I’m wondering what of the oldest films are still watched on a regular basis by a relatively mainstream audience purely for entertainment purposes (as in, not for a film studies class or for the explicit intention of “going through the classics”).
The oldest examples I can think of are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). I think the fact that they’re both in color and are children’s/family films has helped them age well, even compared to movies several decades younger.
i think that criterion’s streaming channel might have pushed that date … the 1930s … back a little early but not by much. They have silent movies and sell silent movies on disc. So there is some small market for it. film is an interesting art form as it is barely older than the oldest human being alive today