I've been thinking more about black and white films. There are so many that really exemplify the craft. The silent films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and many of the other early filmmakers. Max Sennett is another. The technology was new, and still primitive in many ways, but the emotions conveyed was fairly universal. People have mentioned Casablanca, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Sunset Boulevard. There are so many that were really well done. Sure, some had acting that was a little over the top, but that's judging by today's standards. For their time, they were exceptional. The old Busby Berkeley musicals, old Fred Astaire movies, the Marx Brothers films, and so many others are extremely entertaining, if you're able to view them for what they were. Simple entertainment. Art, and it's 'value' is really very subjective.

I could never watch anything much older than me.

I understand the objection, but I think it depends on the film. Casablanca is my favorite movie of all time. It's funny, it's got action, it's complex, it's emotional, it's romantic. Dr. Strangelove is a brilliant dark comedy. Young Frankenstein is hilarious (though it's not really that old, 1974, but it was shot in black and white). Citizen Kane is artistically great (though otherwise not one of my favorite movies). Most, if not all, Alfred Hitchcock movies are black and white, including a couple of my favorites, Rear Window and Lifeboat.

You guys know I love the art of dance... any dance. This is the greatest dance act ever filmed. B/W and sorry no twerking involved.

You obviously haven't seen Young Frankenstein. And if you did, then your opinion is wrong

You obviously have not seen A Streetcar Named Desire, that's some classic acting.

Never thought movies would qualify as "romantic". Sappy. Not romantic.

I love some of the old movies. I even enjoy some of the terrible old Sci Fi movies with the bad special effects, because it brings back memories of my youth. Now, if i were your age, I don't think I would like them. I like 60s and 70s music. I was young then, and today's music just never seems to be as good.
We all have different preferences.

I can appreciate good story lines from black and white films however the acting is unnatural. It has nothing to do with the production of films because African films are popular in Africa with very poor production. The deliverance is relatable. Hollywood actors from black and white films over acted and exaggerated the characters. Films that recreate these classic films do not imitate the acting because it's clear average Americans did not speak or act that way. I fail to understand creativity that's praised for being unrelatable or unrealistic.

Eraserhead, that's one B&W movie I can watch.

It depends what movie it is.

I don't expect much classics from your generation but Truth Must The Told... What Do You Know? What Have You Seen? Do You Believe in Evolution? Is the Evolution of an Art form. CInematography. Sometimes a story like "Lord of the Rings" has to sit on a shelf until the technology is ready to bring the story to life. They are Classics because those in the know appreciated the efforts despite the limitations of their time. You should take some college courses in cinematography and the use of shadows on a white and black film and then again you may just be interested on the nudity scene and the explosion coming after. I know I am being blunt but I am being honest and I don't mind being Blunt. To use a phrase of one of my favorite black and white film and is a recent one. "I am not here to be a witness!". And if you hate black and white films... Is your problem and yours alone to take with you until you die. I just wrote pleasantries about the millennials but you little lady is making me change my post because all it takes is one to change the perspective of Ignorance of a whole generation. And your date was not being romantic... he was just being Nice! Watch Casablanca or Sunset Boulevard and come back to us. Or go current and watch any b/w with Eva Green (my current favorite actress) 300 Rise of an empire or Sin City A dame to kill for.

The entire original Twilight Zone was in B&W!!!

Who doesn't like that?

I think films like everything had to start somewhere and seem realistic without actually being realistic. everything humans achieve is based on doing something better the next time and seeing the faults. I don't think there romantic. in fact, going somewhere where you're both looking at a screen without talking isn't very romantic. I think the silent films where they do amazing stunts themselves are amazing.

Some of the finest film and television ever made is in black and white. Hell, I'll go so far as to say that some of the finest entertainment ever made isn't even on film, but was presented on radio before film with sound was even a medium.

I find it astounding what they were able to accomplish back in the early 1900's with so little to work with. Give me a radio broadcast of an old Twilight Zone episode over the latest turd from Michael Bay any day. Glitzy special effects and modern production values mean absolutely nothing without decent story telling and character development.

To each their own. Individual taste, in all things, is wholly subjective.

Nostalgia = romanticism?

I can see that being what I think of as romantic. Oh the arguments in my house when something has been "colorized!"

Do you have a specific movie in mind?

And yes, there is a load of crap out there. Remember, Early films were either extensions of vaudeville or broadway. So, yeah, you see some overacting.

But give me Citizen Kane over some explosion vest where you get points for scenes that last .5 seconds between edits.

Some are cool like the beginning of The Wizard of Oz. Those actors did things different they practiced hours and hours to get the lines correct. Today they get prompters, Do not think they are romantic. Some are bad some have a good plot.

The best TV shows were in the black and white era before the banality, crap and bad scripts and writing of tv these days

Not only do I love b&w films, but silent movies as well. Silent film worked especially well for horror. Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari achieved a level of chill that colorized sound movies have yet to duplicate. And who can forget the pathos of The Man Who Laughs? Certainly not Bob Kane, who used the unfortunate lead character as his inspiration when he created Batman's nemesis, the Joker.

FILMS ARE THE LAND OF DREAMS.....
and most people dream in monochrome It is also what you would see he world as if you were experiencing a trauma such as a road accident. Your brain shuts down the colour. Just as you would shut down other sites so as to increase your data flow when streaming online. This could mean that we store our memories in black and white? However it would most definitely say that our most traumatic or intense memories are.
Films like Psycho mainline into flight fight response. If you were really being stabbed to death in the shower, that is how you would actually see it. Consequently part of us is programed to associate monochrome with intense emotions. It can take us to the places where we don`t really want to go. Schindler's List illustrates this perfectly by giving us those two small touches of colour. The first to dash our hopes and then the second give it back.
" A matter of life and death " uses technicolor and monochrome to differentiate between heaven and earth.
It has a grunginess to it. Added to the fact that it is cheaper to film (film not video). So young turks in film making could more easily get their films made. Like " Clerks " or " Rebel without a cause ".
All the is a defence of the genre. It could be an age thing? My daughter (21) is the same but maybe your just not into film the way your dates are? Because if you dig films you have to dig black and white ones, end of.

I don’t think you’ve seen enough black and white movies. There are several that are very well done with incredible acting.

[imdb.com]

I think what you're calling terrible and unnatural acting is more of a comparison between the melodramatic acting of that period versus the more realistic portrayals you see today. Many older films are like that, but there are some modern "classics" that are excellent. Schindler's List is B&W. Young Frankenstein is also great. I skimmed the comments and saw the reference to the old Twilight Zone series. An excellent example. I would add some comedies from the 60s as well, such as the Addams Family, The Munsters, The Honeymooners, and The Dick Van Dyke Show.