The Movie Files (Part 1): Beautiful Black & White

A friend of mine (let's give her a nice Singaporean name and call her Molly) came a-visiting the other day and stumbled upon my DVD collection. This was an unsurprising occurrence given the sizable chunk of my living room area said "Collection" occupies. The first thing Molly said to me when she fell upon my treasure was... "Wah-rau! Got so many one - can open Blockbuster orreddy!!".

Last night I thought about what she said and it struck me as funny that in all this time I had never written about the one thing I probably spend more time on than computer games. (Yes Reader, and that is a LOT of time!) I simply love my movies. I hardly watch television, and so am thankfully not imprisoned with Desperate Housewives, contemplating Grey's Anatomy or on the look-out for Heroes.

In fact, I love movies so much, I even make it a point to actually BUY the movies I want. I NEVER illegally download them, much to the derision of tech-savvy friends. I counter all mockery thrown in my direction by arguing that all the money I spend every month on Amazon or in HMV is a contribution to an industry that gives me immeasurable pleasure. (Yeah that, and also the fact that I can never get those download websites to work without my computer crashing!) So John, if you are reading this, maybe I will take you up on your computer lessons!

The problem for many of my friends like Molly is that I never seem to have the movies they especially want to see. Poor Molly's excitement at the sight of my mini video library quickly evaporated when I informed her that I did not have anything with Jeniffer Aniston or Hugh Grant (unless he was in a Merchant-Ivory production).

"Not even Four Weddings?" - the poor girl looked at me in horror.

Sorry Molly-dear, I never felt that movie "in my fingers... [and] in my toes...".

That information served to severely devalue my collection in Molly's eyes, but she politely made do with Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It.

Another friend of mine (lets give him a nice South-East-London name .... - James) was incredulous for a whole day when I told him I did not have Gladiator, Blade or 300. He wasn't too impressed with the Indiana Jones Trilogy I proffered.

Oh well, you can't please everyone.

One thing people notice when they run through my collection is the number of old Black and White (B&W) Movies I have accumulated over time. Now, I love CGI, and everyone who knows me, knows how many times I have watched and re-watched Peter Jackson's wonderful interpretation of the The Lord of the Rings. When I first found out that Jackson was going to actualise what was (and is) my favourite book using CGI, I was sceptical and not a little bit worried about the final product. When the dream-like interpretations of Hobbiton and nighmare-hues of Mordor exploded onto the cinema-screen, I realised what a miracle CGI could be if it was used cleverly and purposefully. By the time Michael Bay rolled out his version of Transformers, I was thoroughly won over. In fact, I have even gone so far as to purchase a copy of Troy (the CGI enhanced soldiers are fantastic) and hell, I even have a copy of the wholly CGI version of Beowulf (featuring an impossibly sexy-looking CGI-ied Angelina Jolie wearing next to nothing, and cavorting around with fantastic multi-eyed and tentacled water-demons and fire -pitting dragons (Ah! James, I think I found you something for the next time you come over!)

However, good old B&W can capture an astounding variety of emotions and depth. The nature of black and white and their antithesis to each other allows for the creation of both the "ghostly" and the "sparkling"; the "journalistic" and the "gritty". It can lend itself to both fantasy and glamour and then depression and despair. The visual texture of black and white ranges from harsh to satin-y to crystalline to metallic. These textures add to the kind of film being made i.e. clean and crisp for a comedy to shadowy and hushed for a horror film, to dark and stark for a crime thriller.

Here is my tribute to my favourite B&W Movies. Let me know how many of these you have seen and how many I have missed out. But first a caveat: I did not include Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List or George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck in this list. This does not mean that I don't consider both films good examples of B&W film. I just think that both films tend to be over-represented in everyone's lists of top B&W film, and personally, I did not care too much for Clooney's contribution in this regard. (Just my opinion by the way, and I am entitled to it!)

Let's start with an immortal favourite. Yes, this was the 8th Wonder of the World in 1933, and still is today!

"Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast. " - King Kong (1933)

"No, I don't think so; no. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything... I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a... piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece." - Citizen Kane (1941)

"Just you wait, it won't be long. The man in black will soon be here. With his cleaver's blade so true. He'll make mincemeat out of YOU!" - "M" (1931)

"The magnificence of the Ambersons began in 1873. Their splendor lasted throughout all the years that saw their midland town spread and darken into a city. " - The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

"But is there anyone who's really good? Maybe goodness is just make-believe." - Rashomon (1950)

"We all come into this world with our little egos equipped with individual horns. If we don't blow them, who else will?" - All About Eve (1950)

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. " - The Great Dictator (1940)

"George, my husband... George, who is out somewhere there in the dark, who is good to me - whom I revile, who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha: Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest; for having seen me and having said: yes, this will do." - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)

"Keep still, you young devil, or I'll slit your throat!" - Great Expectations (1946)

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens - (1921)

"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. " - A Streetcar named Desire (1951)

"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." - Casablanca (1942)


"Libel, libel! Don't say "label" as if Papa were a pickle bottle." - Little Women (1933)


"I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man! " - The Elephant Man (1980)

"I must know everything. I must penetrate the heart of his secret! I must become Caligari!" - Kabinett des Doktor Caligari, Das (1920)

What do you think of farmers? You think they're saints? Hah! They're foxy beasts! They say, "We've got no rice, we've no wheat. We've got nothing!" But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You'll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they've got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! " - Shichinin no samurai (1954)

"There was a fever over the land. A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all, there was fear. Fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbors,

and fear of ourselves. " - Judgement at Nuremberg (1961)

"Oh Mr. Darcy, Miss Bingley here is eager for her lesson. I hope you will enjoy it, Miss Bingley, and that you will learn to direct your darts with greater accuracy." - Pride and Prejudice (1940)

"Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too." - The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

"You thought you could be Mrs. de Winter, live in her house, walk in her steps, take the things that were hers! But she's too strong for you. You can't fight her - no one ever got the better of her. Never, never. She was beaten in the end, but it wasn't a man, it wasn't a woman. It was the sea!" - Rebecca (1940)

"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." - Hamlet (1948)

"I've written a letter to Daddy..." - Whatever happened to Baby Jane (1962)

"During the recent heavy weather, I've had the opportunity to watch all of you at work on deck and aloft. You don't know wood from canvas! And it seems you don't want to learn! Well, I'll have to give you a lesson." - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

"Though I'm no Olivier... I would much rather... And though I'm no Olivier... If he fought Sugar Ray, he would say "That the thing ain't the ring, it's the play. So give me a stage where this bull here can rage, and though I could fight, I'd much rather recite ... that's entertainment." - Raging Bull (1981)

"Metropolis" (1927)

"There just didn't seem to be anyone or anything Atticus couldn't explain. Though it wasn't a talent that would arouse the admiration of any of our friends, Jem and I had to admit he was very good at that - but that was *all* he was good at... we thought." - To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

"You-you eat like a bird." - Psycho (1960)

"I met Death today. We are playing chess." - The Seventh Seal (1957)

"This can't last. This misery can't last. I must remember that and try to control myself. Nothing lasts really. Neither happiness nor despair. Not even life lasts very long. There'll come a time in the future when I shan't mind about this anymore, when I can look back and say quite peacefully and cheerfully how silly I was. No, no, I don't want that time to come ever. I want to remember every minute, always, always to the end of my days." - Brief Encounter (1945)

"It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know... No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's SURE. We nine can't understand how you three are still so sure. Maybe you can tell us." - Twelve Angry Men (1957)

The Monster: You, make man... like me?

Dr. Pretorius: No. Woman... friend for you

The Monster: Woman... Friend... Wife... - Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

"No, no. When a clumsy cloud from here meets a fluffy little cloud from there, he billows towards her. She scurries away and he scuds right up to her. She cries a little and there you have you showers. He comforts her. They spark. That's the lightning. They kiss. Thunder. " - Top Hat (1935)

Simply love it! Don't you?
So how many of these have you watched? Do you have any other recommendations from your collections for me?

(Oh, and just in case you thought I forgot that adorable little Tramp in top hat and bendy walking cane, He's just below on YouTube. So enjoy!)

~~~