Maria Felix and Georges Marchal in MESSALINA (1951)
The original film was in black & white (below). Which one would you prefer watching? The B&W version or the one in color as in the photo above. The B&W one seems to keep it more grounded. Most people prefer watching movies in clot but some stories seem to work better with the least amount of distractions.
2 comments:
Hate colorization! Always prefer B&W if that is how the film was made.
The banquet scene in which the dancers posing as statues come to life is absolutely terrific.
Some movies were filmed in color but are now available only in B&W. The LADY IN THE IRON MASK (1952) is an example.
A good B&W version is always preferable to an unrestored Eastmancolor original version.
With colorization we lose the dramatic play between light and dark, white and black that is the essence of B&W cinematography. Nobody dares colorize CITIZEN KANE or DR STRANGELOVE.
Still, to the uninitiated, because Pepla represent a backwater of mid 20th century film making, very few (if any?) of the cycle B&W films are being colorized. It's too expensive with too small a market.
I know that quite a few B&W Pepla were promoted with color posters and lobby cards ... perhaps this was one of them?
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