favorite Black & White films (in part because they're B&W)

[Adam]

In keeping with the jazz theme of this board, Shadows. I probably saw it 5 times the week it showed up my freshman year.

How about,, then

The Connection (Shirley Clarke, from play by Jack Gelber)

The Cool World

Also one I just saw, getting a limited theatrical release currently, and coming soon to DVD:

The Exiles (1961)

Killer of Sheep

[Jazzmoose]

The 400 Blows

I forgot about that one; excellent!

[Jazzmoose]

For a b&w film shot in the colour film era, The Coen's The Man Who Wasn't There takes some beating

Deservedly so, in my opinion.

[Jazzmoose]

"Since color became available"? Color has been "available" since the 1930's...so what are we talking about here?

"The color era"? What is this? Color movies became common in Hollywood in the 1950's. But then there was a brief period of producing prestige pictures in B&W in the first half of the 1960's because they figured the films would look better on TV (which was then overwhelmingly B&W) because Hollywood had finally admitted that the TV aftermarket was where it's bread was buttered. When TV programs started being shot and broadcast in color, in the mid-60's, Hollywood dropped B&W like a hot potato and never looked back.

Exactly. Hence, the thread's concept brings to my mind "Paper Moon", not "Citizen Kane".

[BillF]

Many of the films so far mentioned are great, but made before color became an almost universal medium; i.e after the sixties. A very recent good one is In Search of a Midnight Kiss.

[poetrylover3]

Schindler's List

The Last Picture Show

Good Night and Good Luck

[Alexander Hawkins]

I really enjoy the Phill Niblock Sun Ra short-ish film, 'The Magic Sun'.

[Van Basten II]

Control, was pretty good also.

I do think that we should stick to b&w flicks done when color started being the norm, no use to name movies from the 40s and 50s.

[Johnny E]

In Cold Blood

Lenny

Night of the Hunter

[Christiern]

Love "Night of the Hunter."

Also, "Nothing but a Man," w. Abbey Lincoln and Ivan Dixon—a beautifully done low-budget film from 1964.

[catesta]

Dang, no mention of "Raging Bull".

[Dave James]

"Z"

Up over and out.

[Brownian Motion]

"Z"

Up over and out.

Color.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/

[B. Clugston]

The Third Man.

Rashomon.

Onibaba.

[Dave James]

"Z"

Up over and out.

Color.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/

Really. I would swear the print I saw with subtitles was in B&W. This would have been the original version. Of course, it's always possible that I was overly medicated at the time. That was many moons ago.

Up over and out.

[Christiern]

Perhaps you were catching some Z's in more ways than one.

[Soulstation1]

[Brandon Burke]

Jarmusch..

[Brandon Burke]

this one too..

[reg]

Le Dernier Combat

[BillF]

this one too..

Yes, Jarmusch is clearly someone who went out of his way to make deliberate use of the b&w medium, except in Broken Flowers, of course.

[BruceH]

I read somewhere that the director of In Cold Blood really fought to have it filmed in B&W, which the studio was very much against. Got to hand it to him. Still, admirable as it is in many ways, I somehow find it a hard film to like, and impossible to love.

The Elephant Man (1980) is another B&W island in the color ocean.

[sal]

Woody Allen's "Manhattan". A great film made even better due to its splendid use of black and white cinematography.

[Big Al]

The Elephant Man (1980) is another B&W island in the color ocean.

Surprised it took this long to be mentioned. Always thought it was one of the greatest. It certainly deserved a space on that Top 8 list.

[BruceH]

And, of course, there's that old crowd-pleaser, Eraserhead (1977).