Come back after you’ve seen “2001”.
The Apartment
On the Waterfront
From Here To Eternity
Angels With Dirty Faces
T Dark Corner 1946 - Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix - This is a really nice drama about a private investigator - Lucille plays a loveable girl and does a great job.
**Invasion Of T Body Snatchers 1956 **- Kevin McCarthy & Dana Wynter - There was a remake in 1978 - but this one was always my favorite.
Kansas City Confidential 1952 - a fine crime caper film.
Dr. Strangelove
Young Frankenstein
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
Twelve Angry Men
Seven Samurai
Try watching Night of the Hunter sometime.
People have already listed most of my favorites, so how about
The Mad Miss Manson
Rebecca
Laura
Here are 3 films that I’m very surprised no one has yet mentioned
**On T Beach 1959 **- magnificent film about the end of the world - Directed by Stanley Kubrick - Great cast - Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire (but no dancing unfortunately)
**T Killing 1956 **- an early film by director Stanley Kubrick - one of his best movies - a real crime thriller
**Roman Holiday 1953 **- a beautiful love story with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn
Do you mean The Mad Miss Manton (1938)? I have never heard of it before. But I looked it up and it would appear to be a fine film. I will def try it out.
I love Barbara Stanwyck & Henry Fonda.
Thank you,
I have. That’s great too. But it’s not Third Man-great.
Not previously mentioned,
Hud
A Midwinter’s Tale
Young Frankenstein
Them
Psycho
**T Big Steal 1949 **- Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer & William Bendix - one of my favorites - love & crime in Mexico - extremely entertaiing
**Mystery Street 1950 **- Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forest & Bruce Bennet - very entertaining crime caper
Murder My Sweet 1944 - Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley - great crime movie - remade in 1978 as The Big Sleep with Robert Mitchum
Night of the Hunter
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Cohen Brothers)
**T Web 1947 **- stars Edmond O’Brien, William Bendix, Vincent Price and Ella Raines. Ella Raines is just stunning in this film.
**Scrooge 1951 **- Alistair Sim & Jack Warner - remake of “A Christmas Carol”. There have been other remakes, but IMHO, this is the best one of them all.
**Lady In T Lake 1947 **- Robert Montgomery & Audrey Totter - not everyone loves this one - but I sure do.
My all-time favorite B&W movie is The Third Man. Nice to see it getting so many mentions here.
Although not technically in black and white, Francis Ford Coppola made a movie recently called *Twixt *in which he attempted to evoke the same feel as old b&w movies using muted color palettes and other cinematic tricks. Although it sank like a stone at the box office (if it ever hit the big screen at all), I suspect fans of black&white would love it as much as I do:
To Have and Have Not (1944)
What’s not to like. Howard Hawks directs, Hemingway writes, Bogart & Bacall fall in love for real.
Allright you guys are great but I didn’t notice heretofore mentioned these classics:
a thousand clowns
sweet smell of success
the killing
Knife in the water
I posted The Killing in #67 above.
I have never heard of the other three before and will look forward to checking them out.
Thanks.
There are so many good B&W films that it’s impossible to pick just one favorite, but one that stands out to me is Cop Hater, based on the first 87th Precinct book. It stands out for a couple of reasons:
-
It’s the first screen appearance of Jerry Orbach, who plays the 17 year old leader of a street gang.
-
It seems to have no beginning and no end. It’s as if we came in to watch the detectives work just as they get a report of a cop being killed, and we watch until they’ve closed the case. Only the show doesn’t stop – the detectives just go on about their business as we decide it’s time to go home.
Just now got done watching To Kill A Mockingbird with my daughter.
Good movie, although I did find the final few scenes somewhat irksome.
Thanks for the chance to look back and recall so many wonderful black and white movies that have stayed good through the ages.
I suppose my favorite B&W movies, in approximate order, would be:
Schindler’s List
Psycho
Casablanca
Young Frankenstein
The Great Dictator
Roman Holiday
Citizen Kane
Modern Times
Twelve Angry Men
The Seven Samurai
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Night of the Living Dead
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
Woman in the Dunes
Wings of Desire
Vampyr
Nosferatu
I’ve got a nagging feeling I’m forgetting a few others.