Posted on 02/12/2011 9:19:45 AM PST by JoeProBono
"There's been a recent debate as to the validity of black-and-white films. Many of the youngsters say, "I just don't get it." Well, don't feel like the Lone Ranger young children. Ted Turner has similar thoughts on the supposed curse of black and white.
Whether one would like to admit it or not, the greatest films in history, to include horror, science fiction, suspense and drama, have been made in the breathtaking anti-color of black and white. According to film director John Carpenter in his inventive opus They Live, the reason films are now in color is because of an invasion of aliens during the 1950s. Nice going John, for you are not far from the truth.
I have compiled an unquestionable list made up of the 20 greatest black and white films in the history of mankind. And mind you, I have added a bonus of five Honorable Mentions. For those of you unacquainted, this list is as good a place to start as any. Enjoy some of the greatest films ever made, and they are all in glorious black and white."
Orson Welles and Charlton Heston in Touch of Evil, 1958
"The Bedford Incident" American actors Sidney Poitier (2nd from L) and Richard Widmark (3rd from L) on the set of the 1965 film "The Bedford Incident," directed by American director James B. Harris.
No casablanca? I remember watching it and counting the times they used shadows to depict action (for instance, when Bogart goes to the safe. And all the palm plants shadowed against the walls. Not the same in color.
By the way, I saw the original “feather” Top Hat dress that Ginger Rogers wore. Fred Astaire hated it - you can see the feathers flying around while they dance, but it really doesn’t show up in the black and white. It is really sky blue, not white.
I always wonder what color so many of the original dresses are. I remember reading an article by Edith Head, that so many of the dresses were not the same color you think - they would test them in black and white, to see how the color “read” on the screen.
For instance, the “Jezebel” dress where Betty Davis was supposed to wear a red dress to the ball - they found the color that “screamed” red was really a brown.
I'm also a fan of The Third Man.
Interesting personal, political and social commentary and haunting zither music.
Speaking of Poitier - Lilies of the Fields.
Very interesting. Thank you.
I was thinking of that one myself. I just saw it over Christmas while deployed at a navy base overseas. I was stunned by the artwork of the sewer chase.
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Third Man
How could “The Longest Day” be left off?
Ha ha. I didn’t see YF at 23! How about Shoeshine?
La Strada as well as Fellini’s 8 1/2, which is surely the most thematically complex and photographically masterful films he ever made.
I am biased - I have seen all of the “great films” but 8 1/2 still stands out as a singular masterpiece.
By the way... Who directed Casablanca? Anyone know without googling? Anyone? ...Anyone?
BTW, "Casablanca" sux.
The latter is not a black-and-white film, and would indeed have suffered greatly had it been filmed as such.
Regards,
The script is great. You sort of live Holly Martins’ nightmare along with him. You don’t know what’s going to happen next.
Ping
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