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Date Posted: 21:54:40 10/17/09 Sat
Author: Tim
Subject: Re: Colourising? Golly Almighty! NOOOO!!!
In reply to: joystar 's message, "Colourising? Golly Almighty! NOOOO!!!" on 19:47:14 10/17/09 Sat

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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