5 Best Black and White Films Chronologically

Black-and-white films mean many things to the moviegoer. It gives us a better understanding of cinema. It shows us its beginnings and development. Movements, periods, directors, script, editing, technique... In short, it tells us all the elements that make cinema what it is and the changes they have undergone. Accordingly, we have listed the 10 best black-and-white movies for you.

1. Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror (1922)

The 1922 fantasy horror film Nosferatu is a masterpiece of German cinema, expressionism, the horror genre, and silent cinema. Directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, the film is considered one of the best vampire adaptations in the history of world cinema.

Filmde, Thomas Hutter’ın, Kont Orlok’a bir ev satmak için Transilvanya’ya gitmesinin ardından, Orlok’un bir vampir olduğunu öğrenmesi ve bunun üzerine gelişen olaylar anlatılmaktadır. Gerek sinematografi, gerekse anlatı bakımından döneminin çok üzerinde bir film. Bu sebeple aradan 100 yıl geçmesine rağmen Nosferatu kendinden söz ettirmeye devam ediyor.

2. The Battleship Potemkin (1925)

The 1925 Soviet production The Battleship Potemkin is a milestone in the use of editing in cinema. Conceived as propaganda by the Soviet government, under the direction of Sergei Eisenstein, the film became not only a film about the socialist revolution but also a cinematically revolutionary film with the editing theories he developed.

The film depicts the uprising of the crew of the Tsarist Russian battleship Potemkin against the same poor living conditions that socialism also stands against, and the events that follow. The Battleship Potemkin, the first film in which editing was used in a planned and systematic way, was a pioneer for world cinema in this sense. It changed the course of cinema by making the fatal importance of editing understood.

3. M, Fritz Lang's M (1931)

Our first movie in the 1930s is the German film M, The Murderers Are Among Us. The film's director is Fritz Lang, the director of another masterpiece, Metropolis. It was also Fritz Lang's first sound film when the transition to sound cinema began.

In the movie, a serial killer who murders children cannot be caught by the police, so other criminal groups go after the killer, and a manhunt begins. Both groups want to be the first to catch the criminal, and events get complicated. The style created by the director and the narration in the movie are very impressive. Creating dichotomies such as society and man, morality and justice, and presenting these concepts to us in a multi-layered way, the movie deserves to be one of the masterpieces not only of the 1930s but of all time.

4. Modern Times (1936)

Filmed in 1936, Modern Times is, on paper, a US production, but it could be considered a British production. One of the most special examples of the director's cinema, Modern Times, is a Charlie Chaplin masterpiece. Bearing all traces of the social and economic life of the lower class in England at the time, Modern Times is a tragicomic criticism of the corrupt capitalist order. It is one of the last and rare examples of Charlie Chaplin's unique black comedy and the silent cinema that was dying in those years.

In the movie, the character of Charlo is a laborer who is judged to have lost his mental and psychological health due to his hard life and working conditions. Unable to keep up with modern times, he reconnects with life after meeting a homeless girl.

5. Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca is the most superficial film on our list and therefore an American film, the home of most superficial films. Nevertheless, it is a classic because even superficial movies can be very watchable and entertaining, and because of America's power to assert itself in everything. Even though we went a bit overboard, we think it is a fluent and pleasant movie. It also reflects very well how different geographies make a difference in cinema.

Casablanca, which gives the movie its name and is the setting of the movie, is where our main character Rick runs the most popular bar in the city. The city has become a cosmopolitan place with Europeans fleeing the Second World War. However, events unfold when Rick sees his old love Ilsa among these escapees.