Originally Posted by Torquemada

I watched The Clouded Yellow for the first time in years over the weekend and it was fantastic.

Originally Posted by clitheroekid

Maxwell Reed?

Who he?

Originally Posted by christoph404

I remember when colour television first arrived in Britain and how throughout the 1970's people used to write to the BBC and complain about the fact that there were " too many old black and white films on TV and why should we have to pay for a colour licence and put up with this sort of thing....blah blah"

Originally Posted by theuofc

I know there's a wonderful place for colour in film. What would The Red Shoes or Black Narcissus be without Technicolor and the skills of Jack Cardiff? But black and white films have their own special place in the hearts of filmgoers. Shooting in black and white affords a perfect medium for a director and cinematographer to achieve the artistic effects they strive for through the quality of light. I'm delighted to see directors once again choosing black and white for certain films where that medium fits the message.

If you are a fan of b/w films, which are your favorites, past or present?

Black and white films have mesmerized me from the first time I saw the wonderful luminescent quality of b/w silents. To my eye, "A Canterbury Tale" derives part of its mystical quality from being shot in black and white. Film Noir gets its dark tone not from colour but from black and white and shades in between. Citizen Kane, The Grapes of Wrath, The Third Man, Raging Bull, Look Back in Anger, This Sporting Life... all memorable in black and white. When Sidney Lumet shot Twelve Angry Men and Fail Safe in b/w, he knew it was a perfect medium for his messages.

Last week I saw "Good Night and Good Luck" and felt in every bone that Clooney's choice of black and white was dead on for Edward R. Murrow and the specter of McCarthyism. Shown on the last night of the London Film Festival, "Good Night and Good Luck" was a fitting close as James Christopher comments:

Barbara

--------------------
The Times November 04, 2005
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/art...1856832,00.html

Good Night, and Good Luck
James Christopher at the Odeon Leicester Square


GEORGE CLOONEY’S homage to the late, great CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow rings the curtain down on one of the most exciting festival editions I have attended.

It’s the hysteria — rather than the bony facts — that make Clooney’s brilliant satire about the most famous witch-hunt in American history such a gripping watch. It’s 1953 and under intense pressure to toe the Republican line, Murrow and his CBS news team do the unthinkable. They call Senator Joseph McCarthy’s bluff, and challenge his authority on the House Un-American Activities Committee. David Strathairn plays the legendary anchorman who refuses to blink, and if he does not win an Oscar for this performance then there are no marbles left in Hollywood.

Murrow is the most unflappable and respected reporter in the business, but a duel with McCarthy could sink the network. The strain creases Strathairn’s face and crumples the shoulders of his pinstripe suit.

Shot in velvety black and white, the film eavesdrops on Murrow’s crucial briefings before his weekly broadcast to the nation. The compelling drama is how precious little firepower he actually has on his side. Survival hinges on his credibility, and his friends are melting away. Clutching a cigarette between thumb and forefinger, Strathairn delivers his daring homilies straight to camera with a courage that brings tears to the eye. The almost leisurely intimacy does nothing to disguise the explosive import of his arguments. You won’t see the like on satellite television. The station is a nervous wreck. The camera roams the fuggy offices and arcane studios.

The CBS chairman, William Paley (Frank Langella), does not know whether to cash in his shares, fire the staff or pull the plug. Loyalties are tested to the limit. The stakes are too high for some, the consequences tragic for others. The rhythm and pace reflect a newsroom under siege. The perspective is terrific: we are flies on the wall at backroom crises; and the unofficial jury when the shows go live.

Clooney is almost too saintly in the role of Murrow’s faithful producer, Fred Friendly. But his idealism is infectious. His own father was a campaigning hack in the 1950s and Clooney intended doing the same until fate rocketed him to fame in the television drama ER.

Good Night, and Good Luck — Murrow’s signature signing off line — makes a stunning case for Clooney’s future as a director. I cannot think of a festival in the world that would not give an arm and leg to end on a note of magic like this.

It’s just one reason why the 49th The Times bfi London Film Festival will go down as an absolute classic."

Originally Posted by hankoler

One black and white film i think is great is "seance on a wet afternoon" with richard attenburough, a great film which deals with a subject which at the moment is in the public eye.

Originally Posted by vedakis777

Here Are Some More Prizma Color Films:

The Glorious Adventure (1922)

The Fire of London (maybe or maybe not the same as The Glorious Adventure)