Ah yes, the sense of innocence in Fury, I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, The Lost Weekend, They Were Expendable, The Grapes of Wrath, Black Legion, Gun Crazy, Ace in the Hole, Johnny Belinda, Home of the Brave, Pinky, The Ox-Bow Incident, and No Way Out.
Memento uses B&W for some shots.
This is to distinguish between the two time frames that happen in the movie. The b&w scenes move forward toward the death of John G. and the color scenes move backward toward the same scene, from the death of Teddy. I probably got that wrong. But the point is, there was a specific reason for using monochrome.
I love b/w films, but my students seem stunned when I show them, or pieces of them, in college classes. I loathe colorized movies because the colors, having been laid on top of black and white, look artificial and sometimes they “bleed.”
Some favorites: Pi, To Kill a mockingbird, The Elephant Man, Ed Wood.
Without the b/w, they wouldn’t have the same kind of atmosphere, nor would certain things show up as well: steam, smoke, fog, shadows.
I used to teach, and I can’t begin to tell you how many of my students hated black and white films. Luckily, a lot grew out of it later.
Personally, I have to thank Ted Turner for one thing…the “one reel wonders” that are shown on his stations. They are veritable time capsules of history. Some of those have B/W footage of musical groups never seen before or since, the same with the actors. I wish they would have an entire day of nothing but the “one reel wonders”…that would be a day I would call in sick, watch them all and tape them at the same time!
Another advantage of the older B&W films is that they were shot on nitrate and silver stock, giving them a smooth glow and patina that no modern film stock–color or b&w–can match.
Look at the beautifully-lighted close-ups of Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Claudette Colbert–you just can’t get that effect today. It’s like trying to recreate a Rembrandt or a Franz Hals with modern canvas and paint.