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Authors And Exploitations In International Private Law: The French Supreme Court And The Huston Film Colorization Controversy, Jane C. Ginsburg, Pierre Sirinelli

Faculty Scholarship

On May 28, 1991, France's Supreme Court, the Cour de cassation, rendered its long-awaited decision in Huston v. la Cinq, a controversy that opposed the heirs of film director John Huston against the French television station Channel 5 and its licensor, Turner Entertainment. Defendants sought to broadcast a colorized version of Huston's black and white film classic, The Asphalt jungle. Plaintiffs, John Huston's children and Ben Maddow, who collaborated with Huston on the film's screenplay, asserted that broadcast of a colorized version violated Huston's and Maddow's moral right of integrity in the motion picture. The central question before the Cour …