I just finished watching The Night They Raided Minsky’s. As the film toggled between B&W and color at the beginning, I realized that black and white film introduces a clarity that is not there with color. Each object, each person is distinct. Color muddies the images and makes the objects and people run together. With black and white, there is little or no confusion about where things are, which causes less brain power to be used for recognition functions and allows it to be used elsewhere.
Additionally, color causes distraction. I was distracted by colors and patterns more with the color film, while B&W allowed me to concentrate on people’s faces and actions.
Coincidentally, you can tell when the film was made based on some of the camera shots and angles. The scene where Jacob Schpitendavel enters the Lower East Side reminds me, oddly enough, of Enter the Dragon, which was made a few years later.
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