Movies As plain as black and white ...

I think for once my title really actually tells you what I'm talking about. I must be slipping.
Anyway, let's all go oldschool for a minute and talk about the old black-and-white movies. How do you think they compare to the modern-day bright-and-shininess? Are there some things about black-and-white that maybe appeal to you? What's your favourite black-and-white movie? Do you think it would have worked as well in colour? And, finally, what do you think of colourizations?
Think about the work of actors like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Consider directors like Michael Curtiz, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles and D.W. Griffith. What do you think of all this?
Oh, and just to throw one more thing at you, what do you think of modern movies made in black-and-white?

 

Well that is quite a topic. I for one prefer the old black and white actors in comparison to today's actors. However you just can't beat good old technicolour. My favorite black and white movie (and one of my fav's all together) is Arsenic and Old Lace with Cary Grant, however it looked terrible when done in colour. So I guess it can depend on the movie. Also I just can't picture a movie like Casablanca done in colour it just wouldn't feel right.

Also to spread out this thread a bit, what about special effects. When I look at the original Star Wars with its real actors in outfits I think they actually look real. But now they are using effects to do someone as simple as Yoda. :anger2: I sometimes miss the old movies and their charm, and how simple yet so good they were.

 

I think i love black and whites, i mean only could bare to see some of my movies in b&w. i would never lose LOTR to B&W, but i would like to see like a crime movie in one too. I mostly watch only art films in black and white

 

Like Izzy i rarely watch black and white movies. BUt i've seen a few but not many. I should force myself to watch Some Like It Hot. Thats supposed to be the funniest film ever but i still havn't watched it.
Of the few black and white films i've seen my favorite is Duck Soup whick stars the Marx brothers. When i watched this film i was crying with laughter it was just so funny. I'd love to see more films with the marx brothers in it.
Of the special effects that were used in the time of black and white movies i likes the clay models that were used to make King Kong and other sort of monsters at the time. I know that they don't look that real but they have a certain special quality to them that i love.

 

The Marx Brothers were quite prolific in their time. My dad is a big fan.
It was out of black-and-white films that techniques such as subjective lighting and chiaroscuro shading arose (I probably spelled that one horribly). And of course if you go waaaaay back, you have some fun things done with iris that you wouldn't really see in a modern movie. But that's a little too Griffith for me.
If you want to see the reasons why I am a fan of old black-and-white films, check out some of Bogart's work (particularly Casablanca, but any of his old gangster film noir flicks are good too). D.W. Griffith was good if you don't mind that he was a total racist, and that he made silent films. Of course, if you watch The Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life or Gone With The Wind colourized, you haven't seen the movie yet. It's A Wonderful Life was on last Christmas on TV colourized on one station, and my family and I flipped through channels until we could find it in black-and-white.
As for modern films, Schindler's List used black-and-white filmmaking very well, but more often than not filmmakers only use the ol' b-a-w when they want to be artistic or edgy. Something's not art just because it's in black and white.

 

Meh, I prefer color to black and white 99% of the time. Call me shallow or whatever; my eyes have cones and I want to be able to use them. I prefer realism as much as possible in my movies (Especially when the movie is trying to portray itself as real), and so color is obviously more real than black and white. My favorite black and white movies are usually favorite despite their lack of color, not because of it.

Just for the record, there are three black and white movies in my Top 10: Ikiru, Clerks and Twelve Angry Men.

 

My two favourite movies EVAR are Casablanca and Twelve Angry Men.


Old noirs are so much more stylish than anything that comes out these days.

Also, I've been waiting FOREVER for Schindler's List on DVD

 

I have to say, I have always been a fan of the classic old B&W films. I think they are the true heart and soul of hollywood. In a way, they make old Sci-Fi and crime drama's even more intense.

I would say my all time favorites are War of the Worlds and Its a Wonderful Life.

I think if we never had B&W films to educate todays actors, Hollywood would be a very different place.

Oh, and nobody can beat the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, and the Three Stooges.....

Victor

 

i love it all black and white color its all good. but my fav black and white would have to be ............... war and something i'll tell when i remember :anime:

 

Yeah, black and white doesn't bother me, and actually my brain seems to fill in the colors for me anyways. The majority of the black and white movies I've seen are old westerns which my mom loves, but I've seen others too. I think the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges are pretty funny, and I love Holiday Inn.

But my favorite of them all is Young Frankenstine(they could of made it color, but black and white just suited it so much better).