Grand MGM

MGM has been a Hollywood fixture for almost 85 years. Today, it's teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and maybe looking for a buyer after struggling for almost a generation to return as a major player in film production and distribution. The corporation practically defined entertainment beginning late in the Roaring Twenties, an identity that lasted well into the 1950s. It has been a long, slow fall from greatness as a definer of the American cultural experience. Sometimes we are too close to the subject to make an objective appraisal of contributions to culture at large. That's what makes this list of MGM's most memorable films so interesting. It comes from the British perspective of the staff at telegraph.com.

OTR hopes you enjoy the movie memories from this grand old enterprise. As with all lists, this one will have a ringer or two for every reader, but that's what lists are for.