Black and White Cinema: A Short History

As sound films supplanted silents at the height of their artistry, so, to a large extent, did color films supplant black-and-white films at the apex of their creativity. In this century the production of a black-and-white film is almost considered daring. Dixon (film studies, English, Univ. of Nebraska; A Short History of Film) pinpoints the 1960s as the final stand of black-and-white films, calling the decade the "end game." Before that was an era when films were crudely shot, but also a time when great cinematographers came to the fore and were often more crucial to the look of films than were directors. Like artists painting with light and shadows, they perfected the lighting techniques and other innovations that often turned commerce into black-and-white art. Because this is such a potentially vast subject, the book, arranged chronologically, is necessarily a brief survey that can do little more than skim the surface. Dixon does, however, touch upon most of the important creative talents and developments in the history of black-and-white film.