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Born in Germany, cinematographer Walter Lassally (1926-2017) was best known for his Oscar-winning work on 'Zorba the Greek'. He was associated with the Free Cinema movement in the 1950s, and the British New Wave in the early 1960s. [Listener: Peter Bowen; date recorded: 2004]
TRANSCRIPT: Cacoyannis came to me, about less than two weeks, I would say, before we started shooting, having had a flea put in his ear by Quinn as well, who was rather afraid of playing that role... actors like Quinn are terribly afraid of almost anything. They panic at the slightest drop of a hat. And... so Cacoyannis said let's make it in colour, we can afford it. And I said oh no, no, we're not going to do that. And he said but look, Madame Hortense's bedroom would look so lovely in colour. I said, that's very true, but what about the murder of the widow? You're going to have red earth, blue sky, green trees, and there's nothing you can do about it. It turns into a picture postcard, and there is nothing you can do about it. And, fortunately, I was able to prevail to have it made in black and white. Because, two years later, '66, was the end of black and white, basically, because of American television. The factor that was the... the important factor there was that American television, after 1966, would no longer buy a black and white movie... the rights to a black and white movie. That was sufficient of a reason, although American television sales were only, perhaps, 0.1 of 1% of... 0.5 of 1% of the total, it was sufficient of a factor to say, well, you know, if we make it in black and white we forego all that, why throw all that money down the drain, we'll make it in colour. If you like, you can print it in black and white, and certain directors... in fact, that happened several times. Many a film has been made in colour, simply because somebody said, look, look, let's make it in colour, then if something goes wrong we always have that fall-back position, we always can go back to... you can have it printed in black and white, but it's not the same. A print, however good, from a colour negative in black and white, is not the same as a good black and white print from a good black and white negative. There is a subtle difference, but quite a significant difference. But that question, shall we make it in colour or in black and white, would simply not have arisen after 1966. Impossible.
