Your top two Black & White movies - one comedy, one drama.

Cafe Society
1

For me, the comedy has to be The Philadelphia Story, with its three act / three actor structure and perfect pitch by Kate, Jimmy and Cary.

For drama, there’s really no contest: Casablanca. Perfectly balanced ensemble cast, Bogie and Bergman, plus Rains and Greenstreet and Lore and Dooley. Great story (sure, wartime propaganda, yadda yadda - still a great story). Plus As Time Goes By and La Marseillaise. And the best closing speech to the eternal love triangle ever.

(I’d mention The Maltese Falcon as a close runner-up, but hey: La Marseillaise!)

2

I want to reply but am uncertain. Do the movies have to have similar themes, or is it always just a comedy that complements a drama, of any sort/

3

I’m torn between The Women (the original, obviously) and Some Like It Hot for comedy.

My drama has to be Stage Door.

4

Comedy: Bringing Up Baby. The screwiest of screwball comedies. I wish I could forget this movie so I could experience for the first time again.

Drama: Seven Samurai. The only action/adventure movie that can be put forward as the greatest film ever made and not get side eyes and smirks. And no CGI (that looks outdated a few years later).

5

Im sure im overlooking tons of great movies. But the two that immediately popped into my brain are Schindler’s List and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Yinz can guess which movie goes in which category.

6

Some Like it Hot for comedy.

Inherit the Wind for drama. It’s particularly apt for today.

7

Comedy: The Lady Eve

Drama: Gentleman’s Agreement. I can watch it over and over, and I still find it relevant.

8

These are my choices.

9

Arsenic and Old Lace for comedy.

Casablanca for drama.

10

I just went through my list of my 100 favorite films, and these are the ones that are completely in black and white (although several of my favorites are both color and black and white):

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, U.S., dir. Lewis Milestone)
Camille (1937, U.S., dir. George Cukor)
Casablanca (1942, U.S., dir. Michael Curtiz)
Citizen Kane (1941, U.S., dir. Orson Welles)
Dr. Strangelove (1964, U.K., dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Duck Soup (1933, U.S., dir. Leo McCarey)
Freaks (1932, U.S., dir. Tod Browning)
The Great Dictator (1940, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, U.S., dir. Frank Capra)
King Kong (1933, U.S., dir. Merian C. Cooper)
La Jetée (1962, France, dir. Chris Marker)
La Strada (1954, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini)
The Last Picture Show (1971, U.S., dir. Peter Bogdanovich)
M (1931, Germany, dir. Fritz Lang)
The Maltese Falcon (1941, U.S., dir. John Huston)
Modern Times (1936, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin)
Psycho (1960, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
The Searchers (1956, U.S., dir. John Ford)
Seven Samurai (1954, Japan, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
The Third Man (1949, U.K., dir. Carol Reed)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, U.S., dir. John Huston)

I have no idea which is my favorite drama and which is my favorite comedy.

11

Casablanca is a strong contender for best movie, ever, which, given that it’s a black and white movie and a drama, would also make it the best black and white drama.

On the other hand, if it’s my top black-and-white, then I’m going to have to say Forbidden Planet. It takes a lot of skill to improve on Shakespeare (and my favorite Shakespeare, at that), but they did it.

B&W comedies I’m not as familiar with, but I’ll toss out a vote for something of Charlie Chaplin’s.

EDIT: Oh, and I also fixed the title.

12

I thought Forbidden Planet was in color?

13

Comedy: Some Like It Hot - “Well, nobody’s perfect,” is probably the second* funniest one-line-joke in any movie.

Drama: Citizen Kane - really just lives up to its reputation.

*First for me is “Hey, where all the white women at?” in Blazing Saddles.

14

Comedy: It Happened One Night
Drama: Casablanca

15

Just whatever you think is the best if each category.

Personally, I like good ensemble movies, so my comedy and drama both had that. And love stories are one of the most basic themes in comedy and drama.

Plus, for Casablanca, perhaps the best closing line in any movie: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

16

Thanks!

17

Comedy: Bringing Up Baby or Arsenic and Old Lace. Don’t make me choose.
Drama: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

18

How can you overlook: “I’ll have what she’s having.”

:wink:

But yes, Some Like It Hot is certainly a contender.

19

I found Cary just a bit too frantic in that one.

I don’t like frantic.

20

Metropolis and City Lights.