Does Anyone Still Appreciate the Beauty of B&W/Monochrome Movies?

I'd start with T-Men, He Walked By Night, and Raw Deal. The Black Book is excellent too.

The irony is that he shot some of the most beautiful b&w films, but his Oscar came for shooting a color film, An American in Paris.

 

On the subject of John Alton, check out the opening scene of The Big Combo. It's a great example if his genius in shooting b&w.

The whole film is worth watching. A classic noir.

 

The Val Lewton films of the '40s have always looked good to me... especially the two earliest; Cat People, and I Walked With A Zombie. I got the box set plus the Scorsese documentary about him.

 

4 Devils (1928), the poor devil; it's considered a lost film, and the missing link between Sunrise (1927) and City Girl (1930).

I'd like to think that the reels are stacked somewhere, in excellent condition, with Murnau's skull sitting atop the tins, protecting the contents until the private owner passes away.

I think we should ask Jimmy Page about this.

 

There's a decent-looking print on the streaming service "Tubi". Much better than Amazon or Pluto.

 

That film is the prototype for Dragnet. Jack Webb appears in the film (and gives a performance far looser that how he played Joe Friday) and got the idea to do a radio show using a similar tone as the film.

The first episode of Dragnet came 4 months later.

 

it all boils down to age...

 

At the risk of going off topic, the original series of "The Twilight Zone" was totally enhanced by the fact that it was all in atmospheric black and white.
Practically every episode was like a miniature film noir.
I can't imagine it being half as effective in color. Or is that just nostalgia as Michael suggests above?
Nah, it's not. Monochrome is magic.

 

age= acceptance/love for...or a refusal due to the lack of color...I of course go with magical...so many wonderful movies I grew up with in B&W...

 

I don't think it's off topic. You're right. The Twilight Zone episodes are gorgeous B&W, full of depth, shade, and...other dimensions. The first episode that leaps to mind is "The Howling Man," 1960, but there are many others. The Blu-ray box has been a prized possession of mine since it came out. The PQ is amazing.

Besides, Season 4 was hour long episodes, which fits squarely with many hour length feature films of the 1930s and some film noir.

I generally like longer films, but there's something to be said for tight filming, tight edits, in and out, and that's a wrap.

Killer's Kiss (1955) dir. Stanley Kubrick 1hr 7min

 

This has been restored by UCLA from the OCN and FGM…..

https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2017/03/10/he-walked-by-night-open-secret

 

Not just the visual but the sound on The Twilight Zone seems excellent to me.

And how about the old Combat tv series with Vic Morrow? I remember some of those seeming like full-sized films visually, though it may've switched to color later I definitely saw some B&W ones.

 

You most definitely would have seen "Combat!" in B&W: The first four seasons were B&W, the last season in color.

 

True story: Back around 1995-96 there was a (then) brand-newly-restored version of Citizen Kane that was being rereleased to theaters — and I was SO excited to see it on a really big screen finally. I’d seen it maybe 2x back in college (late 80’s, and again once ~1992). But each time it was from a 16mm print (iirc), shown in a screening room that sat maybe 40 people tops — in the art department of the college I went to — on a screen that couldn’t have been more than 30 ft wide, iirc.

Then I’d graduated and moved to a much bigger city, and got my first real job — and made some new friends over the course of about a year. And when I heard about the limited 1-week run of Kane coming up in a couple months, I *literally* invited EVERYONE I knew in this new city (Kansas City) to go see it with me — and quite enthusiastically so!

What I didn’t think of, was that about 10-12 people actually took me up on it — and that they wouldn’t all be able to go see it on the same night. So… I happily went to see it — on one of the BIGGEST screens in the entire city — FOUR TIMES, all in the same week.

And Citizen Kane, being what it is, I saw and noticed NEW things each and every time I saw it — and I’ll forever treasure that immersive experience I had with the film that week.

All in glorious B&W!!

 

Love old movies.

I dont buy them, I have two oldies TV stations that allow me to catch up on all the old movies I've never seen before. Even fancy some of them that have been colourized....

 

The blu-ray from Classicflix looks great but is currently OOP.

 

A Place in the Sun (1951)

Does anyone have any thoughts about this movie? I've never seen it.

I believe the OCN has been ate up. It looks pretty for a dupe, though.

 

Odd Man Out, The Night Of The Hunter and Citizen Kane are some of the best looking black and white movies I can think of offhand. (and there's a certain scene in the movie Spellbound that's just stunning looking) (and also one in The Lady From Shanghai)
I love old black and white movies - almost all the best movies to me are from the '40s and '50s.
And I would never want to see Roman Holiday in color as well. I'm glad it was made in black and white.

 

Very good movie; I used to totally love it.
The Blu-ray is not excellent looking, but the movie's definitely worth seeing.

 

Oh I love The Elephant Man. I forgot about that now.
That would never have looked nearly as good in color. They just couldn't have done it, what with the makeup and such.

 

Raw Deal - the camera angles on Raymond Burr. (I say no more, don't want to give a spoiler)

 

Eraserhead's a really great looking movie; grim and depressing as hell, but brilliantly made.

 

I'm afraid I got a little fixated/overextended this Summer, over Oppenheimer.

"Fixated", because Nolan shot b&w IMAX film stock for the first time in history, and as an ex-film-student, I dearly wanted to see the film in pure IMAX, for just that reason.

"Overextended", because the current situation with my legs...
(need knee-replacment, can't get it until I get some cardiac issues dealt with first so I could comfortably rehab from that procedure!)...
...before I can trust I could scale the stairs in a proper IMAX theater, to get to the sweet spot, and not worry about what might happen if I needed to get out of there promptly.

But, I rilly rilly rilly wanted to see the film stock projected to its' best advantage all on its' own, even though I already saw the film in a much smaller auditorium (and no, didn't have the soundtrack-vs-dialogue issues many had with it)!