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Article: IN MOVING COLOR: CINEMA'S CRUCIAL HUES; The Director Chose `White' for a Reason
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 26, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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When the movies were young, color was a novelty. Now it has
become commonplace, a faithful but unremarkable rendering of
reality. Like the hues all around us, color in films is so familiar,
so everywhere, we hardly notice it. We rarely look past color, or
think about what it means. When reds, blues and greens are splashed
across the screen, we just glaze over. Does it really matter in
"Beverly Hills Cop III" whether Eddie Murphy's driving a red sports
car or a white one?
In that movie, it doesn't. But when Peter O'Toole, playing the
English tutor to Emperor Pu Yi in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last
Emperor," rides a green bicycle into the Forbidden City, color does
matter. This week, ...