Regardless of what you might think of the story, wouldn't this movie have looked stunning if it had been filmed in Technicolor? The Hawaii location shots were fantastic. Even the flowery print shirts and leis would have benefited from Technicolor treatment.
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Most Definitely.
shareAgreed.
shareNot sure how I would have felt if it had initially been made in color. I like the older black and white films. In this case, I think it adds a somberness to the idea behind the movie.
What I have NEVER liked is the colorization of movies, which thankfully, has stopped. Ted Turner has done a lot for the industry but his idea to colorize films was not his best idea.
The chief, who, as we all know, was played by the real Honolulu chief of police, was possibly the most wooden actor of all times. I took a film class years ago and the instructor brought up this movie and said if we want to see a great example of bad acting, watch the chief in this film. I told him that the reason I had seen this film years ago was because I lived in hawaii from 66 to 75 and wanted to see how Hawaii was portrayed in the 1950s, and in fact, that gentleman WAS the real chief of police!
The instuctor said "I hope he's a better cop than he is an actor."
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Eric, I loved the story - the Duke hunting commies in Hawaii - what's not to love?
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Maybe the producer could not afford colour film or maybe there was a shortage of colour film.
shareVery much agree. It would have been fantastic in colour, especially as there is so much location scenery.
shareExcept that color would have ruined the noirish mood they were aiming for. But it is hard to look at Hawaii in black and white...although the very next year From Here to Eternity was mostly filmed in Hawaii, and was also in b&w.
Wayne made up for it two years later when he shot a little bit of Hawaii in color for The High and the Mighty.
Still, knowing how beautiful Hawaii is, whenever I watch Big Jim McLain, I just see red.
I agree with your comment about ruining the noir look. Like most of the noir-type films shot after the advent of color, b&w gives them a grittier, more somber or hard-hitting atmosphere. Color would have clashed with the mood of the film.
shareTrue, but then much of the film was given over to being basically an extended travelogue, showing many of the glories of Hawaii, which certainly aren't gritty and don't have a noirish mood. Most great noir takes place in claustrophobic areas, dirty cities, at night, and so on, and black & white is also best suited to intimate subject matters, including film noir.
BJM is light on those kinds of things, somewhat schizophrenic in its mood and in what it shows. Its tougher, violent or political aspects are best shown in b&w, but the "travel" stuff and some of the rather heavy-handed "humorous" scenes seem more suited to color. Tough call.
This film is not actually a good example of film noir, which usually includes a femme fatale and a protagonist who is of questionable morality and who finds himself in situations that are sort of beyond his control--classic examples being "Out of the Past" and "Double Indemnity."
The best situation for TV viewers who can record the film would have been to have the film in color. Then it could be watched either as a travelogue (fast forwarding through the other scenes) in color, or as a b&w film by simply turning down the color on the TV and watching it in monochrome. I often have done the latter on colorized films when I want to see them in b&w.
Yes, I would never classify this movie as a noir. It has certain elements of that genre, as do many crime films, but it hardly fits the true noir style. I think one reason this film misses from a purely cinematic point of view is that it never settles on a visual style, let alone a dramatic one.
Still, had it been filmed in color, I'd watch it that way. I don't believe in changing the look of a film, one reason I'm so opposed to the mindless artistic vandalism that is colorization.
I've only seen the film once, and that was a while ago, but I don't remember it as being particulary noirish - John Wayne in a noir film? No way!
I'll admit that black and white certainly works for a film like this, what with the political intrigue and suspense element and all. But at the same time, there are certainly a number of great suspense films that were shot in color.
I totaly agree about retro-colorization of old films, and I would certainly never wish to go back and inflict that travesty on this film. It's just that there were a number of films shot in Technicolor back in the early fifties that were so plush with gobs and gobs of rich color - the way that only early Technicolor could achieve. This movie, with its beautiful Hawaiian locations, would certainly not have suffered had it been shot in Technicolor.
I agree, there wouldn't be much difference in the feel or plot of this film had it been shot in color instead of b&w. As I mentioned, its inconsistent visuals -- some (the intrigue and suspense) suited to b&w, while so many others seem to cry out for color (all the scenery we're treated to) -- render it neither fish nor fowl, cinematically. Whatever edge the darker moments might have lost had the film been in color would have been balanced out by having the outdoor scenes in color...basically the reverse of what actually exists.
Of course, some "outdoor" films were shot in black & white and looked superb -- Howard Hawks's The Big Sky comes immediately to mind, exquisitely photographed. Though its magnificent vistas would appear to demand color, b&w suits that film far better.
Yet, as much of a fan as I am of b&w, there's a tiny handful of b&w movies that might have been better shot in color -- Prince of Foxes (1949), for one, as many even stated at the time. BJM falls into an ambiguous category for me. In truth, neither color nor b&w entirely suits the whole film. But they probably should have taken advantage of the locales and used Technicolor. I suspect expense, not art, was probably the major factor in not filming in color.