I started watching Breakfast At Tiffany’s the other night for no reason than upon flicking over I was astonished at the extraordinary visual quality. This is an old film. We’re talking 1961 here. That’s three years before Mary Poppins and four years before The Sound of Music; those two films being the only benchmark I have, as I’ve seen them on DVD. But watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s on standard def digital TV you’d be forgiven for thinking they filmed in digital back then! None of those artefacts like fibers or dust that you normally get with old films. I continued to watch in sheer amazement, just hoping, praying that I’d see that little speck of something pop up for a couple of frames. But nothing. Then I grinned at Audrey Hepburn’s character as she was chatting away at a million miles an hour. I couldn’t help thinking of my sister, bless her 
And after that I forgot all about the specks of dust and just started watching it. I had no preconceived notions of what to expect, apart from a niggling curiosity to see whether or not I would be annoyed by yet another “old movie”.
I’m normally really not a fan of old films. But after watching this, I’m starting to reconsider that point of view. The film wasn’t great but it was really watchable. For some reason, old films usually just irritate me or bore me to tears. An unfair generalisation? Perhaps. I’d define an “old film” as anything made before 1980 and experience just tells me, if it’s that old I probably won’t like it. Now I loved Mary Poppins when I was a kid, but got over it. With Breakfast At Tiffany’s the characters were pretty non-offensive. Except the Japanese neighbour Mr. Yunioshi. It turns out he was played by Mickey Rooney would you believe it!? I did wonder at one point that Yunioshi was so shamefully stereotyped (let’s face it, just plain racist) that they’d have a hard time finding a Japanese actor willing to play the part. And I guess they did! For me the amusement comes not from laughing at “funny Japanese man” but from looking back with disbelief that such blatant racism was given a platform back then.
