Three years ago TCM included the gold-tinted version of Reflections In a Golden Eye (1967) in its annual Summer Under the Stars lineup. I love concision and therefore admired the one-sentence précis of the film. It went something like this: “Married to lusty Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando is feeling homosexual on an Army base in the South.”
While it was filmed in Technicolor, the color elements of Reflections were drained in post-production to give the film a sepia tone. The director may have taken the “golden eye” thing too literally, though I’m sure he had an artistic purpose in mind. Not appreciating the effect, the studio restored the color for commercial release. I don’t recall TCM providing any explanation or background about that version of the film shown in 2022.
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
A military officer becomes obsessed with an enlisted man.
DIR John Huston
CAST Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Brian Keith2H | DRAMA | 2:15 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/kvML3FH0TR
— Next on TCM (@NextOnTCM) September 7, 2025
The tinted version of the film is something to behold. Since 2022, however, I believe TCM has gone strictly with the Technicolor print (as it did last week). In both versions, Elizabeth Taylor is looking pretty, pretty good. Marlon Brando turns in an intense performance. The rest of the cast is notable as well. Based on the Southern Gothic novel by Carson McCullers, it’s a weird movie that shares something in common with these greats, near-greats, cult classics, or personal favorites of mine:
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
• Key Largo (1948)
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
• The Red Badge of Courage (1951)
• The African Queen (1951)
• Beat the Devil (1953)
• Moby Dick (1956)
• Fat City (1972)
• The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
• Wise Blood (1979)
• Under the Volcano (1984)
• Prizzi’s Honor (1985)
• The Dead (1987)
Each of these films is among the 37 directed by John Huston. He wrote or contributed to the screenplay for several of them as well.
Whatever it was that attracted Huston to the story of Reflections In a Golden Eye, he drew again on the Southern Gothic genre when he turned to Wise Blood, based on Flannery O’Connor’s novel. It’s a fantastic movie.
All these films turn up occasionally on TCM. You may want to keep your eye out for them.
