CHAT What is your favorite old black and white film?

[Dennis Olson]

It can be any genre, from film noir to swashbucklers (like “Captain Blood” - lol). I’d like to limit this to black and white and to movies please.

Now I have several, but oddly, the one I always thought of as my “number one” (Casablanca) really isn’t. It’s “12 O’Clock
High” with Gregory Peck. There’s something about that film which at this point in my life pulls at me strongly. When the company clerk rides the bicycle out to the old American airbase which by then was all weeds and broken concrete, which segues into a bunch of B17s, engines roaring. Of course, then the body of the film plays, but again at the end, the “spirits” vanish, and he climbs on his bike and rides away.

As I get older, the “memories out of my misty past” come to me all the time. Echoes of another time, of another life. One filled with energy and the bustle of raising kids.

Okay, what’s yours?

 

[Codeno]

12 Angry Men

 

[Tex88]

Problem is, I didn't have a color TV until like 1992, so ALL the old movies are in black and white in memory.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I love that one too. Totally all-star cast.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Problem is, I didn't have a color TV until like 1992, so ALL the old movies are in black and white in memory.

Perhaps, but post-92, that was certainly not the case. That’s 32 years ago FYI…

 

[AlfaMan]

Marty-1954 movie starring a youngish Ernest Borgnine.

Beautiful movie.

 

[Hognutz]

The Longest Day

 

[sssarawolf]

That is a hard one. There are so many. The Angel and the Bad Man, and I know it's dumb but I like the old Arsenic and Old Lace, also Westward the Women among many.

 

[Tex88]

Perhaps, but post-92, that was certainly not the case. That’s 32 years ago FYI…

Yeah but the 90s was just now. Like a few months ago. Nobody would call Wayne’s World an old movie, right?

 

[Terrwyn]

That is an easy one for me. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison

 

[MaisieD]

For a laugh, I love Ma and Pa Kettle movies.

 

[wait-n-see]

while there are a good number for me, 3 quick ones I can think of right away are:

• sons of the desert (laurel and hardy)
• whos afraid of Virginia wolf
• Dr Strangelove

Watched all 3 so many times I could not even guess the number. Have their DVDs and stream them as well.

 

[Sebastian]

Harvey

 

[Dennis Olson]

I loved “Angel” so much I bought the DVD. It’s very hard to find it on streaming services. Gail Russell in a truly emotional performance. She also died very young, a talent cut far too short.

“Ghost and Mrs. Muir” is a truly great film too. I’m hopeful that we might enter up with a thread full of absolute cinematic masterpieces.

As far as “Arsenic” goes, I cannot stand Cary Grant. I used to really like him, but he became typecast as a bumbler, unable to communicate with others. In so many of his movies, 30 seconds of talking clearly to the right person at the right time would’ve save him a world of hurt. Of course, the hurt is what his films were about. Which is why I came to dislike them.

 

[gillmanNSF]

• Creature from the Black Lagoon
• The Day the Earth Stood Still

 

[Dennis Olson]

while there are a good number for me, 3 quick ones I can think of right away are:

• sons of the desert (laurel and hardy)
• whos afraid of Virginia wolf
• Dr Strangelove

Watched all 3 so many times I could not even guess the number. Have their DVDs and stream them as well.

Since you claim to have watched them so many times, why aren’t you spelling it “Virginia Woolf”, which is actually the correct spelling.

 

[Hognutz]

The Longest Day

All Quiet on the Western Front was good too…

 

[Tristan]

There's a number of ones I liked - the old Hercules "Cast of thousands!" type I'd watch with my Dad on Saturday mornings... "It's a Wonderful Life", which I watch most years with my Family, "Dr. Strangelove", "Seven Samauri", "Yohimbo" and "Sanjuro" by Kurosawa, old Westerns, and on and on..

 

[Dennis Olson]

• Creature from the Black Lagoon
• The Day the Earth Stood Still

Luke warm on the first, LOVE the second.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I think Borgnine was the most versatile and profligate actor ever. And I don’t think he was ever in a bad film.

 

[1911user]

Them (1954) is a great B&W classic. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) is also good.

 

[wait-n-see]

Since you claim to have watched them so many times, why aren’t you spelling it “Virginia Woolf”, which is actually the correct spelling.

Well drat! And I was so proud I ran spell check and capitalized at least some of the titles. My lazy spelling and typing strikes again. LOL

 

[Pebbles]

Oh Dennis, that is really a hard call. My favorite movies are all black and white. I guess I will say the 1946 "My Darling Clementine" with Henry Fonda, directed by the master John Ford. I do love "Angel and the Bad Man" and "Rachel and the Stranger". Loretta Young is just so beautiful.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Don’t feel bad. I thought there was an “e” on the end. I had to verify the spelling myself - lolz.

 

[beardog1]

In Harms Way -John Wayne

 

[Papacub]

Sands of Iwo Jima, High Noon.

 

[Marseydoats]

Mrs. Miniver
The little boy and the cat just made that movie special.

 

[Plain Jane]

I loved the old Thin Man (Nick and Norah Charles)series with William Powell and Myrna Loy.

 

[Toosh]

I love watching all the 1950's era Civil Defense training films - duck and cover, shelter in place, atomic attacks, War of the Worlds, CONELRAD, DEWline.

But as far as movies: Bell, Book and Candle. There's a colorized version on YouTube.

 

[Persimmon]

The Best Years of Our Lives and the original Miracle on 34th Street.

 

[pauldingbabe]

Mr. Roberts

Before they colorized it.

 

[jward]

I love em all- whatever sweet boy digs up from the oldies, preferably pre-code, is my favorite du jour ; not watching TV/movies for all these years has turned those rare times I do watch something into a real event, instead of mindless noshing on "junk food".

It happened on fifth avenue is one that I especially enjoy.

 

[AlfaMan]

The Best Years of Our Lives and the original Miracle on 34th Street.

The best years of our lives-what an incredible film.

 

[Sub-Zero]

I think Borgnine was the most versatile and profligate actor ever. And I don’t think he was ever in a bad film.

I met him back in 1998. What a genuinely nice human being he was.

We talked about his stint in the Navy as well as some of his favorite roles. But what he talked about most was his mother. She supported his love of acting very strongly when he got back from the war. He was almost moved to tears (I thought I saw one or two) when he knew how proud she would have been to have seen him awarded and honorary degree.

I got the very strong impression that his father wasn't around for much of his life.

We talked about family and fatherhood.

His great joy at that time in his life was being a clown for the Shriner's Circus, I think, for helping with their children's hospital.

I think my favorite film of his would have to be, "The Poseidon Adventure"

 

[hummer]

That is a hard one. There are so many. The Angel and the Bad Man, and I know it's dumb but I like the old Arsenic and Old Lace, also Westward the Women among many.

I was also going to say "Arsenic and Old Lace"
but there are so many that were/are so good in so many different ways.

 

[CapeCMom]

Roman Holiday, The Grapes of Wrath, any Alfred Hitchcock movie.

 

[Sub-Zero]

My favorite is, "The Maltese Falcon". A very close second is, "Metropolis", which I have on in the background right now.

 

[SSTemplar]

Casablanca. I’m a sucker for a love story.

 

[Old Greek]

Run Silent, Run Deep - always liked sub movies!

 

[WildDaisy]

Its a Wonderful Life