OT Start the week topic! ;-)

[guest18]

swmbo and I have just spent a happy spell watching "Whisky Galore" and then "The 39 Steps" (Hitchcock version), and bl**dy marvelous they were too!

I have come to the conclusion that proper quality black and white films manage to entertain with no sex, drugs, violence... and tell the story better and more stylishly than modern hollywood efforts.
So... black and white is best, discuss 

[Steve H]

Not the same thing but I used to prefer Black and White photography because the image had to sell itself on its content rather then just being pretty colours.

[guest27]

Yup, "It's a Wonderful Life" is a great film and is B&W, no sex, no violence, etc

I am not sure it is B&W films, but the skill at the time was probably greater in the story telling and the cinamatography.  However contrast to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the scope of the stories and the CGI make Clarence in IaWL seem a poor rendition of the fantasy, both Golom and Clarence are imaginary creatures, they are treated very differently.

BUt there were many rubbish films made in the past, only the best (however defined) survive.

I have a friend, an architect, who was asked why modern architects so rarely produce great buildings.  His view was that there are probably more great buildings produced today, the reason we see old buildings as bing 'better' than new is because all the crap ones have fallen down or have been knocked down.  Same for films?

R

[robG]

Doesn't have to be B&W, however films of the 30's 40's and 50's have a wonderful way of providing reassurance and reminding ourselves of the way things were and perhaps the way they should be now.

The Iron Maiden , Titfield Thunderbolt and Genevieve are great examples of the ' enthusiast ' films of the 50's and provide great snapshots of everyday life as it was then.

Any of the great war films of the forties and fifties merit attention. Let's not forget , this year is the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the second world war. 2014 will mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the first world war. These films will be valuable snap shots on history, setting aside any artistic licence employed at the time.I can well remember seeing these films on a sunday afternoon , before the advent of sunday shopping dealt a death blow to traditional sunday afternoons.{dozing in front of the telly after eating too much roast dinner}.

I've recently introduced G minor to 'No Limits' and he thoroughly enjoyed it and now asks for it on again and again.

Yes definitely worth a second , third , fourth...........look.

Rob .

[Ian]

Perhaps its down to the quality of acting, producing and directing? (not in any particular order).
When my son was small he used to love watching the 3 stooges....I know  its not on the same lines as the quality films already mentioned but nevertheless....there is something to be said.
I myself preferred Ben Turpin

Ian

[Gaylord]

Hello
Iam sorry to spoil this but have you seen Eraser Head? No not the Terminator character.

Gaylord is in Technicolor(technicolour)

[guest7]

I liked Eraserhead, it made me laugh a lot... but it's not a milestone in cinema, that's for sure  

I'm a sucker for old movies, but why oh why are they always on Channel 4 at 1.30pm on a work day?  

Lots of great films being made these days though, look at how good 'The Motorcycle Diaries' was (and not just the bike bits). I recently watched the Brazilian movie 'City of God' and that was superb. And what about Penelope Cruz in Almodovar's 'Vulver',? Any Mike Leigh film knocks spots off many a B&W 'classic'.

Heard a recent programme on R4 about Cary Grant's suit in North by Northwest. Apparently I'm not alone in thinking it the greatest suit in movies. Seriously, it's the best suit ever made. Some modern films struggle to acheive the same level of style and glamour, although the 'Oceans' series manages it.

GC

[guest27]

Hummmm

Ben digging about a bit.

Typically Hollywood churns out 400 films per year, has been higher and lower but using it as a number that gives us 28,000 films from HW since 1939 alone, plus those from the British industy, being as we are intelligent lot, add in European films etc and there must have been a good 35,000 films made over the period.

I would guess we would struggle to name 1000 between us, probably struggle to get to 500.

So we have identified a handful out of 35,000 flms.  Seems to me there were a lot of turkeys made.

I am trying to get the Internet Movie Database top 250 films to load into Excel so I can have a lok to see what proportion per decade.

R

[Steffan]

It is true that there are many outstanding b/w flicks and that there is a great deal of dross produced today. But then there are also some excellent films which wouldn't have made the censors years ago. 'Once were Warriors' and 'The Lives of Others' spring to mind. Truly breathtaking performances.

Steffan

[Richard]

Similarly a great fan of some older films.  Metropolis was probably one of the best science fiction films, ever.

Speaking of Whisky Galore I was in the honoured poitio of drinking a fair quantity of whisky from the real wreck a few months ago.  Thanks Keith, great moment and bloody good (over strength) whisky.

Richard

[squirrelciv]

Can't put my finger on what it is about old movies I like. Is it the simple way they tell a story with acting, dialog, music and direction only or is it the memories of happier, easier times when I was a kid and the toughest decision I had to make was whether to watch bbc or itv.

Last week I found a DVD of 'Ice cold in Alex'. Brilliant! watched it twice already. Now looking for other greats in the bargain bins.

[Andy M]

Another old movie fan here. The one that makes me laugh time and time again is the Lady Killers (the British Original not the Tom Hanks thing). There are great films in every decade though, I'd bet you could find something decent every year actually.

Andy

[guest7]

swmbo and I have just spent a happy spell watching "Whisky Galore"

Funnily enough I've just started reading the book. All good stuff. Mind you I'm also reading Bryson's book on Shakepseare, a book on cathedral building and a book written by a German anti-nazi who had a bit of a torrid time after his arrest by the gestapo (it's a true story).

I always have this number of books on the go and it never seems to spoil the reading process. Anyone else do this?

GC

[Mark]

Does a Haynes manual, a genuine workshop manual and a hard copy of a cd manual count? Oh, and my monthly VMCC booklet.

[squirrelciv]

I always have this number of books on the go and it never seems to spoil the reading process. Anyone else do this?

GC

I'm a '1 book at a time' guy and bloody slow at that too