MOST BEAUTIFUL FILMS IN COLOR

The obvious:
The Wizard of Oz
Lawrence of Arabia
Fitzcarraldo
Singin in the Rain
The Last Emperor

Not so obvious:
The Seven Year Itch
Waterloo (Bondarchuk)
Cabaret
Goldfinger
Once Upon a Time in America
Marnie
The Disorderly Orderly
Oliver!
The King of Comedy
American Graffiti

In a class by themselves
The Bird with the Crystal Plummage
Pierrot le Fou
The Godfather (I, II, and III)
The Red Desert
Barry Lyndon
Chinatown
The Conformist

and of course….ten duds with breathtaking cinematography:
The Blue Lagoon (arguably the best color photography for the worst movie)
Hurricane (78) (Sven Nykvist…and it has a beautiful score by Nino Rota…too bad it also had a very hammy Jason Robards and no script)
Mutiny on the Bounty (62) (it’s TAHITI!)
Boom! (Losey’s Burton/Taylor freakshow in Sardinia)
The Domino Principle (the sunniest conspiracy thriller imaginable)
Legends of the Fall (beautiful photography of ridiculous images…including A. Hopkin’s fur coat)
Reflections in a Golden Eye (inane psycho-sexual shenanigans with Huston’s experimental photography)
The Ten Commandments (it’s DeMille…it stars Charlton Heston, EG Robinson, Vincent Price, John Derek…’nuf said)
The Day the Fish Came Out (yes, it was impossible to photograph Candice Bergen in a bad way during the 60s/70s)
Querelle (unbelievably bad Fassbinder/Genet fantasy with stunning stylized cinematography)

Is it terrible if I mention a film that was just released? Revanche was astoundingly well photographed, and the colour is great, very subtle.

Distant
Treus Colours Trilogy
The Mirror
Yi Yi
The Puppetmaster (maybe Three Times)
Nashville (God, I fucking love this movie)
Maborosi (even though it’s been mentioned)
L’Intrus (or Beau Travail)
Cria Cuervos… (I really need to watch this like twenty more times, I love it)
An Autumn Afternoon
Castle in the Sky (does this count? I love how detailed everything is)

Nicolas Roeg – the red in Schindler immediately reminded me of Don’t Look Now and the dreaded dwarf!

Nicolas Roeg – The Masque of the Red death – the Seventh Seal scene – well, the whole movie ‘pops’ with color.

Are you talking about the use of color or just brilliant films that happen to made in color?

City of Lost Children
Blade Runner
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
In the Mood for Love
Heat

Speaking of red… Cries and Whispers…

The Holy Mountain
El Topo
Amelie
Kanto The Wanderer
Youth of the Beast
Tattooed Life
Spartacus

The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoinselles de Rochefort) is a nice one with Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, and Gene Kelly.
A musical directed by Jacques Demy in 1967…
Various colors do stand out in this film, which is beautiful in many ways.

Surprised no one’s mentioned Fanny and Alexander, easily one of the most beautiful color films ever made.

Excellent call on Nic Roeg Soybean

Great choices everybody.

Altman’s use of color was very distinctive in 3 Women.

Vertigo
Howard’s End
Dreams
Madame Bovary

no mention of Eyes Wide Shut yet. People underestimate the achievement there with regard to using color, as the vivid x-mas scheme can easily come off as tacky. Want proof, rent “Star Crash”! ;D

Or Fassbinder’s “Lola”. (shudder)

a few more films notable for their color;

Red Desert
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
Ran
Chinese Roulette
Gerry
My Own Private Idaho
L’Argent
Gentle Woman
Buffalo ’66 (for desaturated reversal stock)

Thank you David, for citing Red Desert. Now I don’t have to.

Confidence- Cin. Lajos Koltai, Dir. Istvan Szabo

I’ll second Buffalo ’66.

Days of Heaven
Lawrence of Arabia

2046
Barry Lyndon
The Fall
Hero
Ran

Red Desert

Some of Terence Fisher’s early Hammer films are exquisite, but particularly BRIDES OF DRACULA.
Douglas Fairbanks’ SINBAD THE SAILOR.
In addition to THE GANG’S ALL HERE, just about any late-40s Fox film; Ford’s color westerns from the period are gorgeous.
And an additional vote for BLACK NARCISSUS.

Monte Hellman’s Ride in the Whirlwind.
Pierrot Le Fou’s use of color always struck me as brilliant.
A lot of Kurosawa’s color work is absolutely stunning. Kagemusha in particular but also Ran, Dreams and Madadayo.
Some of the day for night shooting in The Proposition really sticks out to me for a more contemporary example.

Niagara
Gate of Flesh

Pierrot le Fou is amazing, almost like a painting — people who think Godard is a haphazard or dull filmmaker should proceed directly to Pierrot le Fou.

Oh yeah, Guy Maddin’s Careful is a big one for great color use.

Fitting that my 500th post is a double post. An example of Careful’s great looking color:

Was gonna say at least one of Maddin’s :)

Auntie Mame

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS.

I’m surprised Pleasantville hasn’t been mentioned.

Koyaanisqatsi

Tales of the Taira Clan. A pity there aren’t many images available

THE RED SHOES, DAYS OF HEAVEN, VERTIGO, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, TEMPTRESS MOON, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, HENRY AND JUNE, BARRY LYNDON, A MAN AND A WOMAN, JULIET OF THE SPIRITS, WALKABOUT, PERFORMANCE, DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, LOST HIGHWAY, BLADE RUNNER, CRIES AND WHISPERS, THE CONFORMIST, SUSPIRIA, RAN, ELVIRA MADIGAN, THE DEER HUNTER, ANGEL HEART, MO BETTER BLUES, HUNTER IN THE DARK, THE WOLVES, BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, RED SORGHUM, WRITTEN ON THE WIND, MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART, GATE OF FLESH, THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, THE HUNGER, 2046, THE HOT SPOT, EXCALIBER …i can’t think of any more at the moment.

Anything by Kubrick or Wes Anderson.
Especially 2001 and Darjeeling Limited.

life aquatic and darjeeling limited are two of the most beautifully colored movies i’ve seen. one of my top reasons i love wes anderson is how well the colors are used in it.

the bedroom scene in eyes wide shut was beautiful to me too, the orange lighting of the bedroom mixing with the blue lighting coming from the bathroom.