If you don't know your black-and-white films, try these on for size.....
There's been a recent debate as to the validity of black-and-white films. Many of the youngsters say, "I just don't get it." Well, don't feel like the Lone Ranger young children. Ted Turner has similar thoughts on the supposed curse of black and white.…
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— go to most recent comments26 - HW Saxton Jr.
I might as well add my two cents here.
My favorite B & W movies are as follow:
1 "Los Olvidados"
2 "Sunset Blvd."
3 "Pursued"
4 "M" (Fritz Lang version)
5 "Cabinet Of Dr Caligari"
6 "Down By Law"
7 "The Third Man"
8 "Baby Doll"
9 "Night Of The Hunter"
10 "Freaks"
11 "Out Of The Past"
12 "Yojimbo"
13 "High Noon"
14 "Ride The Pink Pony"
15 "A Touch Of Evil"
16 "His Kind Of Woman"
17 "The Testament of Dr. Mabuse"
18 "Red River"
19 "Kansas City Confidential"
20 "Kiss Of Death"
Anyone who deigns to see fit that any of
these movies need "colorizing",should be
laughed at,ignored or both.
27 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
i think any film with "pink" in the title should definatel be in colour
28 - Shark
re: Saxton's list - marry me! No, wait...
Great list, man.
Los Olvidados! -- I once asked a hispanic friend to translate that title for me; he shuddered, looked at me like I was Lucifer, and said, "Oh man... oooh... oooh.."
Haven't seen Rashomonanywhere. Probably should be added.
Also Beauty and the Beast ~!!! (Cocteau)
PS: Chris - re. King Vidor: YOU BLASPHEME! anyway, check out "The Crowd" -- an astonishing silent film.
29 - Chris Kent
HW, an excellent list and hard to argue with.
Shark, inclusion of Beauty and the Beast is also a good choice. Rashomon we discussed earlier....everyone has their favorite Kurosawa....
Vidor's The Crowd is highly touted in some stuff I read yesterday, though don't believe I have ever seen it anywhere.....I think of Vidor, I think War and Peace and Duel in the Sun, neither of which I particularly liked. Saw Our Daily Bread I believe on PBS one night many years ago and it was fascinating......He seemed to spend a large part of his career directing silent films, with The Crowd evidently one of several highlights.....One learns something everyday...:)
30 - Rodney Welch
I think the title of Luis Bunuel's comeback film, Los Olvidados, translates as "the forgotten ones."
31 - fussyfreddy
Well, Chris, seems that questioning your praise of "Pandora's Box" merely opened one.
Now that we've all flamed out (or grudgingly praised!) each other's choices, I hope to draw out your stated motivation for beginning this thread: the resistance of young'uns to B&W movies.
I agree with Rodney's comment #11 about the dreamy power of black-and-white photography. Moreover, it encourages the viewer to suspend the disbelief that rules our full-color world. Therein lies some of the charm of "La Belle et La Bete"; some of the creepiness of "Night of the Living Dead"; and some of the larger-than-life grandeur of "Citizen Kane."
I'm tempted to conclude this is why modern audiences have no time for black-and-white movies.
Our saturated world of "reality" media makes it clearer than ever that truth is stranger than fiction (and implicitly, more entertaining). Fiction as we once knew it is fighting for relevance.
Then again, the success of "The Matrix" and the LOTR trilogy proves that modern audiences are as willing to switch off their cynicism, if the story kicks and the special effects are convincing.
Might it just be that black-and-white movies, born of technological limitations, are artistically obsolete and inevitably meaningless today?
I invite all comments...
32 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
RE - The "kids" and their reluctance towards the monochrome. I think maybe the thing here is more to do with marketing than just the fact that young uns dont want to see those greys all over the place. For example, Schindlers List. Black And White (with a touch of red, but only for a second), marketed like hell. Best film you ever seen + also worthy, says the telly, and lo and behold folks go and see it.
They say the same thing about subtitles. Kids don't wanna read the damn movies, they say. They go to libraries to read, and they go to the picture house to see Van Damme fuck up a terrorist.
What happens? Passion of the christ gets the bollocks marketed off it (and probably sold as a touching necklace memento) and the cinemas are filled with folks that are terrified of the words close captioned.
Lesson - if films are marketed right, folks will see them, be they black and white or tartan.
33 - fussyfreddy
I dunno, Duke...
"Schindler's List," I recall, was a borderline blockbuster (about $100 m b/o in 1993/94). I doubt ANY kids saw it, except those dragged into the cineplexes by their parents, and the inevitable, innumerous Yale and Bryn Mawr types.
"Schindler's List" was an "adult movie" in the literal sense. So were "The Elephant Man," "Ed Wood," Woody Allen's experiments and a handful of other B/W features of the past quarter-century (exceptions include indies like Spike Lee's debut, "She's Gotta Have It," which were B/W because their directors lacked $$$).
Kids just don't get black-and-white movies. Many middle-aged grownups don't get black-and-white movies. Perhaps my previous note didn't adequately explain why. I'm not entirely sure myself, although I've suggested that I have a clue.
My ultimate point is that establishment movie criticism (including my point of view) may have to ditch its entrenched and increasingly sentimental critique of black-and-white photography as a general enhancement of cinema.
I'm 41, just old enough (because I was one of the aforesaid teenaged nerds who liked B/W) to have enrolled in those movies like a mutt in a garbage can. That doesn't make my paroxysms over Gregg Toland or Charles Lang any more defensible to a generation raised on color cinematography whose excellence is taken for granted.
More than half a century ago, Hollywood drove a spike through the heart of silent pictures with "Singin' In The Rain," whose implicit criticism of the era said more than any critic dared (until critics like Pauline Kael later deemed it the greatest movie musical of all time).
We may be near that inflection point for the black-and-white motion picture.
34 - Rodney Welch
I don't know that it's neccessarily true that kids -- whoever they may be -- simply reject B&W out of hand, although of course many do. But I don't think it will ever go out of style, if only because color is so ubiquitous and B&W simply looks different and therein is part of its lasting appeal. I know I'm not the only one who stops, if only for a moment, when I'm channel-surfing and chance upon a B&W image. It's very arresting. That's why commercial-makers love it. I think it can almost be argued that it improves almost any movie shot in that format -- the movie may well look deeper and more poetic and dreamy and artful than it really is. I think it may appeal to filmmakers technically as well; I referenced a documentary above called "Visions of Light" -- in there a cinematographer, Allen Daviau I think, said he would jump at the channce to work in B&W; on the other hand, I read an interview some years back with Bertolucci's DP, Vittorio Storaro, who said he no interest in it at all because color offers so many more creative possibilities.
35 - Chris Kent
I think a lot of the kids' refusal to watch B&W may be related to what they were raised on. Growing up I used to watch Dick Van Dyke and Lucille Ball on TV, and can remember watching the old Universal horror films with my Dad. I was speaking to a poster in here who loved zombie films, but had never bothered to see Night of the Living Dead because he simply did not like B&W films. It stunned me. There will always be the few who watch a film, and then decide they want to see the best films have to offer, leading inevitably to B&W classics. It's like eventually reading Moby Dick or Paradise Lost. If one wants to understand the process, then one must view/read the classics. The artistic possibilities with B&W are numerous, and Storaro's comment is rather numbskulled. There is an equal amount of B&W still photography as there is color photography. But moviemaking is such a HUGE business, producers take the least amount of chances to guarantee, as much as possible, a financial success at the box office. There's not the same kind of money in still photography, thus more experimentation.
I think most talented directors would prefer to work in B&W ocassionally. But the business is such that unless a director has huge clout, B&W will not see the light of day. But are most of the films made today even appropriate for B&W? Do we really want to see Daredevil or Hulk in B&W? I also think it depends on the subject matter of the film as to whether or not it will be improved by B&W....
36 - Rodney Welch
Chris, First off, I'd hold off on calling Storaro numbskilled -- he's widely regarded as the world's greatest cinematographer, based largely on how much he can do with color, and I think he was just speaking for himself. B&W isn't his preference, just as color wasn't, say, the first choice of Ansel Adams or Diane Arbus. His IMDB profile indicates he's worked with B&W at least once, so he probably comes by that opinion honestly. As to your other points, it's valid to say both that B&W is financially risky and that movies don't always call for it. But what's even more interesting to me is how B&W went from becoming the only game in town to an artistic choice to a sign to the unsophisticated that a movie is "old." As you know, movies were still shot in B&W long after the color process came into play, but I doubt in the 1950s and 1960s there was any kind of a stigma attached to it because people were used to seeing it on TV well into the decade. (Color TV didn't really take over until about 1966 or 1967.) Bergman, Bunuel, and Antonioni's greatest films -- arguably -- were shot in B&W. So was On the Waterfront, so was an old favorite I rented the other night Suddenly, Last Summer. So were a lot of movies, and I doubt it kept audiences away. When did it become daring or risky to shoot in B&W? I'm not old enough to say whether anyone in 1966 cared that much that Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was in B&W -- although I doubt it -- but I do recall very definitely that when Peter Bogdanovich shot The Last Picture Show (1971) using B&W in a major motion picture was seen as a brave artistic choice, and critics were quick to defend it by saying the movie wouldn't have been the same without it. Since then, B&W has always been seen as arty, like in Jim Jarmusch's early movies or Lynch's Eraserhead.
37 - Chris Kent
Rodney,
I am well aware as to who Storaro is and still think it a "NUMBSKULL" comment. Just because these guys are successful filmmakers does not make them Gods closed off to criticism. In addition, ALL Italian filmmakers should always be open to criticism because their country is the MOST overrated in the entire history of filmmaking mankind. I would also like to add Francis Ford Coppola to this list, the biggest bag of hot air in filmmaking history. Will someone please slap Francis in the face with a a huge sock filled with cold Ragu......*splat*
Thank you. Now Francis, shut the fuck up....
Anyway, I think most substantial cinematographers will fully admit the boundaries when making a B&W film are just as endless as the realm of Technicolor....To say otherwise is the result of one too many glasses of bad Merlot....
38 - Rodney Welch
I didn't say he was closed off to criticism; I said he had chosen his format and it wasn't B&W. If other cinematographers want to explore the so-called boundless opportunities of the format, that's their game, not his. But this is all beside the point; I was hoping for something with a little more intellectual fiber than an anti-Italian rant.
39 - Chris Kent
lol......You wish for fiber Rodney, go try some Bland Flakes.....
40 - Rodney Welch
Sorry. My mistake.
41 - Chris Kent
I agree.
42 - sheri
Crime scene investigators will request black and white photos of the scene, because of a unique clarity of details. So there could actually be a real cause for black and white film enjoyment other than sentiment.
43 - Chris Kent
Interesting sheri. That's the first time I have heard that but it does make sense. Thanks!
44 - Marcus Wellington
Chris, I have been looking for a black and white film but have yet to find it. It is about a woman whose daughter and husband are held hostage and she is asked to steal money from a bank (I think) and delivery it. Along the way there is voice over of her thoughts. She runs late but reaches the place and presents the money. The boss leaves with the money and a psychopathic associate watches the lady. The husband and the child are kept in a hotel by a man and a woman. The husband sneaks out in the elevator shaft and plans to bring the police to the room while the child is asleep. The man who is watching them is a famous sitcom star.
45 - Chris Kent
Marcus,
Sounds like "Experiment in Terror," a 1962 film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Glenn Ford and Lee Remick....
Chris
46 - Sister Ray
"Destry Rides Again" was B&W.
47 - Marcus Wellignton
Experiment in terror was close. I will watch that but that is not the movie. This movie is with a little girl and her father as hostages. The sitcom star is a grumpy guy that I believe might be from the Odd Couple but the name Walter Mathau does not seem to fit.
Destry Rides Again is not it.
Thanks.
48 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
"The Last Picture Show"--sorry if this has been mentioned, but I thought the b&w aptly evoked a mood and time that color would not have captured.
49 - Vern Halen
Jim Jarmusch's early 80's film Stranger Than Paradise, with a soundtrack that seems to consist solely of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell On You."
50 - Chris Kent
Marcus,
It's "Cry Terror," a 1958 film directed by Andrew Stone and starring James Mason and Inger Stevens. You were right about "The Odd Couple" connection - but it's actually Jack Klugman in the film. He plays a thug....
Chris
51 - Marcus Wellington
Thank you, that is it! I checked amazon.com and netflix and all I could find was a vhs version but there are not any copies available. If anyone knows where I can get one or has one, shout!
52 - sheila
can anyone identify a B&W horror film that would have been pre 60's. It is set in an old castle, the man walks into a bedroom chamber and sees a girl brushing her long hair. He approaches her and she turns around to be an OLD woman. Very scary. I would love to see it again. Help, thanks.
53 - lauraine
remember this B&W horror? old dad buys lottery tickets-dies shortly after-once buried the son realize it was winning ticket & ticket is in the suit pocket dad was buried in-son's goes and digs grave-opens casket and the dead father has this horrible scary face-son screams and turns out he gets same face as dead father..i think the title was something like this--smile of death or even mask of death...not sure but would love to see that movie again. used to scare me silly as a teenager and everytime it came on tv i had to wake up my mom to watch with me because i was scared to be alone. Now my mom is gone and it's more as a great memory value to me....any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
54 - Purukivel
Mr. and/or Ms. Lauraine, it sounds like your movie might be "Mister Sardonicus".
55 - Lindy
Googled "obscure movies 'Ride the Pink Pony'" and ended up at this web page; in fact it is the only site that came up!
Problem is, I don't see anything on this page (other than an appreciation of really well made movies)that alludes to the movie I am seeking info on.
56 - simon
No one has mentioned Rebecca which is definitely more effective more scary in black and white from the first shot going down the drive to the entrances of Mrs Danvers. Has to be in my list of favourite films and not just for Laurence Olivier
57 - Theresa
Well I won't take time to diss your B&W picks Chris. I'm 18 and having not been around B&W movies very much for my short life, I found your list very helpful.
I started my old movie obsession at 14 years old when I found and old copy of the royal wedding in my parents VHS stash. I loved the simple beauty of it. The next day I went to blockbuster...you get the rest.
Your List helped me find some really great movies that I hadn't even heard of. I found them on torrent sites and downloaded them. Dvds would be better but you take what you can get right?
I'm kinda miffed you didnt include any Audrey Hepurn films I know there were a few in b&w and I think she just looks even more breathtaking without color.
58 - Chris Kent
Ah the eternal Audrey Hepburn. I suppose her two finest films in B&W are "Roman Holiday" and "Sabrina," both with great merits. The two films of hers I actually own on DVD are "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Wait Until Dark," color films from the 1960s that remain memorable for me to this day. Thank you Theresa.
59 - Sammie
How could you not have 12 Angry Men on that list, that's my favourite movie :-( all in all great list
60 - Chris Kent
You're right. "12 Angry Men" should be on this list!
61 - Dr Dreadful
Now we just need 9 more angry comments insisting that it be put on the list and one resolutely dissenting one.
62 - Great black and white movies!
Great black and white movies! These are my favorite:
M
The General
All Quiet on the Western Front
Night of the Living Dead
Young Frankenstein
No Time For Sergeants
Lumberjack
Panic In The Streets
Woman on the Run
Three Came Home
63 - John J Bautista
Does anyone remember a black and white film
starring Sidney Poiter(?) in which he finds
himself alone in New York(?) after a nuclear
war ?
64 - John J. Bautista
Apologies, actor's name should read Sidney
Poitier.
65 - Cindy
Harry Belafonte in The World, the Flesh and the Devil, I think is what you're after.
66 - John J. Bautista
Many thanks Cindy. It could very well be,
but the title does not sound familiar - think the title contained the word "triangle".
67 - Cindy
There's a link. Probably should watch it again. It is about a 'triangle'. As they are the last three people on earth.
I don't find a film with Sidney Poitier with that theme, nor with 'Triangle" as part of the title. Good luck with your search. :-)
68 - John J. Bautista
You were right Cindy, that's the film I am
after. Possibility that the film was distributed
in Europe under another title. A mega thanks.
69 - Cindy
Good deal, John. :-)
70 - matt
My list would have to include "Hud" and "A Face In The Crowd"
71 - Tom Cutter
B&W Cinemascope, sterling B&W photography by Wong Howe, the medium fits the story, and some of the best acting of the generation = HUD
72 - Rachel
I would like to know are your thoughts on the German black and white film, The White Ribbon. I found the lighting and shots very reminiscent of Citizen Kane which is my quintessential black and white film in terms of using the medium. Surprised you left it off your list, but still agree with many of your choices.
73 - David
Calling it a list of 'Greatest' without the My could be all good and well if the writer wasn't a belly-button gazing, anti-intellectual, RACIST and I am not kidding: people's subtlest, simplest choices always reveal MUCH bigger sentiments. Yet another loser ZIONIST here! Are you completely out of your mind with emotionally manipulative, typical Hollywank trash like 'Schindler's List' on a 'Greatest List'!?
'Ladri di Biciclette' is 1 of only 2 "foreign" films in there? AND WAY DOWN THE BOTTOM! Said film came at such a time, was so powerful and came to such popularity, I would argue that it had the single greatest influence on film NARRATIVE, ever.
'La battaglia di Algeri' is probably still, the best political film ever. But oh, using those local Algerians in the cast probably just worsens the deal, for you.
NOT that you are a racist for explicit reasons, but yes, for what you EXCLUDE!
PS. I am an anti-zionist Jew, and love what Aaron said - "Cannibal Holocaust reference" :)
74 - David
PS. I looked at the list again, (unfortunate for me, not because I proved to be wrong, but because the list is SO shite). Okay, so there is about 2 more "foreign" films in the list than I first saw. My point still stands, 100%. How about using the original titles!? How about, a list without obvious yankee-philia would include AT LEAST HALF films from other countries!
Yes, Kurosawa, where!??!?!
75 - Chris Kent
Bravo David! I had to go back and read this again as I do not remember writing it in 2004. I recall throwing a few curveballs in there for the enjoyment of the reactions. Truth be told, I haven't visited this website in several years but am impressed such dated material would cause such passion. Keep up the good fight...:)