America in Color

Even vintage home movies from unexpected sources-- Oakland’s black community, a Kentucky small-town newspaper--conjure a relatable sense of life being lived, in a continuity that clearly flows through us today.

The history is mostly a familiar overview, but the straightforward narration, well delivered by actor Liev Schreiber, covers the big picture and some smaller, but intriguing, details.

America In Color is by no means the full story. But its overall artistry breathes new life into these two incredibly eventful decades, with three more yet to come.

The subtlety enhances history rather than overwhelming it, making America in Color dazzling in a quiet way.

The series is at its best when it uses these home-movie-style vignettes, many of them poignant in their ordinariness. Big events make up much of each episode, but when the series goes small, it finds the real humanity behind the march of history.

It’s a question whether color makes a significant difference in the potency of these clips, known so well to the world in their original, grainy black-and-white. Still, in some cases, the power of these pictures is heightened by the clarity of the color, notably in the Pearl Harbor footage.

This plodding celebration of Americana is touted as groundbreaking for colorizing archival 20th century footage for the first time. But it begs the question: What's new here? [30 Jun 2017, p.55]