Film Junk Poll: What is the Best Modern Black-and-White Movie?

Posted by on September 27th, 2013   Filed under: Polls

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This may be a pretty big topic to tackle but with the sudden resurgence of films being shot in black-and-white over the past few years (ie. The Artist, Frances Ha, A Field in England, Nebraska), I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the best monochrome movies made ever since colour was fully adopted by mainstream cinema. The hardest part about this poll was coming up with an arbitrary cut off point and in the end I settled on 1970. This gives a nice mix of proven classics and more recent favourites. Either way, I tried to include as many options as possible even though there is still so much missing from the list. So what is the best black-and-white movie made since 1970? Cast your vote in this week’s poll and then sound off in the comments below.

What is the Best Modern Black-and-White Movie?

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  • Boris the Blade

    Ummmmm… Memento?

  • Sean

    Yeah I considered it but I figured that the majority of the movie was actually in colour. There are a few movies here with bits and pieces of colour, but most are pure B&W.

  • Colin

    Down by Law is so good, it’s insane

  • Tom Nook

    The White Ribbon

  • Bob

    I could happily see most of these win. Manhattan, Raging Bull, Clerks, Wings of Desire and Control would be my top picks though.

  • Andrew Hunt

    I was wondering if you’d gotten Blancanieves over there yet? B&W + silent and much better than the artist.

    But the poll has such a wide scope, a film really needs to be considered for a while before you could say that it is a better film than Raging Bull.

    Dead Man might be the favorite of mine though.

  • horse tails out of school

    interesting poll, very hard to pick just one.. but it comes down to these:

    The Last Picture Show
    Young Frankenstein
    Raging Bull
    La Haine
    Ed Wood

    picked the comedy

  • Steve Kroodsma

    Good Night and Good Luck all the way for me.

  • kyri

    Dark Days

  • Wayne Regier

    Was there any thought considering that some of these were not SHOT in B&W, but corrected in post? It should be noted with an asterisk or removed from the list completely. As much I love Sin City as a great adaptation, or the weight of Schindler I cannot help but think these movies used B&W as a gimmick or easy way out for the narrative.
    The last picture Show, Raging Bull, and Ed Wood were more of homage to that time period by using the media that was common in that era.
    Jim Jarmusch’s films, Pi, Clerks, and La Haine were born out of necessity and lack of production costs since color and 35 mm were more costly.

  • Jr

    That makes sense but it also creates a lot of specific rules. You just have to decide which is the best film out of this group that all happen to be b&w. I think it’s almost irrelevant that they are b&w. So, it will probably come down to Raging Bull and Schindler’s List since they are the two biggest and most well-respected “classics” on here. I’m not knocking the poll at all though, polls are cool.

  • Wayne Regier

    I agree that we should be focused on the absolute best offering of a film. But if the question of weather or not it is presented in color or black and white is so irrelevant than why have the discussion at all? Many of these were specifically chosen to be shot that way. I think it comes down to more intricate discussions on why the choice was or was not made and if so why? Also if the choice was made for them in the example of no/low budget than are we to give the credit of the aesthetic lent to the film to its makers? Do we take the credit away since it was not an option but a last resort to tell the story in a cheaper format? I just like to have these discussions. Sometimes they can be more interesting and fun than the actual movies in question. For instance I was not aware of all the different rules that you pointed out were possible. And to that point I now wonder if it is a more bold choice to go B&W in the digital era. I also forgot about memento’s scenes that were not shot in color. This stuff is fun to pick apart. I now wonder why The Spirit was not added as well .

  • horse saves

    i agree, yes!

    ..perfect wording for describing spielberg’s movie.