(Untitled)

[currawong]

"The Last Picture Show" has made me think of other beautiful black and white films

Comments

[kugelblitz]

Casablanca. Bride of Frankenstein, no really!

[currawong]

Weally!

[kugelblitz]

BoF just has the most surreal arrangements in terms of light and dark. It is favorite (and I saw you had it listed-of course thirty seconds after I posted).

[currawong]

I had written in Casablanca too, but stuff sometimes disappears as I write and I don't notice till later ... I have put it back.

Others that belong on the beautiful black and white list include:

The Ghost and Mrs Muir
The Portrait of Jenny
The Scarlet Empress
Touch of Evil
La Strada
Nights of Cabiria
The Rules of the Game
Gunga Din
Captain Blood
The Mark of Zorro
Kiss of Death
To Kill A Mockingbird
How Green Was My Valley
The Little Foxes
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Miracle Worker.

[myrhiann]

I seem to remember some of Greta Garbo's films as being beautiful also. Lost in the mists of time though, I don't remember the titles. It seems to me there were many more interesting films back in the days of black and white. It may be partially the different processing medium, and also the interplay of light and shadow, which they crafted really well.

[currawong]

Black and white required lower light levels than colour ...as a result, subtler lighting effects were possible, such as the use of mini-spots on the eyes by von Sternberg when filming Marlene Dietrich's face, or the subtle shadowy shots of light though venetian blinds on the hero's face, or a neon sign outside the detective's window, in many a film noir such as "Farewell My Lovely", ("Murder my Sweet")

A few of the Garbo films you're thinking of include "Camille, "Ninotchka", "Queen Christina" and "Grand Hotel".