Black and White Movie

[Jon Shiu]

Saw beautiful black and white movie last night on Netflix. Polish film called "Ida". Beautiful composition and black and white tones. Check it out.

Jon

 

[gone]

I'll have to see it. The movie below is one of the best B&W movies I have ever seen (Richard Widmark in Night and the City). Free to watch, unusually high quality video transfer. It has Greek sub titles, but this is the only free version I could find, so ignore them or learn Greek! Entire movie is filmed at night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSKodrk7lds

 

[OptiKen]

You are right, It seems like little or nothing can compare to well shot B&W movies on film.
Does anyone know what film was used in the old black and white movie days?

 

[snapguy]

a lot

A lot of different kinds of film were used in the black and white movie days. The original nitrate films from silent film days had a nasty habit of burning up or disintegrating into dust. They also did not record all colors very well. An actress with light blue eyes would look at the movie and her eyes would seem to have disappeared. Later on there was safety film which was better in most respects. But there were many manufacturers and many different ASAs and formulation. Cameramen back then really had to know how to handle the light. I have seen b&w silent films where strong back light made the images better than color.
In my humbug opinion the sexiest film ever made was "Gilda" with Rita Hayworth doing a striptease. It is a film noir in b&w. Although it is very sexy, the only things Rita took off in that scene were some long black gloves and some jewelry. Everything else was the viewer's imagination, the lighting, the jazz score, and of course Rita inside that slinky dress. Would not be the same in color. Long live b&w.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Saw beautiful black and white movie last night on Netflix. Polish film called "Ida". Beautiful composition and black and white tones. Check it out.

Jon

Here's an interview with the cinematographer, Ryszard Lenczewski, who was nominated for an Oscar this year for his work on Ida--

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/ryszard-lenczewski-cinematography-from-still-to-movie

 

[Gerald C Koch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motion_picture_film_stocks

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

Also be sure to check out Jim Jarmusch's psychedelic Western Dead Man, starring Johhny Depp. Gorgeous B&W cinematography, with an amazing cast of characters including Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Crispin Glover, and Robert Mitchum in what I believe was his last role.

Also available on Netflix. It's one of my all time favorites.

 

[removed account4]

Also be sure to check out Jim Jarmusch's psychedelic Western Dead Man, starring Johhny Depp. Gorgeous B&W cinematography, with an amazing cast of characters including Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Crispin Glover, and Robert Mitchum in what I believe was his last role.

Also available on Netflix. It's one of my all time favorites.

+1

and for pictorialist movie fans

institute benjamenta

a masterfully made film.

 

[Xmas]

Saw beautiful black and white movie last night on Netflix. Polish film called "Ida". Beautiful composition and black and white tones. Check it out.

Jon

The film manufacturer would have been in the credits, and the IMDB(?)

 

[Rick A]

I almost never miss an opportunity to watch a classic B&W film. I think my favorite of all time is "The Third Man", though my favorite genre is noir. But gimme a 1950's B movie sci-fi any day.

 

[Alex Muir]

I went to a screening of the 1928 French silent film 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. It was in a local hall where they have a Wurlitzer cinema organ. A new score had been prepared for this screening. It was superb. The film had recently been restored and certain scenes appeared to have tinted. It was part of the Glasgow Film Festival. By chance, I met the Festival director, and put in a request for a screening of 'M' next year. Apparently it is being restored at the moment for future screenings.
Alex.

 

[TheToadMen]

Saw beautiful black and white movie last night on Netflix. Polish film called "Ida". Beautiful composition and black and white tones. Check it out.

Jon

I guess you mean this film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXhCaVqB0x0
Sadly enough not available on Netflix in my country.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

The film manufacturer would have been in the credits, and the IMDB(?)

If it had been shot on film, alas. Read the interview linked above for the off-topic-for-APUG details.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Want to see a good one? Go on the internet and see if you can find "Them!".

A variation on the Japanese atomic mutation genre that gave us Godzilla. Scared me to death as a child.

Ken

 

[Rick A]

Want to see a good one? Go on the internet and see if you can find "Them!".

With James Whitmore. I loved that one, it's one of my all time favorites. I'm about to turn 63 in a very few short weeks, not many of those I haven't seen. I grew up watching them. I even made the pilgrimage to the diner in Downingtown where Steve McQueen filmed "The Blob".

 

[Rick A]

A variation on the Japanese atomic mutation genre that gave us Godzilla. Scared me to death as a child.

Ken

"The Thing" scared me as a kid. James Arness as a giant flesh eating carrot.

 

[cliveh]

Stalker, best film ever.

 

[Rick A]

Modern Classic, "Young Frankenstein".

 

[Rick A]

That was "The Thing". But I think the Kurt Russell remake was better. Maybe I can't grasp Marshal Dillon as a creature. His place was cemented with himself and Chester in the old 1/2 hour shows.

I caught my mistake and corrected it probably just as you were posting this. I didn't like the remake. For those of you who want to see a ground breaking film, sit through "Extasy" with Hedy Lamarr some time.

 

[benjiboy]

I caught my mistake and corrected it probably just as you were posting this. I didn't like the remake. For those of you who want to see a ground breaking film, sit through "Extasy" with Hedy Lamarr some time.

I remember Hedy Lamarr Rick she was staggeringly beautiful woman http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/L...ex - Lamarr, Hedy (Heavenly Body, The)_01.jpg who had brains too, she actually devised a guidance system for torpedoes that the U.S. Navy used in WW11

 

[c6h6o3]

Here's an interview with the cinematographer, Ryszard Lenczewski, who was nominated for an Oscar this year for his work on Ida--

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/ryszard-lenczewski-cinematography-from-still-to-movie

A watershed event for me, the viewing of this film. All through it I kept trying to discern whether it was shot on film or digitally. It has a certain digital aspect to it, a smoothness that film lacks. But I wasn't certain until I read this interview. Now that I know it was captured digitally and that Lenczewski uses a Sony CyberShot camera for still work, I'm less interested in film.

Ida is so masterfully shot, so hauntingly composed both in terms of the lighting and the structure of the images that I found myself not paying attention to the plot. I just wanted to see the next scene no matter where it took place or what relevance it had to the story line. Just: what will his next composition be?

I think Ida is still on Netflix. I know you can watch it on Amazon Prime for free. If you don't have Prime, rent it on Amazon. Best money you'll ever spend at the movies.

 

[c6h6o3]

I remember Hedy Lamarr Rick she was staggeringly beautiful woman http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/L...ex - Lamarr, Hedy (Heavenly Body, The)_01.jpg who had brains too, she actually devised a guidance system for torpedoes that the U.S. Navy used in WW11

She co-invented spread spectrum radio technology, which was not only important in WWII but was the basis for Internet Wi-fi, CDMA and Bluetooth. She's in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Not to mention smokin' hot.

 

[Loren Sattler]

Great Movie, "Anatomy of a Murder"

I was down recently with a bad cold and watched a lot of old movies. I was really impressed with "Anatomy of a Murder" from 1959. It is a courtroom drama shot in Michigan's Upper Peninsula starring Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick and George C Scott. It appeared on Turner Classic Movies. It was a well acted, riveting story shot beautifully in black and white. It was nominated for 7 academy awards including Best Cinematography. Not sure if it is available on the web or Netflix.

 

[cliveh]

I remember Hedy Lamarr Rick she was staggeringly beautiful woman http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/L...ex - Lamarr, Hedy (Heavenly Body, The)_01.jpg who had brains too, she actually devised a guidance system for torpedoes that the U.S. Navy used in WW11

Wow, what a portrait +1.