Mask of Satan

[NickTrop]

... and other movies with GREAT black and white film imagery.

Yes - they're movies. But some have some amazing black and white cinematography. Can you learn from them? I think so - especially composition and lighting. I thought of this today as I watched an old horror Italian horror flick called "Mask of Satan" also known as "Black Sunday" as it was released in the US in the early 60's. It's was the first film by director, Mario Bava. Bava was a painter and life-long cinematographer before he got the chance to direct this, his first flick, at the age of 46. He went on to have a long career pioneering the modern slasher films back in the 60s (known as "giallo" - Italian for "yellow" films) but those were shot in color (and he used color magnifcently). However, Mask of Satan, was shot in black and white - absolutely stunningly so.

Other black (and white) beauties - though there are many, many...that immediately come to mind from the world of cinema include:

- Girl on a Bridge (French flick shot in the late 90's)

- Night of the Hunter (only film directed by Charles Laughton)

- Any episode of the original Outer Limits science fiction series (every third episode were lensed by Conrad Hall but the others were just as visually interesting...)

Any other stand-out black and white'ers in the movies, feel free to add/recommend.

 

[Pablito]

The Third Man

 

[PaulDalex]

Thank you for this post, because I heartly agree. There was a time when the masters of B/W film, did convey so much of their art by means of photographic values. Examples are countless and this is one of the reason when I was a boy I swinged between photography and moovie (8 mm). I was biased toward photography mainly on the base of costs of professional equipment, much lower for photography. But the passion for cinema never ended and I enjoy to day classic moovies both in Color and BW.
The first citation that comes to my mind is all the Fellini' s and Antonioni's pre color movies. One might print so meny frames of say 81/2 and hang it on the wall side to side to the masters of photography.

 

[Bavaricus]

Some old german movies:

1940 - 'Geierwally' by Hans Steinhoff (according to Hans Albers "the biggest a-hole of the century" due to being a 1000% Nazi, but this picture is remarkable)

1929 - 'The white hell of Piz Palü' by Arnold Fanck, with Leni Riefenstahl (Fanck was a pioneer in nature and mountain movies, but his connections to the Nazi regime broke his neck and he died as a poor lumberjack, dramatic landscape shootings!!)

1931 - 'M - Murderers among us' by Fritz Lang with Peter Lorre. Sometimes termed the most important movie in german film history. Brilliant city shootings and of course the acting of Mr. Lorre!

1934 - 'Der verlorene Sohn' by Luis Trenker, brilliant photographing like it should be, you can really SEE what the actor FEELS and vice versa.

 

[NickTrop]

Thank you for this post, because I heartly agree. There was a time when the masters of B/W film, did convey so much of their art by means of photographic values. Examples are countless and this is one of the reason when I was a boy I swinged between photography and moovie (8 mm). I was biased toward photography mainly on the base of costs of professional equipment, much lower for photography. But the passion for cinema never ended and I enjoy to day classic moovies both in Color and BW.
The first citation that comes to my mind is all the Fellini' s and Antonioni's pre color movies. One might print so meny frames of say 81/2 and hang it on the wall side to side to the masters of photography.

Yes - you know what I'm talking about. Black Sunday/Mask of Satan was like this - you could take almost any random frame and hang it on a wall. Though they were all "posed" shots, not exactly "rangefinder street style" they none the less magnificent.

I too, actually, was into 8mm as a kid... and got my BA in film cinematography. I had the opportunity to work on a couple non or barely released forgotten independents a long time ago before deciding I enjoyed those little "luxuries" in life too much (read "eating") and changed direction. So, still film photography scratches this itch... in *****s.

----

The Third Man -

Geez - seen that one many, many, many a moon ago when I went through my "film noir" phase. Great flick.

----

Others that come to mind:

- The Elephant Man

- Shindler's List

- Forbidden Games (French anti-war flick made in the 50's I saw recently)

 

[NickTrop]

Some old german movies:

1940 - 'Geierwally' by Hans Steinhoff (according to Hans Albers "the biggest a-hole of the century" due to being a 1000% Nazi, but this picture is remarkable)

1929 - 'The white hell of Piz Palü' by Arnold Fanck, with Leni Reifenstahl (Fanck was a pioneer in nature and mountain movies, but his connections to the Nazi regime broke his neck and he died as a pool lumberjack, dramatic landscape shootings!!)

1931 - 'M - Murderers among us' by Fritz Lang with Peter Lorre. Sometimes termed the most important movie in german film history. Brilliant city shootings and of course the acting of Mr. Lorre!

1934 - 'Der verlorene Sohn' by Luis Trenker, brilliant photographing like it should be, you can really SEE what the actor FEELS and vice versa.

Ooooo... some great recommendations from the Germans - pioneers of "German expressionalism". The only one I've seen is "M", and of course Fritz Lang was one of the masters. Gotta add Metropolis to the list, of course.

 

[NickTrop]

Here's another one I saw this week. Lensed by Conrad Hall who was nominated for nine Oscars in cinematography and won three - (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition), got his start on The Outer Limits in the 60's. After Outer Limits was canceled, Leslie Stevens (producer and directed a few episodes) mad a horror flick in 1965 called "Incubus". Stars William Shatner. The entire film is spoken in Esperanto(!).

Shot by Conrad Hall in black and white - it's visually exquisite. One of the most beautiful - and unusual from a composition standpoint, films I've ever seen. And, believe it or not, a pretty darned good little flick.

 

[Morca007]

I was constantly amazed by the composition and tonality in Bergman's "The Seventh Seal."

 

[andrealed]

How Green Was My Valley

 

[Sparrow]

How Green Was My Valley

I had heard Prince Charles had gone completely green, but I’ve no idea if that includes his valet. 🙂

Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa, in fact almost anything by him, ruthlessly plagiarised by Hollywood over the years

 

[350D_user]

I'll add the Murnau version of "Nosferatu" into this list.

 

[candie]

interesting threat - my favorites:
- nosferatu (original and shadow of a vampire)
- metropolis

newer ones:
- dead man
- dancer in the dark
- coffee and cigarettes

 

[varjag]

Lang's Metropolis is my favorite too, and not just for the visuals.

Also, Seven Samurai shows most masterful use of the medium; you can see it's a great film even if you don't follow its story.

 

[Pablito]

On The Waterfront

 

[Sparrow]

Some stills from Akira Kurosawa's films

Seven Samurai
Throne of Blood

he worked in black and white mainly, his first colour film was as late as 1970

 

[rbiemer]

OK, showing my ignorance* here, but almost any of John Ford's westerns. Story-wise some of 'em are pretty awful but the images--especially on a truly big screen--are amazing. *because I don't know who the cinematographer was for those movies.
Rob

 

[Spider67]

OK:

Yojimbo!

and

Night of the Demon

 

[marke]

Many of the old movies being posted here, I've never even heard of. So I hope I don't lower the standard by mentioning many of the old (original) Twilight Zone episodes. I've often been amazed at the dramatic lighting and camera angles used in them.