Greatest Black and White Movies of all time
Before there was color, filmmakers learned their craft using black and white film stocks and gave us some of cinema's finest moments on celluloid.
List activity
563K views
• 805 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
82 titles
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'With the help of the Mercury Theater cast, Gregg Toland, Bernard Herrmann, and Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles crafted one of the most unusual stories ever presented on the silver screen.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMyrna LoyDana AndrewsFredric MarchThree World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.Director William Wyler and Producer Samuel Goldwyn made perhaps one of the greatest films about the repercussions of war on its participants - especially the wounded, both physicially and psychologically. No student of film history should miss the symbolism rampant throughout.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.Jean Renoir's hauting look at the human condition during what was called the war to end all wars.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.While war seems to be man's most profitable enterprise, it is also his most damaging - the human spirit and to life. World War II saw the most lives lost than nearly all the wars put together with this story at its core.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.Patriotism was once defined as the last refuge of a scoundrel, a word that becomes more clearly defined in this incredible effort by director Stanley Kubrick.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.Clearly, Hitchcock made many valuable contributions to the art of cinema, but none stands out the way this small movie does with its close examination of the insane mass murderer.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsGregory PeckJohn MegnaFrank OvertonAtticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.Both book and film were poignant in their day and true today - there is no justice if your skin is dark. Director Robert Mulligan brought Harper Lee's words to the screen in stark realism.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartWalter HustonTim HoltTwo down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.Human folly and greed is best expressed in man's pursuit of gold and riches, only to have most dreams dashed by a bit of realism. John Huston's powerful story is also a display of tour de force acting on every level.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.Human vanity and pride often blind people to the truth of reality. Billy Wilder looked in the soul of those who would cling to fame and fortune only to have it all end as ashes in their mouths.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAnthony QuinnGiulietta MasinaRichard BasehartA care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.Not all of humanity is made up of the famous, the rich, the powerful, or the most dynamic. Most people are quite ordinary but whose stories are nonetheless, still significant. Fellini saw power in the poor, the downtrodden, and the weak.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.Like it or not this film is probably the most watched and most loved black and white movie ever made - "Here's looking at you!"
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsRonald ColmanJane WyattEdward Everett HortonWhen a revered diplomat's plane is diverted and crashes in the peaks of Tibet, he and the other survivors are guided to an isolated monastery at Shangri-La, where they wrestle with the invitation to stay.Of all Frank Capra's efforts, this film has the largest most profound heart at its core with the best effort in his career by Ronald Coleman as the everyman in search of his Shangri-la.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.The backstabbing world of the theater only mimics life as this all-star cast gives outstanding performances in the most Oscar-nominated film of all time with a most profound and perfunctual ending.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.By delivering a story so down to earth, Kurosowa comes to epitomize the true art of Japanese cinema in any age. This film represents his first great breakthrough of many to come.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.Thanks to the incredible photography of Gordon Willis, this Woody Allen comedy becomes elevated to cinema classic place as the most icon look at New York City ever photographed for the movies. The story isn't so bad either.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsCharles LaughtonJohn MillsBrenda de BanzieWidower Henry Hobson refuses to let his three daughters get married because he doesn't want to pay settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.A glimmer of what was to come from one of the greatest directors of all time, David Lean. This comedy has more profundity than most dramas with brilliant performances all around by a relatively unknown cast of supporting players. Of course, Laughton is at his best.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsFrank SinatraLaurence HarveyJanet LeighAn American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.Complex and fantastic, this film shows a range to Frank Sinatra that only John Frankenheimer could bring out. The weird and the wonderful converge in some excellent acting styles that placed dear sweet Angela Lansbury in the crosshairs of a villain.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.Humorous but sad look at what makes us laugh at a time when America was in the middle of a depression. This is one of Preston Sturges greatest efforts at making black and white art... "with a little sex."
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnBrenda MarshallClaude RainsGeoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for an attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills with the sword.If you had to add a commercial film with a swashbuckling hero then it might as well be this one (or The Mark of Zorro). Errol Flynn is at the height of his prowess as he swings on ropes into the hearts of women all over America, before the scandal that ruined his life forever after.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.John Ford's poignant look at how serious the Great Depression was and how it effected an entire generation that grew up knowing the worth of a penny. Bitterly sad but beautifully told.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsJennifer JonesCharles BickfordWilliam Eythe14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, living in a small town in the south of 1850s France, claims to have seen a divine vision, prompting extreme skepticism, concern from her family, and religious and political turmoil."For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, no explanation is possible." So goes the introduction to Franz Werfel's incredible novel based on the fact that he promised to tell her story after the village hid him from the Nazi's during their occupation. He did and it is all on screen with Jennifer Jones in the Oscar winning role.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsAnne BancroftPatty DukeVictor JoryThe story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.From the start of her life, Helen Keller had no chance to survive, no chance to succeed and definitely no chance to ever become known. Annie Sullivan changed all that. This is their beginning.
- DirectorRobert HamerStarsDennis PriceAlec GuinnessValerie HobsonA distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.Alec Guiness, like his contemporary, Peter Sellers, was a master at performing different roles. This comedic film shows how many times he can go down as the numerous victims of this hillarious plot to gain riches by succession.
- 19641h 35mPG8.3 (520K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.No film ever effected a generation that worried about atomic annihilation more than this one did. Kubrick took something as serious as mutually assured destruction and made us laugh at our own absurdities.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.Ignmar Bergman gave us "Smiles of a summer night," "Wild Strawberries," and this iconic film that starred a man who has survived through the decades as the greatest character actor of all time - Max Von Sydow.