|
|
Post by chronotigger65 on Sept 5, 2016 14:20:35 GMT -5
Put it simply, do you enjoy watching old movies from the black & white era like from silent movies to the 60's? Many of us here I assume grew up in the 80's and 90's and some of these movies were still being shown back then. Sure, their still being shown on certain channels like AMC or TCM (or is it TMC) but I don't know how popular they are today with more modern film overshadowing them. I wait and see how this topic goes before I make my own thoughts on the subject.
|
|
|
|
Post by JDarkside on Sept 5, 2016 14:24:10 GMT -5
Not silent films, but there's a lot of classics from the black and white era. My personal favorite remains 12 Angry Men, which got a really well done remake in the 90s, I think (the one with the Sopranos guy).
|
|
|
|
Post by kaoru on Sept 5, 2016 14:35:42 GMT -5
Sure there are some interesting ones I watched. Like Night of the Living Dead, Nosferatu, Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, The Seventh Seal, some of the early Kubricks, a couple of the Universal Monsters line are classics for a reason too. Even Birth of a Nation is rather interesting from a film history point of view. The first Gamera and Godzilla, while a bit slow, also have some charm to them.
|
|
|
|
Post by JDarkside on Sept 5, 2016 14:42:08 GMT -5
Sure there are some interesting ones I watched. Like Night of the Living Dead, Nosferatu, Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, The Seventh Seal, some of the early Kubricks, a couple of the Universal Monsters line are classics for a reason too. Even Birth of a Nation is rather interesting from a film history point of view. The first Gamera and Godzilla, while a bit slow, also have some charm to them. Oh yeah, you reminded me that a "remake" of Birth of a Nation is coming out, except it's more focused on debunking the racist lies of the films. Just look at the poster, it's not subtle: www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn03.cdn.justjared.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fheadlines%2F2016%2F07%2Fthe-birth-of-a-nation-poster.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justjared.com%2F2016%2F07%2F17%2Fbirth-of-a-nation-poster-features-nate-parker-hung-by-a-flag%2F&docid=q7ELl8J3tkDVEM&tbnid=2bzCD97xjYFJwM%3A&w=270&h=350&bih=643&biw=1366&ved=0ahUKEwjd7Kjt_fjOAhVKRSYKHd_SAYUQMwggKAIwAg&iact=mrc&uact=8 |
|
|
|
Post by llj on Sept 5, 2016 15:05:46 GMT -5
I've watched a ton of them. At this point it's not really about "liking" or "disliking" them, I've been watching a steady diet of them for over 2 decades now and to me a black and white movie is really just a movie like any other to me. There are certain visual advantages one can have with black and white (use of contrast, light and shadow, etc,.), and there are of course the obvious disadvantages (limited palette), but it doesn't require any big change of mindset to watch one. By this I mean I don't think of them as an artifact of the past or anything that I have to "train" myself to "get into."
As far as subject matter goes, sure, sometimes they can be dated in terms of politics and beliefs, but most movies, whether it's made in 1935 or 2016, are still about people. And even though politics, society and technology changes, people on an individual level fundamentally aren't much different now than they were 50, 100, 200, or 500 years ago.
As far as what I like:
I love Anatomy of a Murder. In fact I have it on my personal list as one of the 5 best American movies ever made. I like most Billy Wilder films, a couple of Orson Welles (especially his Touch of Evil and The Lady from Shanghai), and Hitchcock's b&w movies. I've seen a metric ton of film noirs, in fact I have several DVD boxes full of pulpy b&w noirs.
Moving to other countries, Japan had a great run of b&w movies right after the war. Movies by Kurosawa, Ozu, Imamura, Naruse, the Nikkatsu genre stuff.
As for as European films go there's of course b&w french films which have a rich history right up to the middle of the French New Wave. And then those famous Danish filmmakers (Dreyer), the Swedes (Bergman), the Italians (Antonioni, Fellini, etc,).
I'm not as well versed in silent films, but I've seen most of the "notable" ones with Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Murnau, Lang, etc,.
|
|
|
|
Post by Weasel on Sept 5, 2016 15:11:55 GMT -5
One of my favorite movies fits neatly in this category: "Murder, My Sweet," an adaptation of one of Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe books, and one of the few from the era that kept his running monologue intact.
|
|
|
|
Post by Elvin Atombender on Sept 5, 2016 16:39:05 GMT -5
Not silent films, but there's a lot of classics from the black and white era. My personal favorite remains 12 Angry Men, which got a really well done remake in the 90s, I think (the one with the Sopranos guy). 12 Angry Men is without a doubt one of the greatest movies of all time, some scenes are still incredibly powerful today. Sometimes I still wonder if number 7 made it to the game. Haven't seen the remake yet, though. Another movie I hold dear is Sons Of The Desert with Laurel & Hardy, in no small part because "We're just like two peas in a pod" is still a very common phrase among my family members, along with the Marx brother's Duck Soup. Other classic American b&w movies I still rewatch when I can are Double Indemnity and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Moving on to Europe, France is responsible for two favorites of mine, the comedy classic Les Vacances of Monsieur Hulot and Rififi, perhaps the greatest heist movie ever made before Michael Mann's Heat. And obviously you can't ignore British classic The Third Man. As for Italy, while obviously the legacy of the neo-realist movement (early De Sica, Rossellini, Visconti etc) cannot be denied it should also be noted that the 50s and the 60s were also a golden age of Italian comedy movies, helmed by directors such as the late De Sica, Vanzina, Comencini and Monicelli. Speaking of De Sica: if you think that Grave Of The Fireflies is the saddest movie ever made, try to watch Umberto D. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2016 17:27:38 GMT -5
Touch of Evil, anyone?
|
|
|
|
Post by toei on Sept 5, 2016 17:45:27 GMT -5
Speaking of De Sica: if you think that Grave Of The Fireflies is the saddest movie ever made, try to watch Umberto D. Actually, try watching Barefoot Gen (the animated version). Same topic, much more direct approach, incredibly sad and powerful. As for the topic, cinephiles tend to have a b & w fetish. Any review for a b & w film is likely to rave about the "stark black-and-white cinematography", sometimes hyperbolically so, no matter what it actually looks like. I never understood that, and there is no doubt in my mind that color is superior. But a good movie is a good movie regardless, and after a while I don't care. A good example is The Last Kamikaze, which is pretty great despite the censored ending. |
|
|
|
Post by llj on Sept 6, 2016 12:50:06 GMT -5
Speaking of De Sica: if you think that Grave Of The Fireflies is the saddest movie ever made, try to watch Umberto D. Actually, try watching Barefoot Gen (the animated version). Same topic, much more direct approach, incredibly sad and powerful. As for the topic, cinephiles tend to have a b & w fetish. Any review for a b & w film is likely to rave about the "stark black-and-white cinematography", sometimes hyperbolically so, no matter what it actually looks like. I never understood that, and there is no doubt in my mind that color is superior. But a good movie is a good movie regardless, and after a while I don't care. A good example is The Last Kamikaze, which is pretty great despite the censored ending. Color is more versatile, sure, but black and white certainly can have advantages when it comes to establishing mood. I've always preferred the look and mood of black and white crime noirs over color ones, personally. I think this is the genre where b&w is most advantageous over color. |
|
|
|
Post by vivianjames on Sept 11, 2016 16:06:22 GMT -5
I read the title as BBW...
Also liked a few Hitchcock movies, Psycho, Dial M for Murder, Strangers on a train. I still prefer his colored works though.
|
|
|
|
Post by llj on Sept 12, 2016 12:39:40 GMT -5
I agree Hitchcock's color movies are better, but less because they are in color and more because they are simply better directed, more ambitious, and more skillfully plotted.
My favorite Hitchcock b&w is probably Shadow of a Doubt. Suspicion is almost great except for the studio-imposed ending.
A great late b&w film people should check out is Seconds, starring Rock Hudson and directed by John Frankenheimer.
|
|
|
|
Post by chronotigger65 on Sept 12, 2016 16:17:20 GMT -5
Now my two cents. I hardly see anything these days cause I'm not very into movies these days. The last old movie I saw was Journey to the Center of the Earth. But back in the day I enjoyed the live action movies that had the stop motion stuff like the Sinbad series and the various Roman/Greek myth ones.
Today I have some interest seeing a few old ones which are The Day the Earth Stood Still, the silent version of The Phantom of the Opera and the terrible but somewhat classic Plan 9 From Outer Space. And not trying to sound offensive, but I been wanting to see a release of the somewhat controversial Song of the South. Things been released worldwide but never really fully released in the States as it's considered somewhat racist but there are those who consider it a lost classic.
|
|
