MovieChat Forums > The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) Discussion > The Photography in a New Version:

The Photography in a New Version:

posted 14 years ago by HijodelCid
1 reply | jump to latest

how would you like it to be--what colors, shades and hues should predominate?
The photography in this movie is typical of the 1950s: very bright and very pretty, and therefore ideal for musicals such as AN AMERICAN IN PARIS and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, but totally inappropriate for adventure movies. Many Westerns of the 50s look unrealistic and unbelievable today because, among other things related to the photography, the clothes of the characters look too fresh and too clean. John Sturges was very aware of this pitfall, so that, when he filmed GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, he made sure that the photography created a feeling of grittiness and earthiness appropriate to the plots of those movies. A touch of grit would definitely help THE PRISONER OF ZENDA to be more believable in this era where its plot is so often parodied and treated as a joke.

God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

[–] liscarkat (16483) 6 years ago

The color saturation of the 1952 version was beautiful and appropriate. Period movies of recent decades have overdone the dull brownness and grittiness until it's a cliche, but it might be interesting to see P of Z done in that style.