COLOR HIM INTENSE\Frankenheimer strives to deliver stark reality of 'Andersonville'.

Byline: Doug Nye Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

If director John Frankenheimer had had his way, the new four-hour miniseries "Andersonville," premiering Sunday night on TNT, probably would have been shot in black and white.

That shouldn't surprise anyone.

Some of Frankenheimer's most absorbing films - "Birdman of Alcatraz," "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Train" just to name a few - were done without the use of color.

"I much prefer working in black and white," Frankenheimer said during a recent telephone conversation. "The mood is much more dramatic, much more emotional. It's impossible today. The younger audience won't accept it. More often than not, they'll turn it off if it's black-and-white.

"You can't whip a dead horse."

What about the success of such cable services as American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies, both of which air hundreds of black-and-white movies?

"I think you'll find that their audiences are older," Frankenheimer said.

But Frankenheimer did what he figures is the next best thing to shooting "Andersonville" in black and white.

"We muted the colors a great deal," Frankenheimer said. "There is a lot of dark and gray to it. I think I made a black-and-white film in color."

Such a visual mood is appropriate for the subject matter of "Andersonville," which looks at life and death in the infamous Confederate prisoner-of-war camp located in Georgia. Between 1864 and 1865, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned there, and almost 13,000 of them died.

The film is a vivid re-creation of the grim and depressing surroundings the prisoners had to endure. It is amazing that more than 30,000 managed to survive.

That is a point that was not lost on Frankenheimer.

"It was a terribly difficult picture to make because the subject matter is very intense," the director said. "We tried not to continually dwell on that. It's a movie about dignity and, if you will, the indomitability of the human spirit."

"Andersonville" is not just about how Confederates treated Yankee soldiers, but also how prisoners turned against prisoners. Both sides had their share of evil and cruel participants.

"The horror of all this was the fact that it was Americans doing this to Americans," Frankenheimer said.

A construction company, using numerous old photographs as a guide, re-created a full-scale model of the original Andersonville prison. Once it was finished, the movie crew spent 60 days there filming the miniseries.

"It was the best movie crew I have ever been associated with," Frankenheimer said. "It was great teamwork. The actors, everyone, were always ready to do anything to make this project the very best. It was a unique experience."

Obviously, Frankenheimer is proud of the finished product. But he declined to take much credit for that.

"Honest to God, I think that a good script is 50 percent of making a good film. And we had a good script. Having good actors is 40 percent of it, and we had quite a fine group. The other 10 percent is the director."

Frankenheimer began his career in the early 1950s as a director of such live television shows as "Danger," "You Are There" and "Studio One."

The young talent on such shows was stunning. One of the "Danger" episodes directed by Frankenheimer was written by Rod Serling and starred Paul Newman.

"Directing live television wasn't a means to an end for me," Frankenheimer said. "That's all I wanted to do. I didn't care about Hollywood."

When CBS began "Playhouse 90," an ambitious weekly 90-minute program devoted mostly to live drama, Frankenheimer was called in to become one of the series' biggest contributors. He directed some of the series' most-praised dramas, including "The Days of Wine and Roses."

"Wine and Roses" also would be the source of great disappointment a few years later. When the motion picture version was done, Frankenheimer was passed over in favor of Blake Edwards.

"I was told I was not a big enough name," Frankenheimer recalled.

It was "Playhouse 90" that brought Frankenheimer to Hollywood because the show was done on the West Coast. Because of the location, it was inevitable that he eventually would end up directing theatrical motion pictures. The timing of the move was right because by 1960, the use of videotape was increasing rapidly, and live television drama was all but a thing of the past.

"I was out of a job then," Frankenheimer said. "I directed live television, and there was no demand for that anymore."

Frankenheimer did his first movie, "The Young Stranger," in 1957; it was not a happy experience. Hollywood veterans resented a young television director from New York moving into their territory, Frankenheimer said.

Four years elapsed before he took on another movie. This time it was "The Young Savages," starring Burt Lancaster. That began a successful association with Lancaster which resulted in "Birdman of Alcatraz," "Seven Days in May," "The Train" and "The Gypsy Moths."

Frankenheimer's credits also include such films as "Grand Prix," "The Horseman," "The Iceman Cometh," "Black Sunday" and "The Year of the Gun."

He said he slowed down for a while "because the phone stopped ringing."

"I have always said the hardest part of this business is not the work, but not working," Frankenheimer said.

Then came two Emmy-winning directorial outings for HBO, "Against the Wall" and "The Burning Season." Now Frankenheimer is as busy as ever.

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Photo (1) "I much prefer working in black and white," says "Andersonville" director John Frankenheimer, who muted the colors in the TNT film. "I think I made a black-and-white film in color." (2) "Andersonville" is not just about how Confederates treated Yankee soldiers, but also how prisoners turned against prisoners. Both sides had their share of evil and cruel participants. (3) "Andersonville" is a vivid re-creation of the grim surroundings in the infamous Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in Georgia, where almost 13,000 of 45,000 imprisoned Union soldiers died.