These days, streaming services are so defined by what's new — what fresh, buzzy titles are making their way to the platform each month — that it can be easy to forget that they're also great champions of what's old, especially in terms of classic films. Prime Video is one such streamer, with a healthy selection of legendary flicks dating back nearly a century.
And while Amazon's platform certainly has many well-known, long-loved classic movies in its sprawling library — "Casablanca," "Some Like It Hot," "12 Angry Men" and the like — it's also home to some equally excellent but likely less seen flicks that also warrant a watch.
Each of these three recommended features has at least a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with one achieving the rare feat of a perfect 100% on the Tomatometer. Starring icons of the 1930s and '40s like Cary Grant and Charlie Chaplin, they range from screwball comedies to romantic melodramas to sweet silent favorites. Here are three classic movies on Prime Video that you should watch ASAP.
'Penny Serenade'
Ever since they tied the knot, Roger (Cary Grant) and Julie Adams (Irene Dunne) have wanted to expand their family and have children. But when they run into fertility issues after a tragic accident, the couple adopts a little girl named Trina (Eva Lee Kuney), but their hardships are far from over, from professional issues at Roger's newspaper job to legal difficulties throughout the adoption process.
Grant was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his affecting performance in the 1941 drama. The acting of both Cary and his frequent co-star Irene Dunne — "Penny Serenade" is the third of three films pairing the performers as a married couple — skillfully guides the film out of overly sentimental territory. (The movie received a strong 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.)
"Produced with less skill and acted with less sincerity, Penny Serenade might have missed the mark by a mile, but George Stevens‘ direction and the excellence of the stars’ playing make the film," praises a Variety review from 1940.
Watch "Penny Serenade" on Prime Video now
'Ball of Fire'
If you've seen the 1948 musical film "A Song is Born," you might have déjà vu when tuning into the 1941 screwball comedy "Ball of Fire" — they share the same director, Howard Hawks, and the former recycles the plot of the latter, just with a little more song-and-dance razzle-dazzle.
But it's hard to improve on cinematic perfection: "Ball of Fire" is one of the rare films to earn a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where critics praised it as a " splendidly funny twist on the story of Snow White" with "a pair of perfect leads in Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck."
Cooper plays Professor Bertram Potts, who, while doing independent research on slang language for an encyclopedia project, discovers a beguiling nightclub singer named Sugarpuss O’Shea (Stanwyck, who earned an Oscar nomination for the role). On the run from the police, Sugarpuss needs a place to stay, and Bertram needs help with his slang, leaving them very unlikely roommates.
Watch "Ball of Fire" on Prime Video now
'City Lights'
"One of the best underdog romance movies ever, with an ending that will light up any heart," praises the critical consensus over at Rotten Tomatoes, where this 1931 romantic dramedy has an excellent 95% approval rating.
"City Lights" sees silent-film icon Charlie Chaplin (who also wrote, directed and produced the title) reprise his signature Little Tramp character, this time falling in love with a young blind woman (Virginia Cherrill) who mistakes him for a millionaire.
When he later strikes up a friendship with an actual — albeit eccentric and frequently drunk — millionaire (played by Harry Myers), the Tramp tries to use his association with the moneyed man to drum up funds that'll help restore the woman's sight.
Watch "City Lights" on Prime Video now
More from Tom's Guide
- 3 classic movies just added to Prime Video with 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes
- 5 classic movies on HBO Max you probably haven't seen
- Don't miss your chance to stream 3 classic 'SNL' movies before they leave Netflix
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