A Patch of Blue

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A Patch of Blue
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Guy Green
Produced by	Guy Green
Written by	Elizabeth Kata (novel) Guy Green
Starring	Sidney Poitier Elizabeth Hartman
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Robert Burks
Editing by	Rita Roland
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	1965
Running time	105 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

A Patch of Blue is a 1965 Academy Award winning film directed by Guy Green about the relationship between an African American man, Gordon (played by Sidney Poitier), and a blind white female teenager, Selina (Elizabeth Hartman), and the problems that plague their relationship when they fall in love in a racially divided America. Made in 1965 against the backdrop of the growing civil rights movement, the film explores racism from the perspective of "love is blind." Shelley Winters won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in this film.

Scenes of Poitier and Hartman kissing were excised from the film when it was shown in movie theaters in the South. These scenes are intact in the DVD version. According to the DVD audio commentary, it was the decision of director Guy Green that A Patch of Blue be filmed in black-and-white, although color was available.

The film was adapted by Guy Green from the 1961 book "Be Ready with Bells and Drums" by the Australian author Elizabeth Kata. The book later won a Writer's Guild of America award. In addition to the Best Supporting Actress nomination for Winters, the film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Elizabeth Hartman), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Best Music, Score - Substantially Original.

[edit] "A Cinderella Named Elizabeth"

The film's creators also made a short about Hartman's selection to play the starring role. The short, called "A Cinderella Named Elizabeth," focuses on her status as an unknown actress from the middle America town of Youngstown, Ohio, and includes segments from her screen test and associated "personality test," in which the actress is filmed while being herself and answering questions about everyday topics such as her taste in clothing. The short also shows her visiting the Braille Institute of America to watch blind people being trained to do handwork — similar to the beadwork her character does in the film — and to perform tasks of daily living and self-care, of the sort that Poitier's character teaches Selina to do.^[1]