iCM Forum's Favorite Contemporary Black & White Movies; Results

[blocho]

What do people think about the choice to use B&W in these movies?

Back in the 40s, the choice was usually based on cost. Color was more expensive. I'm guessing that's not really a factor these days, but maybe it still was for some of the movies on this list from the late 60s and 70s (Night of the Living Dead, for example).

In some cases, I think the use of B&W was to evoke an older historical period (Paper Moon, Ida, etc.).

But in most cases, I think it's an aesthetic decision. For some movies, the B&W is used very effectively in counterpoint to shorter sequences that use color (Embrace of the Serpent, Sin City), but I'm guessing that most of the time the filmmakers just liked the way that B&W looked. And while I respect that, I don't think it really mattered for some movies. I don't think my impression of Frances Ha, for example, would have changed one bit if it had been in color.

[Onderhond]

It's certainly a way to hide budgetary limitations. Films like Pi, Tetsuo, Eraserhead ... would've been a lot harder to do in color, as they would've looked a lot cheaper. B&W + grain can easily hide certain imperfections.

[Lonewolf2003]

#9 The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011) 903.9 points
27866 checks, official lists: 8

16 voters

beasterne (#16)
blocho (unranked)
Caracortada (#5)
Gordon_Gekko (#51)
gromit82 (#10)
gunnar (#6)
hurluberlu (unranked>42)
lineuphere (#92)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
mightysparks (#16)
Mysterious Dude (#19)
Panunzio (#26)
Rufus-T (#18)
Silga (#8)
sol (#39)
zzzorf (#16)

[OldAle1]

Frances Ha was, as I'm sure anybody here who has seen it knows, shot in b/w because it was mimicking the early New Wave films, especially Jules et Jim. And those were shot in b/w because it was cheaper in France at the time, though by the early 60s color was just about the same cost as b/w in the USA. I think it ceased being an economic motivator pretty much everywhere in the world between 1970-75 - with a few exceptions - which makes the late 60s cutoff for the poll seem pretty sensible.

Onderhond has a good point about the budgetary limitations though - I've been watching some of Eddie Muller's videos on noir lately and one thing he mentions time and again is that some of the lower-budgeted noir from the past actually looks pretty crappy when it's put in HD because you can see how obvious the shoddy cheap sets are. Now, that doesn't personally bother me, and in fact it lends a certain charm to some of those films - but it does make them very distinct from an A picture like Sunset Boulevard and it makes the differences in production values much more stark; and it helps to explain why, in a Hollywood that had much lower budgets for A pictures than today (even adjusted for inflation), color was used only on certain kinds of films even after WWII when it wasn't quite as expensive, and people were used to it. All the films Onderhond mentions are fantastic films, surreal or weird or sci-fi, and that's an area where it's still difficult to make things look good on a low budget, so it makes sense - and if anything the b/w actually makes them seem more odd and strange and otherworldly.

Coincidentally I just came across this yesterday - as much of a purist as I am, I can't say this looks "worse" than the original, which is not notable for great photography to begin with -

[Lakigigar]

What do people think about the choice to use B&W in these movies?

B&W can aesthetically look beautiful, and Onderhond is right in saying it can hide budgetary limitations in lots of ways or to reference other film / film movements or love of film in general as is said as well above.

[Lonewolf2003]

I'm going to bed. The results will finish automatically while I'm asleep. Tomorrow I will post links to lists and stats for decades, directors and genres

[Lonewolf2003]

#8 The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers, 2019) 931.35 points
4926 checks, official lists: 2

15 voters

AB537 (#7)
beasterne (#5)
beavis (#46)
blocho (unranked)
filmbantha (#19)
Gordon_Gekko (#4)
hurluberlu (#8)
lineuphere (#65)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
Melvelet (#7)
murnaunosferatu (#31)
Panunzio (#1)
Rufus-T (#27)
sol (#42)
TraverseTown (#25)

[Lonewolf2003]

#7 Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) 972.02 points
17917 checks, official lists: 18

18 voters

beasterne (#22)
beavis (#12)
filmbantha (#17)
Gordon_Gekko (#18)
gromit82 (#3)
hurluberlu (unranked>42)
lineuphere (#54)
matthewscott8 (#27)
Melvelet (#19)
mightysparks (#1)
murnaunosferatu (#5)
Mysterious Dude (#91)
Onderhond (#17)
Panunzio (#36)
pitn (#13)
sol (#50)
TraverseTown (#20)
zzzorf (#58)

[Lonewolf2003]

#6 Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979) 995.41 points
22825 checks, official lists: 19

16 voters

beasterne (#8)
Caracortada (#2)
filmbantha (#18)
Gordon_Gekko (#36)
gromit82 (#12)
hurluberlu (#2)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
murnaunosferatu (#4)
Mysterious Dude (#31)
Panunzio (#23)
pitn (#5)
RogerTheMovieManiac88 (unranked>67)
Rufus-T (#26)
Silga (#18)
sol (#9)
zzzorf (#66)

[Lonewolf2003]

#5 Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994) 999.28 points
26935 checks, official lists: 8

18 voters

AB537 (#6)
beasterne (#3)
beavis (#41)
filmbantha (#34)
Gordon_Gekko (#47)
gunnar (#19)
hurluberlu (unranked>42)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
mightysparks (#12)
murnaunosferatu (#26)
Mysterious Dude (#71)
Panunzio (#42)
pitn (#24)
Rufus-T (#15)
Silga (#3)
sol (#26)
Y U M E (#10)
zzzorf (#9)

[AB537]

Interesting Tim Burton's excellent biopic of Ed Wood comes up shortly after a discussion about black & white photography being used to cover up low budgets and shitty effects. Based on my one experience with an Ed Wood film - Plan 9 from Outer Space - NOTHING could cover up those effects, continuity errors etc. But the story of making that film was quite entertaining.

[Lonewolf2003]

#4 The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971) 1056.99 points
8213 checks, official lists: 19

17 voters

3eyes (unranked)
blocho (unranked)
filmbantha (#28)
Gordon_Gekko (#17)
hurluberlu (#33)
lineuphere (#36)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
matthewscott8 (#1)
Melvelet (#3)
murnaunosferatu (#8)
Mysterious Dude (#99)
Panunzio (#21)
pitn (#8)
Rufus-T (#11)
sol (#7)
Y U M E (#17)
zzzorf (#35)

[Lonewolf2003]

#3 The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980) 1126.19 points
30476 checks, official lists: 15

20 voters

3eyes (unranked)
AB537 (#9)
beasterne (#1)
beavis (#37)
blocho (unranked)
filmbantha (#30)
Gordon_Gekko (#44)
hurluberlu (#5)
lineuphere (#41)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
Melvelet (unranked>30)
mightysparks (#21)
murnaunosferatu (#27)
Mysterious Dude (#1)
Panunzio (#13)
pitn (#2)
RogerTheMovieManiac88 (unranked>67)
Rufus-T (#3)
sol (#88)
TraverseTown (#55)

[Lonewolf2003]

#2 La haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995) 1143.15 points
14866 checks, official lists: 14

17 voters

AB537 (#8)
beasterne (#2)
blocho (unranked)
filmbantha (#24)
Gordon_Gekko (#10)
gunnar (#7)
hurluberlu (unranked>42)
Lakigigar (#2)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
Melvelet (unranked>30)
mightysparks (#17)
Mysterious Dude (#53)
Panunzio (#2)
peeptoad (#15)
pitn (#17)
Silga (#9)
Teproc (#1)

[Lonewolf2003]

#1 Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) 1431.33 points
88454 checks, official lists: 32

19 voters

3eyes (unranked)
beasterne (#6)
Caracortada (#8)
filmbantha (#2)
Gordon_Gekko (#3)
gromit82 (#1)
gunnar (#1)
hurluberlu (#31)
Lakigigar (#7)
Lonewolf2003 (unranked)
mightysparks (#18)
murnaunosferatu (#6)
Mysterious Dude (#2)
Panunzio (#32)
pitn (#33)
Rufus-T (#1)
Silga (#4)
sol (#25)
zzzorf (#23)

[mightysparks]

Didn’t think Schindler’s List would win a poll here lol. Thought Eraserhead would be #1

[St. Gloede]

Thanks for the hard work, Lonewolf, and indeed Lauren, I had not expected that win either. Good news for Spielberg fans everywhere.

[Lonewolf2003]

STATS

Decades

60s	11
70s	17
80s	19
90s	16
2000s	16
2010s	17
2020s	4

Stands out that there are 11 from the 60s, which are only two years ('68 and '69). For the other decades it's evenly divided.

Genres

Action	2
Adventure	3
Animation	4
Biography	13
Comedy	28
Crime	12
Documentary	2
Drama	78
Family	2
Fantasy	14
Film-noir	0
History	12
Horror	13
Music	3
Musical	1
Mystery	9
Romance	15
Sci-Fi	11
Sport	1
Thriller	15
War	7
Western	1

So which directors like to work in b&w the most? (From who we like their movies)

Directors

Woody Allen	5
Béla Tarr Guy Maddin	4
Jim Jarmusch Tim Burton	3
Ágnes Hranitzky David Lynch Gakuryû Ishii  Joel Coen Pawel Pawlikowski Peter Bogdanovich Wim Wenders Yoshishige Yoshida	2
Others Abel Ferrara Akio Jissôji Alain Robbe-Grillet Alexander Payne Alfonso Cuarón Ana Lily Amirpour André Bonzel Andrew Bujalski Andrzej Wajda Anton Corbijn Ben Wheatley Benoît Poelvoorde Bernard Queysanne Bob Fosse Carl Reiner Charles Burnett Christopher Nolan Ciro Guerra Darren Aronofsky David Fincher Denis Villeneuve Éric Rohmer Esteban Sapir Frank Miller Frantisek Vlácil Gary Ross George A. Romero George Clooney Grzegorz Królikiewicz  Ildikó Enyedi Ingmar Bergman Jean Eustache John Cassavetes Juraj Herz Karel Kachyna Károly Makk Kenneth Branagh Kevin Smith Kôhei Oguri Larisa Shepitko Larry Blamire Lars von Trier Linh Viet Luc Besson Marcel Ophüls Martin Scorsese Martti Helde Marv Newland Mathieu Kassovitz Mel Brooks Michael Haneke Michel Hazanavicius Miguel Gomes Noah Baumbach Pablo Berger Peter Watkins Quentin Tarantino Rainer Sarnet Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rebecca Hall Rémy Belvaux Robert Eggers Robert Rodriguez Shin'ya Tsukamoto Shôhei Imamura Steven Spielberg Tomás Gutiérrez Alea Toshio Matsumoto Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi Vitali Kanevsky Yoshihiko Matsui	1

[Lonewolf2003]

Links to Lists

Top 100

Complete List
Complete List

[Lonewolf2003]

Thanks all for voting!

[peeptoad]

Thanks Lonewolf. The complete list is interesting. There's a film from 1940s on there for starters, and I think I also personally misread the guide as I included a few films from 1967. Didn't realize 68 was a hard cutoff...

[Lonewolf2003]

Thanks Lonewolf. The complete list is interesting. There's a film from 1940s on there for starters, and I think I also personally misread the guide as I included a few films from 1967. Didn't realize 68 was a hard cutoff...

Thanks. '68 wasn't a hard cutoff, most others just didn't include any movies from before that. Maybe cause they used my IMDb search link, maybe for other reasons.

I did look for pre-60s movies that could be ineligible. The 40s movie was released decades later, so on IMDb it's listed as a 1980 movie. That's why I missed it. Well it only had 1 vote, so won't make a major impact on the results.

[St. Gloede]

What was the 40s film?

[Tim2460]

Thx Lone Good Work as always !

[peeptoad]

Thanks Lonewolf. The complete list is interesting. There's a film from 1940s on there for starters, and I think I also personally misread the guide as I included a few films from 1967. Didn't realize 68 was a hard cutoff...

Thanks. '68 wasn't a hard cutoff, most others just didn't include any movies from before that. Maybe cause they used my IMDb search link, maybe for other reasons.

I did look for pre-60s movies that could be ineligible. The 40s movie was released decades later, so on IMDb it's listed as a 1980 movie. That's why I missed it. Well it only had 1 vote, so won't make a major impact on the results.

Ah, gotcha, That makes sense. Thanks again

What was the 40s film?

Let There Be Light

[Lakigigar]

Seen 14 out of 100 but it still has a lot of interesting films i definitely need to see one time.

[matthewscott8]

I'm surprised no-one pushed for Mad Max: Fury Road, the black and chrome edition is the director's preferred version and I know people here like the movie.

Whilst I generally dislike the take that a movie is pretentious I often feel like the choice to go black and white is done for pretentious reasons, and the top 20 is pockmarked with examples of that to my mind. The other 80 much less so. I think I would have felt particularly queasy if not for the saving grace of The Last Picture Show so high up the results.

[beasterne]

Thanks for running Lone! This was a poll I was really interested in, and the results are nice to see. I can definitely see myself using this poll to find b&w films to check out in the future.