, Birger Malmsten | 1950 |
| Sunrise | F.W. Murnau | George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor | 1927 |
| 2001 | Stanley Kubrick | Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood | 1968 |
| 12 Angry Men (v) | Sidney Lumet | Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb | 1957 |
| A Taste Of Honey | Tony Richardson | Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan , Murray Melvin | 1962 |
| Titanic | James Cameron | Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet | 1998 |
| The Third Man | Carol Reed | Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten | 1949 |
| This Is Spinal Tap | Rob Reiner | Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer | 1984 |
| Tokyo Story (Japan) | Yasujiro Ozu | Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara | 1953 |
| Top Hat (with Shall We Dance) | Mark Sandrich | Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers | 1935 |
| Touch Of Evil | Orson Wells | Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Wells | 1958 |
| Toy Story 1 & 2 | John Lasseter | Tom Hanks, Tim Allen | 1995 ,1999 |
| Les Vacances De M.Hulot (French) | Jacques Tati | Jacques Tati | 1953 |
| Vertigo | Alfred Hitchcock | James Stewart, Kim Novak | 1958 |
| Virgin Suicides | Sofia Copplla | Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett | 2000 |
| Wall-E | Andrew Stanton | 2009 | |
| The Wicker Man | Robin Hardy | Edward Woodward, Britt Eckland ,Christopher Lee | 1973 |
| Withnail & I | Paul Heller | Richard E Grant, Paul McGann | 1986 |
| Wizard Of Oz ( with Singing In The Rain box set) | Victor Fleming,King Vidor | Judy Garland,Pat Walshe,Ray Bolger, Frank Morgan | 1939 |
| Woman Of The Dunes (v) (Japanese) |
Hiroshi Teshigahara |
Eiji Okada, Kyoko Kishida | 1964 |
| The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (French) | Jacques Demy | Nino Castelnuovo , Catherine Deneuve | 1963 |
| Unforgiven | Clint Eastwood | Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris | 1992 |
| You Can't Take It With You (in box set Directed by Frank Capra) | Frank Capra | Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart | 1938 |