black and white movies

[fish2plus2]

i keep trying to make myself watch some of these old movies that everyone says are brillant and the greatest movies of all time, but i find them insanely dull and boring. For instance, Singing in the Rain is one of the greatest films ever made, but I think having to actually watch it from the beginning to the end would be borderline torture. I also tried to watch 400 Blows, but nothing happens in the first 45 minutes. I also watched Pyscho, but it didnt scare me at all. I thought it was insanley boring. Does anyone know of any "greatest film lists" that instead of listing a bunch of films that are important to history, are actually the films that people love and enjoy watching multiple times during the year?

[pryor15]

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Does anyone know of any "greatest film lists" that instead of listing a bunch of films that are important to history, are actually the films that people love and enjoy watching multiple times during the year?

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those are the same lists. the films aren't on there just because they're "important". they're on there because they're the best ever made.

i enjoy watching the 400 blows.

great movies take more effort on your part, though, just like great music or great literature. it isn't going to spoon feed you

[Dominic]

wow...uh...not sure how to reply to this...

here's a few you will enjoy:

Casablanca
Double Indemnity
Some Like It Hot
Notorious
The Big Sleep
It's a Wonderful Life

If you don't enjoy these black & white films, I don't know what to tell you.

As for The 400 Blows...it's one of the most moving films of all time. Some films aren't about stuff that blows up good, you know?

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
wow...uh...not sure how to reply to this...

here's a few you will enjoy:

Casablanca
Double Indemnity
Some Like It Hot
Notorious
The Big Sleep
It's a Wonderful Life

If you don't enjoy these black & white films, I don't know what to tell you.

As for The 400 Blows...it's one of the most moving films of all time. Some films aren't about stuff that blows up good, you know?

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Off the top of my head add......

The Seven Samurai(and many other Kurosawa films)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
A Tree grows in Brooklyn
Death takes a Holiday
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance
I Remember Mama
Battleship Potemtkin

Uh....was Citizen Kane mentioned?

....... there are many more.

[kioshk]

Singing in the Rain is in color.

[Dominic]

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Singing in the Rain is in color.

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I wasn't going to mention that, I just figured the OP was giving an example of a film everyone thinks is great but he found boring.

[inside??]

I cannot stand to watch any black and white films except for "It's a Wonderful Life" which happens to be my favorite movie of all time.

[Dominic]

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I cannot stand to watch any black and white films except for "It's a Wonderful Life" which happens to be my favorite movie of all time.

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that's just bizarre.

[diebitter]

Wow, you really shouldn't dismiss films due to being black and white. Some of them are truly beautiful for it.


Try watching 'Bride of Frankenstein' for example. Watch it with the sound off if you like, but concentrate on the images. It has some beautiful lighting and composition. Same with 'Night of the Hunter'. Same with the first 20 minutes of the original Dracula. Same with Nosferatu.


Some of the greatest movies ever are black and white, even without these higher aesthetic elements. 5-6 of the Marx Brothers Films, the Laurel and Hardy shorts and a couple of their longer ones, or more modern stuff like Young Frankenstein, Ed Wood, Raging Bull...

There's a ton of great 50's sci-fi films too that are B&W that are awesome: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Incredible Shrinking Man, The Thing, and suchlike.

There's also a ton of great ganster movies from Warners (I think), like Public Enemy Number One, White Heat, Angels with Dirty Faces....


And that doesn't include foreign films: Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Wages of Fear, Virgin Spring, Seventh Seal...


And even among these more obscure films, there are truths either hidden or completely obvious that leave modern films WAY BEHIND (La Dolce Vita,Battle for Algiers).

KKF, the list just goes on and on, you really need to get past this.

[KOTLP]

I doubt your distaste for classics has much to do with lack of color. Try some of these modern (1980+) black and white movies:

Raging Bull
Ed Wood
Pi
Clerks
The Man Who Wasn't There
Down by Law
Schindler's List
The Elephant Man