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An essay by Dr. Daniel I'd paused in the sci-fi section, trying to decide between Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still. As I studied the comparative merits of Walter Pidgeon vs.  Klaatu, I overheard a startling conversation. There was a guy and a girl one row over, in the Drama section. She'd chosen Rebecca for their evening's viewing. It's a wonderful film, the combined forces of Hitchcock, Olivier and Selznick delivering a riveting dark mystery. Suggestive. Daring. Hypnotic. A top-notch cast, with fine direction and superb cinematography. Classic stuff.
Well, he didn't want to see Rebecca. Not because of its plot. Not because he didn't like Laurence Olivier movies. This refugee from the shallow end of the gene pool didn't want to see Rebecca because he, and I quote, "only liked color movies." Meaning movies made in color. He went on to say that black-and-white was boring 'cause there was nothing to look at but black, white, and grey. He liked "reds, blues, and yellows." I put my lunch back in my lower intestine and picked up the case for The Brain Eaters, trying to block out the memory of his words. Just then, a young dude-type (sporting the standard backwards cap) wandered up, griping to his buddies: "Man, I saw this boxing movie, Raging Bull, on Cinemax last night. What a crappy movie. It was in black-and-white! I thought the TV was broke!" My hands started rattling, spitting the tape out onto the floor. I fumbled it back onto the shelf and scurried quickly away toward the New Films section. I saw the yellowing case for Dorf on Golf on the shelf next to Donnie Brasco and made a mental note to tell Mack that Dorf was no longer "new," not to mention the fact that it wasn't ever a "film." A guy was asking if Schindler's List was any good, and Homer the clerk actually said,  "It's in black-and-white; I don't think you'll like it." Tears and sweat started popping out of my face. That warmish weepy surge flushed into my nasal cavity, and I staggered blindly out into the aisle. I clutched my chest, Fred Sanford style, and felt the feeling rush from my legs. I thumped to the carpet and blacked out.
I'm not sure how long I was there, but by the time I awoke, Mack was standing over me, with a few curious customers gathered around. "Hey, Doc, you all right? Want me to call a doctor...uh. You all right?" he asked. I got up, gathered my wits, quickly paid for The Brain Eaters and The Day The Earth Stood Still, and headed to my truck. As I drove home that night, I found myself wondering if this could actually be true, this idiocy I'd heard. Is this television-infected world so enveloped in a Crayola mentality that they've lost appreciation for the wondrous joy of black-and-white cinema? What if motion pictures had been invented AFTER the advent of color film? That'll get you thinking. How would they have made The Wizard of Oz without black-and-white? Would there have ever been a Citizen Kane or a Psycho? What about the two-tone brilliance of Chaplin and Keaton? Would cool cats like Bogart and Cagney have made it as stars in the dancing bloom of color? Doubt it. Since Technicolor arrived in town, there are very few directors in the business that still know the power of shadows over substance. I cannot, or will not, imagine what The Maltese Falcon would have looked like in color. Or This Gun For Hire, or The Third Man, or any other film noir classic. An entire genre never born. To ignore  the impact and beauty of black-and-white filmmaking is to cold slap the history of moviemaking. It's the equivalent of saying that radio is lame 'cause you can't see the pictures. It's like declining a date with a beautiful sweetheart you've known for years 'cause some new girl has a more colorful purse. Before we're quick to dismiss the old-school technology as passé, let's remember where we'd be without it.
With that said, I think I'll change into my tuxedo and eat some Oreos...while watching Casablanca.
Get "reel" soon,
Summer Preview '01 | Academy Awards 2001 | The 5th Annual Loscars | Oscar Noms: Reaction 2001 | Excused from School | Matthau Remembered | Summer Preview 2000 | Academy Awards 2000 | The 4th Annual Loscars | Oscar Noms: Reaction 2000 | 2000 Predictions | Universal Soldiers | Happy Birthday, Hitch | Goodbye, MST3K | Try to Remember | Summer Preview '99 | Curse of the TV Movies |
Academy A-snores | The 3rd Annual Loscars | Waiting and Waiting | Gene Siskel Tribute | Now I'm Mad (Oscar Nominations '99) | 1998 Flashback | Remembering Roddy McDowall | Repeating History | The Movie Manifesto | Fall Preview '98 | The Day Eli P. Kingsley Came to Town | Field of Dreams | Lizard Season | Grey April, Dark Hearts | Oscar Reactions '98 | The Greatest Actor You've Never Heard Of | The 2nd Annual Loscars |
Oscar Noms | Unsportsmanlike Conduct |
1997: Gone But Not Forgotten |
A Note to Nick |
The Quaid Curse | Love, Law & Lake Tahoe | Talking Movies |
Black & White World
| Alternative Medicine: Waiting for Guffman | In Memoriam, Burgess Meredith |
Fall Preview '97 | Jimmy Stewart, R.I.P. |
The Cowboy Way | A Sporting Chance | In Praise of the VCR
| Summer Preview '97 | Alternative Medicine: That Thing You Do! |
The Rise and Fall...of Dan Aykroyd |
Post-Oscar Traumatic Syndrome | The Loscars | Lost Minds?! |
It's Academic! | Remembering Vincent Price | Movie Going Rules | Doctor's Orders |
