Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

1. Casablanca (1942) - Michael Curtiz

2. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) - Michael Curtiz

3. Roman Holiday (1953) - William Wyler

4. The Blue Angel/Der Blaue Engel (1930) - Joseph von Sternberg

5. The Big Sleep (1946) - Howard Hawks

6. Dead Man (1995) - Jim Jarmusch

7. Down by Law (1986) - Jim Jarmusch

8. 8½/Otto e Mezzo (1963) - Federico Fellini

9. The Battle of Algiers/La Battaglia di Algeri (1966) - Gillo Pontecorvo

10. Carnival of Souls (1962) - Herk Harvey

Other B/W masterpiece reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Artist (2011) 

Other great B/W movies and a short reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order) 

A Star Is Born (1937) 
Cape Fear (1962) 
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) 
The Dark Corner (1946) 
Frances Ha (2012) 
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Ida (2013) 
Nebraska (2013) 
Two Men and a Wardrobe/Dwaj Ludzie z Szafą (1958, short) 


Other good B/W movies, a documentary and a short reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order)


The 39 Steps (1935) 
Antoine et Colette (1962, short) 
Captain Kidd (1945) 
Celebrity (1998)
Citizen Kane (1941) 
Cul-de-Sac (1966) 
Danmark (1935, documentary)
Doomed to Die (1940) 
Double Indemnity (1944) 
Mr. Arkadin/Confidential Report (1955) 
The Mummy (1932) 
The Mysterious X/Det Hemmelighedsfulde X/Orders Under Seal/Sealed Orders (1914) 

Mediocre or poor B/W movies and a documentary reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order)


Alexander Nevsky (1938)
The Ape (1940) 
Atom Age Vampire/Seddok, l'Erede di Satana (1960) 
The Birth of a Nation/The Clansman (1915) 
Black Dragons (1942) 
Bloodlust (1961) 
The Bridge/The Spy (1929, short) 
Child Bride/Child Brides/Child Bride of the Ozarks/Dust to Dust (1938) 
City Lights (1931) 
The Corpse Vanishes/The Case of the Missing Brides (1942) 
Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) 
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) 
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) 
Man with a Movie Camera/Человек с киноаппаратом (1929, documentary) 
Nights of Cabiria/Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) 
The Turin Horse/A Torinói Ló (2011) 

[48 titles in all]

Previous Top 10 lists:

The best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
The best adapted movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

What do you think of the list?
What B/W movies would be on yours?

Carnival of Souls (1962) - Herk Harvey's one movie is an inspired, nightmarish classic

♥♥♥♥

Drawn, eerie and not even lying (!) poster for Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls

QUICK REVIEW:

After a car accident, Mary, our organ player heroine, moves to small time America, where she soon finds herself in a frightening alone-in-the-world soul limbo!
Despite miserable sound quality, an at times inordinately scratching, - but atmospheric, - organ music score and a weirdly abrupt beginning, Carnival of Souls has an intensely discomforting air to it. It presents a creeping, Twilight Zone-reminiscent situation that will crawl under your skin!

Beautiful, despairing Candace Hilligoss in Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls

Candace Hilligoss (The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964)) plays well and is very beautiful in this weird, nightmarish film by Herk Harvey, an infomercial director behind short documentaries like What About Prejudice? (1959). He also stars in the film as the main male ghoul:

Herk Harvey in his own film, Carnival of Souls

Harvey never made another feature, but boy, the one he made is inspired! 
It was made on a mere 33,000 $ budget with a crew of just 5 people besides Harvey himself. It wasn't highly regarded at its release, but has since been remembered by many and grown through TV airings and video and DVD releases, and is now something of a psychological horror cult movie. It is in public domain and can be seen free and legally here.

Related post:

Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Watch the great, original trailer here 

Carnival of Souls has even made itself into this unofficial, alternate music video for Lana Del Rey's Video Games

Budget: 33,000 $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of Carnival of Souls?
Any stories regarding the movie?