Oh, the magic you have missed! If the lack of shiny technicolor is all that keeps you away from B&W movies, you just haven't seen the right ones. Watch the first 15 minutes of any of these and I guarantee you that the lack of color is not what you'll be thinking. Instead, it will be "How messed up is Rick and Ilsa's relationship?" or "Now I see why generations of men have obsessed over Marilyn Monroe and millions of women want her hair."
• Casablanca (1942): What, you've never seen this?!? This movie just gets better with age -- it and yours. Marvel over the electricity between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
• It's A Wonderful Life (1946): Yes, it was on all the time at Christmas and it still makes the usual appearances. But have you ever stopped to watch this from start to finish? Christmas is the least of it. While the feel-good ending is what people remember, it's actually a pretty dark film about someone who's lost hope.
• Some Like It Hot (1959): A Billy Wilder-directed and written comedy starring Marilyn Monroe. Also Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis who I don't like in much else besides this. But they all make beautiful music together.
• It Happened One Night (1934): OK, you know all those cliches in romantic comedies these days? Roguish reporter who verbally spars -- then loves -- a runaway bride. Only one hotel room available. Sharing pajamas (he gets the pants, she the shirt). These were all original plot points in this movie -- and it's in no way cliche here! Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert and Frank Capra just starting to hit their peak.
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): I challenge you to not feel anything about the characters! Three veterans of WWII from different circumstances return home and face difficult adjustments. Harold Russell, who lost his hands for real in WWII, plays a disabled vet (and won an Oscar). Two of my favorite scenes ever are in this movie: One, when Fredric March returns home to his wife (Myrna Loy); and two, when the fiancee of Russell's character helps him get ready for bed to show that she doesn't care at all he has hooks for hands.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Random thoughts: 5 movies to help you get over your B&W film fears
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2 comments:
Four others to think of:
"Rear Window" -- Grace Kelly in black and white is Grace Kelly in color is Grace Kelly on the moon. Between her and the plot, you'll quickly forget the lack of color.
"Roman Holiday" -- Audrey Hepburn in black and white is Audrey Hepburn in color is Audrey Hepburn on the moon. I kid, I kid. Let's, for a second, imagine Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn darting about Rome on a scooter. Have that image, yes? Doesn't that image belong in black and white? No, really. Seriously.
"The Third Man" -- Orson Welles probably did more with black and white compared to what most of our contemporary directors have done with color. The shadows he evokes within the limited palette almost seem like another character in this film of intrigue and suspense.
"Control" -- Directed by Anton Corbijn, a famous photographer, this movie is about the band Joy Division and specifically about its lead singer, Ian Curtis. Every scene in the movie is seemingly a still photograph (obvious why, of course) and for those of us who love the band but missed its existence, the performances are electrifying. One of the few movies in recent years that's haunted me.
Roman Holiday is also perfect!! Good one.
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