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Date Posted: 19:47:14 10/17/09 Sat
Author: joystar
Subject: Colourising? Golly Almighty! NOOOO!!!

I've been going through some of the older posts, and found the one about colourising. First of all, you have to be extremely proficient technically to do it. I remember the artistic abortion they made out of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. When a character had grey or white hair, they just neglected to do anything! Pinkish orange skin and black and white hair! Needless to say, the juncture of colour and b&w halated and shimmered BADLY. I don't know if the technicians pay any attention to the films or their stars, but seeing Jean Harlow with hair painted like egg yolks is strictly "barf-ola".


I was fortunated enough to see both FRANKENSTEIN and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN on the big screen once, and I have never forgotten their beauty. James Whale was a painter as well as a director, and it showed. Please...Let's leave our films as their creators intended. To do otherwise would be like putting lipstick on the Mona Lisa...

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[> Re: Colourising? Golly Almighty! NOOOO!!! -- Tim, 21:54:40 10/17/09 Sat [1]

I remember when Ted Turner and others were big proponents of colorization in the 1980s. The principal logic of the colorization movement at the time was that young people would not watch black & white films. That is probably accurate in many cases, but it is not an adequate reason for colorization. Basically it was an attempt to tamper with art in the name of ratings. The movement was condemned by some of the old time directors, as well as a number of notable film critics. Turner later reversed his stance on colorization, as I recall. I was always curious whether or not the colorizations that were done actually resulted in more viewers or bigger ratings, but never heard either way.

I would prefer not to see the Universal horror classics colorized. The black & white photography enhances the gothic atmosphere and aids in the suspension of disbelief. And the colorization of 1940s film noir classics like The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice would essentially ruin them, in my opinion (although The Maltese Falcon and others were indeed colorized, probably in the 1980s). These films are meant to be seen in black & white, just as Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) are meant to be viewed in lush color.

If an original filmmaker wanted to see his or her film colorized, that might put a different perspective on it. However, if James Whale were around today I seriously doubt if he would want to see his two Frankenstein pictures colorized, or see lipstick put on the Mona Lisa, as Joy cleverly put it, LOL!

Tim


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[> [> Re: Colourising? Golly Almighty! NOOOO!!! -- DAN, 07:34:24 10/18/09 Sun [1]

I remember those "Ted Turner" colorization days, and I believe "Topper" (1937) was the first film to be colorized.
And that colorizing job was a disaster.

Although the colorization process has improved greatly since then, I still don't want to see the Universal classics in color either.

The only film I think is ok in color is the 1934 version of "Babes in Toyland" aka 'March of the Wooden Soldiers" with Laurel & Hardy. I own the restored film on DVD which has the film in both B/W and colorized.


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[> Re: Colourising? Golly Almighty! NOOOO!!! -- Officer Torch, 20:12:32 10/18/09 Sun [1]

Tim and Dan pretty much hit the nail on the head. We've the gothic ambience, shadows, moodiness, perfect as is, well, preferrably if remastered with decent b&w and sound...but color for these revered Universal classics? No way. Who can eg contemplate Bride of Frankenstein in color.(Well, I won't rule it out completely...somebody out there might be for it.)

Dan had a good point with Babes in Toyland...this looks decent colorized, and especially for the kids. I must say some of the newer horror movies look better in color, eg, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with DeNiro as the monster....kind of a violent movie, in color but seems right for this particular flick.

Science Fiction "stuff"...I agree with Tim. Many look good in color. Moreover, some might be suitable for a colorization process. There's this Ray Harryhausen group and they've colorized some movies nicely...even some oldies. The classic "H.G. Wells' Things to Come" with Raymond Massey comes to mind...nicely done for a vintage film. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers was another. Would be nice if this group did Flash Gordon.

We can ramble on and on about colorization and other matters, but seems studios are gonna do as they please. I'm at least trying to get 'em to encode dvds with closed captioning. Our hearing often deteriorates with age, and seems studios aren't all that concerned about cc. I'm not optimistic based on past experiences.


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