Black & white films

032Devil

Full Member
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Oct 26, 2004
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I find it shocking that I frequently come across people that refuse to watch a good or great film simply because it's in black and white rather than colour.

Recently, I had a friend come over and she said she was in a mood to watch a really good film. Knowing her aversion to B&W I suggested "12 Angry Men". I told her I had nothing else she was in a mood to watch but insisted that it was a great film. So hesitatingly, she agreed and enjoyed it thoroughly.

But as a principle, she still hates b&W film. :rolleyes::wenger::eek::boring::nono::nervous:
 
a_devil_inside said:
I tend to avoid watching them too.
Clerks is one I watched but that could have been much better if it was colour, black and white is shit
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Why?

Anything with Adam Sandler is obviously going to piss all over something like Casablanca, Citizen Kane or The Seven Samurai.


At the end of the day it's the story that counts...in my opinion, obviously.
 
Hammer Michael said:
Why?

Anything with Adam Sandler is obviously going to piss all over something like Casablanca, Citizen Kane or The Seven Samurai.


At the end of the day it's the story that counts...in my opinion, obviously.
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Agreed.

I've got a mate that it exactly the same with anything subtitled, just plain refuses to watch them, I wouldn't mind but he is an intellegent fella with a fairly good taste in films too.
 
a_devil_inside said:
I tend to avoid watching them too.
Clerks is one I watched but that could have been much better if it was colour, black and white is shit
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If anything B&W adds to the dramatic affect; simplifying the imagery.

Besides, regardless of colour a story is a story. Whether in B&W or colour doesn't make any difference. You watch a film for the story and not colour.

Frankly, I don't understand anyone disregarding great films simply because they're B&W.
 
ruuds left boot said:
what makes it so good then ?
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The story
The cast
The ideology of 'life and death'
The setting
The director

Not everyone's cup of tea, I'll admit - could be seen as intellectually 'heavy' and full of references to Man, God, and the essence of 'being', but it works for me.

Not a patch on Adam Sandler's Big Daddy, though!:D
 
Hammer Michael said:
The story
The cast
The ideology of 'life and death'
The setting
The director

Not everyone's cup of tea, I'll admit - could be seen as intellectually 'heavy' and full of references to Man, God, and the essence of 'being', but it works for me.

Not a patch on Adam Sandler's Big Daddy, though!:D
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You never know I may add it to my list of films to see yet - I do like Max Von Sydow.

Mind if it's considered intellectually heavy it'd be wasted on me - I ain't that bright :(:nervous::nervous:

As it happens I like Adam Sandler :nervous::nervous:
 
Based on what exactly? What makes Manhatten a worse film than Alien Versus Predator based on the colour?
 
032Devil said:
I find it shocking that I frequently come across people that refuse to watch a good or great film simply because it's in black and white rather than colour.

Recently, I had a friend come over and she said she was in a mood to watch a really good film. Knowing her aversion to B&W I suggested "12 Angry Men". I told her I had nothing else she was in a mood to watch but insisted that it was a great film. So hesitatingly, she agreed and enjoyed it thoroughly.

But as a principle, she still hates b&W film. :rolleyes::wenger::eek::boring::nono::nervous:
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I only really started watching B&Ws in the last 5 years, I now consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable.
Here are the great Noirs and quality B&Wsthat must be awatched if you are to consider yourself an afictionado

Double Indemnity
The third man
Post man always rings twice

Mildred Pierce
Sunset Boulevard
Mr Smith goes to Washington
Its a wonderful Life
Maltese falcon
All about Eve
Gaslight
Manchurian Candidate (original)
Lolita (original)
Rebecca
Shop around the corner (this was later remade as "you've got mail" only this ones actually good)
Streetcar named desire
whatever happened to baby Jane
Roman Holiday

Hitchcocks
39 steps
Dial M for Murder (was originally B&W) Paltrow remade it very poorly
Spellbound
The lady Vanishes (was later remade as "flightplan")

Some night when any of you are bored get the original and then watch the remake, its like the difference between first drinking a quality beer then following it with a bud light.
 
Dresilved said:
I only really started watching B&Ws in the last 5 years, I now consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable.
Here are the great Noirs and quality B&Wsthat must be awatched if you are to consider yourself an afictionado

Double Indemnity
The third man
Post man always rings twice

Mildred Pierce
Sunset Boulevard
Mr Smith goes to Washington
Its a wonderful Life
Maltese falcon
All about Eve
Gaslight
Manchurian Candidate (original)
Lolita (original)
Rebecca
Shop around the corner (this was later remade as "you've got mail" only this ones actually good)
Streetcar named desire
whatever happened to baby Jane
Roman Holiday

Hitchcocks
39 steps
Dial M for Murder (was originally B&W) Paltrow remade it very poorly
Spellbound
The lady Vanishes (was later remade as "flightplan")

Some night when any of you are bored get the original and then watch the remake, its like the difference between first drinking a quality beer then following it with a bud light.
Click to expand...


That's a list packed with classics. Any list would never do justice to the massive body of work that exists in B&W. The list would also cover all genres: comedy, drama, western, war, etc. Each category has a couple dozens (or more) brilliant entries. In comedy there's arguably the great in "Some Like it Hot", in Western there's "High Noon", in Science fiction there's "Metropolis" (B&W and silent), in war there's "All Quite on the Western Front", in drama there's "Citizen Kane". These films were made by the industry's greatest directors, starring it's greatest actors and made by some of it's greatest technicians.

Great directors like John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Michael Curtiz, Cecil B. De Mille, George Cukor, Howard Hawkes, Fritz Lang - another extensive list.

Actors like Cagney, Bogart, Davies, Crawford, Wayne, Grant, Hayworth, Astaire, Garson, Welles, Donat, Tracy, Robinson, Cooper, Hepburn - yeap, another extensive list.

This sea of work sadly is being ignored or side-stepped simply because some don't like B&W.


Bizarre.
 
I will have to admit that as a younger kid, I didn't so much care for black & white movies. I then got my head out of my ass and realized some of the best movies have been in black & white.
 
Try watching a porno in black and white. Just not the same.

Seriously though, I think some people are being a bit too nostalgic here. Colour shouldn't be the deciding factor in whether a film is good or not.
 
narnar said:
Try watching a porno in black and white. Just not the same.

Seriously though, I think some people are being a bit too nostalgic here. Colour shouldn't be the deciding factor in whether a film is good or not.
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It's not nostalgia. It's a fact that many won't watch a B&W film no matter how good it is.
 
I must admit, I haven't seen too many good black and white films, probably due to the fact that they are harder to find. The only noticeable one that sticks out to me is Young Frankenstein, which is a good film IMO. But like I said colour isn't an issue and if i start to watch a black and white film that I enjoy I will watch it.
 
I have a friend who won't give any movie that was made after about 1990 a chance. It's amazing.

12 Angry Men is one of my favourite movies, by the way.
 
narnar said:
I must admit, I haven't seen too many good black and white films, probably due to the fact that they are harder to find. The only noticeable one that sticks out to me is Young Frankenstein, which is a good film IMO. But like I said colour isn't an issue and if i start to watch a black and white film that I enjoy I will watch it.
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Isn't that a Mel Brooks film made back in the 1970's?
 
i watched Citizen Kane and 12 Angry Men yesterday, after telling myself i needed to watch them for ages. They didn't disappoint. Still trying to figure out 'rosebud'.
 
Never seen Citizen Kane, but feel I ought to.

Any good??

And how come, if this is ''the greatest film ever'', it's never on tv?
 
Well Citizen Kane I don't see particularly as the greatest. But for a film shot in 1941 it is very good, and it is an evoking plot. I'm not sure why it's never really on the box, I suppose most great films aren't really on that often.


But yer Franco take some time out of your life to watch it.
 
The Hustler
Chinatown

If my house was on fire I'd rung back in to save these two DVD's.
 
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