Do they do that any more?
Are colorized versions of old movies shown any more?
I think they could be done ten times better today, if anybody still thought it was a good idea. Graphics have become so automated it would also be cheap.
I wonder if some old TV shows could be colorized. Dragnet? Naw. In the end it ran in the color era and it wasn’t any better.
It added even less than George Lucas special editions, why go to the bother. The colourised version of Night of the Living Dead didn’t do much for the film really. Colourised WWI films were interesting on the documentary channels though.
I notice on the C’mas DVD rack at work we have the Alistair Sim A Christmas Carol, It’s A Wonderful Life & the original Miracle on 34th St all with both colorized & B&W versions, as well as a whole lot of Shirley Temples, so colorization ain’t dead yet.
I know that opinions differ on this, but I think colorized movies suck. It’s clever that they can do it, and furthermore, they can do it really quite well nowadays, but with a few exceptions, movies that were shot in B/W look best that way - in many cases, the costume, set and lighting designers will have made choices based on contrast and texture that will only be diminished by trying to slap colour on top.
Simple: someone decided to release Casablanca in a colorized version (along with B&S). It sold 300 copies. Nationwide.
It was clear there was no market for colorized films (the original B&S version did fine), so they stopped bothering.
They’re still doing them. In fact, some claim the newer ones, using new software, are much better. The old 1934 **Babes in Toyland/ March of the Wooden Soldiers[/B has just been re-colorized:
I agree with Mangetout. I remember seeing a colorized version of Arsenic and Old Lace. There’s a scene towards the beginning where Mortimer and Elaine are playing grab-ass around a big tree in the cemetary. In the B&W version, the tree looked like a tree. In the colorized version, the tree looked like a very obviously painted set piece. A good director uses lighting and shading and contrast to help set the mood of a story; when you colorize a B&W, you’re removing that whole aspect.
Is this true or are you using hyperbole? If you are exagerating for effect, wonderful. I respect that and it works for the posting. But, if the sales figure is true (or even on the same order of magnitude), I would love to know so I can quote it as Casablanca is one of my favorites. I’m not trying to be an ass by saying “Cite?.” I’m just trying not be be gullible either. Thanks!
A little hijack of name that movie: I recall seeing a B&W movie on TV (TCM cable channel)from the late 50s - early 60s that was about 4 guys in separate trucks delivering dynamite? nitroglycerin? to a mining site somewhere in Mexico. It was subtitled, and any time there was a light background I couldn’t see the subtitles to read them. I was going to write to Ted Turner and suggest he colorize the subtitles. Otherwise I think colorizing movies sucks.
I like the idea of colorizing old black and white movies but they kept colorizing the wrong movies. I taped the colorized version of the Maltese Falcon when it came out and watched it, and at the end I was wondering what the point had been. For my money, the black and white version was a lot better. The colorizing just threw everything off. The black bird had become a blackish-blue bird. Woo-fucking hoo.
You wanna know what to colorize? Those old Republic black and white serials. Go hog wild. Make the scenery purple. Paint the aliens green. Give the rocket ships big splashes of red, blue and yellow, like the old pulp art of the 30s. It would really perk up those old shows.
Also how about some old high seas adventure movies like Errol Flynn’s pirate movies? Make the sky and impossible blue and the sea an impossible purple. Make the sails brightly colored and the gold in the treasure chests glowing with yellow light. Give the wood a deep, rich brown color. Have a blast.
THOSE movies would do a lot better in color.
[QUOTE=Evil CaptorI taped the colorized version of the Maltese Falcon when it came out and watched it, and at the end I was wondering what the point had been. For my money, the black and white version was a lot better. [/QUOTE]
I love the color version of Casablanca, but I wouldn’t expect The Maltese Falcon to be in color; the “Miles and Archer” sign shadow at the first for example.
There is as company by the name of Legend films that has been churning out Colourized films, however the owner knows there are some films that should never be colorized (IE Citizen Kane etc)
Interestingly enough according to Wik:
The technology has improved a bit. I caught a few trailers for things like House on Haunted Hill, Plan 9 from outer space and Reefer Madness that weren’t bad. In Reefer Madness they overdid the colours including having the evil weed’s smoke come out in different colors.
I used to loathe the idea completely but now I figure it depends on the film itself. For example there is no harm in colorizing say the 3 stooges or Little Rascals. I don’t think the artistic quality will be compromised.
Here is their site with the trailers: http://www.legendfilms.net/
Captain Blood’s been done but that format isn’t on video.
With the exception of the Shirley Temple films Legend is colorizing for 20th Century Fox, notice that all of Legend’s output is public domain movies. Presumably, this means that there is a very slim audience for colorized films. (I was surprised to see Legend is the company which distributes Mike Nelson’s MP3s poking fun at various movies.)
I’m quoting Roger Ebert from several years ago. I’ll see if I can find the exact quote or sales figures.
“It’s supposed to be a deep, dark secret, but the national VHS tape sales of Turner’s 1989 colorized version of Casablanca totaled- get this- less than six hundred copies.”- Roger Ebert, quoted in Questions for the Movie Answer Man (1997)
Bingo! That’s it, thank you!
I remember when In Living Color (I think) spoofed this by presenting “Really Colorized Movies”, in which the scenes were completely re-shot using all African-American actors.
I remember seeing that in color and thinking that I had thought it was in black and white. Since it was made just when color was starting to come in, I assumed that it was an early color technology and not colorized.
So it had me fooled. Of course it didn’t look like modern color, but early color films were often a little off.
And this is the perfect type of film for colorization. Toys should be in color.