Now that we have the technology to scan movies shot on film into high-definition digital formats (720p and 1080p), and we’ve already done it for some movies like Casablanca, North by Northwest, The Italian Job, It’s a Wonderful Life or Home Alone, wouldn’t it be great if we’d re-scan and re-master more of the older movies, some of which are about to disintegrate in Hollywood vaults?

I’ve made a shortlist of films I’d like to see in HD below, culled from my movie collection. These, along with many other movies, ought to be scanned to 1080p HD. They’re wonderful movies, each in their own way, and they shouldn’t rot in some vault, degrading to the point where they’re no longer usable. They should be seen in all the glory and detail in which they were shot.

As a matter of fact, even 1080p HD is a poor substitute for the quality which properly exposed film affords. A 35mm film cell can be scanned at a resolution of up to 20 megapixels, which means the potential resolution of any movie shot on film greatly exceeds what we know as HD (high definition) these days. I’m sure the technology will catch up at some point, but it still has some way to go.

Meanwhile, ponder this: in terms of visual quality, the boon of television during the past 60 years or so has been a veritable dark age. Most everyone other than big budget productions switched to using cameras which recorded to tape, at resolutions of 400-600 vertical lines — the equivalent of 480p. Compare that with 720p or 1080p HD, or for a real shocker, the potential 3000-3500p of a fully equivalent digital reproduction of film quality. It’s sad, really. We’ve cheated ourselves out of visual quality for the sake of convenience, and only now are we starting to regain some of the lost ground.

A couple of other things I’d like to see when it comes to the movies I’ve listed below, or rather, in general when it comes to digital reproduction of analog films: I’d love to see them made into digital, downloadable files instead of optical discs, and I’d love to see some consistently lower pricing. I don’t know how many people will pay $40-50 for a 1080p movie, but I bet a lot more people will pay $15-20 for it. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not really interested in indulgent extras, or extensive behind the scenes productions that crowd out the actual movie.

Without further delay, here’s my list of movies I’d like to see in glorious 1080p HD:

• A Christmas Carol (1938)
• A King in New York
• Airport
• Along Came Jones
• Arsenic and Old Lace
• Big Brown Eyes
• Big Business Girl
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Bringing Up Baby
• Cafe Metropole
• Captain Blood
• City Lights
• Daddy Long Legs
• Dawn Patrol
• Destination Tokyo
• Dinner At Eight
• Don Juan (1926)
• Easter Parade
• Father Goose
• Follow the Fleet
• George Washington Slept Here
• Gold Diggers and its sequels
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• Grand Hotel
• Grass is Greener
• Gunga Din
• Hans Christian Andersen
• Heidi (1937)
• House on Haunted Hill
• How to Steal a Million
• I Was A Male War Bride
• In Name Only
• It Had To Be You
• It Happened One Night
• Key Largo
• Kiss and Make Up (1934)
• Kiss Me Kate
• Kiss Them For Me
• Libeled Lady
• Love Affair
• Love Crazy
• Lover Come Back
• Luxury Liner
• Man Hunt
• Manhattan Melodrama
• Mary of Scotland
• Meet Me In St. Louis
• Midnight
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
• Monsieur Verdoux
• Monte Carlo
• Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
• Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
• Mr. Lucky
• Mrs. Miniver
• My Dream Is Yours
• My Fair Lady
• My Favorite Wife
• My Man Godfrey
• Night Must Fall
• Ninotchka
• Northern Pursuit
• Notorious
• Now, Voyager
• On Borrowed Time
• On The Avenue
• On The Riviera
• One Upon A Honeymoon
• One Way Passage
• Operation Petticoat
• People Will Talk
• Prince of Foxes
• Private Number
• Queen Christina
• Quo Vadis
• Rachel and the Stranger
• Rafter Romance
• Random Harvest
• Reckless
• Rendezvous
• Rhapsody in Blue
• Rich, Young and Pretty
• Roman Holiday
• Sabrina
• Safety Last (1923)
• Scrooge
• Secret Garden
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• Spartacus (1960)
• Springtime in the Rockies (1942)
• Stage Door
• Step Lively Jeeves
• Swing Time (1936)
• Tell It To The Judge
• Thank You Jeeves
• Thank Your Lucky Stars
• That Forsyte Woman
• That Touch of Mink
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• The Amazing Adventure (1936)
• The Ambassador’s Daughter
• The Awful Truth (1937)
• The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer
• The Baroness and the Butler
• The Bishop’s Wife
• The Court Jester
• The Doctor Takes a Wife
• The Farmer’s Daughter
• The Glass Bottom Boat
• The Good Fairy
• The Great Dictator
• The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
• The Heavenly Body
• The Man Who Came To Dinner
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
• The Mark of Zorro (1920)
• The Millionaire (1931)
• The Mysterious
• The Philadelphia Story
• The Prince and the Pauper
• The Princess Bride
• The Shop Around the Corner
• The Thin Man and all its sequels
• The Woman in the Window
• Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
• Three Coins in the Fountain
• Three Daring Daughters
• Three Little Words
• Three Loves Has Nancy
• To Catch a Thief
• Too Many Husbands
• Topaze
• Topper
• Two Weeks With Love
• Walk, Don’t Run
• Wedding Present (1936)
• Weekend at the Waldorf
• When Ladies Meet
• White Christmas
• Wife vs. Secretary
• You Can’t Take It With You