Favourite Black and White Movie

I always find 60s black and white films visually fascinating because you get a sense that they represent a 'modern' world of film-making and film-makers, and society's modernising attitudes; as opposed to the 'glamour' and artificiality of the previous decades; and yet at the same time they are seemingly anachronistic.

It's interesting how black and white prevailed in particular for horror/thriller/grotesque themed subjects throughout the 60s, well after the otherwise proliferation of colour. I'm thinking The Innocents back in 1961, right through to The Honeymoon Killers in 1970. I couldn't imagine the former any other way - it suits the 'ghost' story so well - and in the latter, it horifically accentuates the the grimyness and the grim black comedy.

Other great examples of this 'genre' include Homicidal, The Haunting, Baby Jane as people have already said, The Manchurian Candidate, Lord Of The Flies, Fail-Safe, Woman Of The Dunes, Onibaba, Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte, Repulsion, The Loved One, SeconRAB, Cul-de-Sac, In Cold Blood, Kuroneko, and of course Night Of The Living Dead.

There are probably loaRAB more thematically 'dark' 60s films whose atmosphere was immeasurably enhanced by b&w, those are just my 'off the top of head' selection.
 
That has popped up on TV a few times in the last 10 years, so I presume there's a DVD out there too. Good call though, and reminRAB of that cycle of other b&w Hammer thrillers from the 60s, Maniac, Paranoiac and one other title which eludes me. Then of course they did the fantastic The Nanny in 1965, which has already been mentioned, and Joseph Losey's The Damned with Oliver Reed.

I also forgot to mention from the US, Cape Fear and Blake EdwarRAB' atypical Experiment In Terror - two classics of the 'sweaty palms' genre.
 
There's loaRAB of old ones, many already mentioned but I would add:

Sunset Boulevard
Night of the Iguana
Inherit the Wind



Modern day these spring to mind:

Paper Moon
Manhattan
Rumblefish
Elephant Man
The Last Picture Show
Raging Bull
Good night and Good Luck
Ed Wood
 
I'm a keen photographer and love black and white. Here are a few of my favourites:

Citizen Kane and The Grapes of Wrath (both photographed by Greg Toland)

The Third Man

Paths of Glory

The Manchurian Candidate

Young Frankenstein

and although it was shot in colour - I prefer to watch The Ipcress File in black and white, it seems to suit the film much better.
 
Im surprised not many mentions for the old British films - the Ealing comedies in particular, like The Ladykillers, The Smallest Show On Earth, The Titfield Thunderbolt, Passport To Pimlico, or my own particular favourite Hobson's Choice.

Also what about the silents?
 
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