Ted Turner's colorization of B&W movies

[Thomas Guycott]

I think the only film I've ever seen colorized was It's a Wonderful Life, and that had to be over twenty years ago.

[DenOfEarth]

What do you think of Welle's quote?

And was Ted Turner throwing paint in a museum?

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

I think the only film I've ever seen colorized was It's a Wonderful Life, and that had to be over twenty years ago.

I've never seen it colorized. But I have seen Miracle on 34th Street and Babes in Toyland (renamed March of the Wooden Soldiers) colorized.

34th Street is terrible the skin tones look so unnatural. And there are two frames they forgot to colorized, so as you're watching it will flip from color to B&W and back to color quickly, in two different locations in the film.

Babes also has unnatural skin tones, but the colorization is better (no B&W frames).

If you buy either movie on optical disc, you'll get both the B&W and colorized version.

I usually ignore the colorized version, and I'm not sure why they even bother including it.

When Babes was edited for Television (removed or re-edited some scenes) it was renamed to Soliders and even did a new title card with that name on it. Since most people know it by that name, I suppose that's why they keept the name when restoring the original film for Blu-ray. But since it's unaltered, it really should have been released under the name "Babes in Toyland" oh well... At least the original Babes title card is in tact in the film.

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

This has been done to death but here goes, Lucas did not direct Empire Or Jedi, he was the studio head. So yeah, he should have just shut the f*uck up.

That's the funny part - even as a producer he reserves the right to recut films he feels need it. So he says that the director should be the only one yet he feels that as a producer, he can override the director. Interesting. What he is really saying is that all director's should have final cut mostly because he didn't on his first couple films.

I am not against the colorization of the films but I do not think that those versions should then be the only version available. Let's be honest - a lot of old films were done in b&w as that was the only option available. Had they been given the choice to do b&w or color and it wouldn't impact the budget, I am guessing a lot would have done color. It was just a matter of the times so colorizing the films is not really a horrible thing to me - it gets people to watch the movie who might not otherwise. However, it is an alteration to the film - an alternate cut. I think that it should be an option for people but not the only option. Ultimately I don't think you will ever see those films back in theatre so really we are talking home video release - why not include a color version with the b&w or release a seperate version for things like Casablanca that have already had great releases? As long as they treat both versions the same, I have no issue with them doing it.

[qb2333]

I don't have a philosophical difference with colorizing black and white classics, but I'm glad Raging Bull, Young Frankenstein, On the Waterfront, Schindler’s List, Sunset Boulevard, Elephant Man, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, etc were shot in black and white and I don't think they would be half as good in color. For the same token, I'm glad Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain, Gone with the Wind, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Lawrence of Arabia, The King and I etc were in color. Can't imagine them any other way. You either enjoy or "get" black and white or you don't.

[The Fallen Deity]

Colourised black and white films look awful.

The colours look like paint.

It's desecration as far as I'm concerned.

[stvn1974]

I am just grateful that Ted Turner didn't have the flying monkeys in the Wizard Of Oz replaced with awful CGI replacements.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by DenOfEarth

What do you think of Welles' quote

Think it was prophetic, since it ultimately (and legally) trumped Turner's famous quote of "I own 'em, I can do what I want with 'em."

(Kevin Spacey: ".....WROOONNNGGG!!!")

Originally Posted by Scarface32

When Babes was edited for Television (removed or re-edited some scenes) it was renamed to Soliders and even did a new title card with that name on it. Since most people know it by that name, I suppose that's why they keept the name when restoring the original film for Blu-ray. But since it's unaltered, it really should have been released under the name "Babes in Toyland" oh well... At least the original Babes title card is in tact in the film.

Nowadays, the only ones colorizing are Legend Films, who either work for Sony (Three Stooges, Ray Harryhausen), or are forced to muck around the Public Domain pit, wherein Babes/Soldiers lies.

CtToI, seems there were more independent PD-vulture colorizations than there were Turner ones at the time, even though Ted gets it on his doorstep.