TMC And AMC on Dish Network gives me a Front Row Seat for all of My Favorite Old Movies I love old movies, can’t get enough of them. I get a real kick out of watching the great movie stars from the 1930s and 1940s, people who "lit up the screen." If you have ever seen a flick (no, call it a film) with such acting legends as John Wayne, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and the immortal (in my opinion) James Cagney, you know what I mean.

These men were great stars and they could act. Moreover, they performed in films that had real plots and dialogue, movies that got your intention when they began, and held it for the ninety minutes or so it took to reach "The End." Actresses from this period, call it "The Golden Age of Hollywood," were every bit as dynamic and compelling as their male co-stars. Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn and many others from that era dazzled audiences in film after film.

The films were truly great. I can think of such memorable movies as "It Happened One Night, an award winning movie made in 1934 that starred Gable and Claudette Colbert. It was a romantic comedy, a film genre that was popular back then. John Wayne’s heroics in seemingly countless films, beginning in the 1930s, helped him gain immense popularity with movie fans that lasted until his death. But it is his appearances in WWII war films (made while the war still raged) that have made me a fan.

James Cagney, movie tough guy, made me sit up and watch as he danced and sang his way across the screen in his performance as George M. Cohan in the movie entitled "Yankee Doodle Dandy." If you had already seen Cagney play a crazed bad guy in "White Heat," you could never imagine this "other side" of him. And drama or musical, Cagney lit up the screen.

These men were great stars and they could act. Moreover, they performed in films that had real plots and dialogue, movies that got your intention when they began, and held it for the ninety minutes or so it took to reach "The End." Actresses from this period, call it "The Golden Age of Hollywood," were every bit as dynamic and compelling as their male co-stars. Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn and many others from that era dazzled audiences in film after film.

I’ve always enjoyed movies that starred Cary Grant … and there are lots of them. His sophistication, clean-cut appearance and flair for comedy (and drama) helped him to achieve international fame. But his performances in "North by Northwest" and "The Philadelphia Story" really hammer home his brilliance. I often wonder if movie audiences in the 1930s and 1940s even realized that they were witnessing great performances. I am certainly aware of it and that’s why I’m grateful that my TV programming package includes networks that show old movies. Truthfully, I can’t get enough of them.

By: Bob Jackson