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Monday
May162011
Black and White movies...why not?
Monday, May 16, 2011 at 10:27AM This guest post is from Anyes of Far away in the Sunshine who is a fellow WordCount Blogathon participant. You can also read my guest post on her blog.
The attraction I still have for Black and White movies started early on, while I was watching the late Friday nights flicks every week in my living room. Those magic moments marked the beginning of my love affair with the whole genre. As everyone was asleep and the whole house had fallen into a quiet slumber, a different atmosphere could be felt all around. I order to better my English, I remember watching mostly American B&W movies, in VO (original Version) with French subtitles.
They were showing me a world, I had never dreamed of. I was about 14 years old at the time and my impressionable mind absorbed all of those wonderful images. This foreign language was music to my ears, those landscapes I had never seen made me curious and eager to know more. The actors and actresses were all surrounded with the glow of my teenage admiration.
A movie like Suspicion, where the handsome Cary Grant made me wonder if he was as bad as his co star Joan Fontaine suspected was the kind I really enjoyed. Alfred Hitchcock's quiet understated movies were always so full of suspense. This particular capacity of his to take an ordinary situation and turn it into a frightful scenario, was simply irresistible to me. Looking past the fancy decor and the well chosen words of the dialog, I could see a whole different window into a world I wanted to be part of.
Another one of my all time favourite is Bringing Up Baby this time with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Every scene of this classic movie, was an excuse for a comic repartee from either actors or some physical comedy that left me crying out of laughter. I really enjoyed watching the interaction between the two actors and having a big adolescent crush on Cary Grant made the whole experience even more enjoyable.
Having fairly young children, I have made a point to try and share my love for those old fashioned movies signs of different times. I feel very lucky that both my children still come and sit with me when one of my old favourite is showing on TCM, and get to spend a bit of time into a different world, one I used to cherish in my younger years.
What is your favourite Black and white movie?
Reader Comments (10)
Nicole, I am glad to have exchanged posts with you today and learned a lot from this new experience. Thank you :-)
Oh gosh, I love them all - Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Dial M for Murder, Double Indemnity, & anything with Barbara Stanwyck or Robert Mitchum!
Melissa Ann, Very good list :-)
For me they would have to be 12 Angry Men, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Sunset Blvd, Nosferatu and Metropolis.
Tyler seems to love black and white films. Whenever we come across a Marx Brothers or Three Stooges film he sits in rapt attention. It's neat to see he do this :-)
Herman, that exactly what I like about Black and White movies, the list you mention would also work for me. I believe the only one I did not see is Nosferatu. Thank you :-)
The Man Who Wasn't There 2001. Accurate depiction of the time- inaccuracy in film is a pet peeve. The perpetrator evades discovery for some time but unremorseful meets his demise. Many twists and turns- sort of like Columbo or Monk- where one knows who committed the crime but that knowledge escapes the "experts" for a while.
Thank you Richard it seems like one I would enjoy
I never thought about the old b&w movies. What a great post. Reading your post and these comments has gotten me wanting to watch some great old movies that I remember from my past. Thank you!
Bringing Up Baby is a fantastic film! Cary Grant is actually one of my all-time favourite actors - he's the absolute KING of screwball comedy as well as being adept at more serious roles. I think I love him most at his fast-talking best in His Girl Friday, or being mad-cap in Arsenic and Old Lace - both are old favourites of mine. :)
I ran across this old post when I was trying to find the A to Z Reflections post and I just had to add one of my favorites.
I grew up with black and white TV so I'm very accustomed to B & W films. There are so many favorites for me. I love the film noir style and it is so well suited for B&W.
A favorite that immediately comes to mind is Kiss Me Deadly, a Mike Hammer detective film that was part of the inspiration for Pulp Fiction. I never tire of watching Kiss Me Deadly--great film.
Lee
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