By Maggie Dence

Fantasia (1941)

To see this as a little girl and have the joy of the cartoon characters combined with classical music made a huge impact. Mickey Mouse as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” Dukas’ music and then “The Night on Bald Mountain” by Moussorgsky – which scared the wits out of me – but was also delicious to be SO scared! Evidently multiplane cameras were used for the first time and that gave the drawings a depth that hadn’t been seen before – plus all of it being drawn by hand – amazing really!

Rififi (1955)

There was a cinema in the city – The Savoy – that mainly screened foreign films – and this was a fabulous film noir – set in Paris in the Winter – a heist movie – and there is a 28 minute sequence when there is nothing but the natural sounds of the robbery – no dialogue, no music – terrific tension and wonderful performances – a Belgian actor Jean Servais was the lead – and he was a fabulous actor – but a good cast all round.

Gone With the Wind (1939)

HAVE to put this in!!! Saw it when I was about 13 – had already read the book and knew most of the ‘behind the scenes’ dramas – it’s such a MOVIE!!! So brilliantly cast and really pretty truthful to the book – and such stars! Literally thousands of people said only Gable could play Rhett Butler and then there was all the mystery of who would play Scarlett – a really interesting character – she’s very strong and a great survivor.

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Violent, stylish and exciting – hadn’t seen anything like it before, and I love Westerns! And it had William Holden in it, who I liked a lot; Stalag 17 and Sabrina were good roles for him too. This also had a really good supporting cast and the shoot out at the end is extraordinary.

Wake in Fright (1971)

Well, this DID change my life! It was huge for me to find myself in my first film, with Chips Rafferty (who I’d written to when at school and asked his advice about acting – yes, I still have the letter he wrote to me!) to see that great big camera and the crew – I loved it! And I think the film is one of our best – Kotcheff was so good to work with – I think it’s still a great film and truthful about Australia.

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

One of the great British Comedies, Alec Guiness, Stanley Holloway star and there are scenes I can still remember so clearly – there were quite a few wonderful films of this genre at this time and this comes up near the top of the list.

Rebecca (1940)

Hitchcock – and one of his best! Looks fabulous and once again is beautifully cast! Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders and – this was a thrill for me – the Australian actress Dame Judith Anderson in a key role.

Some Like it Hot

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Billy Wilder. Great cast – Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe – she’s lovely in it. Good story too – very funny and has a great ‘tag’!

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

A real epic. Shot in Jordan. I managed to get to the location and to see where it was filmed and to think of the logistics of filming there –it must have been extraordinary. No CGI, all those men and camels, wonderful images of them racing across the desert, Peter O’Toole as Lawrence, exotic locations. It gave me such a desire to visit that part of the world, and I have – three times.

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

NOT the Disney – Jean Cocteau. Images that were so mysterious and beautiful and the Beast – Jean Marais – was such an amazing look beast. I just remember being drawn into his world and loving being there!!!

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