Are some films best left in black and white?

Part of the joy of seeing old films is that their black and white status adds to their vintage nature and helps dim the desire to criticize any flaws in the plot or mannerisms on screen. This is how it was and the old cars and lamp posts and telephones fit the black and white scene perfectly. Though I have no moral or artistic objection to anyone wishing to add colour to any film it does seem a great deal of effort for little gain. I do admire Peter Jackson’s work and his selection and colouring of the war archive serves a purpose beyond enhancing audience pleasure. I look forward to seeing this film and learning more of what my ancestors did and went through. It will add to my collection of war writing from the trenches provided by great uncles killed and injured in that conflict.

There will be grey areas 🙂 , but:

– If something was created specifically in B&W for artistic reasons when colour already existed, putting it in colour is meaningless, like changing the colours of something already in colour.

– If something was created in B&W when that’s all there was or when it still was the most common medium, I would credit the artist with being perfectly aware of it and using it in the best possible way. Colourising it afterwards seems arrogant.

– When it comes to passing on information and attempting to bring non-fiction home, colourising now has a part to play. We only have to think of blood: what impact does it have when we see it in B&W and when we see it in colour?

Presumably the original black & white films still exists in the state they do, or at least copies of the original state they were in were made before restoring them and colourising them?

Quite a lot of the footage shown of the Great War was actually recreated scenes and posed shots because there was no practical way of getting film technicians into the battles; they would soon be mown down because of their cumbersome apparatus. Behind the lines footage is often real but selective because the War Office did not want to show the worst horrors of the war nor reveal the army’s logistical activities. Personally I welcome this work by Peter Jackson as it brings a new reality to the war and helps us see that the soldiers were human, the horses were animals and the guns were real; for every scene you look at you wonder what happened next and whether you are looking at one of your ancestors. My mother’s father was killed at the battle of the Somme and I examine all pictures I come across in case I might see him. I shall study this film with great interest.

Some years ago Channel 4 had a short series of documentaries called [if I recall correctly] The Third Reich in Colour. It was chilling to see, in full colour and detail, close-ups of the leading figures as well as ordinary people and their behaviour over the period 1933-39. It was original Agfa coloured film stock that had been cleaned up and slightly enhanced and it looked stunningly realistic.

I hope no one tries to de-Technicolorise [to a modern colour standard] the beautiful musicals and other movies that emanated from Hollywood in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. Due to the technical necessities of the time they were gloriously over-drenched with colour which complemented the sumptuous sets, spectacular costumes and immaculate choreography; these effects succeeded in distracting filmgoers from the poor sound-dubbing, continuity lapses, limping dialogue and leaden acting in most motion pictures of the time.

I noticed ‘The Man In The White Suit’ starring Alec Guinness was on Talking Pictures recently, a thoroughly enjoyable film.

That is one film that would not benefit from colourisation as the effect of the brilliant white suit would be lost.