Old film - I love Casablanca for this look.

dave lackey

dave lackey

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Film noir?
Just plain old black and white?

Maybe some film aficionados can educate me on this. But besides being the best movie of all time,:D... I love watching black and white movies with Bogart!

Does anyone know what film was used in the filming of Cassblanca?

It comes on TV tonight at 10pm. I am ready!:p

(On the TCM channel, Turner is wonderful for this.)
 
I have wondered how the old films handled low light. I assume the films used in the 1940's were slow by today's standards so how they achieve focus and lighting so well has always caught my attention. I already had the box set to record Casablanca tonight. Joe
 
Love love love it. Not a noir but an incredibly beautiful black and white film is Persona by Bergman. Such a luminous quality to it that it becomes very dream like - Sven Nykvist really worked some magic there.
 
What I like about the look of this movie is the cleanliness of the people and places...everyone is well dressed, hair combed, perfect makeup...so much so that if I were to photograph these people this is the look I would want...it's like every scene would make a beautiful print...
 
There was an interesting documentary on TCM before Casablanca last night about the European exiles who left for Hollywood in the 1930s and brought with them the styles and techniques that became film noir.

Also, I have to recommend "The Third Man" as one of the best of the genre. I also quite like "Double Indemnity".
 
Yes, to "The Third Man" but - if you want black comedy in colour - try "The Ladykillers" but not the remake...

Regards, David
 
It does not have to be old. Check out "Good Night and Good Luck", I think it's lrss than 10 years old and filmed with B&W film.
Or "Young Frankenstein", also filmed in B&W.
 
You should also watch Close Encounter. It's an outstanding film with surprising content matter for the period and the opening scene is just fantastic.
 
Casablanca was shot on Eastman Nitrate base film. At least I think so as Arthur Edeson was big on the Eastman brand. Other brands were out there... Dupont used to produce it too. They stopped production of Nitrate based films in the 50's

I think MOMA has an original copy otherwise every other version you see is a copy. Nitrate based films were very unstable and degraded quickly. They (the films) were even prone to erupting in flames.
 
Cinematographers are really lighting directors. Some shoot the whole film at the widest aperture of their slowest lens.
 
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