It's a wonderful life

[Matt865]

The AVForums review said that the UK release is region B locked, although the US disc is all regions.

[ChrisDilke]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but this has gone down to £10.01 on HMV. Not quite sure what the point of that extra 1p is, but this is the cheapest I've seen it for and thought I'd mention it in case anyone else was interested. I've just put my order in! Fantastic film that's a perfect choice for Xmas.

[nitin]

just to confirm, this has both versions on one disc as opposed to the 2 discer in the US?

[KrugerIndustrial]

Yes. US has the b&w and extras on disc 1 and the colored version on disc 2. UK has both on 1 disc and there are no extras.

[nitin]

Thanks.

Dvdbeaver shows Disc1 US to have a 40GB + size, and disc2 to be 39GB+. The UK versions must be compressed then I guess.

[nametag]

I didn't know this. Have there been any comparisons done between the UK and US versions?

[Hintermann]

I have finally decided to upgrade my DVD copy of It's A Wonderful Life but am undecided whether to opt for the standard Blu-ray that includes B/W & colourised versions or go for the 4K?

About 30 years ago I owned the colourised VHS but it was very poor.

[Eidolon]

There are different releases, the one that was in the stores around Christmas last year dropped the colourised version from the UK release. It's on the American release.

On the dvd I have from a few years ago, it claims that the Colorised version is new, which means it may not be the same one on the old Video Collection VHS release. Night of the Living Dead has had at least four different colorised versions that I'm aware of, so it's very possible there's at least two here.

[CouncilSpectre]

It’s been colourised three times. The last version is actually pretty decent. Certainly far from the horror show of the previous two efforts.

For my viewing it depends on who I’m watching it with. If it’s just me, B&W. If it’s with Mrs Spectre, it’s the colour version.

The Longest Day was colourised at some point too, in fact that was the version I saw first!

[UnionJackMix]

Really really will never understand why people insist of putting color where there was none. Movies in black and white, tv shows in black and white, photos in black and white. Do people really have nothing better to do that mess around with original works trying to alter them or update them?
I just don't get it. Maybe someone has a plausible explanation? (other than milking the public for another version)

[BigNickUK]

Originally Posted by Hintermann

I have finally decided to upgrade my DVD copy of It's A Wonderful Life but am undecided whether to opt for the standard Blu-ray that includes B/W & colourised versions or go for the 4K?

About 30 years ago I owned the colourised VHS but it was very poor.

Please use the search function to ensure there is not already a thread for release discussions. Thanks

[Hintermann]

I checked the images on the Beaver, thought about it and decided to opt for the B/W only 4K version.

[BudBaxter]

Originally Posted by UnionJackMix

Really really will never understand why people insist of putting color where there was none. Movies in black and white, tv shows in black and white, photos in black and white. Do people really have nothing better to do that mess around with original works trying to alter them or update them?
I just don't get it. Maybe someone has a plausible explanation? (other than milking the public for another version)

I imagine some TV executive decided 'the kids' wouldn't watch old fashioned black & white movies, so colourisation was the answer.

Quite why any serious movie lover would want one in their collection, let alone choose to watch them over the original is beyond me.

I seem to recall Ted Turner being quite keen on it in the 80s, leading to the classic Gremlins 2 gag; "Tonight on the Clamp Cable Network: Casablanca! Now in full colour, with a happier ending!"

[Buddy Ackerman]

Originally Posted by BudBaxter

Quite why any serious movie lover would want one in their collection... is beyond me.

The same reason any "serious" (what's the criteria for that?) movie lover would want an alternative version - it's part of the film's history. Or just out of curiosity or for completists' sake.

I've got the blu-ray and have only watched the black and white version so far but I'm glad it has the colourized version on there. It's one of my favourite films and I'm curious to see what the conversion did to it.

Wanting to have it included because it exists isn't the same as being a fan of the process.

[moorje]

I watched the colourised version just out of curiosity. Yes it looks off and affects the picture quality as a result. But I get the logic behind why it was done to try and reach as large an audience as possible.

Will I watch it again? Probably not. But it's there and adds to the history of this film.