Quoting Randall_Lind:

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Now if anyone can remember the name of that other movie where the man turn in to a tree then I may not be all that nuts after all.

Mr. Sycamore

Quoting The Uncool:

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I think number one might be Fortress

And number two might be White Dog

Film #2 is definitely White Dog.  It was based on an article by Romain Gary about a true incident involving his wife Jean Seberg and a stray dog trained to attack black people..  The film starred Kristy McNichol, whose character stikes the dog with her car.  She takes it to an animal hospital, helps nurse it back to health, then finds out it's been trained to attack blacks.  Paul Winfield plays a dog trainer who tries to rereprogam the dog.  Burl Ives also appeared in the film, which was directed by Samuel Fuller.

The film was never released theatrically in the US because distributors were afraid of the subject matter, although it has been shown on cable occasionally.  IMDB says it's been on HBO, but I've never seen it there.

Oooh, i have a couple.

One is an old Italian movie with Jean Paul Belmondo, where he is sort of a Rambo spoof and kills these guys on a pyramid or temple steps, so its a river of blood coming down the pyramid.  I just remember laughing at that scene.

The second is a scary movie that takes place on a train in Siberia, where they find an old frozen gorilla and it attacks people on the train and they can somehow see the past by looking at the last image the gorilla saw before it was frozen (i guess image was frozen on its retina?).

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Here's one that my mom has been looking for for years.  She saw it theatrically when she was 12 to 16, which would put it at 1954 or thereabouts, at the latest (since it could have been a re-release).  It involved a father who was a serious composer and his son who wanted to write ragtime/jazz compositions and they got into a big fight over that and wouldn't speak to each other; all was resolved when the ragtime/jazz compositions were performed at Carnegie Hall or somesuch.  No idea who starred in it though.

Quoting Dan W:

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Quoting gardibolt:

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Here's one that my mom has been looking for for years.  She saw it theatrically when she was 12 to 16, which would put it at 1954 or thereabouts, at the latest (since it could have been a re-release).  It involved a father who was a serious composer and his son who wanted to write ragtime/jazz compositions and they got into a big fight over that and wouldn't speak to each other; all was resolved when the ragtime/jazz compositions were performed at Carnegie Hall or somesuch.  No idea who starred in it though.

That one sounds a lot like "The Jazz Singer" (1927).

It does.
This was also remade with Neil Diamond as the JAZZ SINGER. It was purported to be about Al Jolson's life originally but I cannot be sure. Perhaps the original (which I have not seen) was. I have no idea who was in the original.
Hope this has helped.

Quoting gardibolt:

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It does kind of sound like The Jazz Singer, but I think she would have remembered it being a part-talkie; and obviously it's way before the Neil Diamond remake (I recall her talking about this movie before that was filmed).  Any other ideas?

EDIT: Well, maybe it's the Danny Thomas version of The Jazz Singer, made in 1952, which fits right into the timeline.  I'm surprised she didn't remember Danny Thomas though, if that's it.

I think if it winds up being the 1952 version, it's understandable that she couldn't remember who was in it. Pretty forgettable film but still a great story.

Quoting The Uncool:

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UPDATE:

According to Amazon White Dog will be available on Sept. 11. Also in the comments section a couple people are saying that Criterion is preparing a special edition of this film later down the road. Just thought I would give anyone interested in the film a head's up.

Thanks for the heads-up.  I got a DVD-ROM version (really lousy one, too, by the way) from Luminous Film & Video.  It wasn't a boot (at least I don't think it was) but a European version (Dutch, I believe).  Live and learn, I say.  So I'm extremely glad it's finally being released as an R1 - with the chance of a Criterion edition to come.  WoW!