Summary

• Black and white films maintain their freshness and impact, making them suitable for viewing in any era.
• These movies prioritize high visual artistry over gaudy spectacle, relying on elements like framing and lighting for impact.
• Compelling storytelling and technical excellence matter more than bright pigmentation, as proven by atmospheric classics like Psycho and Schindler's List.

Black and white films evoke a nostalgic ambiance, reminiscent of a bygone era. They are commonly associated with things of the past. They also reflect a stylistic choice often seen in modern films despite the availability of technicolor. Timeless classics exist across various periods of black and white filmmaking, maintaining their freshness and profound impact, making them suitable for viewing in any era. Though color film has long been the norm, black and white cinema still holds a transfixing appeal. From silent films to film noir, iconic works have immersed viewers while using only shades of gray and shadows.

Despite lacking flashy visuals, these movies remain impactful and relevant. Their arresting photography and composition show creativity absent of color. Furthermore, their reliance on elements like framing, lighting and production design demonstrates a focus on high visual artistry over gaudy spectacle. While there are many amazing black and white movies that are due for a modern remake, it’s these facets that give black and white films their timelessness. Regardless of era, atmospheric classics like Psycho, Clerks and Schindler’s List maintain their power, proving that compelling storytelling and technical excellence matter more than bright pigmentation. Their vision and mastery persist untarnished.

10 Manhattan (1979)

Starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton

Filmed in stark high contrast visuals against New York City backdrops, Manhattan follows a neurotic writer exploring misgivings about his life and romances. While in some ways a stylistic love letter to the city, the movie resonates universally in its insightful observations on the struggles to balance career, maturity, ethics and emotional connections. Bearing simple, yet classic aesthetics, Manhattan’s crisp photography and smart discussion of moral quandaries ensure its continued relevance regardless of viewing era. The film provokes self-reflection, standing the test of time through meaningful style and substance over colorful distraction.

9 The Artist (2011)

Starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo

The Artist stands out as a modern black and white production that has already proven itself a new classic. Set in 1920s Hollywood, the movie chronicles a silent film star whose career enters crisis with the advent of "talkies" as motion pictures begin incorporating sound. Made as an homage to classic cinema, The Artist captivates through visual storytelling and dramatic emotional arcs communicated entirely without dialogue. Its singular style and endearing performances give it a lasting intrigue and charm. By celebrating film history while demonstrating creativity within constraint, this revival of long-dormant techniques results in a unique modern gem.

8 Casablanca (1942)

Starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman

Casablanca is a classic movie that defined its decade at the time of its release, and continues to endure through its sharply written script and complex characterizations. Beyond its deeply romantic narrative, the film explores weighty themes of idealism compromised by reality, moral sacrifice in the face of danger, and overcoming selfishness for the greater good. Casablanca relies on sophisticated dialogue and soulful performances to create an emotionally resonant viewing experience in any era. At its core, the film declares that people can discover their best selves in times of crisis, a hope-filled message that is still profoundly moving.

7 12 Angry Men (1957)

Starring Henry Fonda

By setting its drama entirely within a jury room, 12 Angry Men creates gripping human tension without flash or spectacle. As twelve markedly different men debate the innocence of a murder suspect, personalities and prejudices collide. Avoiding courtroom theatrics or violence to reign in audiences, the film instead builds nail-biting suspense solely from moral dilemmas arising between the characters. Weighty questions erupt about the legal system’s capacity for injustice, the moral courage to go against the majority, and overcoming biases. Despite being made decades ago, this provocative character study is timeless because its themes resonate universally regardless of era.

6 Psycho (1960)

Starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh

Considered one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies, Psycho shocked audiences and set new standards for suspense cinema by building unbearable tension not through gore but through expert camerawork, lighting and music. Psycho is a film that horrifies through mastery of pure visual storytelling. Glimpsing the inner darkness lurking beneath ordinary facades, it retains enduring cultural resonance. Moreover, Janet Leigh’s now-iconic shower scene demonstrates Hitchcock’s ability to frighten without explicitness, highlighting the power of what’s implied but not shown. Psycho’s reliance on suggestion over easy spectacle explains its continuing impact on thrillers and horror.

5 s Ha (2012)

Starring Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver

s Ha is the perfect example of a recent production that utilizes black and white cinematography to thoughtful effect. Detailing the misadventures of a wayward 27-year-old dancer in New York, the film uses crisp monochrome to emphasize dreamlike qualities in familiar urban settings. The photography brings attention to the protagonist’s uncertain age into adult responsibility. Director Noah Baumbach employs heightened contrasts between light and dark to underscore themes of struggling with self-doubt amid shifting relationships and generational expectations of purpose. By focusing on timeless quarter-life dilemmas, s Ha attains a lasting relatability that transcends its contemporaries.

4 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Starring Gregory Peck and Mary Badham

Seen through a child’s eyes, To Kill A Mockingbird chronicles lawyer Atticus Finch defending a black man wrongly accused of rape, exposing racial prejudices lurking beneath a small town. The movie conveys harsh truths about the failures of an unjust system, a truth that is still, unfortunately, prevalent today. However, Finch's quiet courage offers hope, a timeless notion that will always be welcomed in cinema. To Kill a Mockingbird relies on ethical complexity for impact. With its concern for empathy and equality before the law, the film retains affecting power in any era by invoking conscience over cheap manipulation.

3 Persepolis (2007)

Starring Chiara Mastroianni

Unlike color films reliant on effects that can age, Persepolis uses a muted palette to present issues still pressing now as when it premiered. Black and white animation, influenced by graphic novel aesthetics, forms the visual foundation for this memoir, set against the backdrop of Iran's political repression in the 1980s. The visual simplicity puts the focus on one girl’s coming-of-age against this turbulent backdrop. Despite the moments of loss and upheaval, intimacy persists via small joys and communion. Persepolis utilizes a deliberate lack of color to convey ongoing dangers of ideological totalitarianism, dangers that still persist today.

2 Clerks (1994)

Starring Brian O’Halloran

This movie with a budget under $500,000, Kevin Smith’s 1994 comedy Clerks, attains a timeless relatability through nuanced characters and mundane situations elevated into unexpected hilarity. Filmed in black and white, the movie follows a day in the life of convenience store clerks, revealing humor and droll insights into trivial interactions. Devoid of modern effects and bright colors, Clerks relies wholly on sharp dialogue to depict generational restlessness, themes that persisted for those of the past, as well as the present. The film continues appealing to new viewers discovering its humorous affection and quiet existential debates around young adulthood.

1 Schindler's List (1993)

Starring Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes

Schindler's List, captured in stark black and white, immerses viewers in the Holocaust's raw reality without artifice. Humanity's darkest moments unfold unfiltered, where genocide reduces lives to statistics. However, amidst the bleak realities, one man defies extinction, crafting lists not of death but of mercy. In the efficient machinery of death and the cold snows embracing lifeless bodies, echoes of kindness resonate, a theme that will always remain timeless. Spielberg's unvarnished lens exposes the brutality, with redemption making its way throughout the story. By stripping away gloss, the film confronts the timeless collision of honest hope and despair.