Posted by Sarah
This is the longer list of suggested unmissable melodramas. Do email me on sp458@kent.ac.uk or log in to leave your comments. Are there any here that should have made the top 50 and didn’t? Or perhaps you think some of the films listed below should not be considered melodramas at all…..
- A Free Soul (Clarence Brown, 1931)
- A Matter of Life and Death (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1946)
- A Place In The Sun (George Stevens, 1951)
- A Star is Born (George Cukor, 1954)
- A Summer Place (Delmer Daves, 1959)
- All I Desire (Douglas Sirk, 1953)
- All that Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
- All This and Heaven Too (Anatole Litvak, 1940)
- Angela’s Ashes (Alan Parker, 1999)
- Anna Karenina (Clarence Brown, 1935)
- Asoka (Santosh Sivan, 2001)
- Autumn Leaves (Robert Aldrich, 1956)
- Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman, 1978)
- Baby Doll (Elia Kazan, 1956)
- Baby Face (Alfred E Green, 1933)
- Back Street (John M Stahl, 1932)
- Beaches (Garry Marshall, 1988)
- Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
- Beyond the Forest (King Vidor, 1949)
- Beyond the Rocks (Sam Wood, 1922)
- Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956)
- Black Narcissus (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1947)
- Blanche Fury (Marc Allegret, 1948)
- Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932)
- Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)
- Broken Blossoms (D. W. Griffiths, 1919)
- By Love Possessed (John Sturgess, 1961)
- Camille (George Cukor, 1936)
- Caravan (Arthur Crabtree, 1946)
- Carousel (Henry King, 1956)
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks, 1958)
- Caught (Max Ophuls, 1948)
- City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
- Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Robert Altman, 1983)
- Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972)
- Dance with a Stranger (Mike Newell, 1985
- Dancer in the Dark (Lars Von Trier, 2000)
- Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears, 1988)
- Dark Victory (Edmund Goulding, 1939)
- David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935)
- Dead Poets’ Society (Peter Weir, 1989)
- Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti, 1971)
- Deception (Irving Rapper, 1947)
- Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch, 1985)
- Devdas (Bimal Roy, 1955)
- Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2002)
- Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1988)
- Dr. Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)
- Drums Along the Mohawk (John Ford, 1939)
- Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946)
- East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1955)
- Él (This Strange Passion) (Luis Bunuel, 1953)
- El Amor Brujo (Carlos Saura, 1986)
- Fanny by Gaslight (Anthony Asquith, 1944)
- Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
- Farewell My Concubine (Kaige Chen, 1993)
- Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974)
- Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)
- Flame in the Streets (Roy Ward Baker, 1961)
- Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, 1926)
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe (Jon Avnet, 1991)
- Gaslight (Thorold Dickinson, 1940)
- Giant (George Stevens, 1956)
- Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)
- Gone to Earth (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1950)
- Gone With the Wind (Victor Flemming, 1939)
- Good Time Girl (David MacDonald, 1948)
- Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1923)
- Guilt is My Shadow (Roy Kellino, 1950)
- Happy Together (Wong Kar Wai, 1997)
- Hindle Wakes (Victor Saville, 1930)
- Hold Your Man (Sam Wood, 1933)
- Home From the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960)
- Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1947)
- I See a Dark Stranger (Frank Launder, 1946)
- I Want to Live! (Robert Mann, 1958)
- I’ll Cry Tomorrow (Daniel Mann, 1955)
- Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)
- In Which We Serve (Noel Coward & David Lean, 1942)
- Interlude (Douglas Sirk, 1957)
- Io sono l’amore/I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, 2009)
- It Always Rains on Sunday (Robert Hamer, 1947)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1947)
- Jane Eyre (Robert Stevenson, 1943)
- Jassy (Bernard Knowles, 1947)
- Jezebel (William Wyler, 1938)
- Johnny Belinda (Jean Negulesco, 1948)
- Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1953)
- Julia (Fred Zinnemann, 1977)
- Juno and the Peacock (Alfred Hitchcock, 1930)
- Kabhi Kabhie (Yash Chopra, 1976)
- King’s Row (Sam Wood, 1941)
- Kiss of the Spider Woman (Hector Babenco, 1985)
- L’Innocente (Luchino Visconti, 1976)
- Lady of the Night (Monta Bell, 1925)
- Leave Her To Heaven (John M. Stahl, 1945)
- London Belongs to Me (Sidney Gilliat, 1948)
- Longtime Companion (Norman Rene, 1990)
- Love is a Many Splendoured Thing (Henry King, 1955)
- Love Story (Leslie Arliss, 1944)
- Love Story (Arthur Hiller, 1970)
- Madame Bovary (Vincente Minelli, 1949)
- Madame X (David Lowell Rich, 1965)
- Madonna of the Seven Moons (Arthur Crabtree, 1944)
- Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk, 1954)
- Mandy (Alexander Mackendrick, 1952)
- María Candelaria (Emilio Fernández, 1943)
- Marjorie Morningstar (Irving Rapper, 1957)
- Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964)
- Mater Doloroso (Abel Gance, 1917,)
- Maurice (James Ivory, 1987)
- Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
- Mere Mehboob (Harnam Singh Rawail, 1963)
- Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945)
- Millions Like Us (Launder & Gilliat, 1943)
- Mommie Dearest (Frank Perry, 1981)
- Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957)
- Mrs Miniver (William Wyler, 1942)
- No Regrets for Our Youth (Akira Kurosawa, 1946)
- Now Voyager (Irving Rapper 1942)
- Nuts (Martin Ritt, 1987)
- Oliver Twist (Frank LLoyd, 1922)
- On Golden Pond (Mark Rydall, 1981)
- Only Yesterday (John Stahl, 1933)
- Ordinary People (Robert Redford, 1980)
- Orphans of the Storm (D. W. Griffiths, 1921)
- Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943)
- Pakeezah (Kamal Amrohi, 1971)
- Parrish (Delmer Daves, 1961)
- Partir/Leaving (Catherine Corsini, 2009)
- Penthouse (W.S. Van Dyke, 1933)
- Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966)
- Peyton Place (Mark Robson, 1957)
- Piccadilly (Ewald André Dupont, 1929)
- Picnic (Joshua Logan, 1955)
- Places in the Heart (Robert Benton, 1984)
- Polyester (John Waters, 1981)
- Possessed (Curtis Bernhardt, 1947)
- Quai Des Brumes (Marcel Carné, 1938)
- Raise the Red Lantern (Yimou Zhang, 1991)
- Rancho Notorious (Fritz Lang, 1952)
- Random Harvest (Mervyn Le Roy, 1942)
- Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955)
- Remains of the Day (James Ivory, 1993)
- River of No Return (Otto Preminger, 1954)
- Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976)
- Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936)
- Safe In Hell (William A Wellman, 1931)
- Salmonberries (Percy Adlon, 1991)
- Scarlet Pages (Ray Enright, 1930)
- Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
- Séance on a Wet Afternoon (Bryan Forbes, 1964)
- Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996)
- Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954)
- Shane (George Stevens, 1953)
- Shanghai Triad (Yimou Zhang, 1995)
- Sholay (Ramesh Sippy, 1975)
- Since You Went Away (John Cromwell, 1944)
- Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli, 1958)
- Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945)
- Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
- Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1936)
- Suddenly Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959)
- Sunrise (F. W. Murnau, 1927)
- Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
- Tea and Sympathy (Vincente Minnelli, 1956)
- Temptress Moon (Kaige Chen, 1996)
- Tender Comrade (Edward Dmytryk, 1943)
- Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks, 1983)
- That Hamilton Woman (Alexander Korda, 1941)
- The Best of Everything (Jean Negulesco, 1959)
- The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925)
- The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933)
- The Blue Lamp (Basil Dearden, 1950)
- The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995)
- The Champ (Franco Zeffirelli, 1979)
- The Cobweb (Vincente Minnelli, 1955)
- The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg)
- The Crowd (King Vidor, 1928)
- The Damned Don’t Cry! (Vincent Sherman, 1950)
- The Divorceé (Robert Z Leonard, 1930)
- The Flower of my Secret (Pedro Almodovar, 1995)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rex Ingram, 1921)
- The Go-Between (Joseph Losey, 1971)
- The Goddess (Wu Yonggang, 1934)
- The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002)
- The House of Trent (Norman Walker, 1933)
- The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
- The Killing of Sister George (Robert Aldrich, 1968)
- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (Jack Clayton, 1987)
- The Man in Grey (Leslie Arliss, 1943)
- The Men (Fred Zinneman, 1950)
- The Merchant of Four Seasons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972)
- The Old Maid (Edmund Goudling, 1939)
- The Passion of Anna (Ingmar Bergman, 1969)
- The Passionate Friends (David Lean, 1949)
- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (Michael Curtiz, 1939)
- The Reckless Moment (Max Ophuls, 1949)
- The Return of Carol Deane (Arthur B Woods, 1938)
- The Sheik (George Melford, 1921)
- The Singer Not The Song (Roy Ward Baker, 1961)
- The Spanish Gardener (Philip Leacock, 1956)
- The Stray Bullet (Yu Hyun-mok, 1960)
- The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk, 1958)
- The Way We Were (Sydney Pollack, 1973)
- The Wicked Lady (Leslie Arliss, 1945)
- The Wind (Victor Sjorstrom, 1928)
- There’s Always Tomorrow (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
- They Were Sisters (Arthur Crabtree, 1945)
- Thirteen Women (George Archainbaud, 1932)
- To Each His Own (Mitchell Leisen, 1946)
- To Live (Yimou Zhang, 1994)
- Torch Song Trilogy (Paul Bogart, 1988)
- Tormento (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1950)
- Umrao Jaan (Muzaffar Ali, 1981)
- Victim (Basil Dearden, 1961)
- Watch on the Rhine (Herman Shulmin, 1943)
- Waterloo Bridge (Mervyn LeRoy, 1940)
- Way Down East (D. W. Griffiths, 1920)
- West Side Story (Robert Wise, 1961)
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)
- Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
- Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)
- Yanks (John Schlesinger, 1979)
- Yield to the Night (J. Lee Thompson, 1956)