I think it's total B.S. when people claim that colorizing a film ruins the film. Besides being over-dramatic, think abou
-
johnmouse — 15 years ago(December 18, 2010 05:28 AM)
Wow, where do I even begin? The colorization of "Miracle" is awful. The colors are more pastel, or faded, than being vibrant as they would be in technicolor. Perhaps a very lame attempt to "age" the film as though it was originally filmed in color?
Hitchcock filmed "Psycho" in B&W. Color film was certainly around in 1960. Hitchcock relied on the viewers' imagination to create the extreme tension and horror. "Judgement at Nuremberg" (1961) was also filmed in B&W. "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) also B&W. And there are many more.
"Now at least if you see a film or scene done in black and white you know
for a fact that the director did it for artistic emphasis."
And there you go. There's no reason to colorize. It does not add anything, but rather, is a distraction.
There also is no reason to remake or update classic masterpiece movies. Other than giving the screen writers guild something to do, since they have no original ideas of their own. -
Chesterfield_Invincible — 15 years ago(December 18, 2010 05:50 PM)
A bit OT I know, but a fine example of distraction in a colorized version is in the Alistair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol" (1951). In the b&w version, we see Young Marley say to Young Scrooge "Isn't that Old Fezziwig?", and then we see Scrooge watch as Fezziwig rides off, without saying a word. In the colorized version, our eyes follow Marley into the warehouse after he says his line, and by the time we realize we're suppose to be looking at Scrooge, it's too late for the scene to make its full impact on us.
-
VegasNanny08 — 15 years ago(December 20, 2010 11:02 AM)
I largely dislike colorized movies based on nostalgia.There are not many B&W movies that I watch, but Miracle and To Kill A Mockingbird are my top two. I have never seen colorized versions of either movie, although I do own a colored copy of Miracle. I bought it 2 or 3 years ago as a 2 DVD set. Part of what makes the movie special is because it is B&W. The other reason I won't watch it is because I would find it distracting.
-
mercury4 — 15 years ago(December 20, 2010 04:24 PM)
I prefer the original myself. The colorized version is on TV now. I'll watch it, but I really wish they would also show the original black and white version. There was a time when they would show It's A Wonderful Life in color on TV. That stopped. It's just not the same. I would never want to see It's A Wonderful Life in color.
-
KongKongAGAIN — 15 years ago(December 26, 2010 05:44 PM)
Suprise, surprise: look at all the posts in this thread
Anyway, black-and-white does have a purpose in this film, in the sense it was shot in black-and-white. It's thus reasonable to expect it was conceived with the format in mind. Crayolaing in the thing to make it more appealing to a handful of people (and less so to a likely greater number) doesn't accomplish much.
That said, yes, it is an overstatement when people exclaim a movie's been "destroyed" by being colorized, at least if the process has been carried out with competence on a film that's not unsuitable for it. -
SinemaGirl — 15 years ago(December 28, 2010 02:09 PM)
It was nice to see that AMC ran the original B&W version in addition to the colorized one. FWIW, the colorization looks old. It can be done much better now (not that I necessarily condone it), but what aired this year is what I remember from years ago. Skintones look off, and the entire color palette just seemstarnished. Not all that appealing to me. Watching it in crisp B&W was very refreshing and made it a much more enjoyable experience.
-
neighturboy — 15 years ago(April 02, 2011 07:34 PM)
It would be interesting to see the demographics (age and sex) of all posters on this thread to see if there's a pattern to their preference. Are black-and-white purists older, and will that preference die off when they do?
One thing that's never mentioned is that when studios made films like this in the 40's there was very little after-market once the film was initially released. There were reissues if the film warranted it, and in the case of this one, and It's a Wonderful Life, the coming of television resuscitated interest in both films, as well as many others. But, initially there was no thought given to the future earning power of a movie. The money it made on it's initial release was the main concern of the studios in the 40's. Many studios were just cranking out movies to make money, not to make an artistic masterpiece with each release. In the case of "Miracle", as mentioned before, Zanuck had no faith in this movie; that's why it was released in July, five months before Christmas. I think we accord too much status to old films when the main concern, at the time, was just to make money.
Also, we all see the world through different eyes, adjust the colors on our TVs to suit ourselves, some wear glasses, some don't .. who's to say how we individually see anything? If you like it in color watch it in color, if you don't, then don't. I'll watch it in color, colorized, whatever .. forget the semantics. -
stevenvh — 14 years ago(April 23, 2011 09:06 AM)
There is no reason for the film to be in black and white.
Aesthetics is a good reason. When I take photographs I do so in black and white (despite colour film being in existence since decades) and most people like them better than the occasional colour images.
They were not meant to be filmed in black and white, there was just no way to film in color.
So they
were
meant to be black and white. A black and white film is not just a colour film with the saturation set to zero. Set design and costume design for black and white are completely different from colour design. That's why colourizing doesn't always result in a good colour film.
Rome. By all means, Rome. -
Thor-Delta — 14 years ago(June 02, 2011 08:29 AM)
I'm just curious, has this been colourised in a way that looks like Technicolor film of the period?
I was once watching an old TV show and while the episodes were colourised, they were done in a way that looked like a colour film stock of the period (probably using the later "in color!!" seasons as a guide). Quite cool.
I wonder why something like that isn't done more often.
Two Belding's in one building, one of whom is balding!