Classic black and white movies

[DGMacphee]

My mum has a thing for older DVDs -- the kind you can get for five bucks in a discount bins.

Sometimes she gets some very strange crap (The Catwomen from Mars) but sometimes she find some classics.

For example, she recently bought Chaplin's Limelight and La Cava's My Man Godfrey.

It made me think about my favourite classic B&W movies and was wondering what everyone else liked in terms of B&W.

So, my favs:

I'm a big Jimmy Stewart fan and my fav of his would have to be Harvey -- I also like Mr Smith goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life (MEEEERRY CHRISTMAS!!!), The Philadelphia Story, Vertigo, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

I'm not a huge Hitchcock fan, but I liked Strangers On A Train a lot.

Akira Kurosawa films (then again, a lot of people like him) -- Especially Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo.

I was a big fan of Chaplin in high school (Granted, Keaton's films were better directed, but Chaplin was funnier IMO) -- I like his shorts, but his full length films are great too, like Modern Times (However, I still haven't seen The Great Dictator, which I must find sometime soon!)

Zobra the Greek -- I dig Anthony Quinn.

Grapes of Wrath -- Then again, I like Steinbeck in general.

On The Waterfront

Casablanca

Angels With Dirty Faces and Yankee Doodle Dandy -- Two very different Cagney roles and both are done superbly, which shows the mastery of the man.

Scarface (the original, obviously)

The Defiant Ones

The Man With The Golden Arm

Citizen Kane

Sabrina (The early Bogart/Hepburn one, obviously)

The Life of Emile Zola

The Apartment

Sullivan's Travels

Some like It Hot

and many others...


What are your favourites?

[Barcik]

The only black and white movies I've seen that spring to my head are Dr. Strangelove and, err..., Schindler's List. So I am not much into old flicks. Aiming to fix the situation I downloaded Seven Samurai and Citizen Kane (I know I am evil) and will watch them soon!

[juncmodule]

Gaslight.

Casablanca...obviously

It's been a long time since I've seen them.

I have this thing for Ingrid Bergman.

Some Like It Hot is great...

Although not black and white I love Spartaccus, Ben-Hur, and other 60's(?) Roman era movies. I want to see Cleopatra but haven't got around to it.

I've never seen a Akira Kurosawa film but, I have heard a lot...perhaps I will have to check out the library or see what Blockbuster has in stock.

later,
-junc

[aussie]

Casablanca is the one.

[|Alky|]

Vertigo and North by Northwest are great, Casablanca is one of the greatest films ever, The Great Dictator is damn good (probably my favourite chaplin film), Some like it hot was pretty funny (though I thought it was kinda odd..). Key West, The Big Sleep and The Stranger were cool, too.

I sadly don't get to buy DVDs much, but we have TCM which is pretty good at covering most old films..

[Miez]

Just two spring to mind, but I love them both to bits:

Lolita (Kubrick)

Metropolis (Lang)

[m0ds]

Some Like It Hot is probably my favourite black and white, it's really funny - I think the humour beats a lot of today's humour.

I watched Metropolis, but, wasn't too intruiged by it. Probably because we studied it rather than just watch it :p However, I like it when the machine starts blowing up and all the people fly everywhere What amazes me is the similiarities between Metropolis and FoA. Plus, if you watch the remastered version the soundtrack sounds just like FoA! LOL.

I don't think I've seen many more. The original King Kong was fun. Plus I think 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Or was it the Monster from 20,000 Fathoms or something. Those are pretty fun.


m0ds

[Ben]

My favorite is It's a Wonderful Life. But I keep missing the first thirty minutes of it for some reason..

I remember seeing Citizen Kane when I was about ten. I think I liked it back then, but I'm sure I didn't appreciate it as much as I would now.

I don't see too many movies (old or new) to be honest. But I tend to remember the ones I do see.

[Darth Mandarb]

The Maltese Falcon (the John Huston, 1941 version) - Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade ... need I say more??
The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)

And of course,
Casablanca and It's a Wonderful Life.  No list would be complete without those two.

But what about Steamboat Willie??  What a classic!!!

[Chrille]

Lots of b&w I havn't seen but would like to. Oh well, here are some b&w I really liked:

Night of the living dead (allthough I'd rather classify it as a just a classic rather than a classic b&w)
Strangers on a train
Psycho
Night of the hunter
The Killers

[Evil]

A few months back I watched a really good silent movie on AMC. Man, I cant remember the name off the top of my head and AMC's website doesnt have it listed. Anybody else seen it? A man with a heart condition takes a trip Mexico to releave stress and ends up getting stuck in a war (Spanish American War maybe?). I dont know, but it was quite good. And for a black and white, oldschool barbershop style, slient movie, it was pretty damn good.

[Matt Brown]

The Maltese Falcon (the John Huston, 1941 version) - Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade ... need I say more??
The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)

And of course,
Casablanca and It's a Wonderful Life.  No list would be complete without those two.

But what about Steamboat Willie??  What a classic!!!

these are my fav black and white movies to, with maltese falcon being the best

[Pesty]

Oh man...I'll probably forget a lot, because I love so many... Lesse... There's The Maltese Falcon, of course... North by Northwest, Charade, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, Lost Horizons, We're No Angels...I know I'm forgetting a lot, but that's a pretty good idea of the kind of classic movies I love.

[DGMacphee]

Man, these are good flicks!

I haven't seen Maltese Falcon, but so want to -- only problem is finding it.

Keep up the picks, especially if you think of any unmentioned films cause I so want to see them!

[remixor]

Fuckin' Citizen Kane.  Obvious perhaps, but it completely blows me away every time I see it.  Damnit, that movie rules absurd amounts.

Seven Samurai is another one of my favorite movies.  It has quite possibly the most authentic and honest characters I've ever seen in any movie, ever.  There was NOTHING commercial-feeling about this movie in any way, shape or form.  It's remarkable to me in how much it comes off as truly being a story put on film rather than a "movie".  I can't express how beautiful this movie is to me.

Vertigo is also one of my all-time favorite films.  Great, great, great movie.  And I agree, Jimmy Stewert is awesome.  

In terms of Hitchcock stuff, North by Northwest is probably my other favorite Hitchcock movie.  

Casablanca is another obvious one, but I still have to throw in my support.  Same goes for The Maltese Falcon-classic.

Metropolis rules!  It came to town last year and I got to see it on the big screen with fully recreated original score and restored footage.  Oh man, I was so psyched.  I'm still floored by what Fritz Lang managed to accomplish for that era.

I've seen plenty of Chaplin shorts, but the only full-length Chaplin movie I've seen is Modern Times.  It's hilarious though, a definite classic.  Great stuff.

I must admit I'm not a huge fan of It's a Wonderful Life.  It's a great movie, to be sure, but compared with the some other stuff on this list here, it doesn't quite stack up (to me, anyway).


Good thread, DGM!  It's given me a few good ideas of stuff to check out.

[Hueij]

No mentioning of "The Big Sleep"? Bogart as Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as his love interest (like in real life). Although I read the book a couple of times and saw the movie at least three times this year I still don't know what it's all about

And of course Plan Nine From Outer Space totally rocks! I didn't know wether to laugh or cry when I first saw it but with every viewing I like it more and more.

[quintaros (at work)]

There's been several colour films listed.  In my opinion if you think Vertigo is a b&w film than you've never truly seen it.

Most of my favourites have already been mentioned.  Other gooders are Notorious, Woman in the Dunes, The Train (although it would be better in colour), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (I like the remake too), Young Frankenstein, The Elephant Man, The 400 Blows...

[DGMacphee]

http://In my opinion if you think Vertigo is a b&w film than you've never truly seen it.

Crap, you're right, it's colour -- My mind must be escaping me!

[Chrille]

North By Northwest is also in color.

[|Alky|]

No mentioning of "The Big Sleep"? Bogart as Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as his love interest (like in real life). Although I read the book a couple of times and saw the movie at least three times this year I still don't know what it's all about

Yeah, I mentioned that film...
It's pretty good...

North By Northwest is also in color.

'o'
Well, it's still great..

[Trapezoid]

My parents have been watching a lot of old black and white movies on the Turner Classics channel lately. I've haven't really been very interested though, most of them are just about white upper class married couples.
My favorite b&w film is "Ed Wood". It certainly beats the pants of any of Ed Wood's actual films... it's a "classic" to me.

[Darth Mandarb]

The Maltese Falcon

It's only 15 bux (plus shipping).  The only snag is I'm not sure if they ship to Australia or not??

If they do it's definately worth it!

dm

[DGMacphee]

Maybe it's not as hard to find as I originally thought.

[AGA]

http://www.dvdboxoffice.com/description.asp?id=D6AA4FB8-A385-45FA-BC70-4F8A9627A16D&class=mvi&wh=MAIN&s=gg&rate=CAD++%2D1%2E000+++++&pid=10036362

this site posts worldwide and for freeeee!

[Pesty]

North By Northwest is also in color.

Aw, cookies. You're right. I kept wanting to put color movies on, like The Court Jester and The African Queen, and I completely forgot that North by Northwest is a color film too.

[Pumaman]

So um, would you guys castrate me and call me shallow if I said that I didn't watch b&w films because they're not in colour?  

[Ghormak]

* Ghormak stabs Pumaman in the shower

I love Psycho.

[Goldmund]

Night of the Iguana!!!!

My favourite film ever.
Maybe it's because of some personal reasons - if I believed in God, I would be a priest by now.


And I also liked Twelve Angry Men a lot.

[Quintaros]

Pestilence: Charade and Breakfast at Tiffany's are also in colour.

[Pesty]

Pestilence: Charade and Breakfast at Tiffany's are also in colour.

...Darn it all to heck!!

I guess this proves that I pay attention to more things that just what color the movie is in, which somehow makes me cooler than everyone else.

[DGMacphee]

Okay then, let me rephrase my original question...

What're your favourite pre-1960 films?

[Quintaros]

Why set any arbirtrary criteria?  Why not just ask what people's favourite films of all time are?

[Goldmund]

Because he's a friggin snobbish fascist TOTALITARIAN.

[Quintaros]

Oh... in that case I also like Vertigo.

[DragonRose]

Lets see... even with the pre-1960's, you're eliminating a lot of my favourites. Roman Holiday and Sabrina are the only two that come to mind. Yeah, I'm a sucker for Audrey Hepburn.  I haven't seen all of it, but I also enjoyed the original version of Phantom of the Opera.

[DGMacphee]

Okay, let me try and make this as clear as possible:

Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Vertigo: LIST IN THREAD

Matrix, Bad Boys 2, Caddy Shack, Die Hard: DON'T LIST

So, just list your damn favourite classic movies and don't give me any grief.  


Quint: As for why I asked people to list their favourite classic movies instead of all-time fav movies, read my very first post!

[Quintaros]

I read your post.  When the thread was about B&W films I could understand that because its a fairly concrete criteria and there is good reason to single out B&W vs. Colour because they each have unique strengths.  Pre-1960 vs. post-1960 just seems arbitrary.  But then I suppose the 1960 isn't a firm cutoff since you allow 61's Breakfast at Tiffany's.  So if 61's cool, I'm gonna offer 62's Lawrence of Arabia as another of my all time favourite Classic films.

[DGMacphee]

Quin: Whatever the case, whether 60s is an arbitray point or not, I think it's pretty obvious what I'm asking here.

I'm talking about stuff like classic "Old Hollywood" films, as opposed to "New Hollywood" films.

[Quintaros]

I don't mean to be a pain the ass.  I just think that films as recent as 1990 could be considered a classic.  Plus what's this "Old Hollywood", "New Hollywood"?  Since when do Classic films have to come out of Hollywood?

[remixor]

Quintaros, I think you're being a bit overly semantic here.  Personally, I think it's fairly clear what DGM is asking for and he doesn't really need a specific reason.  He's curious, and besides that he explained his motives at the beginning of the thread.

[DGMacphee]

I don't mean to be a pain the ass.  I just think that films as recent as 1990 could be considered a classic.  Plus what's this "Old Hollywood", "New Hollywood"?  Since when do Classic films have to come out of Hollywood?

Yes, you are being a pain in the ass.

As for Old Hollywood and New Hollywood, I suggest you look them up for more detail -- But simply put, Old Hollywood was a period where films had a more conventional style and structure.

It died when new Hollywood took over -- New Hollywood represented a counter-culture against convention and story that began in the 60s and it practically changed Hollywood.

New Hollywood died about 1980-81 when studios began to focus more on blockbusters.

As for 90s classics, I'M NOT FUCKING ASKING FOR 90s CLASSICS, AM I?

And as for classic films not coming out of Hollywood, you'll see I wrote:

"I'm talking about stuff like classic "Old Hollywood"" -- And, if I'm not mistaken, stuff like classic Hollywood films can come out of other cities/countries/planets/whatever the fuck you want.

Now, like I said, it's fucking obivous what I'm asking here, so stop being a dick trying to over-define every last detail and just tell me your fucking favourite films from the fucking golden years!

[remixor]

Why not the silver years?!

[DGMacphee]

STFU N00B!!!

[12431 at school]

you sure remind me of your avatar DGM  

my favorite black and white movie would be "". ( if the sign can't be shown on the forums, it's pronounced pea, pee or whatever)

[Quintaros]

Do you mean Pi (ie 3.1415926...),  perhaps?

[Las Naranjas]

?

[remixor]

?

[GarageGothic]

if I believed in God, I would be a priest by now.

Funny, I felt the same way after watching Night of the Hunter

Seriously though, favourite pre-1960 movies, mostly b&w:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Bride of Frankenstein - James Whale at his finest.

Curse of the Cat People - Very atmospheric and very unusual horror film.

Kiss Me Deadly - beats any Humphrey Bogart movie hands down. This is the blackest of noir.

Rebel Without a Cause (VERY much a color film) - Best teen angst movie ever, along with The Breakfast Club.

Strangers on a Train & Rope - The gayest Hitchcock movies ever. Gotta love those effeminate bad guys

The Third Man - I just love this movie. It's exceptional in every way. Wonderful dialog, great acting, stylish cinematography and snappy-as-hell editing.

The Lady from Shanghai - Orson Welles with a horrible Irish accent. He sounds like a leprechaun. Beautiful camera work though. And a wonderful expressionist carnival fun house.

Singin in the Rain - My favorite musical from the classic era. I still can't believe the script is just pieced together to feature old songs that the studio owned the rights to.

A Night at the Opera - I just picked one of the Marx Brothers films. Could as well be Circus, Races or Duck Soup.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre - I really think they should have used more of the original's conflict in The Dig.

Arsenic and Old Lace or Bringing up Baby - Any Cary Grant screwball-comedy must be on the list.

Sunset Blvd. - Billy Wilder at his best.

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers - one of the greatest pieces of paranoid fiction.

(I watched Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon again the other day, as research for Shadowplay, and I still think they're pretty bad as detective movies. But they have snappy dialog, almost screwball comedy style, which is cool. Great actors and some nice visuals too)