Everything Old is New Again

Hi there

below:  Bogart and Bacall, "Casablanca"

When I was a kid most movies were in black and white.   When it was realised that all movies would soon be in colour, many, many people tut-tutted.  They groaned and moaned in letters to the editor and to their neighbours.

"A dramatic movie will lose all impact," they said.

And, "Colour?  Goodness, that's for Disney."

I loved colour in big epics like "The Robe" which was not only in glorious colour but also in Cinemascope!  But I agreed with a lot of folk that a suspense movie wouldn't be the same in bright tones.

But you can't hold back progress.  Technicolor and Eastman Color were in.  Monochrome was out.

However, nowadays, black and white movies have made a comeback.  They're classed as film noir.  The trendy young ones love the dramatic effect of these movies. Such people sit in arthouse theatres, taking notes, reading sub-titles translated from the French and, afterwards, having lengthy discussions in replica 1950's cafes and exclaiming over the beauty of shadow.  

Me, I don't care for black and white movies anymore.  Black and white is so old-fashioned....