Steven Spielberg on the Importance of Studying Classic Films

[@steedbar]

I agree with Spielberg. In any art form, you have to study the masters of the past if you want to further the art form in your own time. Students of music, painting, sculpture, writing, etc. all study the history of their art. So it's puzzling why young people today don't study films of the past.

[@mphylo2296]

They do. People go to film school and learn about the old masters. Nerds on the internet don't, though.

[@arpitdas4263]

@@mphylo2296 Arrogance. They don't care about enjoying movies, they just want to make derivative work

[@mphylo2296]

@@arpitdas4263 According to who? You?

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

@@arpitdas4263who tf says that? Also how is Spielberg not derivative then? Everyone is inspired from older ppl

[@buffnipz]

Orson Welles also said "The more virgin our eyes are, the more we have to say." watch the clip titled "Orson Welles on Watching Too Many Films". It's not a counter argument to what Spielberg is saying here, but a different perspective on the matter which I found way more interesting

[@allys744]

He’s so right. Educating future directors through old movies is a good way to start

[@markparkinson6947]

Or just film history in general, how movies evolved through the use of picture and sound, so that future filmmakers can better understand the influence of their predecessors.

[@Happaning_tube]

so this is why I love Spielberg, hes one of the greatest film makers of all time and he calls himself a movie brat.

[@IAteFire]

He's referring to the brat pack of directors from the 70s and 80s though

[@josegarcia303]

119matburn You are right but this thought comes from my mind. "Who inspired the first filmmakers?" ...It was curiosity...and the making a moving picture. This thought has made me realise that you don't necesarrily need to study the first films ever made black and white, because YOU can DRIVE your OWN CURIOSITY and do things differently. Ofcourse its always good to learn from EVERYONE.

[@fergalhughes165]

@@josegarcia303 I suppose you could say the first drew from various modes of storytelling (books, plays, poems, etc).

[@TheListenerCanon]

Spielberg may not be my favorite director, but he's easily the director I can listen to talk about film.

[@CannibalWHORE22]

He’s absolutely correct. Want to be a film lover to study it. You have to watch the 1920s-50s films. They are essential to learning

[@gregorcollins]

Great man. Aside from his filmmaking and his off-the-court charitable efforts, extremely articulate and seems like he really cares about people.

[@josegarcia303]

Gregor Collins You are right but this thought comes from my mind. "Who inspired the first filmmakers?" ...It was curiosity...and the making a moving picture. This thought has made me realise that you don't necesarrily need to study the first films ever made black and white, because YOU can DRIVE your OWN CURIOSITY and do things differently. Ofcourse its always good to learn from EVERYONE.

[@vladimirhorowitz]

And then he propped up Gascon as the new LA district attorney, who ran on a pro-crime platform and hurting the good people of this county.

[@jacobvarney23]

@@vladimirhorowitz the "good people"?

[@vladimirhorowitz]

@@jacobvarney23 Correct. People who don't rape kids, kill cops, steal, or burn down buildings. The good people. Those are the people Gascon is trying to hurt.

[@georgepapageorgiou4547]

@@josegarcia303 The first filmmakers where inspired by theater and stage plays. Only thing that changed was the technology used to convey the "message". Everybody on every field of art (music, movies, painting etc) studies the masters before them. Everybody needs reference and inspiration before they create their own fingerprint/identity which btw is shaped largely on their influences.

[@mfnstudioschannel]

I completely agree! You have to study and understand the classics in order to learn expand your own knowledge about movies. Steven Spielberg is a true master of cinema, and I want to be a filmmaker myself. I'm constantly studying by watching old as well as new movies, and by reading books about the different arts of filmmaking. I'm a very dedicated person, and I believe that some of the most beautiful creations on this earth come from the art of filmmaking.

[@markparkinson6378]

I feel a strange tractor beam with this video. I always want to watch it over and over again just to hear Spielberg’s wisdom on classic films and his discussion on them.

[@erniereyes1994]

I took a film studies class in college, and the first movie we saw was Casablanca. It was the only classic and black-and-white film we saw (and, naturally, the oldest), but it was also the only movie that got a clapping ovation at the end.

[@Linasosa1999]

Wow, you should definitely check out some of the pictures from the silent-era. Just beautiful films, and like the black and white films- you'll get so immersed in the story you won't even remember there's no dialogue. TCM shows silent films every Sunday, I believe it was.

[@SchweitzerMan]

When I was in high school I was always watching older movies. It was always such a treat for me when I saw that the local video store had added old Alfred Hitchcock films to their video library. It got to a point where one of the employees actually said that I always get movies that are twice as old as me.

[@FilmBuffClassic]

Steven- I am an aspiring film director, 18 years old, and my favorite movies are Singin' In the Rain, Sunset Boulevard, The Searchers, and movies starring Bogart, Heburn, Gable, and Davis.

[@ethanwood9124]

Same

[@joelrodeback2145]

nobody cares

[@vladimirhorowitz]

@@joelrodeback2145 I care. He's 26 now, but it's awesome for an 18 year old to watch appreciate the classics.

[@gbeatz4844]

Damn bro you’re 26 are you a director yet? You’re almost 30 holy shit! Lol

[@vladimirhorowitz]

@@gbeatz4844 I just keep reminding myself that Ridley Scott didn't direct his first studio film til he was 40. But you gotta start as soon as possible and prepare yourself, start learning. Especially now when everyone has access to a camera and can make a movie.

[@Whoa802]

The problem with many young aspiring filmmakers, is that they only watch the classics as homework assignments. They aren't willing to just sit down and enjoy a movie that just so happens to be in black and white, they just see them as chores to get through. As such, they have a very limited range of old movies to draw inspiration from. Just films on the AFI's Top 100 or IMDB's Top 250. Pretty much the same influences as everyone else and in turn, they end up making the same movies as everyone else. If they're willing to just go out and find old movies they think they would enjoy, and not just stuff that makes one seem cultured and refined as a movie fan, they may have more inspirations to play with. People like Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson didn't just learn by watching Citizen Kane and Lawrence of Arabia. They saw all kinds of weird, obscure shit from the past. That gave them quite an edge in stylistic influence, as they weren't just limited to the films they show in film school. Why can't more filmmakers do that?

[@karanvirkooner1993]

I study classic movies and I enjoy them for how good they are I'm a millennial and I still learn more so I study movies carefully

[@goduddy]

Wanting to be a film director, learning about cinema history and all the great directors, whether it's Murnau, Hitchcock, Cukor, Melies, Lang, Griffith, or Wyler, knowing about these great masters and their gems is extremely important and essential to myself, fellow film makers. It's a good thing that I have an appreciation for the classics.

[@DarkProphet94]

An advantage black and white films have over color is the lighting. B & W movies have the most impeccible lighting ever put on screen. Look at the scene in Citizen Kane where the news reporters are sitting in a dim light room talking about Rosebud. The light beaking through the windows juxtaposed to the reporters' silhouettes is a beautiful image

[@mrca2004]

It's why, as a photographer, I not only studied the history of photography, I shot it replicating it with digital 20 years ago. Now, that I am shooting lots of film again, I an going back and reshooting it with film. Also, who are the greatest folks with cameras... hollywood cinematographers. I just did a deep dive on Casablanca, Double Indemnity... I was an insurance claims guy...film noir like third man, and now Citizen Kane. All that is tucked back in my brain to draw from for my shoots. Plus, take it a step back before photography originating in the 1840's. I also studied the history of western art. Vermeer for my 7'octa soft light, Carivaggio for my razor sharp shadow transitions with fresnel hot lights. The impressionists for their vision of light. Knowing what came before us not only gives us tools to call on, it helps connect us to those that came before us. A Mamiya RB67 was used by Annie Lebovitz and Herb Ritts. Tri X film by Cartier Bresson. Studying the masters also saves us from having to reinvent the wheel. Now when I look at a scene or subject, they speak to me and out comes the concept of the shot.

[@RevWillTheThrill1974]

I love many movies from many different eras. In fact my favourite film is a tie between "Casablanca" and "Dr. Strangelove"--both in black and white, both made before I was even born. The classics of my own generation (films by Spielberg, Lucas, Scorsese, Coppola, etc.) were influenced by everything that came before it, and they, in turn, influence what comes after. But there's a reason films like "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca" are still revered--they're great movies!

[@averagejoe6617]

I'm a huge fan of cinema. My favorite movies are Citizen Kane, and Boondock Saints.

[@KraitoKrombongus]

I agree totally. The only thing bad I think by watching a lot of movies both old and new is that your "original" thoughts of making your own film can be "damaged" by you start borrow and copy bits and pieces from them. But maybe that counts as inspiration.

[@jimh1051]

I personally enjoy a lot of the old 1930s and 1940s Warner Brothers gangster films. I like Public Enemy, Scarface (1932), Little Caesar, White Heat, G-Men, and The Roaring Twenties. My favorite actor are James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.

[@debbiedockrill3545]

I try watching films from as many eras as I can. I mostly watch stuff from the 60s onward, but I do try to watch things from the 50s and back.

[@xepfeon]

he's very right. in my opinion it's natural to think "who are my favorite movie-makers inspirations?", that's why recently i've seen films like Akira Kurosawa's Rashoman and The Seven Samurai and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. In regards to Citizen Kane, i was given the inpression, that it was this out-of-reach actpiece, that only the most rampant connoisseurs could appreciate, boy was i wrong

[@ThomasLuca]

I'd love to see more of this, is there more to it? love this

[@markparkinson6378]

You've earned a subscription, AFI.

[@angelotrinidad6888]

When he said those periods, he reminded me of To Be or Not to Be, A Place in the Sun, It Happened One Night & On the Waterfront. Some of my favorites of that point.

[@michellecerioni4903]

The great escape. That should comfort you

[@colleencupido5125]

Within 2 months of my getting married in 2003, I put on for John the Spencer Tracy-Freddie Bartholomew "Captains Courageous." He initially wasn't wild in about seeing a B&W film- but, of course, it Really got to his heart. After the last scene, I could see a tear on his cheek. When I Gently pointed this out, his response was "I am not crying! The roof is leaking" But possibly even more unusual was my eventually sharing my copy of Fellini's La Strada ( I copied onto VHS from AMC in the 1980s.) With his Dyslexia- it was easier for me to read him the subtitles as the movie progressed. Not earth- shattering that La Strada really got to him. What was unusual was his insistence that the actors were speaking English! [ They were speaking Italian) Ahh, the wonder and glory awaiting those who will give classic movies a chance!

[@nelsonsepulveda8887]

I couldn't agree with Spielberg anymore. He is absolutely right! there so many so called film buffs or film students, who swear they know everything about movies and yet have never seen any film made before 1960 or 1970. That's there cut-off point. Just because a movie is in black & white or made before the year 1960 doesn't mean you're not gonna enjoy it or you're gonna be bored to death. As Spielberg states, he, Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma were influenced by masters from the 1950s and beyond (Hitchcock, David Lean, John Ford, John Huston, Billy Wilder, FW Marnau, Charlie Chaplin, Lewis Milestone, etc.) just as they influenced the next generation of filmmakers like Tarantino, David Fincher, M night Shaymalan, PT Anderson, etc. Filmmakers are handing down influences generation by generation. The history of film begins with the Lumiere Bros., George Melies, and when Edwin Porter made The great Train Robbery not when Bonnie & Clyde and the Graduate came out, Damn it! If you're going for a career in film, i think its vital that you study the films of the past because otherwise you're just limiting your influence. There are more better movies of the first 70 years of the 20th century than they are of the past 45 years (probably cause they were more ambitious), but they're still as influential and inspiring, maybe even more so. Thank you Mr. Spielberg for supporting that point.

[@josegarcia303]

Nelson Sepulveda You are right but this thought comes from my mind. "Who inspired the first filmmakers?" ...It was curiosity...and the making a moving picture. This thought has made me realise that you don't necesarrily need to study the first films ever made black and white, because YOU can DRIVE your OWN CURIOSITY and do things differently. Ofcourse its always good to learn from EVERYONE.

[@Whoa802]

You're being generous when you say they won't watch anything made before 1960. A lot of them won't even watch anything made before the 70's, lol.

[@neilbean488]

@@josegarcia303 , I've seen his exact same reply from you in about 3 other comments.

[@neilbean488]

I haven't seen a lot of films but I know a lot more than the people I know.

[@taliamason7986]

I would also add foreign cinema to that because that is also a big one a lot of so called "film buffs" today don't tend to watch much of. You can very easily tell with a lot of those great auteur filmmakers of the 70's just how much Italian neo-realism, the French New Wave, Fellini, Kurosawa heavily influenced their works. One of my favourite filmakers David Lynch draws a lot from Ingmar Bergman when it comes to way he presents surrealism in his films. Even in the 60's all the great Sergio Leone Spaghetti-Westerns draw quite strongly from Kurosawa's Seven Samurai a decade earlier. I kid you not Jeremy Jahns who is the the 2nd biggest critic on KZbin only behind Chris Stuckman who has recently overtaken him, hadn't seen a foreign film because he hated reading the subtitles. While I get that it can be pretty annoying especially the first time watching La Dolce Vita and 8 and a Half, its ultimately about slowly adjusting to it. The fact that he kept stubbornly refusing to watch Parasite until it won Best Picture tells you everything. Most of his viewers in the comments kept telling him that he needed to watch it.

[@meavid]

Have interests beyond only movies or you'll just make derivative work.

[@malafakka8530]

meavid absolutely right.

[@asiadorsey7969]

Can you elaborate more on what you mean by this?

[@markparkinson6947]

@@asiadorsey7969 I think what Matt means is that movies are about capturing moving images that revolve around the existence of everything we know and live in, and we need to be more explorative in our mindset about what we choose to film, because otherwise, we would be shooting a blank canvas with nothing to add to it. Life is so much more variable that way, and I think that’s what Matt was getting at.

[@plisskenetic]

He wa referring about other movies way in the past bruh not other interests - totally different point

[@FnUProductions]

I am a up and coming Director hopeful. I love the old films, most recently I have taken a class in which we not only watch films from all era's but particularly the Golden age of Hollywood, such as Notorious, All about Eve, Rope, Casablanca and they are my absolute favorites. I feel that Spielberg brought the aspect of those older films to his and we should to the same revolutionize with inheritence in a sense.

[@Seabasscrew]

Said by the greatest director of all time!

[@saltimas8800]

Spielberg is right on the importance of watching as many older black and white films as you can if you want to be a good film maker. If it wasn't for him having seen classics like King Kong and The Day the Earth Stood Still there may not have been great films such as Jaws or Close Encounters.

[@stanley3119]

Don't you have better examples?

[@johncinepoetry2587]

And how about film noir, where making it in black and white was the intention.

[@marcuswilson5182]

i love everyone on here who comments about how awesome spielberg is. it's true...anything before the 70s and 60s is considered old to the newbies. and i'm 29...about to 30 and all i watch are the old black and whites. the story structures are perfect, the acting is actually theatrical, the music, the photography...its all there....so theres this assumption that we're progressing with digital. spielberg has always said he was an independent film directior working with big budgets but the truth is that he's the director that signifies that turning point. alot of people say he was the one who put an end to the great movie making with the big blockbusters but thats inevitably wrong. he is the extension of great filmmaking from the old golden era. it's all a mess.

[@malafakka8530]

Marcus Wilson He certainly contributed, but I think that Star Wars alone is much more to "blame" for today's state of blockbusters.

[@markparkinson6378]

I was a bit self-conflicted watching a black-and-white movie, but having seen Schlinder's List, I think it's worth checking out those older films now. By the way, Snow White was quite good.

[@xepfeon]

if you are interested in checking out some classic black-and-white movies, i really recommend "Modern Times" from 1936 with Charlie Chaplin, it's freaking brilliant and still really relevant today in regards to how som big corporation treak the working man

[@OEKIE77]

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin jr., George Cukor, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Sir David Lean...to name but a few. These truly Wonderful Cinematic Geniuses are not only personal favourites of mine, (along with ofcourse Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra) but what all these Great Directors have in common is their Absolute Love for Cinema. Which in the end culminated in Classics like: "City Lights", "The Philadelphia Story", "The Shop around the corner", "Some like it Hot" and "This Happy Breed".

[@JesusCristo2002]

I haven't seen "La Notte" but I've seen "The Eclipse" by Antonioni. Didn't quite know what to think of it, but I plan on revisiting it. "The Seven Samurai", "8 1/2", "2001: A Space Odyssey", Citizen Kane" and "Sunset Boulevard" are easily among the greatest films ever made ("2001" is my number 1). I would actually tie "8 1/2" and "La Dolce Vita" No.1 on my foreign film list (they're just too different from films here in the U.S.). I'm 19 by the way.

[@TheGlasgowGamer]

@TastyPie95 It's hard to say... I guess it could be many things... at the moment I am quite obsessed with "Orphans of the Storm" or "Abraham Lincoln" or "Fantasia 2000". I would say the one that I would mention off hand would be that of "Metropolis", "Once Upon a Time in America", "Intolerance". In comedy, it may be Jacques Tatis "Mr Hulot's Holiday". In horror, it's probably "Revenge of the Vampire" or "Shadow of the Vampire". It's a hard question. What are yours, apart from Metropolis?

[@UnpopularMajority]

Extremely true what he says about black-and-white films. I love many pre-60's B&W film noirs but as soon as I try to get people to watch ''Lifeboat'' or ''Citizen Kane'' they immediately turn away because it's older. I'm 17, btw.

[@markparkinson6378]

I think it's more important to watch the bad/mediocre films first and then watch the classics to see how they compare. Because if you just watch the best film to come out during that time, 60 years in the future, people won't realise it's importance. But if you see a film that is considered bad or mediocre, and THEN show them movies like Citizen Kane or The Godfather, it's like opening a doorway to heaven. It's like taking water away from someone. You never realise how important it is unless you get something bland or horrible to begin with. I watched Lawrence of Arabia the other day, and I found it okay, it was alright. But then I saw the Birds (which is still a fantastic film, by the way), but what I noticed was that in terms of cinematography, LOA was much better. Film is like an ecosystem, you need the weak to support the strong.

[@danielm5894]

great great point

[@markparkinson6947]

@@danielm5894 Thanks! I would be just as interested to hear your perspective on things.

[@Red-nl4lk]

Oh fuck! Its Mark Parkinson!

[@markparkinson6947]

Red-04_JAcK ‘Sup, Jack!

[@samfilmkid]

fear not Steve, I am a teenager and aspiring filmmaker and i love films of all kind, black and white, color, cinemascope, talkie, silent etc. and i have lots of filmmaker friends who do too. there is hope

[@rileyjones3703]

I agree with ya Stevo. I think film is a lot like music, you have to go back and appreciate the classics that came long before what and who you see now in order to learn and appreciate where everything you see now had come from.

[@JesusCristo2002]

I love "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca" - in terms of the Old Hollywood filmmakers: Alfred Hitchcock, Elia Kazan, David Lean, Orson Welles, Nicholas Ray, John Huston, John Ford, Howard Hawks, George Stevens, William Wyler and Billy Wilder. I'm trying to get more into Wyler, Wilder and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. I really like Old Hollywood - but I love the foreign masters such as: Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Jean-luc Godard and Michael Haneke. I'm 19 by the way.

[@goduddy]

@XsweetstarliteX I think that old movies from the Science-Fiction and Horror genre are the most entertaining. Frits Lang's Metropolis is very entertaining and mind blowing at times. James Whales's films like Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The Old Dark House are Awesome. All of the original Universal Studios monster movies are also recommended, too. Have fun watching them!

[@kindaawkwardbro]

im a fetus and my favs are back to the future, deep throat and debby does dallas

[@josegarcia303]

kindaawkwardbro You are right but this thought comes from my mind. "Who inspired the first filmmakers?" ...It was curiosity...and the making a moving picture. This thought has made me realise that you don't necesarrily need to study the first films ever made black and white, because YOU can DRIVE your OWN CURIOSITY and do things differently. Ofcourse its always good to learn from EVERYONE.

[@hmbum4320]

You should watch better movies

[@arpitdas4263]

@@josegarcia303 They learnt from theatre and photography

[@superjosh1959]

Akira Kurosawa got me into black and white films a few years back. That man knows how to make one hell of a samurai film.

[@Illumirage]

I agree with Spielberg. Although, I noticed in my film class where we'd watch these older films, I got the feeling that some aspects of film or elements of the plot would go right over my head because certain things were just different back then. The language they used, etc.

[@JesusCristo2002]

You're absolutely right! I've always had a love/hate relationship with Netflix - because it killed the video store. However, if it wasn't for Netflix I wouldn't have seen Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" which changed my life. I also wouldn't have access to other films from Kurosawa, films from Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Jean-luc Godard, Michael Haneke, Wim Wenders, Francois Truffaut, Vittorio De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni etc.. I'm 19 and an aspiring filmmaker.

[@part4963]

How has been your film journey?

[@JuliusCaesar103]

Great to see people my age liking movies of this era. Some of my favorites are Taxi Driver, Chinatown, Cuckoo's Nest,Godfather I&II, Raging Bull, Full Metal Jacket, King of Comedy. All my friends are like OMG fast five, american pie...

[@reptongeek]

Partly the reason why I wanted to do the slightly crazy task of collecting all the BP winners was to actually see some of these old classics like Casablanca, All About Eve and The Best Years Of Our Lives so I could have a greater appreciation of old movies

[@darkhorsefilms8000]

This video makes me feel better about myself. I thought all young directors like me are studying the films i study - films of truffaut, godard, hitchcock, kursosawa - and more!

[@savedfaves]

So true about the knee-jerk reaction to finding out the movie you are about to see it in black and white. And then after watching it you realise you've watched it's a Wonderful Life or Schindler's List

[@Jolene8]

I've been collecting films from the 20,30 since forever. But because if the sheer quantity that exists doesn't always mean you'll get quality. So yes many get left behind while some go on to be part of my collection. There are several eras of filmaking that can be studied for technique, etc. Too many amazing visual guides from all over.

[@TheGlasgowGamer]

@TastyPie95 Granted. However, if anybody who are not engrossed in movies like that so much should watch "Metropolis". I mean, it's one of the silent films that actually has an accessible melodrama, steady performances (especially from Alfred Abel), allegory, morals, and of course fantasy. I think Fritz Lang really raised the stakes, and I also think that his futuristic and modern contrasts (for example, Rotwang's dank house, gothic, outside in a future world) an authenticity. I agree though.

[@Mi436]

To understand cinema you must study the classics and that´s what Spielberg does.great guy and filmmaker.

[@TheWaynos73]

It makes sense - sit down, watch a classic film - make a list - why is it classic? why does it work? is it concept? story? script? performance? shot choice? 12 Angry Men is a great one to analyse as its a movie stripped back to its bare bones

[@BorntomotivateFilms]

Very True! I used to insist my children watch black & white films with me! LOL! Their response was WHY? But once they started watching they would be hooked! To Kill A Mocking Bird was a black & white film of a story that made me CARE. I Believed the story. Now a days films have special affects, fantastic wardrobes, everyone's in shape, plastic surgery presentable on screen....but many of those films don't make me care and I don't believe the stories. ijs

[@SSM654]

Oh I feel the saw way! I want people to be more open to older films! I find it strange that black and white is such a problem. I really never notice it.

[@andykolb6502]

A Street Car named Desire , Touch of Evil, White Heat and Night of the Hunter are my favourite Black and White Movies.

[@dps6198]

I love old films especially the film noir genre in black and white, of course.

[@FlickNchow]

@dannydontgoin237 I think it does affect the story,Because color contributes alot to set the tone/atmosphere in a scene, Just like sound,music,camera moves,etc. But still There are a lot of Amazing Black and white films, My favorites being the works of Orson Welles,Fellini,Bergman,Godard,etc. The list goes on and on.

[@CalvinWithoutHobbes1]

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a movie I love to look back on.

[@silversurfers7]

....Just can't beat the old B&W movies...."Time Machine" by H.G.Wells, "The Incredible Shrinking Man", " The Birds", " What A Wonderful Life", "Hud", "Cool Hand Luke" (Think that one was in color, forgive me) to name a few, so educational, and a wonderful atmosphere they created. I watch them over and over again, so does my 4 and half year old daughter too! :)

[@NovaJake360]

This is an absolutely brilliant explanation.

[@EesaChance]

a very humble response from a great director but honestly i prefer the movies from the 70s onwards over the classical hollywood stuff from the 30s and 40s. i would take a film like the deer hunter over something like casablanca any day of the year.

[@normsantoro]

Before VCRs in the 70s, I busted my 12-year- butt to buy a super-8 movie projector. I walked or peddled miles to the library to discover ANY kind of celluloid I could study at home. Magic. After exhausting the film supply at the local library, I was able to vview old films from other city libraries as I got older. By the time I entered a credited college film class, I already had a foundation built, and could tech-talk with the advanced students and teachers; and focus on creative projects !

[@BernardoPOR]

I'm really glad to see that some people share the same opinion as i do about old films. It's not just about old hollywood, it's also about europe, asia, south america etc... People who draw a line from their personal reasons, just demonstrates their lack of good taste and curiosity, because, if you only see todays films, let alone just american films, you are doomed to see the same thing over and over again, people with a little intelect, naturaly need to see something different, something fresh

[@DylanPenev]

My number 1 role model as a movie director. :)

[@bud389]

Seeing as I haven't mentioned any horror, The Howling, Jacobs Ladder, Creepshow, Midnight Meat Train, and The Fly 1986 are also really good. One that I personally thought was really good was Death Watch.

[@kolajampe]

Citizen Kane, Otto e Mezzo (8 & a half) and Manhattan are some of my favorite films ever made and they are all black and white

[@bud389]

lol, Oh how far you've yet to go and see. Escape From New York, Big Trouble in Little China, Moon (2009), Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Deliverance, Apocalypto, Last of the Mohicans. I highly recommend seeing all of those, they'll be very good films (most of which aren't as popular or as widely renowned as the ones you listed) for you to expand your horizon's past the obvious classics. Some classics just aren't as well known.

[@liduck52]

One of my favorite movies is The Thing from 1951. which is B&W. Later saw a colorized version. Didn't think the color was an improvement.

[@KlayyJayy]

I am almost 15 years old and my faviourite movies are casablanca, Rebel without a cause and well The blues brothers ( not classic I know but well it's fugging awesome).

[@Clarke1wl]

Pulp Fiction, Psycho, 12 Angry Men, To Kill a Mocking Bird, my favorite classics!

[@GokuSmoothie]

I try to watch older films, but its so much easier to check out 60's and 70's era films because there on tv so much more. Plus our generation has so much more to catch up on since cinema's now over century old! I can understand what he' saying though.

[@malafakka8530]

paintballing489 life is long enough to catch up on those. I watched most of old movies at least ten times each, and I am not that old and spent a lot of my time on other things than movies. So, if you are really interested (if you want to work in the film industry), you can/should do it. Everything else is just an excuse.

[@Cml725]

Young Mr. Lincoln, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle in the Rain, Miracle of Marcelino, Last Days of Pompeii, Touch of Evil, A Hard Day’s Night, The Wrong Man, just to name some.

[@JesusCristo2002]

I'm 19 and grateful for the following masters of my generation: Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino. Right now there's three upcomers that I'm paying close attention to: Nicolas Winding Refn, Steve McQueen and Derek Cianfrance. MacDowell's performance in "A Clockwork Orange" is unbelievable. Truly one of the best ever. I've always believed Stanley Kubrick was the greatest of all time.

[@xepfeon]

a film i urge you to watch is Nadine Labaki's Capernaum, it's a Lebanise film about a boy who sues his parents for giving birth to him....also the documentary Honeyland from North Macedonia

[@petrfrizen6078]

Interesting experiences. Discipline is important in educational process.

[@CrassMufumbu]

Absolutely..its been what I've been telling my friends about all the new flicks.

[@TheGlasgowGamer]

@TastyPie95 It's my favorite film ever made (and this is an ostensible as it conflicts on my list sometimes). Most people have to see Vampyr (1931), The Pleasure Garden (1925), I Live In Fear (1955), When the Clouds Roll By (1919), Cloak and Dagger (1946), M (1931), The Lady Vanishes (1938), On the Waterfront (1954), The Lost World (1925), F.W. Murneau's Pictures, Lon Chaney's and and so much more, like Griffith's... But like you said, it should be Metropolis hands down, on its own merits.

[@Fuzzyfoot88]

I own just as many films from before my 1988 birth as I do from after. I love old films. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Flim Flam Man, The Maltese Falcon, The Sting, The General, The Great Dictator. Just a sliver of the greatness that the current generation of so called film fans have no idea about.

[@smotnick]

Agree with Vincent Cerreta.

[@sofia.ysabel]

I was 12 when i became curious of black and white movies and the first b&w i watched was psycho and i was in love ever since

[@EzraWoodIsCool]

We didn't watch Schindlers List in my history class because many of my fellow students didn't want to watch a black and white movie. It's my greatest pet peeve is when people don't want to watch a film cause it's in black and white.

[@JuliusCaesar103]

My favorite Black and white movies are Schindler's List and Raging Bull.

[@XsweetstarliteX]

okay i'm a movie freak but i'm afraid he's right, i'm 18 and have only sat through 3 black and white movie's, one of chaplin's, and bewitched and othello. any suggestions? good ones not boring.

[@lowbudgetboy12]

my favorite movies are Schindler's list, letters from Iwo Jima, Pulp Fiction, Raging Bull and the social network

[@cdouglashall]

I used to hate Black and White movies when I was a kid. I don't think that carried far beyond my teens which was sometime after I saw a really cool B&W movie and I believe it was then that I quit "looking at it" and started paying very close attention to the movie. There are some outstanding Black and White movies that couldn't get made today for many different reasons. They are amazing windows into (film) history.

[@williammoore27]

Steven can make both movie sequels of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit": "Roger Rabbit: Part Two" is coming in summer 2025 to theaters & that threequel "Roger Rabbit: Part Three" is coming in summer 2027 to theaters, unlike Spice Girls in 2025 made in Hollywood!🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🎦🎦🎦🎦🎦🎦🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬

[@DonnySpielberg]

Once again, my man Spielberg is right on the money, and so are the comments I'm reading =) Hollywood REALLY needs to get over this "let's remake everything" phase it's on and get back to making good, ORIGINAL movies. Give undiscovered people like me a chance!

[@kubrox91]

I recall watching Citizen Kane in one of my media history classes in college (I had already seen it several times), and I was appalled to hear from one of my classmates say at the end of the screening "Are they gonna remake it in color?" WTF????

[@markparkinson6947]

You know, that would be interesting. Comparing the black and white version to a colored version would be a fascinating study of color and cinematography in film.

[@AYYYLMAOOOOO]

Im thirteen and my favorite movies are Raiders Of The Lost Ark,Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner

[@ThomasLuca]

my taste in cinema is vast Steven, I love movies. a great book to read is Understanding Movies by Louis Giannetti

[@synthfluence]

Wow, I wish more people would watch this video and really get what Spielberg is saying. I remember Roger Ebert once saying that "people don't film history before Star Wars". What a sad indictment that is! I watch a lot of modern movies these days, but I just saw "The Band Wagon" for the first time and it's 100 times better than just about any of them.

[@brileyvandyke5792]

He’s right about black and white films. I am ashamed to admit I used to be one who avoided black and white films, but I forced myself to watch the old films and found I was immersed in them to the point that I love them.

[@kevyws]

Who are some of the master film directors of the 40's and 50's?

[@danielfebrizio9033]

Orson Welles, Michael Curtiz, Alfred Hitchcock, Carol Reed, Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, William Wyler, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, John Ford, and many others

[@markparkinson6378]

@@danielfebrizio9033 Who are the many others?

[@neilbean488]

@@markparkinson6378 , Kubrick started in the 50s. That's one.

[@dps6198]

My wife and I are amateur photographers our inspiration comes from Vivian Maier, Ansel Adams, Mike Disfarmer, Dorothea Lange to name a few. We tell our stories in monochrome which is more compelling than color.

[@alananderson5949]

Gone With The Wind Citizen Kane Casablanca On The Waterfront There you go. Four great films from pre-1960.

[@finddeniro]

Snow White. Fanastia. .the Longest Day. Many more. .

[@solidbhatt]

Seven samurai

[@FirstPlace97]

Jaja in a way yes,but it is a feel good film,which matters more than anything in the catagorie

[@tc98826]

In the 60s there was a style shift in movies, thats why lots of young people have a cut-off point there. Movies became more realistic and natural, and less artificial and melodromatic. Less like theatre, more like real life. Its harder to suspend your disbelief and really *LOSE YOURSELF* in early movies. The audiences of the time cared less about that, and more about being entertained by great storytellers. That said, some early movies still hold up well for modern tastes. Casablanca stands out. The performances are (mostly) understated, the humour wry, the pacing is swift. The set pieces are dramatic but not over-the-top. And the story is very engaging.

[@thomasparker2447]

Preach it, Brother!