I agree with you, a hypothetical 4th movie shot just after the first three would probably have been done in B&W. Shooting in color would have risked livening things up too much. Thankfully we will never know, but I just can’t imagine him doing a movie in color. Once again, not knowing much about him keeps me from being able to make an educated guess, he just strikes me as the kind of guy who was not all that amenable to change.
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The secret is they were shot in color. The subject matter is just so dreary that it sucks it all out when it’s viewed.
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A moviegique appears in the thread.
This sounds like…Doris Wishman. Auteur, exploitation, softcore, even some hardcore (which she hated and renounced) and a very distinct and uniquely feminine voice. E.g., her last movie was about a girl who could take one attribute (physical) from anyone she kills.
To read about her movies piques the interest. To watch her movies…is to end up disturbed and puzzled.
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Coleman Francis is the anti-Andy Griffith.
So it would follow that not only would Francis have gone with a color film, but it would be unsatisfying, which is to say that it would have been a semi-respectable movie.
Bizarro stuff, yo.
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Was color film still considerably more expensive in the late 60s? If so then I’d think definitely black and white for him. I get the feeling he was practically counting frames of film to stretch his movie budgets.
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Coleman Francis would film in color, but it would still come out in Black and White.
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Budget would have to be absolutely dire to go with black & white by '68-'69 so, yeah, he probably would’ve shot in black & white.
No, seriously, I think he might well have shot in color because B/W was becoming positively stigmatized by that time. Even Romero shot in color after NOTLD. It got so bad that by 1979, you had Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese getting flak for shooting Manhattan and Raging Bull in B/W.
But when I say “color”, think Side Hackers or The Rebel Set. The washed out, poorly lit, dingy palette of Kodachrome that just wrecks contrast without adding anything to the aesthetic of the film. Or Manos, without even the stylish robe of the Master.
But even if you’re doing sneaky distribution deals for second feature at the drive-in, there was a point where they just wouldn’t take it if it wasn’t color.
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Sounds like what I’m looking for. Thanks!
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I’ll pose this. Resulting from Tor and the monster template of Yucca Flats (1961), is Yucca Coleman’s most “satisfying” film? If Coleman and satisfying can be said together in a sentence. 54 minutes, the physicality of Johnson, the formula. Against it you have that disquieting first scene and the narration. No Francis work is without drawbacks. And BIG ONES. This is Coleman Francis after all.
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It’s the only one I can sit down and watch and enjoy, so it passes that low bar of “Most Satisfying.” At least in a monster movie, his usual dreariness helps to establish the right tone.
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My choice of most passable Francis? Again if that’s possible is his second. The Skydivers (1963). The movie is weird, flat, devoid of life, and takes forever however it isn’t hard to follow and its predictability helps it when compared to “Flag on the Moon” or the nastiness of Cuba (1966).
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Skydivers wins “Most Coherent.”
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Wait a minute. OK Skydivers had some kind of a plot.
But fornicating with a pharmacist in exchange for some unspecified kind of “acid”?
Weird, man!
It’s no flag on the moon, but it is a gulag in Tupelo.
But I like coffee, so what do I know.
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Skydivers is the best Coleman Francis film to me as well, but that really isn’t saying much. I find Beast of Yucca Flats repulsive, and Red Zone Cuba incoherent, so the one that is just plain dull wins out.
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I love reading these posts! And I love Coleman Francis movies! Call me a sadist if you want but his movies were made for Mst3K, and each one of them has their own stinky charm. Beast of Yucca Flats has little dialogue, but there is actually some decent cinematography here. The setting is bleak, and it’s captured here. This is my least favorite Coleman. Just not much to grab onto here. The Skydivers almost pulls you in to the story. A love triangle, Coleman style. Classic riffing aided by a great short. Sex for Sundries is as good as it gets! The best movie of the Coleman genre. Red Zone Cuba wins the day for me! So much fun wrapped up in 90 minutes! The movie is awful, but it moves so quickly from scene to scene. How can anyone get bored with this one? It jump cuts to the next scene before you have a chance too!
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Stranger stuff has occurred. One obstacle. Tony Cardoza. Were Cardoza the producer of the Fourth Coleman Production wouldn’t the status quo continue? With Coleman being Coleman and Cardoza supporting that? Now if Francis had a new donor, the color and other things seem likely. As it was, Coleman and Tony’s relationship perpetuated the ongoing style and barring a sea change it felt the norm moving forward. My view.
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The Wikipedia page for Yucca Flats says this:
Film historian Bill Warren stated "The AFI catalog says (the film) may have been reissued in 1964 as “Girl Madness”
Re-release under new title, or HITHERTO UNKNOWN FOURTH FILM?
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By having a beautiful house and wife.
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
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