the list of 9 for june 16, 2008:
NINE BLACK AND WHITE FILMS MADE AFTER THE END OF THE B&W ERA
1967 marked the death of the black and white era when the TV networks delivered a mandate thatthey would only buy new films from the studios if they were in color. Back then, network TV wasthe largest ancillary market for a movie, so the studios immediately acquiesced and the black andwhite film died almost overnight. Even the Oscar for b&w cinematography - from 1939 onward, therehad been separate awards for b&w and color - was retired. In Cold Blood, released in 1967and nominated for several Oscars including best cinematography, could be called the last greatblack and white film of the old studio era. There has been a shockingly tiny number of black andwhite features produced since then. It's a shame, as I agree with Orson Welles that black andwhite makes an actor's performance better. And of course it's beautiful. I hope to see a revival.Meanwhile, here are nine features that have kept the glory of black and white alive:

  1. The Last Picture Show (1971). Film scholar turnedfilmmaker Peter Bodganovich, a champion of classic cinema, chose monochrome for this this lovelynostalgic drama, following up with another b&w retro film two years later, Paper Moon.

  2. Young Frankenstein (1974). Mel Brooks chose black andwhite to film his comedy classic in for purely imitative purposes: he sought to achieve the lookof the 1930s Frankenstein, and the only way to do that was with the same film stock and thesame aspect ratio. This was copied by Brooks's friend Carl Reiner for his similarly spoofy DeadMen Don't Wear Plaid in 1982.

  3. Eraserhead (1977). In the 1970s, black and white film wasstill used by film students and the odd independent filmmaker because the stock and the processingwere cheaper than color. (Not today!) Five years in the making, Eraserhead was anauspicious debut for young David Lynch, who would become one of the greatest American filmmakersof his generation. He used b&w for his next film, 1980's The Elephant Man, coincidentallyproduced by the aforementioned Mel Brooks.

  4. Manhattan (1979). Of all contemporary filmmakers, none hasembraced the black and white medium as much as Woody Allen has. He first used monochrome for thisfilm, and used it again for five of his subsequent features throughout the 80s and 90s. (Six if you count the b&w/color Purple Rose of Cairo.)

  5. Raging Bull (1980). It was Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winningbiopic that kicked off the trend of American auteurs doing their one or two b&w movies, fromFrancis Coppola (Rumble Fish) to Steven Soderbergh (The Good German, Kafka) to TimBurton (Ed Wood) to the Coen Brothers (The Man Who Wasn't There).

  6. Stranger Than Paradise (1984). In the 1980s, Jim Jarmuschspearheaded a new wave of indie filmmakers (including Spike Lee, Darren Aronofsky and Kevin Smith)who used black and white to give their low-budget debuts a gritty, distinctly East Coast vibe. Butonly Jarmusch kept the faith, releasing three more b&w features over the next twenty years(Down By Law, Dead Man, Coffee & Cigarettes).

  7. Schindler's List (1993). More than just Steven Spielberg's vain attempt to do the black and white thing, this instant classic remains the only b&w film to win the Best Picture Oscar since 1960's The Apartment.

  8. Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). George Clooney remains an outspoken fan of monochrome cinema, and his moody drama about Edward R. Murrow was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and was one of many b&w movies from 2005, including the aforementioned The Good German, The Notorious Bettie Page and Sin City.

  9. Persepolis (2007). I end this list with - correct me ifI'm wrong - the first black and white animated feature ever. (Even Disney and the Fleischers usedTechnicolor for their early 30s features.) Further proof that, even in the 21st century, one can still do new and exciting things with this endangered medium.

Copyright © Mark Tapio Kines 2011