Since this miserable summer is showing no sign of letting up, I thought I'd share some of my all-time favourite black and white movies with you!
So, when the inevitable happens and the rain starts to pour on Saturday, batten down the hatches, pour yourself a creamy hot chocolate and snuggle on the sofa with one of these...I guarantee you'll feel better in no time at all!
Sam x
Some Like It Hot
This is one of my all-time favourite comedies, and was The One which made me fall hopelessly, truly, madly, deeply in love with Marilyn Monroe. As if you needed another reason to love her, she is phenomenal in Some Like it Hot - gorgeously vulnerable and hypnotic. Why don't they make movie stars like that anymore?!
The movie is set in Chicago and follows two musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon). The pair are desperate to escape the wrath of a gangland chief and so they deck themselves out in drag and join an all-woman band headed for Florida. As soon as they meet her, they both fall head over heels for the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) - and, honestly, who wouldn't?!
Monroe is at her iconic best in this movie, and it made me spend hours in front of the mirror practising my very best bum wiggle...try it, I promise you'll love it!
Sabrina
I spent pretty much the whole of this movie wondering how Audrey Hepburn could make "peasant-chic" look so glamorous. She plays Sabrina, the daughter of a chauffeur, yet manages to look amazing in every single scene...how did she do it?!
By the end of the film, I was desperate to twist my shirts around my waist, Hepburn style, as well as ride around on a bicycle with a midi, A-line dress...only Hepburn has the power to do that, surely?
Anyway, the story follows Sabrina, who is hopelessly in love with David, the playboy younger son in the rich household her father works for. Falling into a deep depression, Sabrina is shipped off to cooking school in Paris to help her get over him.
While in Paris, she is transformed into a sophisticated woman, and David is left entranced by her when she returns.
Full of gorgeous clothes and great dialogue, I promise you will fall in love with this film!
It's a Wonderful Life
I know, I know, this is a classic Christmas film. But it's just so uplifting and heartwarming that I couldn't not add it to this list! Anyway, who says you can't watch a Christmas film in July...?
Perhaps one of the most beloved films of all time, It's a Wonderful Life follows George Bailey (James Stewart) as he grows up in a small town. George, like so many of us, dreams of travelling the world, but circumstances conspire to keep him in Bedford. Frustrated, George sets about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve (bear with me, I promise that it gets cheerier!).
However, a heavenly messenger arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born.
It's a real tear-jerker at times, but ultimately uplifting and heart-warming...a real classic that everyone should add to their "must-watch" lists!
Gone With the Wind
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Anyway, moving swiftly on...this is obviously one of the most famous movies of all time, yet I'm always stunned by how many people have never watched it. If you haven't, you HAVE to change that right now.
Set during the American Civil War, it follows the feisty Scarlett O'Hara - a rich and beautiful young girl who watches her aristocratic world tumble down around her as the South begins to fall. Amazingly strong and wilful, Scarlett copes with everything that's thrown at her - apart from the fact that she's in love with a married man, Ashley.
Scarlett is heartbroken, but never gives up hope that she will end up with Ashley, despite the fact that he's married to one of her best friends!
In the midst of it all, she meets Rhett - the one man who will stand up to her and sees through her manipulative ways. Yet Scarlett makes endlessly stupid, selfish decisions and seems hell-bent on destroying her life...
This is one of the most beautiful, heart-breaking love stories of all time - it had me sobbing!
Breakfast at Tiffany's
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Disagree with me? Well then I challenge you to an arm wrestle - Breakfast at Tiffany's is, quite simply, breathtaking.
For those of you who don't know, it's based on Truman Capote's novel of the same title and depicts the story of Holly Golightly (played by Hepburn), an enchanting yet lonely socialite who's determined to marry rich - really, really rich.
It follows the blossoming friendship between Holly and her neighbour, George, who quickly discovers that Holly isn't all that she seems...
