33 Comments on Beautiful Black and White Shots in Movie History
Third Man ; first and last
very powerful
have often wondered why b/w has such an impact when done well, perhaps it is because no one color can distract the viewer, not sure
Why is black and white no longer used?
I think B&W movies scream “nostalgia” making them fun to curl up to, kind of like a good, old book, but I also think there was more emphasis on plot and dialog as a result of color not being a distraction or an “effect” to attract-distract. That is something that we have seen in more “recent”years with the advent of digital special effects. Take those out of a lot of films today and you’re left with nothing.
Also keep in mind that aside from the cost, B&W film had the edge over color for sharpness, latitude and grain for years.
TP – to your question, take a movie today with a lot special effects, and make it B&W.
It would flop. I think B&W demands plot and dialog to support it.
Take a movie today that is a true story and pull the color out of it and you may wind up with a classic.
For one thing, nobody today can write the dialog…they’re too far removed. Westerns are a good example of why older is better, compare 3:10 to Yuma to the remake.
Don’t get me started on Ted Turner’s colorizing binge, either. Classic movies are better for all the same reasons a 49 Mercury is better than anything built today.
Good answers. Thank you.
A regular stock 49 Mercury or a chopped and channeled Merczillah. Me I prefer 48-49 Studebaker Champions and Studebaker Hawks from the mid 50’s. And yes black and white movies are better just like old time radio, they both rely on imagination and good writing.
There you go again. Always injecting race into the topic….
Oh. Nevermind.
Bongo, Audiences don’t know somebody sits down and writes a picture; they think the actors make it up as they go along.
Fantastic visuals.
The song playing was a cover of Feel Good, Inc., by Gorillas.
From the album, Demon Days
Here’s the original version. https://youtu.be/HyHNuVaZJ-k
The singer’s voice is like Paul Weller, which is a plus in my book.
Lighting was an artform once. And the old glass was great go to Ebay and price a Cooke lens from the 30′ or 40’s. I wish I knew what lens/filtration effects they used for the close ups in “Captain Blood”.
Bonus points for that montage including A Hard Day’s Night and The Train, two of my faves. Points deducted for excluding Buster Keaton.
You could go on to TCM On Demand and choose ANY random movie made in the 30s, 40s, or 50s in any genre whatsoever and have a 90% chance of seeing something great that you were previously unaware of – as apposed to seeing ANYTHING remotely interesting in an overhyped Oscar nominated piece of Hollywood crap made today.
Thank you Miz Strap, I love B&W, all the nuances you can accomplish by manipulating speed and exposure, an art.
Old school, you bet, just like me.
In the movie The Train with Burt Lancaster directed by John Frankenheimer, he did his own stunts just like Buster Keaton did in Steamboat Bill Jr. These 2 movies are among my favorites. And Dr. Srangelove would not have been the same if it had been in color. A dark comedy like Dr. Strangelove deserved black and white, the same thing for Young Frankenstein.
@ironyCurtain, I was bummed that they left out Ringo!
Yeah, yeah, yeah! Me, too. – Irony
Nice video. It would have been a little better I think to have had the movie names at the bottom though. The interesting thing is the shot of the .38 slowly turning toward the camera and just realizing that Clint Eastwood (or the director) stole that image for image to use in the Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force (or The Enforcer) opening credit sequence.
Don’t forget how important good, sometimes simple, music was to old films. Here’s that final scene from The Third Man with the original soundtrack:
Lighting, framing, scripts! Amazing art of the oldies. Special effects were really amazing, also.
And 7 Days In May and The Manchurian Candidate also directed by John Frankenheimer. Arsenic And Old Lace, The Purple Heat with Dana Andrews (probably one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood), same for The Oxbow Incident and The Westerner with Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan, all of Frank Capra’s movies etc., etc. were all better in B&W. And of course White Heat with Jimmy Cagney and Edmund O’Brien. And all of Bogie and Bacall’s movies, these all were some of the best.
You have excellent taste. These are some of my faves, as well. -Irony
The Purple Heart, not Purple Heat.
The Train, god, I haven’t seen that in forever. Good movie! Burt was in top form in Here to Eternity also.
“5 francs is 5 francs…”
My wife clean usually let me pick movies for movie night. She can’t stand Fistful of Dollars for some strange reason. But she does like Stalag 17, William Holden is like a thinking man’s Steve McQueen.
*never let’s me pick movies, darn android.
The Train is a masterpiece. Every single shot of that movie is masterfully crafted. If you love Frankenheimer, seek out another classic that’s on my, and BFH’s Top 10 of All Time List: “Seconds.” You can find the trailer on YouTube.
In an argument about colorization (which I oppose), I tried to tell an acquaintance that cinematography in black and white is different than in color. I wanted to give the example of giving an Ansel Adams print to a five-year-old with a box of crayons, but I didn’t get that far. The moment I mentioned Ansel Adams, my acquaintance said, “Oh, I hate Ansel Adams.” At that point I dropped the conversation because I knew my acquaintance had no taste.
Film makers no longer no how to shoot in black and white. It was a lost art even by the ’60’s in many cases.
As JustAl said, lighting was an art form once. By the ’60’s many B&W films just looked so flat because no one knew how to light them anymore. They were lit the same way as color films were, color films needing to be saturated with light in order to be filmed. B&W films lit the same was had no texture.
That scene from the Third Man was amazing. Logic would tell you that such a long shot of someone walking down the road with someone standing off to the side would have been boring. Instead, it was a magnificent scene, pulling together all of the elements of film making from the music to pacing to photography.
I also loved that Arkira Kirusawa was represented a couple of times in the video.
How can you hate Ansel Adams? His B&W photographs are master pieces.
I’ve never seen Seconds before. I just watched the trailer, I’m going to have to watch it. It looks like an extended version of something Rod Serling might have done on The Twilight Zone.
Yup. Serlingish for sure. And when they say, “Rock Hudson in an astonishing change of pace” man, they are not kidding! – Irony
That was lovely. I’ve been following Daniela Andrade’s career for a while, and that was a nice touch.
@ Boehnerdict Ryan Arnold, Weller from the Style Council? I wasn’t hearing it, but maybe it’s just me 😉
@kafir (at 11:04 am): If you’re talking about Papa Boule’s line, I would point out that it was actually “Four francs are four francs”, but that would be nitpicking, so I won’t do it.
🙂
The scariest Film of all time is the Silent “Nosferatu” in eerie Black and White !
Third Man ; first and last
very powerful
have often wondered why b/w has such an impact when done well, perhaps it is because no one color can distract the viewer, not sure
Why is black and white no longer used?
I think B&W movies scream “nostalgia” making them fun to curl up to, kind of like a good, old book, but I also think there was more emphasis on plot and dialog as a result of color not being a distraction or an “effect” to attract-distract. That is something that we have seen in more “recent”years with the advent of digital special effects. Take those out of a lot of films today and you’re left with nothing.
Also keep in mind that aside from the cost, B&W film had the edge over color for sharpness, latitude and grain for years.
TP – to your question, take a movie today with a lot special effects, and make it B&W.
It would flop. I think B&W demands plot and dialog to support it.
Take a movie today that is a true story and pull the color out of it and you may wind up with a classic.
For one thing, nobody today can write the dialog…they’re too far removed. Westerns are a good example of why older is better, compare 3:10 to Yuma to the remake.
Don’t get me started on Ted Turner’s colorizing binge, either. Classic movies are better for all the same reasons a 49 Mercury is better than anything built today.
Good answers. Thank you.
A regular stock 49 Mercury or a chopped and channeled Merczillah. Me I prefer 48-49 Studebaker Champions and Studebaker Hawks from the mid 50’s. And yes black and white movies are better just like old time radio, they both rely on imagination and good writing.
There you go again. Always injecting race into the topic….
Oh. Nevermind.
Bongo, Audiences don’t know somebody sits down and writes a picture; they think the actors make it up as they go along.
Fantastic visuals.
The song playing was a cover of Feel Good, Inc., by Gorillas.
From the album, Demon Days
Here’s the original version.
https://youtu.be/HyHNuVaZJ-k
The singer’s voice is like Paul Weller, which is a plus in my book.
Lighting was an artform once. And the old glass was great go to Ebay and price a Cooke lens from the 30′ or 40’s. I wish I knew what lens/filtration effects they used for the close ups in “Captain Blood”.
Bonus points for that montage including A Hard Day’s Night and The Train, two of my faves. Points deducted for excluding Buster Keaton.
You could go on to TCM On Demand and choose ANY random movie made in the 30s, 40s, or 50s in any genre whatsoever and have a 90% chance of seeing something great that you were previously unaware of – as apposed to seeing ANYTHING remotely interesting in an overhyped Oscar nominated piece of Hollywood crap made today.
Thank you Miz Strap, I love B&W, all the nuances you can accomplish by manipulating speed and exposure, an art.
Old school, you bet, just like me.
In the movie The Train with Burt Lancaster directed by John Frankenheimer, he did his own stunts just like Buster Keaton did in Steamboat Bill Jr. These 2 movies are among my favorites. And Dr. Srangelove would not have been the same if it had been in color. A dark comedy like Dr. Strangelove deserved black and white, the same thing for Young Frankenstein.
@ironyCurtain, I was bummed that they left out Ringo!
Yeah, yeah, yeah! Me, too. – Irony
Nice video. It would have been a little better I think to have had the movie names at the bottom though. The interesting thing is the shot of the .38 slowly turning toward the camera and just realizing that Clint Eastwood (or the director) stole that image for image to use in the Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force (or The Enforcer) opening credit sequence.
Don’t forget how important good, sometimes simple, music was to old films. Here’s that final scene from The Third Man with the original soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94SkxSjC91U
Lighting, framing, scripts! Amazing art of the oldies. Special effects were really amazing, also.
And 7 Days In May and The Manchurian Candidate also directed by John Frankenheimer. Arsenic And Old Lace, The Purple Heat with Dana Andrews (probably one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood), same for The Oxbow Incident and The Westerner with Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan, all of Frank Capra’s movies etc., etc. were all better in B&W. And of course White Heat with Jimmy Cagney and Edmund O’Brien. And all of Bogie and Bacall’s movies, these all were some of the best.
You have excellent taste. These are some of my faves, as well. -Irony
The Purple Heart, not Purple Heat.
The Train, god, I haven’t seen that in forever. Good movie! Burt was in top form in Here to Eternity also.
“5 francs is 5 francs…”
My wife clean usually let me pick movies for movie night. She can’t stand Fistful of Dollars for some strange reason. But she does like Stalag 17, William Holden is like a thinking man’s Steve McQueen.
*never let’s me pick movies, darn android.
The Train is a masterpiece. Every single shot of that movie is masterfully crafted. If you love Frankenheimer, seek out another classic that’s on my, and BFH’s Top 10 of All Time List: “Seconds.” You can find the trailer on YouTube.
In an argument about colorization (which I oppose), I tried to tell an acquaintance that cinematography in black and white is different than in color. I wanted to give the example of giving an Ansel Adams print to a five-year-old with a box of crayons, but I didn’t get that far. The moment I mentioned Ansel Adams, my acquaintance said, “Oh, I hate Ansel Adams.” At that point I dropped the conversation because I knew my acquaintance had no taste.
Film makers no longer no how to shoot in black and white. It was a lost art even by the ’60’s in many cases.
As JustAl said, lighting was an art form once. By the ’60’s many B&W films just looked so flat because no one knew how to light them anymore. They were lit the same way as color films were, color films needing to be saturated with light in order to be filmed. B&W films lit the same was had no texture.
That scene from the Third Man was amazing. Logic would tell you that such a long shot of someone walking down the road with someone standing off to the side would have been boring. Instead, it was a magnificent scene, pulling together all of the elements of film making from the music to pacing to photography.
I also loved that Arkira Kirusawa was represented a couple of times in the video.
How can you hate Ansel Adams? His B&W photographs are master pieces.
I’ve never seen Seconds before. I just watched the trailer, I’m going to have to watch it. It looks like an extended version of something Rod Serling might have done on The Twilight Zone.
Yup. Serlingish for sure. And when they say, “Rock Hudson in an astonishing change of pace” man, they are not kidding! – Irony
That was lovely. I’ve been following Daniela Andrade’s career for a while, and that was a nice touch.
@ Boehnerdict Ryan Arnold, Weller from the Style Council? I wasn’t hearing it, but maybe it’s just me 😉
@kafir (at 11:04 am): If you’re talking about Papa Boule’s line, I would point out that it was actually “Four francs are four francs”, but that would be nitpicking, so I won’t do it.
🙂
The scariest Film of all time is the Silent “Nosferatu” in eerie Black and White !