Ikiru The Hidden Fortress High & Low Out of the Past 8 1/2 The Manchurian Candidate Night of the Living Dead Some Like It Hot The Apartment Closely Watched Trains Woman In the Dunes Most of Franchise Blade's list
Boy, you don't want to get me started on this topic. I was going to mention some older black and white movies in the Obscure Movies thread, but I wasn't quite sure that was the kind of obscure people had in mind. First off there's the Genius that is Preston Sturges who directed: The Lady Eve- For my money this is the greatest screwball comedy of all time. It features Barbara Stanwyck (of Double Indemnity fame) in a wonderfully comedic turn. And Henry Fonda plays the earnest straight man to perfection. It's smart and witty, and holds up very well even to this day. Miracle at Morgan's Creek- It's easily one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. As a pure comedy, it might be Sturges' best work. And that's saying something. And it holds up even better than the Lady Eve. Sullivan's Travels- It's probably the most famous of Sturges' work, since the title of the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou" by the Coen brothers is a reference to this film. It's not as funny as Miracle, and it's not as sharp as The lady eve, but it still has Veronica Lake at her best. She's got that long wavy peek-a-boo hairstyle, a deep sexy voice, and a smart, confident, attitude. They don't make women like this anymore. Actually they never made women like the kind in Sturges' films. They're just a little too smart, and hip and cool and sexy. The only downside to this film is that it's probably more dated than anything else I've mentioned due to it's broad comedy. There are some slapstick sequences that are quite over the top. Unfaithfully Yours- I'm sure it's the least known Sturges movie, but it's an absolute gem. The tone is a bit different from the other ones, and it makes a dramatic shift even during the course of the movie, but it is truly one of the funniest films I've ever seen. I don't want to give anything away, because so much of this movie relies on surprise, but just trust me. If you ever catch this movie on TCM or see it at the video store, watch it/rent it and just enjoy. And make sure it's the original with Rex Harrison and not the remake with Dudley Moore. I have others, but I'll have to get to them later.
My favorite is Guys and Dolls. While not an incredible movie by itself, Marlon Brando is such a freaking bad-ass in his role. Not a bad guy to emulate, IMO. Plus the music is pretty decent, as well.
I heart Suzuki. BOILED RICE. All his gangster films that I've seen have been fun to watch. Check out "Beauty of the Underworld." [insert subtomic's and FranchiseBlade's list] Stuff that I don't think has been mentioned yet - Don't forget the noir: Out of the Past (This movie pretty much sums up, for me at least, what noir is all about) Night of the Hunter (more Mitchum!) The Third Man Touch of Evil Rififi [insert most of Ingmar Bergman's B&W movies] [previously mentioned Chaplin films] [Bettie Page bondage films ] A couple older Fritz Lang's: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (a continuation of a character from 'M', interesting story with some vivid imagery) Metropolis (seems an obvious choice, but other than being beautiful and intricately designed, the story is good too) Recent B&W's: Werckmeister Harmonies (if you watch this, you'll probably end up wanting to watch Tarr's 'Satantango' - all 7 hours of it) The Call of Cthulhu (a silent B&W movie from 2005 clocking in at under an hour) Misc. Silents: Louis Feuillade's early (1913, 14) Superhero ("Judex") and Supervillian ("Fantomas") movie serials are lots of fun. Fantomas' giddy criminality and flashes of surrealism make it my favorite set of serials. Georg Wilhelm Pabst's two movies with Louise Brooks - "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl" - aren't great movies, but they're not bad, and you get to look at Louise Brooks for a couple of hours. The observant viewer can also get a strong sense of what the Jazz age meant to the people experiencing it. (you know, I am usually hesitant to post in threads like this because I always reach a certain point where I realize that I could go on forever, and in this particular thread there's a chance that I will feel compelled to mention my collection of p*rn films from the 1920s/30s/40s ... which I just did. )
Those are some sweet ones. I should have included those. I almost put Touch of Evil on my list for the obscure movie threads.
Huh? Why? And Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is in color. My faves: Duck Soup No Time For Sergeants Bringing Up Baby A Touch of Evil Casablanca Horsefeathers How Green Was My Valley His Girl Friday Philadelphia Story Story of G.I. Joe Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Born Yesterday Best Years of Our Lives (my fave movie) Dark Victory Guess that's enough for starters.
I look forward to your future posts on this topic because I actually prefer older (ie pre-1970) movies. Half of my TV viewing time is spent on TCM.
I could have swore when I 1st saw it . . it was black and white I could be wrong . . . maybe the pale technocolor had me Scratch it from the list then It was an interesting movie to me. . . Spencer Tracy and Sidney Portier and Kathy Hepburn . . . THAT'S OLD SKOOL STAR POWER!!! Inherit the Wind. . . seeing Darren from BEWITCHED and the subject matter was enough. Even ole Bill Bixby was in it 12 Angry Men . . .interesting dynamics of a jury Room they did a remake recently . . .no so good Rocket River
As do I. . . . . Alot of these movies are 99 cent rentals so . . easy to get if u can find them Black and White movies are an acquired taste for me they use to give me headaches Except for the Stooges, Marx Brothers and Abbot and Costello Then I started watching Inherit the Wind for a class then got caught up in 12 Angry Men I see them coming on TCM . . but don't know much about them So i kind of dismiss them. . . . Now I have a list to compare them too . . Rocket River
I'm really glad you started this thread. There have been a lot of great suggestions. Could yiu elaborate about what you mean when you say that black and white movies gave you a headache? Was it simply the lack of color, or was there some other reason?
