Old Hollywood Melodramas
Weepies, soapers, tear jerkers... Whatever you want to call them, these films always have lots of heightend emotion and are always fun! List is still in progress.
Suggestions are always welcome.
Suggestions are always welcome.
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40 titles
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsClaudette ColbertWarren WilliamRochelle HudsonA struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLana TurnerJohn GavinSandra DeeAn aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.Both the original and the remake are worth watching.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsBarbara StanwyckJohn BolesAnne ShirleyA working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisMiriam HopkinsGeorge BrentThe arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsGene TierneyCornel WildeJeanne CrainA writer falls in love with a young socialite and they're soon married, but her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both as well as everyone around them.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsBette DavisMiriam HopkinsGig YoungOld friends Kit Marlowe and Millie Drake adopt contrasting lifestyles: Kit is a single, critically acclaimed author while married Millie writes popular pulp novels.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsVivien LeighRobert TaylorLucile WatsonMyra and Roy meet and fall in love on Waterloo Bridge during an air raid. Their love will be one of the war's unspoken casualties.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsRonald ColmanGreer GarsonPhilip DornAn amnesiac World War I veteran falls in love with a music hall star, only to suffer an accident which restores his original memories but erases his post-war life.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJoan CrawfordJack CarsonZachary ScottA hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsJane WymanRock HudsonAgnes MooreheadA rich playboy whose recklessness inadvertently causes the death of a prominent doctor tries to make amends to his widow, and falls for her in the process.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsJane WymanRock HudsonAgnes MooreheadAn upper-class widow falls in love with a much younger, down-to-earth nurseryman, much to the disapproval of her children and criticism of her country club peers.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsRock HudsonLauren BacallRobert StackAlcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley marries the woman secretly loved by his poor but hard-working best friend, who in turn is pursued by Kyle's nymphomaniac sister.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsHope LangeStephen BoydSuzy ParkerAn expose of the lives and loves of Madison Avenue working girls and their higher ups.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsLana TurnerLee PhilipsLloyd NolanA peaceful New England town hides secrets and scandals.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsRichard EganDorothy McGuireSandra DeeA self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantIrene DunneBeulah BondiA couple's big dreams give way to a life full of unexpected sadness and unexpected joy.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsJeanne CrainLinda DarnellAnn SothernA letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsNorma ShearerJoan CrawfordRosalind RussellA study of the lives and romantic entanglements of various interconnected women.Avoid the remake of this one.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsIrene DunneCharles BoyerMaria OuspenskayaA French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsCary GrantDeborah KerrRichard DenningA couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?Remake of "Love Affair".
- DirectorGlenn Gordon CaronStarsWarren BeattyAnnette BeningKatharine HepburnTwo people meet on a flight to Sydney. Although both are engaged to others, they fall in love during their evacuation after a forced landing, and agree to meet in New York City three months later if the attraction lasts.Remake of "Love Affair" (1939) and "An Affair to Remember" (1957)
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanJack ConwayVictor FlemingStarsJanet GaynorFredric MarchAdolphe MenjouA young woman comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom, and achieves them only with the help of an alcoholic leading man whose best days are behind him.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJudy GarlandJames MasonJack CarsonA film star helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.Remake of the 1937 film
- DirectorFrank PiersonStarsBarbra StreisandKris KristoffersonGary BuseyA has-been rock star falls in love with a young, up-and-coming songstress.Remake of the 1937 and 1954 films.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisPaul HenreidClaude RainsA frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallJames StephensonThe wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsGreta GarboRobert TaylorLionel BarrymoreA Parisian courtesan must choose between the young man who loves her and the callous baron who wants her, even as her own health begins to fail.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsBette DavisCharles BoyerJeffrey LynnA duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsAli MacGrawRyan O'NealJohn MarleyA boy and a girl from different backgrounds fall in love regardless of their upbringing - and then tragedy strikes.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsJoan BlondellAnn DvorakBette DavisAlthough Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
- DirectorGuy GreenStarsCharlton HestonYvette MimieuxGeorge ChakirisIn 1950's Hawaii, a bigoted and ruthless land baron, with political ambitions, bans his sister from marrying a native Hawaiian even though he himself has secretly impregnated an Asian woman.
- DirectorDavid Lowell RichStarsLana TurnerJohn ForsytheRicardo MontalbanWhen her lover is killed, the wife of a wealthy man is convinced to fake her own death, which leads her into greater depths of depravity until fate reunites her with her long-lost son, who is unaware of her real identity.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsPaul NewmanJoanne WoodwardMyrna LoyAn ambitious young executive chooses a loveless marriage and an unfulfilling personal life in exchange for a successful Wall Street career.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsClifton WebbDorothy McGuireJean PetersThree American women working in Rome, Italy share a spacious apartment and the desire to find love and marriage. Each one experiences a few bumps in her journey to romance.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsLana TurnerLee PhilipsLloyd NolanA peaceful New England town hides secrets and scandals.
- DirectorJosé FerrerStarsCarol LynleyJeff ChandlerEleanor ParkerThe residents of Peyton Place are not happy when its most famous resident, Alison Mackenzie, writes a "shocking" novel detailing the sinful secrets of the town.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsBette DavisSusan HaywardMike ConnorsA divorced couple's teen-age daughter stands trial for stabbing her mother's latest lover.
- DirectorJohn HustonRaoul WalshStarsBette DavisOlivia de HavillandGeorge BrentThe day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.