King Kong (1933)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Key Largo (1948)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
Throne of Blood (1958)
A Night to Remember (1958)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Haunting (1963)
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Jean Renoir oughta be on here somewhere… La Bête Humaine is a precursor to film noir*; La Grande Illusion, Rules of the Game… (I only saw the latter of these on a big screen)
*As I learned during the TCM Film Noir class, shared here on BoingBoing back in 2015
P.S. No Keaton? Chaplin? Also: The Hustler is one that I’ll watch over & over. Need to properly see that one in a theater. The Gospel According to St. Matthew & for that matter I could go on & on where Italian films are concerned (Belissima, Seduced & Abandoned, o gracious: 8 1/2, that haven’t already been mentioned); I took an Italian Cinema elective during college and got a lot out of it.
ETA:
Speaking of Bogey, I didn’t even know about All Through the Night until recently… Though if I do the math there are still more Bogey films that I haven’t seen than I have.
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Fail Safe
Lenny
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‘Ascenseur pour l’échafaud’ another fantastic Noir with a Miles Davis soundtrack
‘Man with the Golden Arm’ and ‘Lost Weekend’ would make a great double bill, if you have the mental stamina
And everytime I think I’m just going to watch one scene - ‘Roadkill’ sucks me in for the total package (for a slightly more modern film)
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Here’s another vote for Detour. Only an hour long! It’s on Youtube.
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Many of those already mentioned, but also Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and Buster Keaton’s The General.
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How can you not mention Marty?. My absolute favorite.
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We’ve watched these several times over the years:
Key Largo (1948)
Harakiri (1962)
Ship of Fools (1965)
Tokyo Story (1953)
Julius Caesar (1953)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Institute Benjamenta (1995)
The Killing (1956)
Ugetsu (1953)
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)
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Same here re Ozu!
Ugetsu is my favorite Japanese fantasy/ghost film, illustrative of the Japanese cinemas’ greater depth and psychological involvement in that genre versus the West’s.
While I’m here, a couple of more for the list. Also favorites:
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
L’Avventura (1960)
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Some of my favorites that haven’t been mentioned already:
Odd Man Out - 1947
Out of the Past - 1947
In Cold Blood - 1967
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc - 1928
Lost Horizon - 1937
Last Picture Show - 1972
Simon of the Desert - 1965
Stagecoach - 1939
Sherlock Holmes series (with Basil Rathbone) - started in 1939
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Someone (i.e. no one) stop me…
ETA:
I think Virginia Woolf, while great, is one that I’ll only watch once…
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can’t see any mention of:
Raging Bull
kinda depressing but oh so technically beautiful.
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I just thought of another one that gets my attention every time.
Fail Safe
Also Dom Deluise’s second movie role and a very dramatic one at that.
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Holy smokes, youngsters. About half of my favorite movies are B&W. I don’t even make a distinction. They’re just good movies. So many great ones have already been mentioned upthread. I’ll throw in a few more…
The Asphalt Jungle
Nora Prentiss
The Innocents
Seconds
The Manchurian Candidate
Lady from Shanghai
The Enchanted Cottage
The Set-Up
The Best Years of Our Lives
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Kansas City Confidential
Gun Crazy
Portrait of Jennie
Los Tallos Amargos
The Amazing Mr. X
Village of the Damned
Seven Days in May
Palm Beach Story
The More the Merrier
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Saw someone online make the point that the reason we associate black and white with classic cinema is all the crappy black and white films got discarded and forgotten and only the good ones got preserved and distributed. That maybe in the color era and especially since the advent of VHS and digital platforms all the lesser stuff gets out there more. Interesting thought. (Personally I love a lot of classic black and white films - even some of the bad MST3K worthy cheesy movies )
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Wings of Desire? Is it too new to be a classic? Because it is, regardless
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… and many, many of his contemporaries, of course.
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Life is in colour, but black and white is more realistic. 1)
1) Line from “Joe” - played by Samuel Fuller, who also knew a thing or three about making a good film in black and white.
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ALL THE EALING COMEDIES!
But especially Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers, my personal faves
(Alec Guinness is utterly fantastic in both, btw)
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