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Curated playlist

American black-and-white films

  • Psycho (1960 film)Paramount refused to fund Hitchcock's Psycho, so he financed the 1960 film himself. He used his television crew.
  • Othello (1951 film)Orson Welles's Othello nearly died within days of shooting in 1949 when its producer went bankrupt.
  • Oppenheimer (film)The teaser for the film Oppenheimer, released on the 28th of July 2022, carried a live countdown to 5:29 a.m. Mountain time on the 16th of July 2023. That hour marked the 78th anniversary of the first detonation of an atomic weapon.…
  • The Day the Earth Stood StillIn The Day the Earth Stood Still, a soldier shoots the alien before he finishes saying he comes in peace.
  • The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz, a 1939 musical fantasy from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, holds a title few films can claim. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in cinematic history. A Kansas farm girl is swept away by a tornado…
  • City LightsCity Lights premiered as a silent film in 1931, four years into the talking-picture era.
  • Flash Gordon (serial)The 1936 Flash Gordon serial reused Frankenstein's watchtower sets inside Emperor Ming's palace.
  • Citizen KaneOrson Welles began filming Citizen Kane without telling his studio. He logged the early footage as "Orson Welles Tests."
  • Macbeth (1948 film)Orson Welles filmed his 1948 Macbeth in just 23 days. He used leftover Western sets at Republic Pictures.
  • Paths of GloryBy his own account, Kirk Douglas threw a script across a room over the ending of Paths of Glory.
  • The Birth of a NationThe Birth of a Nation was screened at the White House in 1915. The next night, the Supreme Court cheered it too.
  • High NoonIn High Noon, a marshal asks every friend in town for help and is refused. A killer arrives on the noon train.
  • The General (1926 film)Critics called Buster Keaton's The General a flop in 1926, and it cost him his creative independence.
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)Hal Mohr won a cinematography Oscar for the 1935 film A Midsummer Night's Dream without being nominated.
  • Operator 13In the 1934 film Operator 13, a showgirl spies for the Union in blackface. Marion Davies stars opposite Gary Cooper.
  • The Red Badge of Courage (1951 film)MGM cut John Huston's war film The Red Badge of Courage from two hours to 70 minutes.

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