The Starter Guide to Classic Black and White Films

What's This?

By Madeline Raynor2014-07-23 12:30:37 UTC

Classic films can be intimidating. The era of iconic flicks before roughly the 1960s was largely dominated by black and white movies, which come with a certain level of culture shock for those who aren't used to the different aesthetics.

Aside from the lack of color, you must adjust to hand-drawn title cards, fake sets, that persistent classical music in the background, and a completely different acting style. It's especially intimidating to watch a film for the first time when it stars one of those legendary Hollywood actors like Humphrey Bogart or Katharine Hepburn.

But once you make it past the culture shock, classic movies are amazing. Honestly, at their core, they're just like movies today.

If you want to start watching black and white films but aren't sure what to start with, try these classics that are famous, but also well-loved and widely accessible (though not all are black and white). To help you out, there's also a recommendation guide that compares these classics to similar, newer films. Spoiler Warning: some spoilers were inevitable while making these recommendations.