Watching Black and White Movies Pt. 1

How did german expressionism effect black and white cinema?  How did black and white enhance film noir?  How does black and white enhance other genre's?

    German expressionism affected black and white cinema as it embraced and exaggerated the concept that, without color, our brains would latch onto the shapes and contrast of the image. This style of cinema began to influence American films through the horror genre and inevitable evolved into the high contrast style of film noir. Black and white enhanced film noir as the dark themes of the genre are amplified by the stark contrast of the black and white image. Without color, it creates a visual conflict of darkness vs. light. Black and white enhances other genres as it had forced filmmakers to find other ways (besides color) to create visual interest such as texture, separation, contrast, and depth with a limited color palette.