Favorite Black & White Film

[killer b]

oh god, yeah - the maltese falcom is awesome.... there isn't a single wasted scene or line of dialogue.

also unusual in that film changes almost nothing from the book...

 

[nino_savatte]

Here's another

Bad Day At Black Rock.

 

[EddyBlack]

2nd votes for Ladykillers and in a rather strange contrast Night of the Hunter.

Too many I haven't seen like the above.

 

[jiggajagga]

Failsafe
The Hill

 

[EddyBlack]

Oh and Twelve Angry Men. If that was in Black and White.

 

[nino_savatte]

Another...

Sunset Boulevard.

 

[Big Jegzo]

Hellzapoppin'

 

[lang rabbie]

Touch of Evil (the restored/original version).

This film has the longest crane shot in the history of cinema (3.5 mins).

Great movie and great B/W photography. But, a pedant adds, isn't the crane shot at the start of Altman's The Player something like 8 minutes long (and includes two talking heads briefly discussing Touch of Evil so that you get wise to Altman's chutzpah IIRC )

 

[lang rabbie]

From Lang Rabbie's Cinematography 101:

Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)

Murnau's Nosferatu (1922)

Murnau's Sunrise (1927)

Merian Cooper & Ernest Schoedsack's King Kong (1933)

William Wyler's Wuthering Heights (1939)

Albert Lewin's Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) - ignore the silly colour bits!

David Lean's Great Expectations (1946)

Carol Reed's The Third Man (1950)

Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954)

Henri Georges Clouzot's Les Diaboliques (1955)

Kurosawa's Throne of Blood (1957)

Mike Nichols' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)

 

[Dr. Furface]

The Wages of Fear
Stranger than Paradise
White Heat
Raging Bull
On The Waterfront
Down by Law
The Apartment
The Days of Wine and Roses

 

[Yetman]

The Leather Boys - the only black and white film I've watched.

Gayality in the 50's. Interesting....

 

[Belushi]

Anything by 1930's comic genius Will Hay film, but in particular Ask A Policeman.

 

[nino_savatte]

Great movie and great B/W photography. But, a pedant adds, isn't the crane shot at the start of Altman's The Player something like 8 minutes long (and includes two talking heads briefly discussing Touch of Evil so that you get wise to Altman's chutzpah IIRC )

Aye. But at the time, the crane shot in Touch of Evil was the longest crane shot in history. I've only seen The Player once so I don't remember the crane shot much.

 

[chooch]

Maybe not my favourite, but Andrei Rublev is an incredible-looking film:

 

[Fez909]

Not sure which is the best, but I liked:

• Pi
• The Seventh Seal
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Eraserhead
• La Haine
• Man Bites Dog
• Dr Strangelove
• It's a Wonderful Life
• Freaks
• Spellbound

 

[DotCommunist]

 

[D'wards]

How did it take nearly 4 pages for this too be mentioned - one of the best and happiest films ever made.

I largely dislike Christmas, but use this film as a tool for jump-starting my Christmas spirit every year