Great Black & Whites

[nonamerasian]

What are some of your favorite old movies?

[TB4000]

The Maltese Falcon...thanks for asking.

[kitty]

... they used to make movies in black and white?????

[mr. x]

Citizen Kane is pretty good, and if your so inclined theres Les Quatre Cent Coups (the 400 blows,french yes, porn no) though it is french but its pretty straightforward. those are just off the top of my head. i think everyone (save the really impressionable) should see The Birth of a Nation at some point, it really makes you think about the nature of propaganda and stuff

[Martino]

What are some of your favorite old movies?

To Kill a Mockingbird. The picture quality of the DVD is fantastic.

Also All About Eve. And Dr Strangelove.

[AngryABCGirl]

A Streetcar Named Desire and To Kill a Mockingbird

[younggiftedandblack]

The Seven Samurai, hands down.

[moschikat]

ditto what he said.

Also Rashomon, Roman Holiday and the original Sabrina. (what can i say? I'm an Audrey Hepburn fan!)

[kitty]

oh, i liked roman holiday!


... does half of pleasantville count?

[Mo'Taka]

Twilight Zone although it isn't a movie per say. But wasn't it a kick-ass show?

[TB4000]

Oh yeah...the secret life of walter mitty. Still funny to this day.

[Shuriken]

Shuriken's Top Ten Movies of All Time

(most of 'em are pretty old, and all but two are in black & white)


http://members.aol.com/cinefilie/kane1.jpg

1. CITIZEN KANE

Directed by Orson Welles (USA, 1941)

In his freshman film, theatre director Welles boldly broke the conventional bounds of Hollywood narrative to tell the story of a newspaper tycoon with uncommon depth and complexity. The intricate story line is matched by the intricate visuals of master cinematographer Gregg Toland. A milestone in the annals of cinema.


http://www.1worldfilms.com/images/colorofpomph2.jpg

2. THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES

Directed by Sergei Paradzhanov (USSR, 1969)

Not a "narrative" movie in the traditional sense of the word, Paradzhanov's film is instead a kaleidoscopic visual meditation on the life of the 18th-century Armenian poet Sayat-Nova. Upon completion, it was cut and banned by the Soviet authorities for its narrative non-conformity and implicit Armenian nationalism.


http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/directors/02/21/passion.jpg

3. THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC

Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer (France, 1928)

A minimalist interpretation of the trial and execution of Joan of Arc, Dreyer's film makes up in emotional intensity what it eschews in conventional big-scale spectacle. Never before or since has the fissured human face appeared so riveting on the screen.


http://dvdscan.com/rashomon_big1.jpg

4. RASHOMON

Directed by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1950)

Kurosawa's mesmerizing story of four conflicting accounts of the same crime encourages the audience to question their own sense of truth and the passage of time. Toshiro Mifune's feral turn as the bandit remains one of the cinema's all-time great performances.


http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/films/strangelove/images/sellers-strangelove.jpg

5. DR. STRANGELOVE...OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB

Directed by Stanley Kubrick (USA/UK, 1964)

With alternating horror and hilarity — and a cunningly clinical camera — Kubrick gets us to laugh at the unthinkable: nuclear holocaust. The performances by Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Slim Pickens remain the highlight of their careers.


http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/spring2000/features/images/all_tomorrow/renais3.jpg

6. HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR

Directed by Alain Resnais (France/Japan, 1959)

With its startling blend of documentary and drama, linear and non-linear story-telling, Resnais's story of an extra-marital affair between a French actress and a Japanese architect helped to inaugurate the worldwide New Wave cinema movement of the 1960s. History and memory are once again incisively interrogated. The uncommon AM/WF pairing is a plus.


http://www.einsiders.com/reviews/dvd/images/beatle6.jpg

7. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

Directed by Richard Lester (UK/USA, 1964)

The energy and vitality of the 1960s New Wave + the rhythms and irreverence of the Beatles = a cinematic masterpiece.


http://www.cinema-nutrition.com/wongkarwai/images/galfaye.jpg

8. CHUNGKING EXPRESS

Directed by Wong Kar-Wai (Hong Kong, 1994)

Wong defies audience expectations and captures the frenetic atmosphere of pre-hand-over Hong Kong in this film about people trying (and not quite succeeding) to find romance in the big city. Special kudos for the audacity of putting two unrelated stories in the same movie. Wong's companion piece Fallen Angels (1995) is worth checking out as well.


http://www.cinemaitalia.com/fellini/photos/strada2.jpg

9. LA STRADA

Directed by Federico Fellini (Italy, 1954)

This story of a mentally retarded waif tormented by a boorish brute is outstanding for its wondrous and understated observations on the nuances of rustic life in post-war Italy. Fellini's early neo-realist film barely hints at the near-hallucinatory fever dreams that he would become famous for later in his career.


http://www.cubacine.cu/realizad/imagenes/sgiral.jpg

10. THE OTHER FRANCISCO

Directed by Sergio Giral (Cuba, 1974)

In his highly original film, Afro-Cuban director Giral (in picture) adapts a 19th-century Cuban anti-slavery novel, criticizes its middle-class limitations, and then goes on to envision a radical retelling. Where the novel ended with a slave's suicide, Giral's version ends with a slave uprising. Inspiring.

[moJo]

A Streetcar Named Desire.

I saw Rashomon and Citizen Kane...but can't remember a damn thing about either of them.

[applehead]

watching black and white movies gives me headahces

[Martino]

watching black and white movies gives me headahces

I go to the Curzon on Shaftsbury Avenue, they show at least one golden oldie a week. You just have to see films like To Have and Have Not on the big screen ... Nosferatu and the original Dracula are so much more atmospheric than on TV ...

[ModernLogic]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Casablanca. My favorite scene was when the Frenchies out-sung the Germans in that bar. Classic.

[TB4000]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Casablanca. My favorite scene was when the Frenchies out-sung the Germans in that bar. Classic.
I would say Casablanca, but i figured a bunch of other people probably liked it too. so I went with another bogart flick...though James Cagney is my all time favorite old movie actor.

[mr. x]

You know, I never could get into Casablanca for some reason...

Actually, off the top of my head, two Bogart favorites are:

*Treasure of the Sierra Madre
*The Black Legion

it happens. for one thing its old fashioned, so to appreciate a classic u hafta disregard everything you've seen that came after it.

and if u made a movie like Casablanca today it'd be considered over the top (acting wise)

thats just how classics are style-wise. they look great for what it is but u CANNOT go back there these days

[ism]

Metropolis
Duck Soup =D

[mr. x]

The Virgin Spring...a 1950s Swedish flick...(sad, but powerful)...and Black Rain by Shohei Imamura (not an old B&W, but still an interesting flick)...

we saw Persona in my film class, trippy movie

[ism]

Pi!

[Martino]

Metropolis

With or without the pop/rock soundtrack?

[Kuchana]

ditto what he said.

Also Rashomon, Roman Holiday and the original Sabrina. (what can i say? I'm an Audrey Hepburn fan!)

So am I! :wink:

[TB4000]

Hmm, you wouldn't happen to be a DeAnza 'Tavernetti' film student, eh? (I saw Persona in her film class the quarter before last...(yeah, weird film)... :confused:
"Elizabeth...."

Ingmar Bergman had no problems being pretentious, I'll give the man that.

[mr. x]

Hmm, you wouldn't happen to be a DeAnza 'Tavernetti' film student, eh? (I saw Persona in her film class the quarter before last...(yeah, weird film)... :confused:

were u the black muscleguy?!?! :eek:

my brotha!

i was the asian guy in the class

hmm we were in the class with the creepy old white guy right?

[hooligan]

Pi!
pi was definitely a good movie, it wasjust intense.

[hooligan]

Yes! (OMG! Heh, heh...)

I think Tavernetti was being courteous by allowing him to give his opinions...(Heh, heh)...
i demand pics from the both of you!

[mr. x]

Yes! (OMG! Heh, heh...)

I think Tavernetti was being courteous by allowing him to give his opinions...(Heh, heh)...

guy was slimy slimy. he sat next to the girls and just started mumbling incoherently

[TB4000]

Man, class reunion going on tonight.

[hooligan]

guy was slimy slimy. he sat next to the girls and just started mumbling incoherently
"hey baby, i work for an independent film company and we specialize in "amatuer movies" and i can make you a star."

[mr. x]

"hey baby, i work for an independent film company and we specialize in "amatuer movies" and i can make you a star."

i mentioned it before but anyway ill say it again

so this weirdo comes in accompanying this japanese girl right? first day he came in i figure iono maybe he's her teacher in another class or SOME good explanation. course the next class session she sits on the other side of class than the other day (i wonder why) and he comes in, scopes her out and then proceeds to also go to the other side of class and just HAPPENS to sit next to her again.

anyway so this guy stands up at one point to announce that contrary to rumors he is not "a licensed talent agent" and im thinking the same thing everyone else is thinking. that he's nucking futs. kuro probly knows what im talking about

interestingly enough the day he came in we watched The Toll of the Sea, the movie shoulda screamed at him "YOU ARE AN ASIAPHILE!"

[hooligan]

i mentioned it before but anyway ill say it again

so this weirdo comes in accompanying this japanese girl right? first day he came in i figure iono maybe he's her teacher in another class or SOME good explanation. course the next class session she sits on the other side of class than the other day (i wonder why) and he comes in, scopes her out and then proceeds to also go to the other side of class and just HAPPENS to sit next to her again.

anyway so this guy stands up at one point to announce that contrary to rumors he is not "a licensed talent agent" and im thinking the same thing everyone else is thinking. that he's nucking futs. kuro probly knows what im talking about

interestingly enough the day he came in we watched The Toll of the Sea, the movie shoulda screamed at him "YOU ARE AN ASIAPHILE!"
oh yeah you did! dmanit, my memory's bad. : \

[TB4000]

:eek: i mentioned it before but anyway ill say it again

so this weirdo comes in accompanying this japanese girl right? first day he came in i figure iono maybe he's her teacher in another class or SOME good explanation. course the next class session she sits on the other side of class than the other day (i wonder why) and he comes in, scopes her out and then proceeds to also go to the other side of class and just HAPPENS to sit next to her again.

anyway so this guy stands up at one point to announce that contrary to rumors he is not "a licensed talent agent" and im thinking the same thing everyone else is thinking. that he's nucking futs. kuro probly knows what im talking about

interestingly enough the day he came in we watched The Toll of the Sea, the movie shoulda screamed at him "YOU ARE AN ASIAPHILE!"
ya'll classes are like ABC afterschool specials in the making, aren't they? :eek:

[ism]

With or without the pop/rock soundtrack?

Such a thing for Fritz Lang's Metropolis (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/)?

[mr. x]

:eek:
ya'll classes are like ABC afterschool specials in the making, aren't they? :eek:

yah, cept if it really were id probly find out he's nothing that i expected, in fact he's really a swell guy!

Such a thing for Fritz Lang's Metropolis (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/)?

speaking of fritz lang, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's pretty good. kind of a cop-out ending though, but that was for political reasons

[Martino]

Such a thing for Fritz Lang's Metropolis (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/)?

Oh indeed, new soundtracks were commissioned when films like M, Nosferatu, Metropilis etc. were restored in the mid-Nineties.

Mostly they were classical in inspiration. The new score of the 1925 version of Phantom of the Opera was done by the great Carl Davis., and Philip Glass did the 1933 version of Dracula.

For Metropolis a contemporary 'modern' score was arranged, including songs by the likes of Freddy Mercury. There's also a version with the original 1927 orchestral score available ...

[ism]

For Metropolis a contemporary 'modern' score was arranged, including songs by the likes of Freddy Mercury. There's also a version with the original 1927 orchestral score available ...

I watched the most recent DVD release, with the 1927 score. Given DVD technology, you'd figger they could put the other soundtrack on as an alternate audio track. Anyway, I looked it up, and apparently Georgio Moroder did the soundtrack. Bonus. Disco Metropolis!

Gonna look into the other films you mentioned. Thanks for pointing it out!

[nonamerasian]

I like Witness for the Prosecution.

Classic.

[TB4000]

http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/assets/bl/mar02kane.jpg

It's a pretty powerful piece, even to this day. Orsen Welles knew what he was doing.

[hooligan]

Tokyo Story by Ozu

[sinisterpanda]

Pi

[Kennyb]

Hitchcock's 'Psycho'

[ism]

Metropolis - Fritz Lang

[Faithless]

Seven Samurai.

[Shuriken]

I agree with TB4000. (http://forums.yellowworld.org/showthread.php?t=5078&page=3&pp=15)

[s1eve]

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) by F.W. Murnau

[PropellerheadCP]

It's a tie:

Last Year at Marienbad

and

La Jetee

[s1eve]

It's a tie:

Last Year at Marienbad

and

La Jetee


Cool, you've seen La Jetee. Beautiful use of black and white stills.

[fossilfuel]

Dr. Strangelove or Seven Samurai

[Fireblade]

Clerks.