"500"

Here are twelve black and white classics, available now on Netflix, that I consider unmissable. I’m hoping that through these timeless films, we might open a few more young eyes to the glory and beauty of black and white cinema.

It was 60 years ago when a mind-blowing 73 million viewers tuned in to the top variety program on television, the Ed Sullivan Show, and first experienced the four lads from Liverpool known as the Beatles. That seismic event, which included follow-up appearances on the next two Sullivan shows that month, launched the band on a trajectory of success not even their most ardent early fans could have imagined. And it happened so fast. 

Today, the name Jennifer Jones is largely lost to history, but in her prime, this raven-haired beauty was one of Hollywood’s most bankable female stars. And her personal story may be more dramatic than any of her movies.

Early in 1973, producer David Brown was scanning the literature section of Cosmopolitan, a magazine edited by his wife, Helen Gurley Brown. His eyes fell upon a brief plot description of an upcoming novel by Peter Benchley called “Jaws,” which concerned an immense great white shark terrorizing a summer resort community in New England. The book editor ended his summary as follows: “Might make a good movie.”

Up to now, I’ve always hesitated to do a piece on this enduring icon and casualty of Hollywood, simply because so much has already been written on her tragic life and tumultuous career — reportedly well over 500 books. Finally, I resolved to focus on the details of her early life which shaped the fragile, tortured person she’d become.