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Post by lune7000 on Aug 15, 2021 19:31:37 GMT
About a year ago I saw a colorized version of It's a Wonderful Life. There are several colorized versions of this movie I guess and, since this was streaming, I don't know which one it was. But the colorization was really good and it didn't look at all like the weak washes used when colorization began that appeared all muddy. Computer software should allow for pretty expert colorization of B&W film with rich multihued colors that naturally darken. In any case- this movie looked good.
If colorization were really good, would you prefer it? I realize that it may not be right for film noir but musicals are really diminished without color- which adds so much joy to the music. Seeing lots on people dancing in costumes in B&W is confusing and boring. I know people will say the colorized film is not the director's vision but I also think it is possible to improve on the director's vision with thoughtful colorization and originality for it's own sake seems pointless. The B&W version will always still be around.
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Post by london777 on Aug 15, 2021 19:39:53 GMT
I do not have anything against it in principle, so long as it is made clear that it is not the authentic version. It is just that I have not yet seen one where it has been an improvement. But that maybe because I am not big on the genres where it might be an advantage, like (as you suggest) musicals, or westerns and outdoor adventures.
I have seen several colored movies which might have been better in monochrome though.
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Post by Isapop on Aug 15, 2021 20:37:56 GMT
I think colorization is a natural for Miracle On 34th Street. I'm guessing it was shot in B/W for purely budget reasons.
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Post by Catman 猫的主人 on Aug 15, 2021 20:40:01 GMT
No.
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Post by jeffersoncody on Aug 15, 2021 20:44:47 GMT
I have only ever seen one colorized version a film; the 1935 SHE (the colorization was supervised by Ray Harryhausen, and a friend persuaded me). I was not impressed, and I have no desire to see any other colorized versions of films.
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Post by phantomparticle on Aug 15, 2021 23:07:27 GMT
Harryhausen also supervised the colorization of 20 Million Miles to Earth on the 50th Anniversary Edition DVD. It comes with a toggle switch that allows you to alternate from b/w to color and back at any point without disturbing the movie.
I cut it some slack, as Harryhausen's film, but in the main I don't applaud colorization. My main concern, in the beginning, was the fear that after the process was completed, the original would be locked away to decompose in the vault. That now seems unlikely considering the explosion of the home DVD market that guarantees no movie is going to entirely disappear down the memory hole. And that doesn't even cover the Gold Mine of Classic films, YouTube.
I'm sure Yankee Doodle Dandy would have looked magnificent in color, but since it wasn't designed that way, I'm happy with monochrome.
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Aug 15, 2021 23:50:45 GMT
No no a thousand times no. I cringe at the thought of a colorized Night of the Hunter, Alexander Nevski or Double Indemnity.
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Post by lune7000 on Aug 16, 2021 1:50:00 GMT
Along these same lines, I wonder if it would be possible to tone down some of the first generation Technicolor films. From what I have read, they had some problems with controlling color saturation such that the films had a garish look that also obliterated detail.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 16, 2021 2:22:03 GMT
Along these same lines, I wonder if it would be possible to tone down some of the first generation Technicolor films. From what I have read, they had some problems with controlling color saturation such that the films had a garish look that also obliterated detail.If that was ever the case, it would have been down to the printing process. In those days, there was a lab function called Color Timing, which determined the saturation of each primary color. If it was overdone in one print run, it could be corrected in another. But there's a "however" to that. One of the requirements of using the Technicolor process at the time was the employment of a "Technicolor Consultant," who was an employee of that company. One name that often appeared in credits was that of Natalie Kalmus, ex-wife (but still very much active in the company) of founder Henry Kalmus. By all accounts she was a thorn in the sides of producers, directors, art directors and lab technicians, constantly complaining about just such oversaturation and over-illumination, advocating instead for a more natural look. But studio people wanted what they wanted, so those results may often have been intentional. All those creative and technical people are long gone, so when a vintage film is remastered today for HD (or 4K or 8K or however many Ks they have these days), different sensibilities can prevail.
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Post by timshelboy on Aug 16, 2021 13:41:27 GMT
Unlike Jeff I enjoyed the colourised 1935 SHE.... and THE LONGEST DAY colourisation didn’t hurt my viewing experience. But I too would resist a colourised NIGHT OF THE HUNTER or LAURA or THE SHANGHAI GESTURE.... no in principle objections if it makes old stuff more accessible.
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Post by spiderwort on Aug 16, 2021 13:48:55 GMT
No, no, no! I love the art of black-and-white. Love color, too, but it's a different modem entirely, one with different virtues, for sure, but completely different. I love the "poetic abstraction" of B & W. When done right, it's heavenly.
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Post by Isapop on Aug 16, 2021 14:48:39 GMT
No, no, no! I love the art of black-and-white. Love color, too, but it's a different modem entirely, one with different virtues, for sure, but completely different. I love the "poetic abstraction" of B & W. When done right, it's heavenly. Billy Wilder loved it too, and held out to do black-and-white whenever the studios wouldn't insist on color.
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Post by Sophiefoxx on Aug 16, 2021 15:27:10 GMT
generally said, no.
but i kinda like the colourised version of Frank Lloyd's Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), so that is an exception. most other originally b&w movies wouldnt work with colours tho at all.
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Post by lune7000 on Aug 16, 2021 16:45:38 GMT
I guess in some way this is all academic. Colorization mainly occurred when Turner thought he could make money by attracting new viewers to his classic collection. Now, the decline in filming costs would make creating new movies cheaper than colorizing old movies (unless some amazing software comes along that uses AI to do it cheaply). I don't really even know if any colorized movies have been released in the last decade.
Its a shame really because most people, who aren't used to it, have an immediate dislike for black and white. Humans are wired for color, we love fireworks, flowers and video games. The end of colorization will guarantee that the decline in interest in classic movies will continue until they are almost completely forgotten.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Aug 16, 2021 16:52:36 GMT
No i don`t want that.
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Post by london777 on Aug 16, 2021 17:14:44 GMT
... the decline in interest in classic movies will continue ... Do you have any evidence for that? I am not disputing it, you may well be right. But in which past decades did more people watch movies that are over 40 years old? Did people in the 1970s watch more films from the 1930s than we today watch films from the 1970s? Maybe. I just do not know.
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Post by marianne48 on Aug 16, 2021 17:48:30 GMT
Maybe on a few old musicals and children's movies--Stan Laurel's daughter once stated that her father would have loved the colorized version of Babes in Toyland, for instance, since the bright candy-coated colors fit in nicely with the Mother Goose setting and the child-friendly story. But instead of colorization, studios should instead invest in digital restoration of some older films--a movie in crisp, sharp B & W is as attractive as anything in color.
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Post by jimmywhale 🐋 on Aug 16, 2021 21:11:27 GMT
I heartily approve of the colorization process! The technology has improved so much since the 1980's when the colors all looked washed-out and the contours were blurred.
The colorized version of REEFER MADNESS is stunning and adds to the unintended hilarity of the flick. And let's face it -- most filmmakers back in the "Golden Age" would have opted to film in color if it was available to them. Certainly not every film would have been improved with color. But a good percentage probably could have been.
Even, say, my favourite movie from then -- THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN -- may have benefited from some strategic and restrained use of color with greenish pales to faces and some bright splashes here and there. Not every colorized film need look like a Technicolor Betty Grable vehicle.
I realize that there are purists around these parts who believe that the form any film is originally released is sacrosanct. They adamantly oppose any reworking of their favourites and I do sympathize. But I'd say that anything that keeps these great movies and their wonderful stars relevant and viewed gets my blessing.
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Post by Isapop on Aug 17, 2021 15:09:36 GMT
An odd memory. Years ago, when I first saw (on TV) the 1937 film Nothing Sacred, I thought it had to have been colorized. "A thirties screwball comedy, NOT in black&white? Impossible!"
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Post by Ass_E9 on Aug 17, 2021 15:56:16 GMT
Out of curiosity, not opposed to colorization, but would prefer majority of effort be put into restoring the original b&w.
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