Found essay on Black and White Movie

http://www.zenoshrdlu.com/zenobw.htm

We watch so many old movies our memories come in monochrome.

- Angela Carter, Wise Children, (London: Chatto & Windus, 1991), 10.

This cannot be the whole story however, since several Coen films, including Oh Brother, Where Art Thou (2000, US), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994, US) and Barton Fink (1991, US) are also 'period movies' but are shot in colour. Roger Deakins, the director of photography and cameraman for all these films, provides more reasons for the choice:

[Black-and-white] focuses you on the content and the story, and it really concentrates your attention on what's in the frame. All too often, color can be a distraction -- it's easier to make color look good, but harder to make color service the story. Black-and-white imagery is much more about the balance between the light and shade in the frame, and I think it can help convey story points a lot better with fewer distractions.

Lighting is not only about lighting; it's also about not lighting, and cutting light off of objects as much as shining light on them. Those kinds of considerations are as important in colour photography as they are in black-and-white, but the sheer beauty of a well-composed and well-lit black-and-white frame is hard to beat, because it's difficult to produce that type of focus and simplicity when you're shooting in color. It's vitally important to be able to separate shapes and surfaces through the use of light and shade, and to focus the audience's attention on what you want them to see. Color is seductive, but it's harder to get past the surface gloss to create a truly simple and relevant image. I almost wish every film were in black-and-white. ⁽¹⁴⁾

There is no doubt that black-and-white can engender feelings and generate meanings in ways subtly different from those of colour, as the work of still photographers such as Adams, Arbus or Penn clearly testifies. John Boorman chose to make his last but one film, The General (John Boorman, 1998, Ireland/UK) in black-and-white. Asked why, he said:

I love black-and-white, and since I was making the film independently—I borrowed the money from the bank—there was no one to tell me I couldn't. If I had made [The General] for a studio, they wouldn't let me do that. The other reason, the main reason, was because it was about recent events and people who were still alive. I wanted to give it a little distance. Black-and-white gives you that sort of parallel world. Also, it's very close to the condition of dreaming, to the unconscious. I wanted it to have this mythic level because I felt this character was an archetype. All throughout history, you find this rebel, this violent, funny, brilliant kind of character. I wanted to make that kind of connection, and black-and-white film helps. ⁽¹⁵⁾