So recently I watched Street Car Named Desire. I was thinking of making that my movie pick for Louisiana for a couple of reasons; for one it’s a Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tennessee Williams and as a general rule I like movies adapted from plays; case and point To Kill a Mockingbird. I love To Kill a Mockingbird. I know it was a book long before it was a play but it was a play long before it was a movie so there. Also, I had never seen a Marlon Brando movie and most importantly at the moment I have no desire to see The Big Easy which is what’s on the list for Louisiana.
As I work my way down the list I have decided to really give the classic black and whites a try. I am not usually a big fan of the black and white film however, there are a whole list of actors that supposedly have done there best work in black and white films long before things were shot in Technicolor. Also, there are a whole list of classic films that you are just supposed to see and Streetcar Named Desire is one of those films. Here’s the problem: I hated Streetcar Named Desire. It was boring, long and drawn out and nothing happened. Maybe I just wasn’t smart enough to get it-to see what everyone loved about it. Maybe it is better in the theater format-I don’t know. If Streetcar has one saving grace it is Marlon Brando. God rest his soul he’s dead now but back in the day Brando had to be the Brad Pitt of his time. Not only was he handsome but a pretty good actor too. To summarize I hated the movie but loved Marlon Brando.
This got me thinking about black and white films and actors and movies that I do like and things I would recommend for other people to see. Here’s what I came up with; I love Carey Grant and Jimmy Stewart.
Here are my three favorite black and white films of all time:
1. It’s A Wonderful Life
| An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed. |
| http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1101988121/ |
2. People Will Talk
Successful and well-liked, Dr. Noah Praetorius becomes the victim of a witch-hunt at the hands of Professor Elwell, who disdains Praetorius’s unorthodox medical views and also questions his relationship with the mysterious, ever-present Mr. Shunderson. Fuel is added to the fire when Praetorius befriends young Deborah Higgins, who has become suicidal at the prospect of having a baby by a lover who has left her.
3. The Bishops Wife
| A bishop trying to get a new cathedral built prays for guidance. An angel (Cary Grant) arrives, but his guidance isn’t about fundraising. |
| http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2106523929/
If you haven’t seen these I highly recommend them. |
Ok since you are on the whole black and white thing, you gotta see Arsenic and Old Lace with Cary Grant if you haven’t. This is one of my mother’s favorite movies and I have also grown to love it after watching it way too many times.