Abstract
The late, great film director, John Huston, in a videotaped speech prepared specially before his death for presentation at a Senate hearing on the issue of the colorization of black and white films, raged that he and other film artists, who had worked to produce such classic films as The Maltese Falcon, were being "bushwhacked by the coloroids," and he pleaded with Congress to step in to preserve that work.' This comment will trace the response of the One-Hundredth Congress to the pleas of John Huston and other film artists to preserve the original integrity of their films, and will attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of that response.
The issue of colorization has far-reaching implications for many areas of copyright law, on such issues as the moral rights of artists and U.S. adherence to the Berne Convention. These issues will, of necessity, be touched upon only to the extent of providing a context for the several legislative remedies proposed in the One-Hundredth Congress to deal with the colorization issue. The reader who wishes to explore these interrelated issues in more depth will find useful references at appropriate points in the comment.
Recommended Citation
Swyrydenko, Nicholas
(1989)
"Film Artists Bushwhacked by the Coloroids: One-Hundredth Congress to the Rescue?,"
Akron Law Review: Vol. 22:
Iss.
3, Article 6.
Available at:
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/akronlawreview/vol22/iss3/6