Black and white films

The Killing.

 

The classic film noir “Double Indemnity”. Nobody like Barbara Stanwyck to portray a cunning manipulative bitch.

 

Sabrina, with Bogart, William Holden and an adorable 20-something Audrey Hepburn.

 

To Kill a Mockingbird, mentioned earlier, is one movie that was really brought to life tonally by the shading afforded a black-and-white film; I simply can not imagine it in color.

 

Good Night and Good Luck probably should have been mentioned earlier on this board. Excellent movie.

I enjoyed Sin City as well, although I don’t think it necessarily fits the purpose of this thread.

I haven’t seen Roma, but considering it won best direction and cinematography Oscars (and foreign language film) it’s certainly worth mentioning. I should probably make it a point to see it, myself.

 

Not so fun fact: Audrey Hepburn died on the same day Bill Clinton was inaugurated.

 

High Noon
Fail Safe

Both are pretty minimalist classics that rely on suspense and story telling. It wouldn't necessarily matter if they were in color, but I do think the black and white helps strip them down a touch and focus on those two strengths.

 

I thought Fail Safe was a little overrated, but your analysis of it is on point (likely a matter of it being a film of its time).

I do think black and white enhanced High Noon, particularly as it relates to the protagonist and antagonist literally wearing white/black costumes.

 

Speaking of Bogart, there’s To Have and Have Not, featuring the classic steamy scene with Bogie and 19-year-old Lauren Bacall.

 

Casablanca
Stalag 17
Dr. Strangelove
Night of the Hunter
Rashomon
Seven Samurai
The Manchurian Candidate
Young Frankenstein
All About Eve

 

some not yet mentioned


Every Chaplin and

La Strada

La Dolce Vita

8 1/2

I Vitellone

Il Bidone

Nights of Cabiria

Rome, Open City

Wages of Fear

Rififi

Grand Illusion

Jules and Jim

The 400 Blows

Breathless

M

All Quiet on the Western Front

Wings

The Blue Angel

Nosferatu

Jour de Fete

M Hulot's Holiday

The Dybbuk

Ida

Knife in the Water

The Bellboy

The Apartment

Street Scene

The Crowd

The Big Parade

Red River

In Cold Blood

Olympia

Triumph of the Will

Lonely are the Brave

Sweet Smell of Success

The Magnificent Ambersons

Hamlet (Olivier)

Top Hat

Greed (1924)

Scarface (1932)

Frankenstein

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923, 1939)

Man with the Golden Arm

Titticut Follies

The Sorrow and the Pity

The Innocents

Ace in the Hole

The Lost Weekend

Some Like it Hot

Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

Witness for the Prosecution

The Fortune Cookie

Ninotchka

The Loved One

Battleship Potemkin

Ivan the Terrible

Alexander Nevsky

Un Chien Andalou

The Exterminating Angel

Rain (1932)

Grapes of Wrath

Lenny

Paths of Glory

Ed Wood

Plan 9 From Outer Space

Killer of Sheep

Inherit the Wind

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

I Know Where I'm Going

The Third Man

The Petrified Forest

Zorba the Greek

The Devil and Daniel Webster

Freaks

The Elephant Man

Chimes at Midnight

The Entertainer

Meet John Doe

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Sullivan's Travels

The Miracle of Morgan Creek

The Great McGinty

Hail the Conquering Hero

The More the Merrier

The Lady Eve

The Man in the White Suit

The Set-Up

The Last Hurrah

Pat and Mike

Woman of the Year

State of the Union

The Big Heat

Touch of Evil

The Killers

The Asphalt Jungle

The Big Heat

The Hill

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Lolita

White Heat

Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff?

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Elevator to the Gallows

The Wild One

On the Waterfront

From Here to Eternity

A Face in the Crowd

Stormy Weather

Night of the Living Dead

L'Atalante

A Tale of Two Cities (1935)

David Copperfield (1935)

My Little Chickadee

The Bank Dick

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

Mildred Pierce

The Postman Always Rings Twice

A Hard Day's Night

any Robert Benchley short

 

Every Laurel and Hardy, too.