text: what would be some reasons that the elephant man was badly shot in black and white?   i like that movie. i think that it was shot without color on purpose because the setting of the movie is in the victorian era, and even though it was 1980 or near there when filmed i think they were trying to put the audience in the mood, making it more "realistic", more like a documentary of john merrick's life. as for being poorly shot, i don't know.