# Movies That Just "Feel" Better In B&W **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479 "2011-04-07T01:11:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/21 "2011-04-07T23:13:22Z")
**The Third Man** - Perfect in Black and White! ---
**Author:** ![loshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@loshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loshan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/22 "2011-04-07T23:27:25Z")
Gaslight. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/23 "2011-04-07T23:51:27Z")
12 Angry Men, and Anatomy of a Murder. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/24 "2011-04-07T23:58:35Z")
**The Exorcist** First time I saw this movie, it was on a black and white television, and it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/25 "2011-04-08T01:21:48Z")
“The Pawnbroker” and “Ship of Fools” would lose a lot in color. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/26 "2011-04-08T03:14:25Z")
**Pi** would have lost a lot if it had been in color. Shadows are creepier in B & W. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/27 "2011-04-08T08:43:42Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Under no circumstances whatsover should Schindler’s List be colorized. This is what I came to mention. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/28 "2011-04-08T10:03:16Z")
_ **Nosferatu** _! Never colorize _Nosferatu_! The shadow work alone means it can only work its magic in black and white! I might be a philistine here, but I could go either way on _Metropolis_. If they’d had color at the time, they would have used it, and they obviously wanted to put on as big a visual spectacle as possible in this film, so colorizing it could almost be seen as enhancing the all-important visual aspect. I don’t recall any visual effects in _Metropolis_ being dependent on the black-and-white nature of the film. (The plot, on the other hand, was strictly monochrome.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/29 "2011-04-08T10:38:35Z")
Old horror, film noir, and I think [Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6-0Cz73wwQ) are best in B&W. Growing up in the 60s and 70s with B&W televisions [we didnt get a color set until 76, and I had my own B&W tv in my room that I bought with earned and gift money so I still tended to watch Tv in B&W until I bought my first color tv in 84] I still think of a lot of movies in B&W as I normally saw them that way. It can be jarring to see something like the old Jason and the Argonauts in color, because that was a sunday morning staple when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/30 "2011-04-08T13:09:45Z")
The Little Tramp. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/31 "2011-04-08T13:26:25Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I might be a philistine here, but I could go either way on _Metropolis_. If they’d had color at the time, they would have used it, and they obviously wanted to put on as big a visual spectacle as possible in this film, so colorizing it could almost be seen as enhancing the all-important visual aspect. They did have color at the time. It was called Tinting and Toning (and tangentially, Stenciling), and it was done with silent films pervasively (but not necessarily consistently, even within a single title’s distribution). So some of these color choices weren’t necessarily as artistic as others, but the use of color in movies (as opposed to actual color photography) was not a new thing, even in its very earliest days. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/32 "2011-04-08T13:27:07Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I heard on TV that WW2 was actually in colour. Well technically, yes…but color was only black and white back then. The world didn’t really come into color as we know it about the 60’s or so…and it was a bit grainy for a time. Since this is the Dope and you guys always demand cites…my cite is Calvin’s Dad. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/33 "2011-04-08T14:35:41Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > They did have color at the time. It was called Tinting and Toning (and tangentially, Stenciling), and it was done with silent films pervasively (but not necessarily consistently, even within a single title’s distribution). > > So some of these color choices weren’t necessarily as artistic as others, but the use of color in movies (as opposed to actual color photography) was not a new thing, even in its very earliest days. Right. I meant actual color motion picture film, which existed [by 1922](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_RTnd3Smy8) but was apparently too expensive to see any use. My point was that had real color film been available and cheap enough for the people making _Metropolis_, they would have used it. Also, tinting and toning doesn’t make an individual scene any less monochromatic. It’s only ‘color’ in the absolute most literal sense of the word. Shadows work just as well in neon blue as pure white. It’s the same visual language. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/34 "2011-04-11T17:35:04Z")
Paper Moon ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/35 "2011-04-11T18:13:56Z")
_To Kill a Mockingbird_. Never seen it in color and I don’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/36 "2011-04-11T18:46:37Z")
As a kid when we actually had a t.v. we used to love African Queen (Humphrey Bogar/Katherine Hepburn ) which was shown, I think round about christmas, every year . I was genuinlly amazed when I discovered that it had been made in colour. Still loved the movie though. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/37 "2011-04-11T19:21:57Z")
All those 1930’s musicals, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 1930’s comedies in general. All those slinky satin gowns, jaw-dropping art deco sets, those huge vases of flowers in every room, the swanky nightclubs full of little tables with lamps on each one. Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich all look swell in b&w. (besides, I think I would die from bitter envy if all those stunning sets and costumes were in beautiful color, lol.) I love Technicolor dearly, but that was more appropriate for the garish 40’s and 50’s. The 30’s WERE black and white. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/38 "2011-04-11T20:33:11Z")
_To Kill a Mockingbird_ (already mentioned) _A Christmas Carol_ (Alastair Sim version, 1951) ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479/39 "2011-04-12T00:57:38Z")
All of them, surely? If a movie was made in black-and-white and someone else intervenes and colorizes, it’s not really the movie we’re watching at all. (I do prefer contemporary movies to stay away from b&w. There are some I can think of it that pull it off well, but a lot of the time, b&w movies made in recent years feel false.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-just-feel-better-in-b-w/577479.md?page=1)