NO NEED FOR B+W

I'm not sure that "emphasis" is the correct term. The orignal cinematographerof "Gone With The Wind", Lee Garmes intended for the feature to be B+W and it was not until the producer of the film, David O. Selznick, decided that the footage was "too dark", that a decision was made to use the new Technicolor system.

Technicolor was not always a viable option. Equipment was incredibly bulky and very heavy. Due to the nature of the 3-strip system, sets had to be much better lit than on a B+W production and three times as much film was required. Only films with a massive budget would be considered fit for Technicolor. I do not think this film was given a Colour makeover to add emphasis to the story, merely to make the most out of the sets and to draw crowds into the cinema with the promise of a rare "All-Colour" production. So on the whole, if making an honest homage to films from the WWII era was the main goal, then B+W was really the only way forward.

As for the comment upon the effectivness of B+W in recreating the look of the WWII era, I think Steven Soderbergh did an excellent job. I will concede that the dramatic stucture of the script seemed secondary to the cinematography, but it cannot be denied that the film looks magnificent. I believe that the decision to use B+W was taken not just to recreate the "feel" of the time, but to (here's that word again) emphasize the noir-esque aspects of the novel. I am certain that a lot of people who paid to see this film will not have been card carrying geeks like myself and would not have appreciated the attempts at capturing a style of film-making that has long since left us. I am also certain that people who have not read the novel, will not understand that this lack of colour and use of shadow fits perfectly with the tone of the story. This is purely my opinion, but I believe the cinematography works beautifully.

I do believe that in making this film using mostly original techniques from the 1940's, Soderbergh was being a little self-indulgent. But I do believe that he has aptly captured the essence of a lot of films from the time and that these techniques lend themselves wonderfully to the overall feel of the novel. I think B+W was the right way to go for this particular film, however, there is a recent film, filmed in colour, that used a similar technique to capture the essence of the WWII era. "Pearl Harbor" (2001) was one of several big-budget productions to unexpectedly choose the Technicolor Dye Transfer Process after it was re-introduced by the company in 1997. I really liked the use of colour on this film. The transfer process created an excellent contrast between vibrant colours and sepia tones, all wrapped up in that slightly soft-edged Technicolor package.

It seems that the use of interesting (some might say brave) cinematography could not save "The Good German" from poor reviews any more than it could for "Pearl Harbor". But as long as there are people out there willing to experiment, then we can be certain that film making will never become stale.

I don't think the problem is the B&W itself so much as the other visual elements that were applied to make this look like a 1940's film. The whole movie comes off as restrained, sort of like a copy of a great painting; the original artist isn't concerned with recreating a style, he just creates art. Unfortunately, this gives The Good German the look and feel of a visually mediocre 1940's movie like Casablanca (which is a great movie, but the cinematograpy isn't anything special) rather than other B&W movies of the period with more daring cinematography, like The Third Man.

b&w gives lots of charm to any movie, specially one of this kind and with this cast :)

Wasn't it a film noir movie?

~Aimz~

You talkin to me?

I have to say i really appreciated the B+W use in this film. It was a visual tour de force. The care taken to create mood and shadow and the many scenes that so beautifully captured the pre colour cinematography style of that era.

The film is dealing with a subject matter of uncovering dark secrets in the politics and the characters in the film. The more you buy into those themes, and the characters situations and traits the more you get out of the B+W use.

Consider 'Sin City', which also tried to do the same. The problem with that film (which i hated) was that, like its cartoon origin, the characters were 2 dimensional juvenile creations. In terms of characters I felt like i was watching an MTV re-creation of the era (40/50's detective and gang lords). Now that was a waste of time.

Here the characters are superlative. The toughness and violence of the characters reflect their war/post war experiences and setting. The mercenary capitalistic hustling of the americans. The desensitized attitudes of women who have prostituted their survival through the war. The anti hero of clooney who is always getting his ass kicked, but enduring toughness winning through. They are ballsy characters.

Lastly, the sets. You can watch this film and let the attention to detail of the sets pass you by on the basis that they are so good. So many bombed out buildings, with remnents of lavish architectural features in the bannisters and windows etc. The cinema house and so many other sets/locations have you feeling they managed to step back into post war 40's locations somehow to film this.

When anyone who didnt get on with this film, consider the above points and watch the film, it really opens up a new level of appreciation for it.

What many may not know is that the film was a blend of current footage they shot with archival footage from Germany in the 40s.

Um. . .

The film was B&W b/c it's a film noir.

Look at Sin City. They did the same thing.

And Gone With the Wind didn't use colour for emphasis. They used colour because they finally had the ABILITY to and they wanted to wow the public with this beautiful technicolor dream.

-AP3-

"In the name of all writers, I'm going to kill you!" (The Player)

[deleted]