![Capote/In Cold Blood [Blu-ray]](http://cdn.hometheaterforum.com/7/7b/50x50px-ZC-7b0482bf_B001N77YPS-51ZcqZDvCZL.jpg)
In 1966 Haskell Wexler won the Academy Award for black & white cinematography for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In 1967 the five nominees were Bonnie and Clyde, Camelot, Doctor Doolittle, The Graduate and In Cold Blood.
In 1967 the award for Best Black & White Cinematography was abandoned.
In the following four decades the number of black & white films nominated is precisely four -- Raging Bull (Michael Chapman) in 1980, Zelig (Gordon Willis) in 1983, Schindler's List (Janusz Kaminski) in 1993, and finally Good Night and Good Luck (Robert Elswit) in 2005.
Had the rules changed only one year later, Conrad Hall, one of our greatest cinematographers, would have had yet another Academy Award to place alongside his other three.
I bring this up as Mr. Hall's cinematography for In Cold Blood is among the most outstanding that one will find in its era. It has been reproduced to perfection on this Blu-ray disc.
Filled with rich blacks, brilliant whites and layers of shadow detail, this is a film which has made its way to Blu-ray unmolested, and I must believe that Mr. Hall would have been pleased.
Examine a landscape some 76 minutes in, and see how it plays as well as how it has been reproduced. There are times when black isn't part of the image, and this is one of them. Soft light to medium grays predominate the scene, and the reproduction of them is dead on perfect.
There is another scene in which rain on a window plays on a face, and again the blacks, grays and textures are precisely rendered.
In Cold Blood is a superb film by the great Richard Brooks. Everything about it from screenplay to acting, music, production design, and its incredible cinematography has made it a classic. It stands the test of time.
Hats off to Columbia's Grover Crisp and his team for bringing In Cold Blood to Blu-ray with perfection.
You'll find it in the Blu-ray isle along with Capote.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
In 1967 the five nominees were Bonnie and Clyde, Camelot, Doctor Doolittle, The Graduate and In Cold Blood.
In 1967 the award for Best Black & White Cinematography was abandoned.
In the following four decades the number of black & white films nominated is precisely four -- Raging Bull (Michael Chapman) in 1980, Zelig (Gordon Willis) in 1983, Schindler's List (Janusz Kaminski) in 1993, and finally Good Night and Good Luck (Robert Elswit) in 2005.
Had the rules changed only one year later, Conrad Hall, one of our greatest cinematographers, would have had yet another Academy Award to place alongside his other three.
I bring this up as Mr. Hall's cinematography for In Cold Blood is among the most outstanding that one will find in its era. It has been reproduced to perfection on this Blu-ray disc.
Filled with rich blacks, brilliant whites and layers of shadow detail, this is a film which has made its way to Blu-ray unmolested, and I must believe that Mr. Hall would have been pleased.
Examine a landscape some 76 minutes in, and see how it plays as well as how it has been reproduced. There are times when black isn't part of the image, and this is one of them. Soft light to medium grays predominate the scene, and the reproduction of them is dead on perfect.
There is another scene in which rain on a window plays on a face, and again the blacks, grays and textures are precisely rendered.
In Cold Blood is a superb film by the great Richard Brooks. Everything about it from screenplay to acting, music, production design, and its incredible cinematography has made it a classic. It stands the test of time.
Hats off to Columbia's Grover Crisp and his team for bringing In Cold Blood to Blu-ray with perfection.
You'll find it in the Blu-ray isle along with Capote.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
