White Film

Remembering Yesteryear’s Black & White Films

When I was a kid growing up, there was a television channel that showed a movie every afternoon. I either was born loving movies or by watching movies every day with my mom I grew to love them. Either way, I watched countless hours of old movies while I was in my formative years.

I love all types of movies and film techniques, even today’s computer animated films shot against green screens, but I have a real appreciation for the different era of filmmaking. I’ve seen just about every movie Jimmy Cagney ever starred in, and I’m certain every movie Alfred Hitchcock ever directed. I’ve seen so many black and white movies it’s a wonder I don’t dream in black and white, and yet, with all this modern technology that includes color saturation and high definition, there’s something magical about old movies for me.

A lot of movies today rely on a lot of trickery – computer generated special effects – to punctuate a story. Back then there weren’t too many gadgets available to create a special effect, so story was everything. Some of the greatest films of all time – Citizen Kane, Notorious, The Rope, and Casablanca – failed or succeeded on the merits of the writing, directing, and acting alone. Some might call it a pure form of the art.

It’s not impossible to watch old black and white movies these days. There’s plenty that have been released on DVD, and everyone once in a while some programming executive at one of the networks or cable outlets will throw one into the mix – generally something everyone’s seen and will watch again – like It’s a Wonderful Life, or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. However, there’s still one cable outlet dedicated not only to showing these great classic films, but preserving them as well.

Turner Classic Movies – TCM – is part of each DIRECTV satellite programming package, and rightfully so. Each day they show great films from a bygone era, complete with information provided by the great host, Robert Osborne. TCM also presents many relevant film series, which are designed to give viewers a sense of history and a feel for what was going on in the world at a certain time.

This month on TCM you will get to enjoy a program called Twenty Years of the Film Foundation. Started my Martin Scorsese, the Film Foundation was put together to ensure that endangered classic films would be preserved. To date, the Film Foundation has preserved 525 films that otherwise would have been destroyed. This month you’ll be treated to four that they’ve saved, including The Red Shoes from 1948, Once Upon a Time in the West, The River, and Bonjour Tristesse.

Do yourself a favor some evening and watch an old, classic black and white film with great stars like Cary Grant, Lucille Ball, John Garfield, Barbara Stanwyk, Errol Flynn, or Paulette Goddard on Turner Classic Movies on DIRECTV. Who knows, you might just become as big a fan as me!

About the Author

Lincoln Wilder loves all things entertainment. His weekly music blog is a compilation of celebrity madness, album reviews, concert news, & sleezy celebrity drama; always written with absolute honesty and irresistible hints of sarcasm. Armed with only a laptop and Qwest high speed Internet, Wilder surfs the streams for the latest and not always greatest of the music world. If it involves music and is notable, it’s on his blog. While some call it madness, he calls it living, (not “a living,” as that would suggest compensation of some kind). Wilder does what he does purely for the joy of it, and is always open to the suggestions of his followers.

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