Best black and white films ever

[DaisyDukesAuntie]

I am trying to compile a list of black and white films to watch. I love black and white film - care to share recommendations?

My personal favourite is Brief Encounter.

yes to the lady eve! Its genuinely funny! I love Barbara Stanwyck and she's great in Double Indemnity (thriller!) and Christmas in Connecticut!

If I had to pick one black and white film I'd pick Brief Encounter though, its lovely.

James Cagney gangster b+w, classics like White Heat, The Public Enemy and Angels with Dirty Faces.

Alfred Hitchcock: Psycho, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps.

Love a bit of Humphrey. African Queen is awesome - although I think that one might be in colour? Casablanca is the best.

Just two from the top of my head:

Hobson's Choice - with John Mills, Charles Laughton and a very very young Prunella Scales. OK the northern accents don't sound authentic (I am a Salfordian) but such a lovely film. Brings back memories of my parents - and even my grandparents (who loved it).

The Ghost Train - Arthur Askey - Just so funny

Make sure it's the original! The re-make with Elliott Gould isn't as good.

Some like it hot

Silent films (ideally with especially composed scores):

Underground
Metropolis
The Crowd
The Wind
People on Sunday
Wings
Any Buster Keaton but particularly One Week and Steamboat Bill, Jr

Subtitled:

Cleo from 5 to 7
The Big City
Pather Panchali
The Seventh Seal
Les Visiteurs du Soir
Throne of Blood
Les Diaboliques
The Wages of Fear

Definitely Casablanca. The ending gets me every time.

Anything with Fred Astaire in.

His Girl Friday - Cary Grant on top form. Rosalind Russell is magnificent. Very, very funny.

Great list though I haven't seen I Want to Live in years.

A Place in the Sun
Rebecca
A Wonderful Life

I'll add Arsenic and Old Lace too.

Oh yes. Basically you can't go wrong with Cary Grant or James Stewart. The Philadelphia Story gives you both so is excellent value.

It Happened One Night is good. Haven't seen it for years but I remember I enjoyed it a lot.

The Manchurian Candidate. Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Janet Leigh. Mesmerising.

Whistle Down The Wind - starring Alan Bates and a very young Hayley Mills, alongside some excellent child actors. Beautifully filmed and so deeply poignant.
Some Like it Hot - I'll never tire of watching this one.

I Know Where I'm Going is my number one favorite black and white film.

I would add To Kill a Mockingbird and The Last Picture Show.

The Ghost and Mrs Muir
Portrait of Jennie
Laura
The Old Maid

I remember watching Notorious when I was young and thinking the stack of champagne coupes was incredibly glamorous.

I also echo Tokyo Story, fantastic and sad film

The Third Man - based on a Graham Greene story and set in post WW2 Vienna with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton
The Wicked Lady - l adore this. It's about a rich woman who is bored and becomes a highwayman.

The thread about Gregory Peck reminded me that I left out Roman Holiday. I have watched it maybe 30 times over the years.

Marking my place and will return later.

I'll start with Whirlpool.

Some Like It Hot

How could I have forgotten The Third Man! Wonderful. Would be in my all-time top ten.

The Fallen Idol, also directed by Carol Reed
Odd Man Out, James Mason
The Seventh Veil, ditto
(He's in The Wicked Lady too. I'd watch him in anything. Much better when he's being moody and nasty. North by Northwest is in colour so doesn't qualify here but what a terrific film that is - Hitchcock, Cary Grant and James Mason! Could watch it any number of times.)

Mandy 1952

12 angry men. What a film. Still very relevant.

The Third Man
Rebecca