MovieChat Forums > Blithe Spirit (1945) Discussion > Saw it today

Saw it today

posted 14 years ago by bruno-32
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In NYC on the "This" channel, where they show most oldies that TCM and the others either forgotten or whatever. I enjoyed it very much, a witty Noel Coward gem, and although the technicolor was nice, there really was no reason for this movie to be in color. Most of it takes place in their home. Margaret Rutheford stole the movie with her performance. One disappointment though..the ending was so predictable.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PillowRock 14 years ago

there really was no reason for this movie to be in color. Most of it takes place in their home.

I don't think that a movie being set (almost) entirely indoors necessarily implies that it doesn't have any good justification for color filming.

In this particular case, I think that the use of color is absolutely central to the production design of the movie as we see it. Granted that a lot of this is working subliminally with most viewers (*especially* first time viewers), but that still has an effect on how people experience a movie.

See my post from a couple years ago about "Color coded wardrobe" for details of my thoughts about this topic in this film. Could Lean have worked around that if technicolor cameras had not been available to him? Probably, but I think that it would have removed some thematic depth from the film.