b&w and overlooked
These are, in my estimation, classics - almost all save for "Manhattan" (1979) dating back 50 plus years. Each movie was filmed in black and white and might be easily overlooked by today's viewer who thinks only in color terms. I wish to do my part to preserve great films ...
(Films considered by AFI as entries in their top 100 list of all time have been excluded from this list.)
(Films considered by AFI as entries in their top 100 list of all time have been excluded from this list.)
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12 titles
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJean ArthurJames StewartLionel BarrymoreThe son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.Overlooked Frank Capra flick that serves as a vehicle for the brilliant performer Lionel Barrymore. A fun film about a flaky family.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallWalter BrennanDuring World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer.The First pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (then, just 19 years old). Sorta a poor man's "Casablanca," the chemistry is superb.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.One of Woody Allen's more under-rated films, this is a beautiful tribute to New York City and Allen's love affair with the city.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsFarley GrangerRobert WalkerRuth RomanA psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.An easily overlooked Hitchcock masterpiece!
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJames CagneyHorst BuchholzPamela TiffinIn West Berlin during the Cold War, a Coca-Cola executive is given the task of taking care of his boss' socialite daughter.The incomparable James Cagney would leave the film industry for 20 years following the film. The lines are delivered rapid fire, and Cagney demonstrates comedic brilliance!
- DirectorBrian Desmond HurstStarsAlastair SimJack WarnerKathleen HarrisonEbenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly, miserly businessman, has no time for sentimentality and largely views Christmas as a waste of time. However, this Christmas Eve, he will be visited by three spirits who will show him the error of his ways.Simply would not have worked in color, Alistair Sim delivers the quintessential Ebeneezer Scrooge.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJames StewartJohn WayneVera MilesA senator returns to a Western town for the funeral of an old friend and tells the story of his origins.Arguably one of the five greatest westerns of all time, John Wayne and James Stewart are outstanding!
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsFrank SinatraLaurence HarveyJanet LeighAn American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.A political thriller that relies on b&w cinematography to preserve its edginess.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsCary GrantPriscilla LaneRaymond MasseyA Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.Not considered a Frank Capra at his best film but without a doubt a very well made and funny movie. Cary Grant is at his "mugging" best.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGregory PeckAudrey HepburnEddie AlbertA bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.Audrey Hepburn needed no color to accentuate her beauty in this, her film debut. Gregory Peck is superb!
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.What I consider to be the best film in this list!
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsBurt LancasterKirk DouglasFredric MarchUnited States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.A political thriller with a great, great cast!