Color and light play a significant role in The Godfather. It helps establish the film as a period piece, helps differentiate between the world of the family business and the outside world, and showing Michael Corleone's slow descent into the mafia underworld.
While it is not immediately noticeable, the entire film has a reddish-yellow tint to it, not unlike the subtle green tinge in The Matrix films. However, instead of conveying a sense of unreality, the tinting gives this film the feeling of being old and warn, not unlike an old photograph. It helps to remind the audience that this is taking place in the 1940s and 50s, not in the present day.
Light and color also play an important role in the film; it helps to differentiate between the world of the mafia and the "outside." This is best exemplified during the opening sequence, during the wedding. The wedding ceremony takes place out in the open in the bright sunlight and is filled with a multitude of colors. Inside Don Corleone's office, however, things are much different. The office is very dimly lit, filled with shadows, and composed of an array of black, gray, and muted browns. This theme of darkness inside vs. light outside continues throughout the film, and serves to highlight that the family's business is ultimately a different world from everything else around it.
Finally, color and light serve to highlight Michael Corleone's descent into the Mafia underworld. Michael first appears in the film wearing a Marine Corps Dress Uniform. It is a dark outfit, yes, but for the next portion of the film, Michael appears primarily in a white shirt, signifying his relative innocence. The first time he appears fully in black is when he kills Sollozzo and McCluskey, his first action for the family. Michael returns to his white shirt while in Sicily, and outfit which he wears continuously until Apollonia is murdered and he returns to the USA. From there on in, Michael exclusively wears black, signifying his total immersion in the family business. He even begins wearing a black hat once he takes over the business, literally covering himself from head to toe with the blackness that is his legacy.
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Hmmm...I guess I was unclear. It's not that I thought the plot was bad, it's just that it wasn't for me. I usually go for happy/artsy movies instead of violent/crime/war movies. What I meant was that if I wasn't impressed with the artistic aspects of this film (which I was), I probably would have turned it off after the first murder. It was the excellent quality in which this film was made that kept we watching. The plot is great, it just isn't something that I normally enjoy watching.
P.S I like how you described the color in this film as giving it an "old photograph" effect. I know what you mean, but I just couldn't put my finger on a good description until I read your blog.
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