Ways for a Young Person to Get into Old Movies

This is something I always think about. It seemed really easy for me to get into old movies. I started watching them with my dad more than a decade ago, starting with Robin and the 7 Hoods and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and then really got into them again back in 2007 when I tried to watch all the movies on the American Film Institute's reduxed Top 100 list.

But, for others, black-and-white just seems like a barrier, a hurdle that is impossible to clear. And for many people nowadays, classic movies just don't have that pop to which so many have become accustomed: the special effects, the camera tricks and the like.

I'd like to introduce a series of easy methods and tips for easing one's way into the classics for classic movie upstarts or those trying to introduce their friends or family to the classics. Like swimming, if somebody just jumps right into the deep end of classic movies (early Hitchcock like Secret Agent or, say, Todd Browning's Freaks), he or she is bound to avoid swimming again at all costs.

In addition, if anybody has any additional tips, I would love to hear them.

-Steve