OP chiming in.
It did occur to me that the vast majority of responses here are by folks who answered the question they wanted to answer rather than the question that was actually asked.
But that’s an easy mistake to make, and it’s still a good discussion, so what the hell.
mmm
Well, actually, I was expressing incredulity at Cochrane’s claim that, at 58, he hadn’t seen black and white movies in the theaters. As I said, I’m about the same age, and I saw plenty of black and white films in the theaters, and it was, in fact, not at all uncommon until circa 1965 or so for a commercial, non-artsy film to be made in black and white. I then presented a list of off-the-top of my head B&W flicks I’d seen in the theater (and not by any means an exhaustive list) – NOT on TV.
I could easily se someone considerably younger not watching any black and white films, even on TV. But they’d have to avoid a lot of cable channels to do so Turner runs classic black and white all the time, as does Retroplex. TNT used to (not sure if they do anymore), and METV has all those old horror flicks on Svenghoolie (not to mention “classic” TV shows in black and white).
I feel that Strainger’s snarky comment was directed specifically at me, though he somehow sneakily snuck the snark in just before my post.
I do believe my comment was on-point with the OP. My daughters, typical American teenagers, have never seen a B&W movie to completion, in fact they have a malignant aversion to them. And, although they are not technically Dopers, they could be future-Dopers…and they are dopey, like all typical American teenagers.
In 1980, I took a date to a double bill of Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. After, I asked her what she thought, and she replied, “huh, never went to a black and white movie before.” It didn’t work out…With rep theaters mostly dead now, it is hard to see these movies on the big screen, and the biggest TV still isn’t the same.
Have they never seen Frankenweenie?
I’m in the same boat as MoonMoon of my life. Though I have seen quite a few current movies in B&W, Clerks, Sin City etc.
I think that one is a colour movie of a black and white world. All the puppets and sets were designed in monochrome: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3873417984/tt1142977
The idea of avoiding a movie because it’s in black and white strikes me as bizarre. Aren’t plot and acting the more important elements of a movie?
Do people like this also avoid books? Not only do they lack color, they lack any visuals whatsoever. We live in a visual world, so why should we read?
How do you feel about silent films? Aren’t plot and acting more important than sound?
How should he feel about silent films in your opinion?
I like Charlie Chaplin.
ETA: That said, a large part of acting is speaking, so silent films are a bad analogy.
I’ve seen black and white movies, but I had to take the time to and I had to fit it in between all the modern movies coming out these days that I also want to see. At only 21 and having your life ruled mostly by school and what goes on day-to-day, I can see how it would be easy to not get around to seeing any black and white films yet. I mean, you don’t really want a 12 year old to watch Raging Bull, right? So he’s only had a few years to really get around to movies like that.
Did he actually say he avoided them entirely because of the color issue, or was it kind of an offhand comment about his general disinterest in going back and watching older movies?
I see it now; in 50 years, “I don’t really feel like going back and watching color movies like Amadeus or A Beautiful Mind. It’s all about the Tri-D films, you know?”
When I was a kid, they had that awful colorization thing going on, still, they only did that with certain movies, so there were still plenty in B&W. What a weird thing to have never seen.
Likewise. Or the Johnny Weismueller Tarzan movies, which worked for me eventhough I was intensely aware of their racist viewpoint (which is not to say Tarzan himself was racist; I don’t think he even understood the concept of human races).
Like Ellis Dee, I have little or no interest in movies made during the Hayes Code era. Most of the movies made in that era were crap. True, most of the movies made in ANY era are crap, but the Hayes Code ensured that only a few movies could rise above the rules imposed on movies by the Code and become worth watching, much less great.
I do think noir movies are an exception to the rule, because they actually used black and white to heighten the feel of gritty evil permeating the story. It’s sort of the polar opposite of “Pleasantville” if you will. “Pleasantville” portrayed black and white TV as bland, colorless and emotionless. But noir films like “The Postman Always Rings Twice” used black and white to heighten the evil in which the characters were enmeshed. Thinking about it, Jacques Tournier did the same thing in the horror genre with “Cat People” and “Curse of the Demon.”
That said, you sure have to wade through a lot of shit to find the ponies in black and white films.
Not only do I love B&W movies, but I’m a fan of silent films as well. One of the funniest comedies I’ve ever seen is Seven Chances, with Buster Keaton. And one of the more moving and also depressing films was Broken Blossoms with Lillian Gish. The latter is a film about a girl who is regularly beatn by her father. At the end of the film he has killed her, then he’s murdered by a guy who tried to help her, and the helper goes home and commits suicide. Rough show, a classic by DW Griffith.
I’d love to see a Tarzan movie that really followed the first two books. Raise your hand if you knew that Tarzan taught himself to read English, or that the first human language he spoke was French.
I love the way black and white movies use shadows and light for drama and effect ,
and most b/w have very little special effects so the actors and actresses have a lot of talent to carry the movie . I think some of the today actors and actresses would not made it without all the special effects in the movies . I am hoh so I mostly only hear the base in music which I can’t stand .
We showed our four-year grand daughter the Shirley Temple movie Bright Eyes (it was sappy but we enjoyed it).
As far as we knew, it was her first B&W movie, and she was a bit upset. She said she didn’t want to watch a “gray” movie - what a great description!
I asked my 12 year old today:
Me: Some man asked me if you’do look at Frankenweenie?
Her: He sounds like a perve.
Me: No, the movie, did you see the movie?
Her: No, but I plan to.
Me: You know it’s a black and white movie, right?
Her: Uh huh.
Me: So, why will you watch that movie and not all the other black and white movies I try to show you?
Her: 'Cause I know that one’s only a couple years old.
Me: Ah ha.
Her: I wanna get my nose pierced.
So, if she’s representative of a typical American kid, it’s not the lack of color they rebel against, it’s the preceived addition of years and lack of relevancy to their world view.