Greatest Black and White Movies of all time

With the help of the Mercury Theater cast, Gregg Toland, Bernard Herrmann, and Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles crafted one of the most unusual stories ever presented on the silver screen.

Director William Wyler and Producer Samuel Goldwyn made perhaps one of the greatest films about the repercussions of war on its participants - especially the wounded, both physicially and psychologically. No student of film history should miss the symbolism rampant throughout.

Jean Renoir's hauting look at the human condition during what was called the war to end all wars.

While war seems to be man's most profitable enterprise, it is also his most damaging - the human spirit and to life. World War II saw the most lives lost than nearly all the wars put together with this story at its core.

Patriotism was once defined as the last refuge of a scoundrel, a word that becomes more clearly defined in this incredible effort by director Stanley Kubrick.

Clearly, Hitchcock made many valuable contributions to the art of cinema, but none stands out the way this small movie does with its close examination of the insane mass murderer.

Both book and film were poignant in their day and true today - there is no justice if your skin is dark. Director Robert Mulligan brought Harper Lee's words to the screen in stark realism.

Human folly and greed is best expressed in man's pursuit of gold and riches, only to have most dreams dashed by a bit of realism. John Huston's powerful story is also a display of tour de force acting on every level.

Human vanity and pride often blind people to the truth of reality. Billy Wilder looked in the soul of those who would cling to fame and fortune only to have it all end as ashes in their mouths.

Not all of humanity is made up of the famous, the rich, the powerful, or the most dynamic. Most people are quite ordinary but whose stories are nonetheless, still significant. Fellini saw power in the poor, the downtrodden, and the weak.

Like it or not this film is probably the most watched and most loved black and white movie ever made - "Here's looking at you!"

Of all Frank Capra's efforts, this film has the largest most profound heart at its core with the best effort in his career by Ronald Coleman as the everyman in search of his Shangri-la.

The backstabbing world of the theater only mimics life as this all-star cast gives outstanding performances in the most Oscar-nominated film of all time with a most profound and perfunctual ending.

By delivering a story so down to earth, Kurosowa comes to epitomize the true art of Japanese cinema in any age. This film represents his first great breakthrough of many to come.

Thanks to the incredible photography of Gordon Willis, this Woody Allen comedy becomes elevated to cinema classic place as the most icon look at New York City ever photographed for the movies. The story isn't so bad either.

A glimmer of what was to come from one of the greatest directors of all time, David Lean. This comedy has more profundity than most dramas with brilliant performances all around by a relatively unknown cast of supporting players. Of course, Laughton is at his best.

Complex and fantastic, this film shows a range to Frank Sinatra that only John Frankenheimer could bring out. The weird and the wonderful converge in some excellent acting styles that placed dear sweet Angela Lansbury in the crosshairs of a villain.

Humorous but sad look at what makes us laugh at a time when America was in the middle of a depression. This is one of Preston Sturges greatest efforts at making black and white art... "with a little sex."

If you had to add a commercial film with a swashbuckling hero then it might as well be this one (or The Mark of Zorro). Errol Flynn is at the height of his prowess as he swings on ropes into the hearts of women all over America, before the scandal that ruined his life forever after.

John Ford's poignant look at how serious the Great Depression was and how it effected an entire generation that grew up knowing the worth of a penny. Bitterly sad but beautifully told.

"For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, no explanation is possible." So goes the introduction to Franz Werfel's incredible novel based on the fact that he promised to tell her story after the village hid him from the Nazi's during their occupation. He did and it is all on screen with Jennifer Jones in the Oscar winning role.

From the start of her life, Helen Keller had no chance to survive, no chance to succeed and definitely no chance to ever become known. Annie Sullivan changed all that. This is their beginning.

Alec Guiness, like his contemporary, Peter Sellers, was a master at performing different roles. This comedic film shows how many times he can go down as the numerous victims of this hillarious plot to gain riches by succession.

No film ever effected a generation that worried about atomic annihilation more than this one did. Kubrick took something as serious as mutually assured destruction and made us laugh at our own absurdities.

Ignmar Bergman gave us "Smiles of a summer night," "Wild Strawberries," and this iconic film that starred a man who has survived through the decades as the greatest character actor of all time - Max Von Sydow.