''Black and White in Color'' (french: La Victoire en chantant, then ''Noirs et Blancs en couleur'' for the 1977 re-issue) is a French-Ivorian 1976

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

and

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud in his directorial debut. The film is set in the African theater of World War I, during the French

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

of the German colony of

Kamerun Kamerun was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon. Kamerun also included northern parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern ...

. The film adopts a strong antimilitaristic point of view, and is noteworthy for ridiculing the French side even more harshly than their German counterparts. The original French title is the first four words (the first line) of the song ''Le Chant du départ'', a French military song. It won the 1976 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; it was submitted to the Académie de Côte d'Ivoire, resulting in that country's first and only Oscar.

Cast

Jean Carmet Jean Carmet (25 April 1920 – 20 April 1994) was a French actor. Life and career Jean Carmet began working on stage and then in film in the early 1940s becoming a very popular comedic actor in his native country. He is best known internatio ...

as Sergeant Bosselet *

Jacques Dufilho Jacques Dufilho (19 February 1914 – 28 August 2005) was a French actor. He was born at Bègles (Gironde) and he died at Ponsampère (Gers). Life and career Dufilho appeared in 65 French productions. Moreover, he was frequently seen in Italian ...

as Paul Rechampot *

Catherine Rouvel Catherine Rouvel (born Catherine Vitale; 31 August 1939 in Marseille) is an acclaimed French actress. Her career spans from 1959 in television to 2004. She starred in Jean Renoir's ''Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe'', Marcel Carné's ''Les Assassins ...

as Marinette *

Jacques Spiesser Jacques Spiesser (born 7 June 1947) is a French actor. Biography After having taken courses at the Conservatoire, he made his film debut in 1972 in Nina Companeez's '' Faustine et le bel été'' with Muriel Catala. He is best known to English ...

as Hubert Fresnoy *

Maurice Barrier Maurice Barrier (8 June 1932 – 12 April 2020) was a French actor and singer. Biography Barrier was the son of a cabinetmaker, and had his first job working in his father's workshop. While in Rennes at age 28, he met several resident actors at ...

as Caprice * Benjamin Memel Atchory

Reception

John Simon described Black and White in Color as an "absolute gem". Roger Ebert gave Black and White in Color three out of a possible four stars writing- "is fun to watch and pointed in its comments on race and colonialism"Black and White in Color
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* 1976 films 1970s black comedy films 1970s war comedy-drama films French war comedy-drama films Ivorian comedy films 1970s French-language films French black comedy films Military humor in film World War I films set in Africa Anti-war films about World War I Films set in Africa Films set in Cameroon Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Films directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud Films shot in Ivory Coast 1976 directorial debut films Films set in 1915 1976 in Ivory Coast 1970s French films {{WWI-film-stub

Cast

Reception

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