Old b&w movies..

Anyone else obsessed with them?

I have hundreds of them and never seem to tire of watching them. They just seem to have so much more depth to them.

If you’re like minded, whats you’re favourite three?

Goodbye Mr. Chips – Robert Donat, Greer Garson
Random Harvest – Ronald Colman, Greer Garson
Hobson’s Choice – Charles Laughton, John Mills

and so many more.

I have a laurel and hardy boxset that i need to watch at some point. The original the day the earth stood still was one of my favorite moves as a kid.

I have a laurel and hardy boxset that i need to watch at some point.

We have this. Some of my childrens favourite films. They pick the B&W versions over the colourised ones too.

Big fan of Alfred Hitchcock work, got most of them now on dvd

Rear window, being one of my all time favorite films.

I have hundreds of them and never seem to tire of watching them. They just seem to have so much more depth to them.

I agree, far more story telling involed with some early B&W movies, compaired to most modern movies, relying on special effects.

Larceny, Inc.
To Have and Have Not. (humph bacall interaction is electric)
Key Largo.

Same as wwaswas ,my kids got into them when they were staying over at the inlaws.

Harold Lloyd ..Safety Last

Laurel and Hardy ..Way Out West

Norman Wisdom ..The Bulldog Breed

ski – Member
Big fan of Alfred Hitchcock work, got most of them now on dvd

Rear window, being one of my all time favorite films.

I have hundreds of them and never seem to tire of watching them. They just seem to have so much more depth to them.
I agree, far more story telling involed with some early B&W movies, compaired to most modern movies, relying on special effects.

Rear Window is in colour isn’t it but we’ll take your point…

To Have and Have Not. (humph bacall interaction is electric)

+1

The maltese falcon
the desperate hours
ice cold in alex

how old is old?
Juha is BW,1999 vintage if I remember rightly.never seen a kaurismaki film I didn’t like.
The doctor mabuse films are great.bit older.
1950s hollywood noir films are well lit,have decent scripts and always entertaining.
but for me,au hasard balthazar,les dames de bois de boulogne,jean of arc all by Bresson.Robert,not luc.

Casablanca – genius.
The Big Sleep is great also – if you work out who shot the driver, please let me know, never figured it out.
.
Dead of Night – classic British horror, genuinely scary. See also Halfway House.
Green for danger – Alastair Sim at his best.

Hundreds more, tbh. All the Ealing stuff is wonderful, as is the early Hitchcock stuff.

Rear Window is in colour though 😀

Marx Brothers movies are my faves. Not to every taste tho

I think the real difference is with old films you watch them for the story, people watch modern films for the special effects which seem to take precedence over the story. And if going by what my workmates think its what people seem to want these days!

Difficult to choose a top three but some of my favourites are:

Twelve Angry Men
Kind Hearts and Coronets
The Great Dictator

Watch the great dictator on YouTube for free:

Got modern times from chaplin that i need to watch.
Chaplins autobiography is a great read if any is interested.

he got a lot of things right,did chaplin.
Rockhopper,I think it’s because concentrating is so much of a challenge for a lot of people.
Dunno if that was the case before or not,wasn’t around then.Not as many inputs then though.
Everytime someone talks to me while texting on their phone I feel like telling them to f off.

The Cruel Sea
The Malta Story
We Dive at Dawn
Cockleshell Hero’s ( colour?)
In Which We Serve

I love old war B&W war movies and can watch them over and over.

Key Largo here, too – it’s the way it captures the storm and Edward G is a double-hard bastard and no messin…

The Thing From Another World – great influential film.

Early King Kong with the moving fur – just for the nostalgia.

I’ve got the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes box set and Will Hay box set that I enjoy watching.

Enjoy a lot of the old films and dislike it when they add colour to them.

Clerks

The third man…orson wells
Stagecoach…John wayne
Bringing up baby Cary grant
The philedelphia story…..
Arsnic and old lace…..Cary grant
Prisoner. Of zenda Ronald Coleman…..a real fav
The lady vanishes…hitchcock

An Inspector Calls

Touch of evil
Sullivans travels…….brilliant
Night of the hunter….love and hate tatoo
On the waterfront…..I could have been a contender
Invasion of the body snatchers
Young frankenstien
The seven samurai

Oh fav three…….blinking heck

3 that is impossible but if pushed I will try to name a few of my favourites not already covered.

The Magnificent Ambersons (No one has mentioned Citizen Kane but that is too easy)
Cape Fear
and something British, Passport to Pimlico

To Have and Have Not.

You know how to whistle, don’t you? Just put your lips together and blow

But then again, the Brits at their best

This Sporting Life
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
Room at the Top

and we have not even mentioned Get Carter.

EDIT: Sorry it was so bleak I thought it was B&W

The first two ’39 Steps’ are magnificent.
Dial ‘M’ for Murder.
Gaslight.
Rebecca.
And don’t forget School for Scoundrels & The Lady Vanishes.

Dial ‘M’ for Murder

colour

But how could I forget Strangers on a Train

Bugger, you’re right you know. 😀

I know it is a bit sad in reality

EDIT and I forgot Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, The Apartment and the Fortune Cookie

May not be ‘old’ but still in black and white is Young Frankenstein…cracks me up every time!

The scenes in “Our Hospitality” by Buster Keaton with the train journey

from about 4mins in. Its like taking Stevensons Rocket around the Herts Shore. Brilliantly inventive.

Seven Samurai

thread closed

White Heat
High Noon
The Hill
Strangers on a Train
Dambusters

Hard to pick three…

Mrs Miniver
Random Harvest
Rebecca

But as mentioned above, The Dam Busters is a great film (for all sorts of reasons). It’s a great shame that Ill Met By Moonlight didn’t stick to the true story and that PLF (whose biography is published today) didn’t like the film or that would have to be somewhere on my list.

By a strange coincidence, I’m just ripping Hobson’s Choice (the film) to an MP4 so that it will play on an iPad. The ballet version is already done (but that’s in colour). It’s A Wonderful Life is a lovely film.

Totally agree that the old black and white films are pretty much about the story and the acting rather than the special effects. I would have to say that there are some memorable exceptions to this though: A Single Man was compelling, The King’s Speech was excellent and I gather that Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy is very good.