During cold winter nights you can make mulled wine, dive into a blanket, and watch black and white movies. Those which characters of Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth were watching in the second part of Sex in the City. true masterpieces keep thrilling and never get old. Their black-and-white aesthetics as well as acting still fascinate people.
All About Eve (1950)
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Plot: the competition between a Broadway legend Margo Channing (Bette Davis) and her fan, an amateur actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). The audience can also see Marilyn Monroe in a small episodic role. For Marilyn it is one of the first roles in her career. The movie won six Academy Awards, including Best Film from any Source award. Half a century later, an eccentric Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar creates an allusion of the story in his All About My Mother film.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Director: Elia Kazan
It is an adaptation of Tennessee Williams‘s play of the same name which brings us to poor districts of New Orleans. An aging, but still beautiful Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) and her sister’s husband Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) face the contradictions. The film won a lot of awards, including Vivien’s Academy Award nomination for Best Actress which, according to the actress led her to madness.
Roman Holiday (1953)
Director: William Wyler
It is a light romantic comedy about a princess and an American journalist which touches more than one generation. The narrative is very simple, it tells the well-known story of love between a princess and a commoner. Audrey Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. It happened eight years prior her most recognizable role of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s film.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Director: Billy Wilder
The film starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon which is often being called the best comedy in the movie history. The story of adventurers, hiding from gangsters, touring with the women’s orchestra, is known all over the world. The film won Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award and became a leading film not only in the US, but also in USSR.
Psycho (1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Those, who love being titillated, can watch a psychological horror film by Hitchcock. The film is construed as one of the key movies of all times. The principles of showing the subconscious fear of the characters, used by the director, influenced all subsequent horror films.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Director: Mike Nichols
Elizabeth Taylor confessed in her memoirs that the role of Martha was the best in her career because during the whole shooting process she was Acting. A family drama about a relationship between loving and hating each other spouses caused a resonance among viewers and critics. The film built on conflicts and cursing which realistically shows family relationships. The film won five American Academy Awards, including one for Best Actress.
Manhattan (1979)
Director: Woody Allen
One of the most popular Woody Allen’s film takes the viewer to his favorite city. Passions, doubts, and contradictions of the characters are imbued with the rhythm of Manhattan. Viewers, critics, and new Yorkers themselves agree that the director has created a cinematic anthem of the city.
By author Michael Sokolov