When we began doing ‘Zach On Film’, I was quite amused by young Zach’s response to films made in black and white. To be honest, films without color can be a bewildering experience, especially in modern flicks, but it can make for an amazing viewing experience. Kevin Smith’s ‘Clerks’, for instance, is a movie that I can’t imagine having been made in color and, while I enjoy Berke Breathed’s wild color palette, I always found ‘Bloom County’ more compelling in the daily B&W newsprint strips. (Having a penguin for a protagonist will do that, I’ve found.) Even though monochromatic films and comics tend to be done for cost-related reasons, there are a lot of truly great stories out there, leading to today’s desaturated query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) actually wished that Clerks II was in monochrome as well, for visual balance, asking: What story told in black and white is the best of all?
6 Comments
Answer will be same as in many other movie related questions. Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. Probably followed by Chaplin’s Modern Times. My favorite of “new” films made in B&W is probably Raging Bull.
Seconding Seven Samurai. There is a very good reason it has been so influential to so many other works.
I like Clerks. I also vote for the beggining of the Wizard of Oz. Also, Schindlers List
Seven Samurai and The Thing from Another World (Original Movie).
My favorite black and white film to date is π.
The Thin Man (Mike Drop)