10 Must-See TCM Movies Streaming on Max

HBO Max is now Max, as of May 23. It is not just a name change, as the platform looks very different. More Discovery shows are now sitting alongside beloved HBO shows, or at least the shows that are still available there. Thankfully for fans of classic movies, a TCM-branded section still exists. It is no longer advertised as “Classics Curated by TCM,” but it is there and many classics remain available.

Warner Bros. Discovery made it a little more difficult to find the TCM section, as well as all other hubs. First, you have to click the search magnifying glass. Once at the “Search” section, you will find “Brand Spotlight,” which is where TCM sits. It is between Magnolia Network and Adult Swim. The TCM section includes featured titles, as well as an “A-z” option to see everything Warner Bros. Discovery teams filed there. 

The TCM section still has movies from around the world, including a limited selection of foreign-language classics through a partnership with the Criterion Collection. There are also movies dating back to the 1920s on the platform, with MGM musicals, Warner Bros. gangster pictures, and historical dramas that will keep you watching for hours.

But where do you start? There’s a lot for HBO Max subscribers to go through, and some of the oddball movies included in the TCM section could confuse anyone. (Yes, Crocodile Dundee has its fans, but we’re not sure it should be in the TCM section.) So without any further rambling, here’s a look at 10 great movies found in the TCM section on Max. We’re going to look at some of the more obscure ones since no one really needs to be told again they need to see Seven Samurai, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Casablanca.

‘Limelight’

The only one of Charlie Chaplin’s talking pictures that remain really well-known today is The Great Dictator, which is unfortunate. Limelight is one of Chaplin’s most personal works, a touching tribute to the industry that made him a star. Yes, the film is overly sentimental, but so are all of Chaplin’s movies. The movie is also a bit on the long side at 137 minutes. It’s all worth it, especially Chaplin’s unforgettable scene with Buster Keaton.

‘Pygmalion’

Long before My Fair Lady took the Broadway stage by storm, there was the film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Released in 1938 this version sees Wendy Hiller as Eliza Doolittle and Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins. Although the film has a different ending, it is a very close adaptation of the original Shaw play. It’s also a great introduction for those who may only know about Howard through Gone With The Wind. 

‘Johnny Dangerously’

OK, Johnny Dangerously is no classic. It’s just so much ridiculous fun though. After Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Amy Heckerling chose to make this truly mad parody of 1930s gangster movies. There’s a stacked cast, headlined by young Michael Keaton as the title character, an honest man who turns to crime to pay for his mother’s medical bills. 

‘Brief Encounter’

Long before David Lean became known for epics like Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, he directed Brief Encounter (1945), based on a Noel Coward play. The delicate romantic masterpiece stars Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson as a couple married to other people who fall in love with each other. It is considered one of the best British films ever made, a title it has lived up to all these years later.

‘The Red Shoes’

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948) is an incredible movie that more people need to see. The film is all about the tension between art and romance, with a beautiful ballerina, played by the enchanting Moria Shearer, caught in between. At the center of the film is a dazzling ballet sequence that puts the one in An American in Paris to shame.

‘Black Legion’

Black Legion is a fascinating 1937 movie featuring one of Humphrey Bogart’s early leading performances. It was inspired by the 1935 Detroit kidnapping and murder of Charles A. Poole, who worked for the Works Progress Administration. Prosecutors tried 12 men for his murder and 11 received life sentences. The movie is a rare political Hollywood film about the evils of a white supremacist group known as the Black Legion in Michigan.

In the film, Bogart plays Frank Taylor, a Midwestern factory worker who is passed over for a job promotion he expects in favor of a hard-working Polish immigrant. Taylor then joins the Black Legion, which uses violence against immigrants and racial minorities. Taylor’s life unravels as the movie goes on, and he even murders a man who was once his friend. Incredibly, the entire story wraps up in 83 minutes.

‘The Earrings of Madame De…’

Among the many foreign-language classics you can find in the TCM section is the exquisite masterpiece The Earrings of Madame De… (1953), directed by the French filmmaker Max Ophüls. This French movie is filled with dizzying camera movements and wonderful acting by its leads, Danielle Darieux, Vittorio De Sica and Charles Boyer. It tells the story of a Paris aristocratic woman whose decision to sell her earrings sets off a surprising chain of events.

‘The Long Voyage Home’

There are many John Wayne movies available on Max, including several of his collaborations with John Ford. One of those is The Long Voyage Home, an incredible masterpiece unfairly forgotten outside the company of Ford aficionados. It’s based on stories by Eugene O’Neil and tracks a group of sailors on their voltage from the West Indies to England during World War II. The film is famous for Gregg Toland’s atmospheric cinematography, which hints at his eventual work on Citizen Kane and predicts how Hollywood film noir movies would look.

‘Gimme Shelter’

Gimme Shelter earned some new attention recently after the death of Tina Turner. Although her sequence in the film isn’t long, it is unforgettable and powerful. Ike & Tina Turner opened for The Rolling Stones at the famous 1969 Madison Square Garden show featured in the movie. Her performance of the Otis Redding standard “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” will have you begging for more. 

The rest of the documentary is one of the great films about rock and how the 1960s came crashing to an end in 1969. Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts are shown sitting in the editing room with directors Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin watching the horrific footage from the Altamont Free Concert. The close-ups will be seared in your brain for days after watching.

‘War and Peace’

If you think Zack Snyder’s Justice League is long, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen the Soviet adaptation of War and Peace. Released in four parts between 1966 and 1967, the Russian War and Peace won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The whole thing combined runs 431 minutes, but the four parts are available to watch separately. It is estimated to be one of the most expensive movies ever made, and every ruble spent ends up on the screen. Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, it is something that must be seen to be believed.