I’m fortunate enough to teach an elective English course for high school seniors called Literature and Film, and early on I need to convince my students of something: black and white movies can be as engaging as color. I can’t win them all, but I try, and I win more than I don’t. We spend an hour contrasting the funeral speech scene in Julius Caesar of 1970 (color, and crap) with that in Julius Caesar of 1953 (B&W, and great) and they see my point. But I save the big gun for my closing argument: The Night of the Hunter.

There’s nothing quite like it. The plot is nothing brilliant. The Rev. Harry Powell—a murderous con man who justifies every act as God’s will—shares a cell with a condemned man whose widow and children might still have $10,000 stolen from a bank. He works his way into the family’s and town’s good graces, and only the children know of his evil. Rev. Powell is a genuinely great villain, with his deep velvet voice, misogyny, and oft-mimicked knuckle tattoos (“Love” and “Hate”); his voice singing the hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” gets my vote for most chilling song in cinema. It’s the perfect pairing for a series of striking shots.

Because my God, those shots. It shows what black and white cinematography can do. Shadow, flame, water, fog, horizon. Nothing else looks like The Night of the Hunter, largely because it all looks wrong. The angles are off; there’s flat planes where there should be three dimensions. My favorite monochromatic shot of all time is Powell standing outside a white picket fence, wide-brimmed hat tipped ominously against the night. Nothing in the shot moves except the flame in a gas lamp directly behind him, and literally everything about the shot is wrong. The shadows of the fence posts break away with impossible sharpness; there is light where there should be darkness and darkness where there should be light; the black, cutout mass behind him appears to be a hillside in a flat, riverside town. But like so many other elements in the movie, it works precisely because it’s wrong. It’s surreal and expressionistic in every way, from its characters and plot to its lighting. Roger Ebert wrote that it “follows the logic of nightmare.” There’s a strange musical interlude out of a fairytale or the Bible or a dream or something; the movie plays for odd laughs amid fear and defies logic. By the light of day you feel like you could reason it apart, but its power holds. It is not day; it is dream. It is The Night of the Hunter.

Nothing I could say would do justice to this movie. So, I will put some quotes of choice.

"THERE ARE THIRTEEN BODIES IN THE CELLAR!!"

"*singsong voice* and we'll all be happy at Happy Dale."

"I'M NOT A BRUSTER, I'M THE SON OF A SEACOOK!!!"

"CHARGE!!!!"

Featuring Cary Grant, a brother who thinks he's Teddy Rosevelt, Mr. Totally Not Boris Carloff, Two Extremly Sweet Old Lady's Who Wouldn't Harm A Fly (*coughs*), and thirteen dead bodies in the cellar.

My mother has this thing for classic black and white movies, so I've seen quite a few since I've existed. Black and white are often overlooked because theyre black and white and all of the attractive actors are long dead, but there are a few that if you havent seen them, you should. Plus, peoole didn't have long attention spans because of war and what not so most are short.

The first is called "Arsenic and Old Lace" which is a movie about a guy taking his fiancée to meet his two old aunts. While he's there, he finds out his aunts are black widows and that they have just killed a man the night before. That sounds like a spoiler, but it's the first five minutes. It is worth a watch. And I promise, you'll never go up the stairs without running full soeed screaming, "Charge!"

The second movie is called "Some Like It Hot". Now, if you can get past Marilyn Monroe's typecasted acting, you'll enjoy it. If you dont like that commentary, eatch the movie and picture any other woman in her role. The plot, simply put, is two musicians in Chicago witness a mob murder someone and they have to get oit of town. So, they dress up like women and join a women's chorus down to Florida (I believe). Again, that summarized the first fifteen minutes of the movie, maximum. Its a great movie. Especially the last line.

The last movie is not in black and white but is one of the movies that I was happy to watch. Stephen King's Cujo had its weird moments, but it is a riveting movie. Though, in classic horror film fashion, you'll be screaming "What were you thinking?" at your TV half the time. Now, I havent seen it since I was ten or eleven, but I believe the gist of it is a woman and her young son were going to see someone and had car trouble. So, they go to a farm where the titular character lived with his owner. Things happen and she endd up trapped in her car for 80% of the movie. Like that summary, the graphics and special effects aren't the best, but it's worth looking into. Especially since I found it funnier than anything.

So, if you are bored and have 118 minutes to kill, check one of these out. It's worth it to yell "Charge" while running up the stairs.

It came out in 1987 and it was written by John Hughes (Breakfast Club, Home Alone, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink). It has a classic kind of love story plot. Watts and Keith are best friends, Keith loves popular girl Amanda, Watts helps Keith planning and executing the perfect date for Amanda, Watts has a secret that she is in love with Keith. Watts is literally the coolest girl in any film I have ever seen. She says "Skill beyond skill. Technique." And I thought it was coolest thing ever. Keith is obviously oblivious to Watts' crush on him. But damn does he try hard for the popular girl Amanda, he paints her a damn PORTRAIT. And its GOOD. Goals. Anyways, the end is my favorite part. I won't say what happens but its like the best acting I have ever seen. Two characters are able to say something on their minds, but just from the looks on their faces. And you're just like YES. This movie is so underated and I have never met someone who has heard of it. 10/10 all around movie.

One of my all time favorite movies is An Unmarried Woman, 1978 by Paul Mazursky staring Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy and Cliff Gorman. If the title sounds like a chick flick, it just may be, then again maybe not. Hear me out. It is brilliantly acted, it is funny and tragic and it explores relationships, love and loss like no other film I have ever experienced. The film was Academy Award nominated for best picture and best actress. As the story unfolds, the perfect life of wealthy New York City wife, Erica Benton (Jill Clayburgh) is shattered when her stockbroker husband Martin (Michael Murphy) leaves her for a younger woman. The film documents Erica's attempts at being single again, where she suffers confusion, sadness, and rage. As her life progresses, she begins to bond with several friends and finds herself inspired and even happier by her renewed liberation. The story also touches on the overall sexual liberation of the 1970s. Erica eventually finds love with a rugged, yet sensitive British artist (Alan Bates). I'm even obsessed with the theme song and I am humming it right now. The drawback on this recommendation is it is hard to see. Now that I have teased you into taking a peek, I cannot recommend how you can watch it. It was streaming on Netflix but was pulled and a used DVD's of the film on Amazon runs from $33 bucks to $220 for a new unused copy. Go figure. I had it on VHS, lol, and it went in the garbage with the VCR when I moved to Delaware, but it remains as a masterpiece of film in my mind. If it comes back to Netflix or streams somewhere else, check it out!

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