Why is it b+w if it's from the 80's?
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mkd825 — 16 years ago(October 09, 2009 05:18 PM)
They discuss this in the dvd commentary. The makeup was very lifelike, made from casts of the real John Merrick's head. Yet in color, it looked rather artificial, and admittedly unsettling. The filmmakers were concerned that sensitive moviegoers wouldn't be able to get past Merrick's appearance and immerse themselves fully into the story. The choice of black and white took some of the edge off, while creating an interesting sense of mood.
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Cyclo Rider — 11 years ago(July 30, 2014 12:39 PM)
They discuss this in the dvd commentary. The makeup was very lifelike, made from casts of the real John Merrick's head. Yet in color, it looked rather artificial, and admittedly unsettling. The filmmakers were concerned that sensitive moviegoers wouldn't be able to get past Merrick's appearance and immerse themselves fully into the story. The choice of black and white took some of the edge off, while creating an interesting sense of mood.
Old post, yet a perfect explanation. Hence quoted. -
DJMan-51 — 11 years ago(November 16, 2014 05:46 PM)
Old post, yet a perfect explanation. Hence quoted.
Nice to read this. Years ago I ventured (on a message board) the opinion that the Merrick makeup would have been distractingly repulsive with califlower skin and pink, slobbering mouth, and would have damaged the sensitive performance. But I was dismissed with the response that David Lynch said he did it in b-&-w to invoke the early industrial revolution, so that was that. -
5thHobbit — 16 years ago(November 12, 2009 07:14 PM)
Strangely, it's not discussed on any website.
That's because black and white film isn't all that rare.
There are always a couple of mainstream black and white films that come out every year; it's an artistic choice.
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. -
Adam_P_L — 16 years ago(December 15, 2009 02:02 PM)
Color film existed thirty-some years before The Elephant Man was released.
More like forty-some. The first feature-length color film was "Becky Sharp" in 1935.
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TaylorTC — 16 years ago(December 29, 2009 11:47 AM)
It is in black and white because this was the choice of the filmmakers. As the previous poster stated, feature-length color films had existed since 1935 - yet black and white films continued to flourish. Even in modern times the occasional black and white film still comes about, though it's obviously far less common these days.
There are numerous reasons that filmmakers chose to shoot in black and white over the years. One good example is the classic western film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. John Ford had shot numerous color films in the past, but chose to do this one in black and white since Jimmy Stewart was in his 50s or so at the time, and supposed to be portraying a young lawyer type in his 20s! Obviously, B and W made it easier to hide his real age.
"Why do movie stars think we want to watch them play poker?" -Hank Hill -
craigballantyne2006 — 15 years ago(March 23, 2011 05:07 PM)
you're wrong. toll of the sea was the first colour feature made in 1922 (in two-strip colour, but it's still colour) you can get it on youtube and on it's imdb page it says in the trivia bit that it was the seventh colour feature.
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illhoosierbird — 16 years ago(January 22, 2010 01:39 PM)
totally unrelated to this movie
Nobel Prizes are NOT awarded posthumously in any category.
Most significant snubs in this respect:- Mahatma Gandhi for leadership in non-violent revolution
- Rosalind Franklin for discoveries on the shape of DNA (along with Watson, Crick, and Wilkins)
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ChrisB13 — 10 years ago(June 19, 2015 11:45 AM)
There is one posthumous Nobel Peace Prize, to Dag Hammarskjld in 1961. From 1974, the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation stipulate that a Prize cannot be awarded posthumously, unless death has occurred after the announcement of the Nobel Prize. Before 1974, the Nobel Prize was also awarded posthumously to Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Nobel Prize in Literature 1931). Credit for information contained in this post goes to: nobelprize.org
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DeclanCochran — 12 years ago(April 05, 2013 01:56 PM)
It existed far before that, they used colour in the original Phantom of the Opera, admittedly through painting each film cell, but still.
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