COLORIZATION


     It is the beast that will not die. Colorization is the bastardization of black and white films into dreadful colors. It has been around for a while. Ted Turner famously tried to colorize Citizen Kane, but he encountered such a firestorm of outraged opposition that he dropped the idea. He seems also to have dropped the whole colorization thing. Others have not...
     What these folks don't seem to understand is that directors and cinematographers know what they're working with. 
     Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, the best of the best, called it "Hollywood's New Vandalism." Anjelica Huston successfully stopped the process in its tracks in France using French copyright law. The U.S. has legislation but it only protects films in the National Film Registry from colorization. 
     Here are some wonderful black and white movies that would be cheapened and perhaps ruined by being colorized.
     Let's begin with the towering Schindler's List (1993), which deservedly won the Oscar for Best Picture. The starkness of the prison camp and the situations just cry out for black and white. The very end is in color and rightly so- it makes the contrast in times greater.
     Orson Welles perhaps understood how to use the subtle shadings and shadows of black and white better than anyone else. His landmark film Citizen Kane (1941) is exhibit A. But an even better use of the medium, though a lesser film, is The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) which is shot almost entirely in the gloomy old Amberson mansion. The story of a once-mighty family is perfectly mirrored in the photography. If the ending seems a bit strange, that's because it is. The studio took Ambersons away from Welles and tacked on the hokey ending.  
     Raging Bull (1980) is one of the great boxing movies.  The brutality and violence of the ring (and the kitchen!) are more exquisitely captured in black and white than any color imaginable. The sleazy, smoky nightclubs that became Jake LaMotta's environment seem much more oppressive and atmospheric in black and white.
     Casablanca (1942) has dark filmic echoes of the war and the end of a culture and is one of the most romantic films ever made. Notice that in the night scenes you can always see what is going on. Night scenes in most modern color films are annoyingly unwatchable.
     On The Waterfront (1954) with its gritty shots of the docks and union halls is perfect for black and white. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (1966), in which an apparently happy marriage slowly unravels before our eyes, would be ruined by color.
     The Hustler (1961) with its seamy pool halls and seamier characters is just right for black and white. High Noon (1952) is an epic because the situation is black and white to Gary Cooper's character.
     My favorite example of black and white cinematography is How Green Was My Valley (1941). This is a great film anyway, but the photography is unmatched. It's the story of Welsh miners and their lives and their village. Use your freeze button on any frame in this movie and you could hang it on your wall.
     Director Alexander Payne decided to film Nebraska (2013) in black and white. Excellent choice! The film had five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The dreary, barren Midwestern landscape, the dingy small towns and the dysfunctional family members are perfect in black and white.
     And while we're on this topic, remember that a black and white movie, The Artist, won the Best Picture Oscar for 2011.
     All of the films in this article are available on DVD and for streaming, in glorious black and white. All are for 12 and up.
   

                                                     UNCOMMON SPORTS

     Watching, and greatly enjoying, McFarland USA (2015) it occurred to me that while I think the best sports movies are about baseball, and there are some decent basketball and football flix, there are also a goodly number of movies about sports not in prime time. It so happens that two of them are recent.

     Kevin Costner is so good as the flawed motivator and is at his best in McFarland. After an unfortunate incident gets him fired as from his high school football job, he lands on maybe one foot at a poor California school which is about 90 per cent Latino. He notices how these kids can run and starts a cross-country team. There are the usual speed bumps along the way- parents who don't want the kids to miss work, mercurial teen-age temperaments, etc. But the team gets better and better and eventually competes for the State Championship. What happens? Hey, this is a Hollywood movie! But- it is based on a true story and at the end credits, the actual runners who were portrayed in the movie make a cameo appearance. 

    Last year produced another very good movie about a little-known sport: amateur wrestling. This is not the hit-em-with-chairs professional stuff. Foxcatcher is about one of the most cerebral sports, involving incredible conditioning, ability and smarts. Steve Carrell was nominated for an Oscar for his role as John du Pont, scion of the wealthy chemical family and would-be coach of Olympic wrestlers. Channing Tatum is quite good as a slightly dim wrestler and Mark Ruffalo is also good as Tatum's wrestler-brother. 

     Invictus (2009) is about the all-white South African rugby team pulling the country together after apartheid ended. Rugby is indeed weird, but you'll catch on to the rules (if any) pretty quickly. The iconic Morgan Freeman plays the saintly Nelson Mandela. Matt Damon is the captain of the rugby team. 

     There aren't many movies about women in sports of any kind, but one of the best is Heart Like A Wheel (1983) with Bonnie Bedelia as drag racer Shirley Muldowney. There is heart-stopping action footage from this little-known sport. Beau Bridges is good as the racer's husband.

     Breaking Away (1979) is about bicycle racing. The quirky humor and good characterizations make this a fine film. The underdog against the world is a staple of sports films, and that ancient plot works well here. Paul Dooley give a career performance as the Dad and Barbara Barrie is quite good as the Mom. Dennis Christopher (whatever happened to him?) is the kid racer.

     And finally, in the world of off-beat sports, what could be more off-beat than chess? Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993) is one of my unsung favorites. Max Pomerance is superb as a child chess prodigy trying to be a real kid. Lawrence Fishburne is really good as a park speed player. What can parents do to nurture a world-class talent while trying to provide a normal childhood? 

     Well, of course, almost all of these movies (and most sports movies) are really about something else, with the sport mainly serving as a good background. All of these movies except the first one are available on DVD and for streaming. All, except Foxcatcher are actually fine for all ages.

WENDY HILLER

     She wasn't beautiful or particularly glamorous. Her career spanned 50 years yet she  made only 17 movies. But she won an Oscar, was nominated for another, and was George Bernard Shaw's favorite actress. Dame Wendy Hiller lived to be 91, and left a legacy of outstanding performances in very good films.

     I cannot say that Pygmalion (1938) is better than the musical version, My Fair Lady. But I can tell you that it is very good indeed, and Wendy Hiller is simply marvelous as the whining cockney Eliza Doolittle. These two films would make a great double feature!

     Another Bernard Shaw entry, Major Barbara (1941) stars Ms. Hiller as the rich girl who joins the Salvation Army and Rex Harrison as her suitor. This is an excellent screenplay by Shaw himself and others. It's also Deborah Kerr's first film!

     One of the unsung wonders of British filmdom is the superlative I Know Where I'm Going (1945). Ms. Hiller is a city-bred girl all set to marry a very rich man who owns an island. When the weather keeps preventing her from sailing across the strait to her wedding, she meets and falls for Roger Livesey's Scottish gentleman.  Beautiful black and white photography and a gentle, affecting love story make this one a real keeper.

     Separate Tables (1958) is an under-appreciated story of quietly desperate lives at a seaside resort. Wendy Hiller won her Oscar here for her portrayal of the rather timid mistress of Burt Lancaster. David Niven, Rita Hayworth and Deborah Kerr complete a fine cast in a film that amplifies and exceeds Terrence Rattigan's play. 

     A Man For All Seasons (1966) is Robert Bolt's outstanding drama about St. Thomas Moore's principle-based defiance of the mercurial Henry VIII. There are few better screenplays than this one; the dialog crackles and prods. Paul Scofield is Moore, Orson Welles is Cardinal Woolsey, and Robert Shaw, Leo McKern, John Hurt and Susannah York are on board also. The movie won six Oscars. Wendy Hiller was nominated for an Oscar as Moore's practical, but steadfast, wife. She lost to Sandy Dennis in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf. No argument here.

     Other good Wendy Hiller outings are in David Copperfield (1970) as Mrs. Micawber, and in The Elephant Man (1980).

     All of the movies herein are available on DVD and for streaming. There's nothing harmful in any of them, but under 10s are not mature enough for the subject matter. 

                                                    LOUIS JOURDAN

     Louis Jourdan was born in France and became an American citizen. He was pretty much typecast as a debonair Continental bon-vivant, a niche he got tired of fighting and later embraced. He lived to be 93, and his film characterization notwithstanding, was married to his beloved Bette for 58 years. She died last year; he quickly followed.
     Mr. Jourdan's first significant role is in Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947). The plot is too complicated to summarize here. Full of Hitchcockian surprises, it features Charles Laughton, Gregory Peck, Ethel Barrymore and Charles Coburn. Seen at first as a low-grade servant, Mr. Jourdan turns out to be the pivotal character of the film.
     In the first of many editions of Madame Bovary (1949) Louis Jourdan plays the caddish Rodolphe Boulanger who woos, wins and leaves in the the lurch the title character, played by Jennifer Jones. He is suave, debonair and hateful- a good job!
      Three Coins In The Fountain (1954) is a rather sappy romantic film more famous for the title song by the Four Aces than the movie. Louis Jourdan is perfectly cast as the playboy prince Dino di Cessi who has a well-deserved reputation as a womanizer. He woos, wins and throws over All-American girl Maria Williams (Maggie MacNamara). But this is a a 50's Hollywood film, so of course everyone falls into the proper arms at the Trevi fountain by the end.
     Gigi (1958) is a musical Parisian love story with Maurice Chevailer as an aging roue' and Louis Jourdan as hs playboy nephew Gaston. Leslie Caron is shopped out as a proposed mistress, but she isn't having that. Eventually Gigi and Gaston find they are meant for each other after all and there is a beautiful wedding to look at. This movie features Mr. Chevalier's rendition of the rather creepy "Thank Heaven For Little Girls." The title song, sung very creditably by Mr. Jourdan, is quite good.
     After several more Parisian playboy roles, Louis Jourdan landed the bad guy part of Prince Khan in the 007 thriller Octopussy (1980), This particular James Bond film features Roger Moore, rather effective as the iconic hero. The plot involves a real and a fake Faberge egg and a scintillating finale with everyone on an airplane that is about to crash. You'll be amazed to remember that Bond somehow lives through all this and that the villainous Khan doesn't make it.
     Louis Jourdan liked playing the baddie for a change, and really swung to the far end of villainy in the campy Swamp Thing (1982), He is the evil Anton Arcane, whose really awful lab work turns the hero from a regular guy into the title character. But the Thing rescues beautiful Adrienne Barbeau and the two successfully battle the bad guy.
     All of the movies in this column are available on DVD and for streaming. All are OK for all ages.