Black And White vs Color Movies?

Real full color movies have only been around for 77 years...

The vast majority of movies,perhaps even all movies,that were filmed in b/w,from the beginning of modern day motion pictures,starting with,a trip to the moon 1902,right up through the 1960's were made in b/w for financial reasons,not for artistic choices...

An early example of a colorized,with two strip technicolor,motion picture is,mystery of the wax museum 1933

The first fully colorized,with three strip technicolor,motion picture was becky sharp 1935...

It cost an extra,$500,000! in 1938-39 dollar values to film gone with the wind in color and why did they do that? because they knew it would be so much better when seen in color and it certainly is...

Great movies,that were intentionally filmed in b/w,beauty and the beast 1946, sunset boulevard 1950, paths of glory 1957, psycho 1960 ect,ect and more recently,manhattan 1979, raging bull 1980 and schindlers list 1993 ect,ect without a doubt,should have been filmed in color,or not at all,imo and they were intentionally made in b/w for artistic reasons and imo,they suffer greatly because of that...

Great color movies like,the gangs all here 1943, leave her to heaven 1945, black narcissus 1947, the red shoes 1948, the river 1951, vertigo 1958, lawrence of arabia 1962, war and peace 1967, 2001:a space odyssey 1968 and more recently days of heaven 1978, apocalypse now 1979, saving private ryan 1998, the new world 2005, curse of the golden flower 2006 ect,ect would all be shadows of what they are if they were filmed in b/w and they remain shimmering and glowing within their colored magnificence...

Just watch any great color movie and turn off the color,theres no comparison at all...

Imagine the wizard of oz 1939,with dorothy stepping out into a b/w munchkin land oz,imagine a b/w emerald city,imagine gone with the wind 1939,with atlanta burning in b/w,imagine the mothership from close encounters of the third kind,descending and landing in b/w,see what i mean?

Reality is in color...Not b/w...

Technicolor > en.wikipedia.org...

History Of Technicolor Movies > www.widescreenmuseum.com...

reply to post by blocula


I have to disagree. I prefer some movies in their original black & white. Scrooge ( 1951) It's A Wonderful Life ( 1948?) Babes In Toyland was originally in B&W. The original Little Rascals are in b&w. While some may look good in color, for me it brings me back to the age of the film.

But I will say, I LOVE TECHNICOLOR! The Adventures of Robin Hood by Disney, Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, beautiful movies. Technicolor is so rich and I love it. I wish new movies had that look.

reply to post by soaringhawk
I'm pretty sure that technicolor film has experienced a resurgence recently and is being used more frequently once again...

Reality is in color...Not b/w...

reply to post by blocula


Yes..but films are not reality, and because so many people can't make this distinction, TPTB are granted a full axcess pass to your subconcious mind.

I believe The band Rage Against The Machine said it best in one of their songs, " They load the clip with omicolor...they pack the nine and fire into prime time...and sleeping gas every home like alcatraz...Mother F#####s lost their mind"

reply to post by blocula

Depends on the movie. For instance, Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" is a time stamped treatise. How about Fritz Lang's "Metropolis"? The past sees the future (surely from a limited B/W perspective). Oh and my favorite, "Doctor Strangelove". An old view (black and white) of a thoroughly modern problem; Atomic warfare. Reflected black and white attitudes about same brilliantly. These and others were artistically made to reflect their story line from a black and white perspective.

Other wise I agree with you. The land of OZ, 2001, and Gone Windy are classics that would not fare well in Black and White because they were not meant to.

reply to post by blocula


I know it's still used, but I'm talking about how it was used in those older movies. There is just something about it. The same for animated movies too. By the way, if any here have a bluray player, The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn is on bluray!

You are probably aware that Ted Turner bought the rights to a lot of b&w films and colorized them in the '70s and '80s--many of them deliberately shot in b&w for mood and composition purposes. There was a big controversy about it.

Wikipedia: Film Colorization
In the mid-1980s, the process drew controversy after Topper and then Way Out West became the first black-and-white films to be redistributed in color using the colorization process.[9] Defenders of the process noted that it would allow black-and-white films to have new audiences of people who were not used to the format. Detractors complained (among other reasons) that the process was crude and claimed that even if it were refined, it would not take into account lighting compositions chosen for black-and-white photography which would not necessarily be as effective in color.[10] Figures opposed to the process included Roger Ebert, James Stewart, John Huston, George Lucas and Woody Allen.

Many films were planned and executed in Technicolor--and some were planned and executed in black and white. Imagine, for instance, Casablanca being colorized--that's the kind of vandalism we're talking about. Yeah: They did that...

Some newer movies couldn't be made in color. See Young Frankenstein and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Those are funny ass B&W movies.

reply to post by intrptr
The b/w movies you mentioned are all great classic films and they were filmed in b/w because color film was much more expensive than b/w film...

Steven spielbergs incredible,schindlers list,should not have been filmed in b/w,imo,because the holocaust didnt happen in b/w,it happened in color and when something historical and horrible is filmed in b/w,it makes the brutal subject matter seem safely within the past and removed further away from reality than it actually is...

Thankfully steven spielberg filmed his intensely brutal,saving provate ryan,in color and showed the d-day normandy invasion the way it really happened and the way it actually looked...

reply to post by soaringhawk
leave her to heaven-1945 and black narcissus-1947 and the red shoes-1948 are two of the most stunningly beautiful color movies ever made and they are very highly rated and esteemed by martin scorsese,among many other people...

reply to post by Ex_CT2
I dont agree with colorizing famous b/w movies,i just wish they had been originally filmed in color and the vast majority of b/w movies from the early 1900's all the way through the 1960's were filmed in b/w because their budgets didnt allow for the use of much more expensive color film...

What would lawrence of arabia-1962 look like in b/w?...Nothing like how it appears in color...

What would gone with the wind-1939 look like in b/w?...Nothing like how it appears in color...

What would 2001:a space odyssey-1968 look like in b/w?...Nothing like how it appears in color...

Jean cocteaus beauty and the beast-1946 resembles a moving painting,it is haunting,mesmerizing and magical. He didnt make it in color,although the studio wanted him to film it in color,because color film in france right after ww-2 was too rare and expensive to obtain and if that movie had been filmed in color,it would easily be my number two favorite movie ever made,behind the unsurpassable,single greatest achievement in the history of motion pictures,sergei bondarchucks 8 hour russian version of war and peace-1967,filmed in color...

reply to post by blocula

I don't think we have a disagreement. But there are things that just cry out for black & white: The entire noir genre, for instance. Nor do I disagree with you about some of the greatest films ever--including War and Peace and Lawrence of Arabia--being far, far better as they are than if they were b&w.

You could make similar arguments about aspect ratios. Some films are meant to be small and intimate (and usually b&w), and some are made to be sprawling sagas. Each have their place....

reply to post by Ex_CT2
When knowing that most,perhaps even all,of the movies that were filmed from a trip to the moon-1902 right through the 1960's,that were filmed in b/w,were filmed that way because color film was too expensive,surely proving that filming a movie in b/w back then,for almost 70 years,was done so for financial reasons,because of budgetary restrictions,not for artistic choices...

I mean wow,think about it costing $500,000 in 1938-39 dollars,to be able film gone with the wind in color,instead of b/w and that was an artistic choice,with available finances that could back it up. What would that much money be worth now? around $10,000,000?...

Its worth exactly $8,196,721.31 now...Inflation Calculator > www.davemanuel.com...

There are dozens of color films from the 1930's,hundreds of color films from the 1940's and thousands of color films from the 1950's and 60's and they are far and away my favorite movies,those classics that were filmed in color...

reply to post by blocula


Thanks for telling. I'm 28 and I like old movies. I'll look those up. Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes and other classics are on bluray now! Great!

Originally posted by soaringhawk
reply to post by blocula

 

Thanks for telling. I'm 28 and I like old movies. I'll look those up. Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes and other classics are on bluray now! Great!

edit on 12-5-2012 by soaringhawk because: (no reason given)

The use of color,light,darkness and shadows in those color movies i mentioned above in my opening post,are stunning,amazing and beautiful...

reply to post by soaringhawk
Heres a chronological list of really great and very colorful movies that i'll highly recommend and maybe you,or anyone else,has seen some of them already? They are gorgeous to look at and i watch them again and again.Theres quite a few color films held in high esteem that i still haven't seen yet and i did'nt include any of those in my list below...(*-*)

Mystery Of The Wax Museum-1933

A Star Is Born-1937

Wizard Of Oz-1939

Gone With The Wind-1939

Blood And Sand-1941

Heaven Can Wait-1943

The Gangs All Here-1943

Meet Me In St Louis-1944

Leave Her To Heaven-1945

Black Narcissus-1947

The Red Shoes-1948

The Magic Box-1951

The River-1951

Singin In The Rain-1952

Shane-1953

Rear Window-1954

All That Heaven Allows-1955

Giant-1956

The Searchers-1956

Mon Oncle-1958

Vertigo-1958

North By Northwest-1959

Lawrence Of Arabia-1962

Kwaidan-1964

The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg-1964

Doctor Zhivago-1965

Playtime-1967

War And Peace-1967

2001:A Space Odyssey-1968

Once Upon a Time In The West-1968

Waterloo-1970

Ryans Daughter-1970

Little Big Man-1970

The French Connection-1971

Cries And Whispers-1972

The Godfather-1972

Jeremiah Johnson-1972

The Exorcist-1973

The Godfather Part II-1974

Dersu Uzala-1975

Jaws-1975

Suspiria-1977

Star Wars-1977

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind-1977

Days Of Heaven-1978

Nosferatu The vampyre-1979

Apocalypse Now-1979

The Empire Strikes Back-1980

Blade Runner-1982

Company Of Wolves-1984

Come And See-1985

Brazil-1985

Legend-1986

Dances With Wolves-1990

Heaven And Earth-1990

Age Of Innocence-1993

Ashes Of Time-1994

Queen Margot-1994

Les Miserables-1995

Saving Private Ryan-1998

In The Mood For Love-2000

Hero-2002

House Of Flying Daggers-2004

The New World-2005

Curse Of The Golden Flower-2006

Apocalypto-2006

Depends on the movie. Sin City, for example, wouldn't be the same movie if you colorized all of it. Wizard of Oz...the transformation from black and white to color was PART of the story really. So, it all depends.

reply to post by Gazrok
As far as the movies that were made in b/w from the mid 1930's all the way through the 1960's.I would rather have seen the time,money and effort put into making 500 color movies,instead of 5,000 b/w movies, because reality is in color,not b/w and any b/w movies made lately,are made that way for artistic choices,but the vast majority,perhaps even all,of the older movies that were filmed in b/w,were made that way because color film was too expensive and for no other reason than budgetary restraints were they made in b/w...