Over the course of history Black and White films have some of the most critically successful films of all-time. In early days of film it was a commonality and now they have kind of taken a back seat. With that being said I've decided that I'm going to bring you my top 10 favorite black and white films of all-time. So without further ado...
10. Good Night, and Good Luck
I really enjoyed this film and I also loved George Clooney's directing (possibly the best he has ever done). The film details the conflict between newscaster Edward R. Murrow (played by David Strathairn) and Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the 1950's, one that had Murrow defying corporate sponsorship as he and his news team reported on the tactics of McCarthy's Un-American Activities Committee. McCarthy accused Murrow of being a communist and a huge public feud erupted. The McCarthy/Murrow feud is considered a huge leap forward for objective journalism. Good Night, and Good Luck was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Director, Picture, Actor, Art Direction, Cinematography and Original Screenplay has a rating of 93% on rottentomatoes.com.
9. 12 Angry Men
This film is amazing and it just shows what can happen when we put prejudice aside and what consensus building can do for everyone. Following the closing arguments in a murder trial, the 12 members of the jury must deliberate, with a guilty verdict meaning death for the accused, an inner-city teen. As the dozen men try to reach a unanimous decision while sequestered in a room, one juror (played by Henry Fonda) casts considerable doubt on elements of the case. Personal issues soon rise to the surface, and conflict threatens to derail the delicate process that will decide one boy's fate. 12 Angry Men was nominated for 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, it also has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com.
8. Schindler's List
I can contest that this is one of only a handful of films that left me in tears at the end of the movie. Businessman Oskar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson) arrives in Krakow in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which has just started. After joining the Nazi party primarily for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews in the Krakow ghetto, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realizes that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives. Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards including Best Costume Design, Art Direction, Makeup and Hairstyling, Cinematography, Sound, Film Editing, Supporting Actor, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Actor, Director, Picture, while winning 7 (Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Director, Picture, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay and Original Score) and it has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
7. The General
I absolutely loved this film and I don't think I have ever laughed so much during a film. Union spies pursue an engineer (played by Buster Keaton) who chased them to recover his stolen train. The General has a rating of 93 % on rottentomatoes.com.
6. The Birth of a Nation
This film is amazing simply because of the message that it portrays and how big of an epic spectral it is. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron (played by Henry B. Walthall) is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman (played by Lillian Gish) petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father (played by Ralph Lewis) and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch (played by George Siegmann). The Birth of a Nation has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com.
5. Nosferatu
This films seriously creeps me out and that's a credit to Max Schreck's performance. Real estate agent Hutter (played by Gustav von Wagenheim) has arrived to close a sale with the reclusive Herr Orlok (played by Max Schreck). Despite the feverish warnings of the local peasants, Hutter insists upon completing his journey to Orlok's sinister castle. While enjoying his host's hospitality, Hutter accidentally cuts his finger-whereupon Orlok tips his hand by staring intently at the bloody digit, licking his lips. Hutter catches on that Orlok is no ordinary mortal when he witnesses the vampiric nobleman loading himself into a coffin in preparation for his journey to the town Bremen. Nosferatu has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
A widowed lawyer (played by Gregory Peck) with two children named Scout and Jem (played by Mary Badham and Philip Alford respectively) defends an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman in 1930's Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Best Art Direction (Black and White) and Best Cinematography (Black and White) while winning 3 (Best Art Direction (Black and White), Actor and Adapted Screenplay) and it has a rating of 94% on rottentomatoes.com.
3. Psycho
Made by the late and great Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho took the horror genre to a whole new level. After a girl has been murdered in a Phoenix hotel an investigation begins into the mysterious murder and disappearance of the girl's body. Psycho was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Director, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, and Art Direction and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
2. Raging Bull
Considered one of the greatest movies of all-time, Raging Bull tells the real life story of former professional boxer and Middleweight Champion Jake LaMotta (played by Robert DeNiro) and his struggles with rage, sexual jealousy, and an animalistic appetite which ruin his relationships with his wife and family. Raging Bull was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Sound, Cinematography, and Editing, while wining two (Best Actor and Film Editing) and it has a rating of 98% on rottentomatoes.com.
1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb
One of the greatest films ever made comes to us from one of the greatest directors in history Stanley Kubrick. It follows several story arcs such as a United States Air Force General who has ordered a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, the President of The United States, his advisers and his Joint Chiefs of staffs and a Royal Air Force officer as they try to recall the air strike, and it also follows one of the air crews as they deliver the bomb. Dr. Strangelove was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Director, and Picture and it has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com.
So ladies and gentlemen what do you think of my list and what are some of your favorite Black and White films? Let me know in the comments section and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
10. Good Night, and Good Luck
I really enjoyed this film and I also loved George Clooney's directing (possibly the best he has ever done). The film details the conflict between newscaster Edward R. Murrow (played by David Strathairn) and Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the 1950's, one that had Murrow defying corporate sponsorship as he and his news team reported on the tactics of McCarthy's Un-American Activities Committee. McCarthy accused Murrow of being a communist and a huge public feud erupted. The McCarthy/Murrow feud is considered a huge leap forward for objective journalism. Good Night, and Good Luck was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Director, Picture, Actor, Art Direction, Cinematography and Original Screenplay has a rating of 93% on rottentomatoes.com.
9. 12 Angry Men
This film is amazing and it just shows what can happen when we put prejudice aside and what consensus building can do for everyone. Following the closing arguments in a murder trial, the 12 members of the jury must deliberate, with a guilty verdict meaning death for the accused, an inner-city teen. As the dozen men try to reach a unanimous decision while sequestered in a room, one juror (played by Henry Fonda) casts considerable doubt on elements of the case. Personal issues soon rise to the surface, and conflict threatens to derail the delicate process that will decide one boy's fate. 12 Angry Men was nominated for 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, it also has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com.
8. Schindler's List
I can contest that this is one of only a handful of films that left me in tears at the end of the movie. Businessman Oskar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson) arrives in Krakow in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which has just started. After joining the Nazi party primarily for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews in the Krakow ghetto, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realizes that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives. Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards including Best Costume Design, Art Direction, Makeup and Hairstyling, Cinematography, Sound, Film Editing, Supporting Actor, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Actor, Director, Picture, while winning 7 (Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Director, Picture, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay and Original Score) and it has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
7. The General
I absolutely loved this film and I don't think I have ever laughed so much during a film. Union spies pursue an engineer (played by Buster Keaton) who chased them to recover his stolen train. The General has a rating of 93 % on rottentomatoes.com.
6. The Birth of a Nation
This film is amazing simply because of the message that it portrays and how big of an epic spectral it is. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron (played by Henry B. Walthall) is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman (played by Lillian Gish) petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father (played by Ralph Lewis) and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch (played by George Siegmann). The Birth of a Nation has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com.
5. Nosferatu
This films seriously creeps me out and that's a credit to Max Schreck's performance. Real estate agent Hutter (played by Gustav von Wagenheim) has arrived to close a sale with the reclusive Herr Orlok (played by Max Schreck). Despite the feverish warnings of the local peasants, Hutter insists upon completing his journey to Orlok's sinister castle. While enjoying his host's hospitality, Hutter accidentally cuts his finger-whereupon Orlok tips his hand by staring intently at the bloody digit, licking his lips. Hutter catches on that Orlok is no ordinary mortal when he witnesses the vampiric nobleman loading himself into a coffin in preparation for his journey to the town Bremen. Nosferatu has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
A widowed lawyer (played by Gregory Peck) with two children named Scout and Jem (played by Mary Badham and Philip Alford respectively) defends an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman in 1930's Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Best Art Direction (Black and White) and Best Cinematography (Black and White) while winning 3 (Best Art Direction (Black and White), Actor and Adapted Screenplay) and it has a rating of 94% on rottentomatoes.com.
3. Psycho
Made by the late and great Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho took the horror genre to a whole new level. After a girl has been murdered in a Phoenix hotel an investigation begins into the mysterious murder and disappearance of the girl's body. Psycho was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Director, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, and Art Direction and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
2. Raging Bull
Considered one of the greatest movies of all-time, Raging Bull tells the real life story of former professional boxer and Middleweight Champion Jake LaMotta (played by Robert DeNiro) and his struggles with rage, sexual jealousy, and an animalistic appetite which ruin his relationships with his wife and family. Raging Bull was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Sound, Cinematography, and Editing, while wining two (Best Actor and Film Editing) and it has a rating of 98% on rottentomatoes.com.
1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb
One of the greatest films ever made comes to us from one of the greatest directors in history Stanley Kubrick. It follows several story arcs such as a United States Air Force General who has ordered a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, the President of The United States, his advisers and his Joint Chiefs of staffs and a Royal Air Force officer as they try to recall the air strike, and it also follows one of the air crews as they deliver the bomb. Dr. Strangelove was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Director, and Picture and it has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com.
So ladies and gentlemen what do you think of my list and what are some of your favorite Black and White films? Let me know in the comments section and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
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