why is it in black and white

Hey folks,

The vast majority of B/W films were not filmed that way for art sake. They were filmed in B/W because of cost. Color film was far more costly. Initially, color film was used strictly for high budget films such as "Gone With the Wind" and similar films. As the cost of color film became more competitive with B/W film, more films were made in color, but when a film company was making a "standard" film and wanting to maximize profits, they still went with B/W film. As the price of using color film continued to drop, most films were made in color, and it finally became a very "artsy" choice to film in B/W. When films like "The Last Picture Show," "Schlindler's List," were made, it was well publicized that they were being filmed in B/W for the sake of art. I suspect that some of the B/W "art" choices were more secretly about cost rather than art.

To suggest that a particular film simply had to be filmed in B/W or color is a very subjective statement. I doubt if many folks would want to watch "Gone With the Wind" in B/W if they had a choice. However, if it had been filmed in B/W, I also suspect there would be many folks who would call it a crime if someone wanted to show it in color. I think this would also be true of "The Wizard of Oz," yet I am certain most folks would be happy to see the film in B/W if it had never been done in color.

"It's A Wonderful Life" was filmed in B/W, and I enjoyed it in B/W for many, many years. Then I bought a colorized version of the film, and I found out I still liked the film in color. The story was not any different in color, but for me the colorized version added a new dimension to the picture that I enjoyed.

When "Anatomy of A Murder" first came out in 1959, I liked the film very much. It had a bunch of actors I liked very much, and it was a good story. Despite the talk about the film being shot in B/W because Preminger chose art for the courtroom film, the fact is this was not exactly a high budget film at the time. While the actors are favorites of mine, the only one with a high dollar salary at the time was James Stewart, and I would bet his salary was not that big. Even George C. Scott worked for small bucks back then. It was all shot in Michigan with minimal location costs. This simply was not a big budget film, and I suspect the use of B/W film instead of color had a whole lot more to do with maximizing profits rather than any consideration of art.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile