Black & White

dr gonzo

I saw that Sky+ had recorded "The Innocents" for me today which i knew was based on a short story i already loved so decided to give it a go. It was absolutely fantastic. Even though im not that closed minded about films i must admit that i very rarely sit down to watch films which would be thought of as old and i think i might change that with your help.

Is there any other black and white/older films that you guys would classify as a personal favourite? I know i could just go through the IMDB top 250 but i like hearing peoples thoughts on films they recommend.

The one black and white that springs to mind that ive always wanted to watch is the night of the hunter, would people recommend that? Ive heard its excellent.

Anyways, just looking for thoughts on my new found classics buzz!

Fysh

I first watched 12 Angry Men after reading the Film Of The Week discussion about it, and it's excellent - one of the best films I've ever seen.

Metropolis is an excellent though bloody long sci-fi film. Now that the final cut is widely available on DVD and blu-ray it's a must-watch.

There are also a few older horror films worth checking out like The Cabinet of Dr Caligari or Nosferatu.

I'll leave it at that for now as I'm sure other folks will have plenty of other suggestions too.

uncle ernie

one of hitchcocks best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEoTXa_52A0

Ruu_Old

Too many to mention but I like Bogie and James Cagney in the below film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nld4DcRHME0

uncle ernie

as Ruu said but anything with bogie and cagney is a safe bet!

the philadelphia story is a cracker. cary grant, katherine hepburn, jimmy stewart and all sorts of shenanigans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CtquHsxoZo

dr gonzo

Wow, excellent suggestions there. A couple that look noir too which i love.

I should have said also that i have, of course, seen the absolute classic 12 Angry Men numerous times and love it more each time i watch it so that one is proudly ticked off the list.

Ive also watched a bit of both Nosferatu and Cabinet of Dr Caligari on a few seperate occasions and while i can see why they are famous i find them just a little too difficult to actually sit down and watch beyond the novelty of seeing a silent film. In saying that though i must admit that the grainy, washed out quality of Nosferatu really adds to the atmosphere.

uncle ernie

roger corman classic for the night thats in it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHTPNQsQeRM

losthorizon

Film Noir at its Height. Double Dealing, Back Stabbing Murder and a great atmosphere. An amazing Film - it will live with you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRSCV2qc2IY

One of my favs The Third Man. Starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton (a brilliant actor). Set in bombed out Vienna and actually filmed in the streets of Vienna after the war which was unusual for the time.

"and what did the swiss invent. the cuckoo clock"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7d9VpSdGhA

PS: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER IS BLOODY BRILLIANT!

dr gonzo

Fantastic variety here, gonna have to get my hands on quite a lot of these!

krudler

This, one of the classic horror movies, so far ahead of the godawful remake its not even funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlj9oSVNIXM

Typhoon.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1149362/



brilliantly made film. A palm d'or winner for a reason

dr gonzo

krudler wrote: »

This, one of the classic horror movies, so far ahead of the godawful remake its not even funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlj9oSVNIXM

Ah very cool. Is this based on the haunting of hill house too?

Judgement Day

Casablanca http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/ and the original Psycho http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/ are b+w classics, but for me The Train is the ultimate movie that looks better in b+w than it ever could in colour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jxi96lXdGU

grohlisagod

Rebecca is an excellent film.

Judgement Day

grohlisagod wrote: »

Rebecca is an excellent film.

Another classic for sure!

losthorizon

Funnily enough I met Cary Grant! The next day I met Morph and Gromit as well. I was looking out for Cary but just bumped into the other two.

Mickeroo

You can't gor wrong with some Akira Kurosawa. He's responsible for what are arguably two of the most influential films ever made namely Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, somewhat ironically they were both influenced by westerns but then in turn went on to influence some of the most iconic westerns ever themselves, The Magnificient Seven and A Fistful of Dollars were remakes of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNqQXC8Tv8U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgswymaBuDk

THe original Day the Earth Stood still is also enjoyable for a bit of retro sci-fi. It was a pretty brave movie at the time and was well ahead of its time thematically, still holds up today.

The King of Moo

For the day that's in it, an absolute classic, Frankenstein (1931)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKyiXjyVsfw

The photography is amazing and something you can't really replicate in colour.

I've been getting into 30s gangster films a lot lately too. The original Scarface from 1932 is great. It has a fantastic energy to it and a great, charismatic performance from Paul Muni.
I mush prefer the film to the 80s remake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qx6DhjaAP8

The Public Enemy (1931) is also great, quite gritty and shocking even by modern standards, and it has a fantastic performance from James Cagney.
It was a big influence on Martin Scorsese, and it shows if you watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2hDKOhS7KM

johnny_ultimate

Mod Note: Posts deleted for listing. Please give a reason for your choices: there's no worse thread than one that's just a wall of youtube links without any discussion! Give a reason for your recommendation.

+1 for Akira Kurosawa's vast back catalogue of colourless epics. Rashomon is my personal favourite: structure and storytelling that unrivalled even today. Yojimbo / Sanjuro are the best Westerns (Easterns?) Hollywood never made too, with one of cinema's most charismatic, compelling heroes.

Staying in Japan, Tokyo Story is a brilliant domestic drama, and director Ozu's crowning achievement. See his patented long, low takes first-hand :pac: Similarly, I was captivated by the photography of Mizoguchi's The Life of O-Haru: one of cinema's finest, most heartbreaking melodramas.

Persona is one of my favourite films, and Sven Nykvist's cinematography is hypnotic even today. If you want to understand how much of a difference lighting makes in cinema, this is the film to watch.

And Sunset Boulevard remains Hollywood's best film about itself.

Nolanger

This is like a twisted Capra film, very good effort that's not well known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i81OIqiktSQ

losthorizon

Nolanger wrote: »

This is like a twisted Capra film, very good effort that's not well known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i81OIqiktSQ

I actually have that movie. Walter Huston is a great actor. I think the reason its not well known is that it had two different names on either side of the Atlantic and featured real life characters whom most people would never have heard of ( I certainly hadnt heard of anyway).

A good Walter Huston movie for a rainy Sunday afternoon is "And then there were none" - based on an Agatha Christhie novel I think. Harmless but fun.

Nolanger

The best Miss Marple was Margaret Rutherford and this was the best in the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf4G0PLN2OE

RichT

Nolanger wrote: »

The best Miss Marple was Margaret Rutherford and this was the best in the series.

Loved Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. That got me thinking of the Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. I loved them all, pure fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HGESZRExYU

RubyRoss

Anatomy of a Muder is a great courtroom drama.

Night of the Hunter could fall under Halloween

And All About Eve boasts the best film script ever - along with Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe

Nolanger

The best Hollywood movie made about the Korean war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPaEECzwUxI

Corsendonk

losthorizon wrote: »

I actually have that movie. Walter Huston is a great actor. I think the reason its not well known is that it had two different names on either side of the Atlantic and featured real life characters whom most people would never have heard of ( I certainly hadnt heard of anyway).

A good Walter Huston movie for a rany Sunday afternoon is "And then there were none" - based on an Agatha Christhie novel I think. Harmless but fun.

RTE in the 90s went through a period of showing Danial Webster. Walter Huston also did a cameo as the dying ships captain in the Maltese Falcon.

krudler

comedy? cant go wrong with some Marx Brothers, either A Night At The Opera or Duck Soup, still very funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzfiBMRDc5Y

Nolanger

The Doris Day movie they don't want you to see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28STq0_yiuU

dr gonzo

This thread has worked out nicely! Have to find a bit of time and get through some of these because this is exactly what i was looking for, a brilliant variety of quality B&W films, most of which ive never heard of.

Some might even be out of copyright

Brian?

Mickeroo wrote: »

You can't gor wrong with some Akira Kurosawa. He's responsible for what are arguably two of the most influential films ever made namely Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, somewhat ironically they were both influenced by westerns but then in turn went on to influence some of the most iconic westerns ever themselves, The Magnificient Seven and A Fistful of Dollars were remakes of these.

I was just going to post exactly this! Everyone should see Yojimbo, The Seven Samurai and Sanjuro.

I first saw Yojimbo on Channel 4 late one Saturday night when I was about 12, it changed my view on films forever. At the time channel4 did a season of Japanese cinema, Yojimbo was the first one I caught. I didn't miss another one after that. The stand out films for me were Yojimbo, Akira and Kagemusha.

Sorry for going a bit OT there.

Nolanger

Forget Night of the living dead! This one came out a few years earlier and is similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4mYireNvcg

losthorizon

Some Posters have mentioned Frankenstein etc but somewhat forfotten is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (the 1931 version) which was released when there was no ratings. Its amazing for the evilness if Mr Hyde, the sexiness of the women and some of the camerawork is incredible.

In the Film Jekyll is pronunced GEEKILL for some reason!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN4Di8DEPf8

The King of Moo

losthorizon wrote: »

Some Posters have mentioned Frankenstein etc but somewhat forfotten is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (the 1931 version) which was released when there was no ratings. Its amazing for the evilness if Mr Hyde, the sexiness of the women and some of the camerawork is incredible.

In the Film Jekyll is pronunced GEEKILL for some reason!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN4Di8DEPf8

Some of the first-person camerawork is great and so strange to see in a film from 1931, and the transformation being done mostly in a single shot using different layers of make-up only picked up by certain lenses which were changed on the camera still looks great compared to many modern CGI transformation scenes.

It's also a much better film than the 1941 version with Spencer Tracy.

RichT

Psycho was mentioned earlier in the thread.

It's on tonight 9pm ITV3

crash davis

The Innocents is one of the finest translations from book (novella) to film that I've ever seen. Actually trying to think of a better one right now.

Anyway, I think all the big boys have already been mentioned : just check out the great Hollywood stars filmographies and you can't really go wrong. Oh, but do branch out a bit into European, Asian and Russian movies of that period if you're feeling adventurous - I don't do it often enough myself!