Director Robert Mulligan decided to film To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) in black and white, though color technology was widely used at the time. In part, the director made this decision for stylistic reasons—to create an iconic movie that made a statement that it was serious and more than just...
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fleeting entertainment. In other words, the film was not to be enjoyed just for its color. In addition, the content of the movie lent itself to black and white film, as the film is about the divisions between the black and white segments of society in Depression Era Alabama. The black and white film allows the audience to see those divisions more clearly and to experience them as thecharacters in the movie are experiencing them. In addition, the use of black and white adds drama to many of the scenes, including to the courtroom scenes, in which the facial expressions of Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) and Tom Robinson (played by Brock Peters) are so clear and poignant.