Those black and white '60s

It was the era when movies changed over to colour, but black and white movies were still regular until the mid-60s. Sometimes colour just would not be right - imagine if PSYCHO was in colour with all that blood in the bath ... or those men in drag in SOME LIKE IT HOT ! Black and white distances it, and makes period films seem even more remote from us .... here are a handful I like:

So, a quick canter through those favourites I have written about here a few times, as per labels: Monica Vitti in L'AVVENTURA, the blonde Jeanne Moreau in Jean Rabier's glittering black and white photography in Jacques Demy's BAY OF ANGELS, '63; Rita Tushingham in those early '60s black and white 'kitchen sink' dramas like A TASTE OF HONEY, the hit Richard Lester comedy THE KNACK in '66, and with Lynn Redgrave in Desmond Davis's THE GIRL WITH GREEN EYES in 1964 as 'Country Girls' Kate and Baba in Ireland and making the transition to London (as I did myself at the same time), Sarah Miles and Sean Caffrey in another Irish/London tale also by Edna O'Brien: I WAS HAPPY HERE in 1966 (after which Sarah went on to her unhappy stint on Antonioni's BLOW-UP before heading back to County Kerry in Ireland for the extended shoot on RYAN'S DAUGHTER); Sarah Miles and James Fox in one of those mirror shots from Losey's THE SERVANT, 1963; Julie Christie and gay photographer pal Roland Curram eyeing the dishy Italian waiter (they both got him) in Schlesinger's DARLING, 1965; David Warner as MORGAN - more on this soon - in 1966. Stateside we have Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in a favourite moment from DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES in '62, Marilyn in Huston's THE MISFITS, 1961 which Russell Metty made look marvellous; Brandon De Wilde and Warren Beatty in that other '62 favourite Frankenheimer's ALL FALL DOWN; and the ensemble from Lumet's long unseen LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (its now on dvd), also 1962: Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Dean Stockwell and Jason Robards; and Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen in Mullian's LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER, 1963. Back to Europe with Sophia Loren and Tony Perkins in Litvak's FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT in '62, Jean Sorel and Gina Lollobrigida in the hilarious LE BAMBOLE (THE DOLLS) in 1965, and Sorel with Claudia and Michael Craig in Visconti's SANDRA, also 1965. Then we have Antonioni's L'ECLISSE (written about here several times: Antonioni, L'Eclisse,Vitti labels); Malle's LE FEU FOLLET in 1963, Milos Forman's A BLONDE IN LOVE in 1965 and Bresson's AU HASARD BALTHAZAR and Bergman's PERSONA in '66. After that, it was pretty much colour all the way ...