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Beautifully shot Black & White movies


Guest Ian Marks

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Guest Ian Marks

Thanks again, everyone. I'm building quite a list of films to see. . . eventually. "Hidden Fortress". . . was that the Japanese film that many say influenced "Star Wars?"

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A few that have not been mentioned....

Dead Man (1995) Dir: Jim Jarmusch Ph: Robby Müller

Down By Law (1986) Dir: Jim Jarmusch Ph: Robby Müller

La Haine (1995) Dir: Mathieu Kassovitz Ph: Pierre Aïm

I Am Cuba (1964) Dir: Mikheil Kalatozishvili Ph: Sergei Urusevsky

 

All have photography that perfectly fits and reflects the mood of the film.

The slow building presence of Down By Law & Dead Man, Robby Müller (IMHO) at his best.

The high contrast and gritty feel of La Haine never seems to contrive or look down upon the characters in the ghetto.

The beyond belief camera moves of I Am Cuba, cameras going up the side of a building, through the window, tracking through the room, out the window, to a panorama of a street festival, tilting down, tracking overhead the crowds.... all in one shot! And the sugar canes, shot on infrared b/w, becoming like feathers blowing in the wind.

 

What I like about these films is that the camerawork never gets in the way of the story. Especially hard in a modern film that chooses to shoot black & white, a decision that draws attention to the photography automatically.

 

Chris.

Edited by flyingpenguins
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Do you guys ever read a post, and you have a great answer because of something that happened to you just recently, and you can't wait to give someone a good answer, but then you read the entire thread and find that someone else has already mentioned it? Well, regardless, I watched I Am Cuba just yesterday and it was just so beautiful. Every single frame is just stunning. Urusevsky's sense of movement and composition are uncanny, so I'm going to have to concur with the person who suggested I Am Cuba.

 

Does anyone know what type of film it was shot with? Possible Agfa or Ilford?

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Do you guys ever read a post, and you have a great answer because of something that happened to you just recently, and you can't wait to give someone a good answer, but then you read the entire thread and find that someone else has already mentioned it? Well, regardless, I watched I Am Cuba just yesterday and it was just so beautiful. Every single frame is just stunning. Urusevsky's sense of movement and composition are uncanny, so I'm going to have to concur with the person who suggested I Am Cuba.

 

Does anyone know what type of film it was shot with? Possible Agfa or Ilford?

 

Maybe we should start a thread on I Am Cuba for this...

I've attached an article on the film. On page 20 there's some interesting info on how they did some of those moves, incredibly inventive people.

I_AM_CUBA.pdf

Edited by flyingpenguins
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The Seventh seal, and Virgin spring. Anything by Bergman off course but those two are my favorites.

 

Louis Bunuel mexican period films, are dark and moody. It's very hard to imagine them in color. Try Los Olvidados or The brute or Wuthering Heights.

 

And no one mentioned Battle of Algiers. One of the qualities of this film that's overlooked is the composition. For example the shots of people in the ruins after the police set the bomb, are out of this world. There is also at least one instance where intrercutting of the same shot with different grain levels, works in a way that defies decription.

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Too tired to check if anyone's already posted this, but "High Noon" with Gary Cooper is starkly beautiful. There's really something magical about the "desert" (at least the Hollywood backlot version of it) in B&W. I'm not sure if they got the effect by just not filling in the shadows, but there's a really high key look to the whole film that I really enjoy. The story is almost as riveting visually as it is dramatically.

 

And of course all of Ford's westerns are tops too. Fort Apache is great. I already saw She Wore a Yellow Ribbon on here, which is good as well.

 

Hope that's of some help.

 

Regards,

 

~Karl

 

Oh, check out Pi for a more avant guard, gritty look. Ed Wood is also a marvelous recreation of '50s lighting techniques, not that they used exactly the same form of lighting, diffusion, or the same glass, but there are some shots where I honestly can't tell the difference, were it not for Johnny Depp being in frame of course, between a film shot by Ed Wood and the movie "Ed Wood".

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And of course all of Ford's westerns are tops too. Fort Apache is great. I already saw She Wore a Yellow Ribbon on here, which is good as well.

 

 

Oh, check out Pi for a more avant guard, gritty look. Ed Wood is also a marvelous recreation of '50s lighting techniques, not that they used exactly the same form of lighting, diffusion, or the same glass, but there are some shots where I honestly can't tell the difference, were it not for Johnny Depp being in frame of course, between a film shot by Ed Wood and the movie "Ed Wood".

 

'She wore a Yellow Ribbon' was Technicolor. The old Indian who wnts to go off Nathan to hunt buffalo and

smoke many pipes is the Indian on the nickle. Really.

 

'Fort Apache' uses infra-red stock for some of the shots of the cavalry columns and Indians standing atop mesas against black skies with near glowing clouds. another giveaway is that the cavalry tunics are light grey instead of black.

 

Ed Wood's cameraman Wm.C.Thompson was at the end of a career that went back to the teens, he did shorts at Universal in the early 30s which aren't mentioned on IMDB.

He also photographed 'Dementia/ Daughter of Horror' was fairly impressive noirish night work.

 

Also 'Divorce, Italian Style' has some fine B/W photography.

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'She wore a Yellow Ribbon' was Technicolor. The old Indian who wnts to go off Nathan to hunt buffalo and

smoke many pipes is the Indian on the nickle. Really.

 

Are you SURE you want to say that? I could have *sworn* it was butchered by TCM and colorized. I hope you don't think that Technicolor color is as bad as or cartoonish or as indistinguishable from digital video colorization that you can't tell the difference.

Edited by Karl Borowski
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I posted here before but I've recently seen another one called "Judgment at Nuremberg" by Stanley Kramer (great director) . Beautifully photographed in black and white ... and great camera work. I think everybody should see this movie (it will be aired on TCM this month by the way)

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Those were already mentioned in the original post!

 

It's hardly surprising to go back to the height of b&w photography (1930's-1950's) for good examples.

 

Some of these have already been mentioned, but among my favorites for b&w photography are:

 

Sunrise, Passion of Joan of Arc, The Fugitive, How Green Was My Valley, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Citizen Kane, Magnificent Ambersons, Portrait of Jennie, Night of the Hunter, The Innocents, Out of the Past, Mildred Pierce, Casablanca, Hud, Sweet Smell of Success, In Cold Blood, Last Picture Show, Paper Moon

 

His Girl Friday was a good BW movie from the 40's, although it's known more for it's rapid fire dialogue.

One jail scene was lifted by the director of Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme.

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Is it me or did most of the people go back atleast 20 years...how about Schindler's List. I know almost everyone has seen it but damn is was a great B@W. Or there is Roger Deakins - The man who wasnt there. Also well shot.

 

Does "Man Who Wasn't There" or "Good Night & Good Luck" REALLY count if they're shot on color and converted to b&w?

 

Both gorgeous films, but could another category be made for learning how to shoot color for b&w?

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