Does anyone here rate black and white films? I know B&W films are older (usually) and generally less popular, especially amongst the under 30's but there are some classic oldies out there.
My favourite Top Ten B&W'S are as follows:

King Kong (1933)
Tarzan and his Mate (1934)
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
The Blue Lamp (1949)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1954)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
In Cold Blood (1967)
The Elephant Man (1980)

My favorite is "Sunset Blvd." GREAT movie!

I LOVE classic films (and I'm under 30, by the way). Here are my top ten B&W films:

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Notorious (1946)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Stalag 17 (1953)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Casablanca (1942)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Cape Fear (1962)

And I had a difficult time narrowing down a top ten! There are so many great classic films, both in B&W and color. If any of you aren't very familiar with classic B&W films, I highly recommend you view these films. Each one is incredible.

I actually didn't like Casablanca... Had to watch it for my Mass Media class in high school and I didn't think it lived up to all the hype. Maybe because all I hear is 'it's such a good movie' that I my expectations were too high. I actually liked "On the Waterfront" better.

And yes, I'm one of the weird people who has never seen "It's a Wonderful Life".

"On the Waterfront" is a great film too. It's in my top 20! I liked "Casablanca," but I don't view a movie or rate it based on hype. I try to remain objective whenever I see a film, and to me "Casablanca" is a classic that stands the test of time with a suspenseful plot and exceptional character development. I'm not a Humphrey Bogart fan, though, but "Casablanca" is one good movie.

You're dead right LW2, it's very difficult to condense all these classics into a top ten. To leave a classic like 'Stalag 17' out of my top ten did hurt but you've got to make a decision somewhere. All your other choices are great films too, but like Lady McB, I'm not a great 'Casablanca' fan either.

'A Night To Remember', and they always put it on (free to air tv) at some outrageous early morning time, like 3am, thank the Lord for pay tv!

This thread is right up my alley. The lighting and contrasting shadows in a B&W film can't be duplicated in color.
Here's my list:
Casablanca
Gaslight
Notorious
Spellbound
African Queen
Adam's Rib
To Kill a Mockingbird

Ooops, AzAlanisfan, "The African Queen" is in color, not B&W. It is an incredible film, though, isn't it? One of my favorites.

A lot of my favorite films are B&W. In fact, Orson Welles NEVER directed a color film! He acted in color films, but never directed one himself; "Citizen Kane", "Magnificent Ambersons", "Touch Of Evil" et al, all in B&W. He believed color only got in the way of film drama, and in his will stipulated his films NEVER be colorized.

Of course, film noir was made for B&W. Two noirs I'd LOVE to see on DVD are "Nightmare Alley" (great performance by Tyrone Power and the photography rocks!) and "Kiss Me, Deadly", which I've only seen on videotape (it'll knock your eyes out!)

Two of my favorite 70's B&W films are "Young Frankenstein" (Mel's masterpiece!) and "Paper Moon" (which IS on DVD!)

Many westerns are great B&W films, such as "Yellow Sky" (a superbly photographed William Wellman western, not to be confused with the Stephen Crane classic "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky") and Sam Fuller's "Forty Guns" (Barbara Stanwyck sizzled in that one!)

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I have only watched very few B&W films but my favourite would be "To Kill A Mockingbird".