'Color Techniques Used In Written On The Wind'

In the movie Written on the Wind, we notice that most of the colors were muted and cool toned, the only colors that stood out were things such as Kyle’s yellow car and some scenes which had either red wallpaper or red seats. However, there are two primary color that we see throughout the whole movie, blue and brown. This is shown through Kyle Hadly and Mitch Wayne and is used to represent them as distinct characters. These elements support the mise-en-scene of the movie and helps us further understand the characters and story. One reason for the color scheme of the character’s costumes could be that the muted brown shades best represent Mitch as he is level-headed and serious, while the blue matches Kyle’s impulsive and confident personality.
When Lucy is introduced to Kyle we can see that she too is wearing the same shade of blue as Kyle, this suggests that these two characters are connected in this movie, as well as Kyle’s clear attraction to her.
On the other hand, we see Mitch clad in different shades of brown throughout the movie. This color reflects him as the underdog of the movie, which makes sense as he is described as the “sidekick” by Kyle in the bar scene at the beginning of the movie. This also shows how he blends into the background and is often forgotten about as we saw in the scene where Kyle and Lucy leave him behind and go to the airplane as well as how Mitch was in the back while Lucy and Kyle were at the cockpit.
In the scene where Lucy meets Kyle’s father, Kyle is seen wearing different shade of blue. This rich and royal color is indication that Kyle now has all that he wanted, his wife, soon to be heir of the business and