A Pemberton

Good title for a thread??
What if one existed? or a new print pristine colour version could be made or "colourized" with better technology.
I was one of the many who bought Scrooge today only to be annoyed and angry to find a nasty colour b*****dized version .It started me thinking.If Henry Cornelius had a bigger budget from Ealing and Michael Balcon, would he have liked to make it in colour,would I still adore it if it had,Does colour really make a difference and would it bring Passport to Pimlico to a whole new audience today .Are we by colouring it damaging an art form .Do we damage an work of art by redressing the budget limitations of the time?
Im fairly sure you all think colourization is up there with murder and robbery in crimes of the century ,but its just a thought [

JamesM

The 'colorized' version of Scrooge is ancient so they could probably get better results today. I spoke to John Forrest recently and he has seen the colorized version of Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951) and was surprised to see that all the colours seemed to be correct. He played Flashman in this version. Was this by chance or can technology perform such a task?

Steve Crook

The thing that the people releasing these b*****dised, "colorized" versions of films is that B&W photography (and cinematography) is quite different to colour photography. The B&W photographer is looking for different things that often don't make as much sense if the same shot is made at the same time, in colour. It's not just a matter of the absence of colour.

Steve

quaint1

I'm not against colourisation when appropriate, but I don't think "Passport to Pimlico" WOULD be appropriate material - the B&W helps to enhance the grim, grey drabness of rationing. Perhaps as a spot effect (such as in the opening sequence) it might work, but the colour would surely have to fade as the viewer realises that it is not some Latin location after all!

At the risk of annoying people - the colourisation of "Scrooge" wasn't as much of an issue for me - yes, I would rather have seen the B&W original, of course I would, but this was a newspaper 'freebie' and, if you throw away the paper it came in (as I did) it, one cannot be too picky about an 80p disc!
Au Res.,
Paul

samkydd

Just like David Lean's Oliver Twist I think that Scrooge is much better in black and white simply because it adds to the Dickensian atmosphere of the story. We like to imagine those days as dark, gloomy and grey which is what many poor people's lives must have been like, and it adds some authenticity to the feel of the film.

In a similar way a lot of the Ealing greats were set in an austere post war Britain, and the mood of the people was grey and gloomy because of rationing and shortages long after the end of the war. Had Passport To Pimlico been made in colour it would have looked rather like Genevieve, with a chocolate box lid portrayal of a jolly, almost too colourful, Britain where everyone was smiling and they all lived in neat little houses, wore the latest fashions, always had plenty of money and the sun was always shining!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Rob Compton

There are some films that just wouldn't work in colour, in my opinion. For example (and I know its not British, but the book, director etc are) Hitchcock's "Rebecca" which has light and shade: fabulous lighting effects especially around Mrs Danvers.

I know a colour version was made with Charles Dance - although I admire him as an actor (I think he's wonderful in the current Bleak House) but it wasn't the same at all

rgds
Rob

arty-dave

The magical sequence in Charles Laughton's film "Night of the Hunter" where the children are drifting downstream in a boat, couldn't be anything other than mono.

foha80

Yes we are,time has made it a cherished piece of work.Passport to Pimlico,Scrooge etc will always be with us.It is of its time leave it alone

Screw them.Some things are meant be loved,not "consumed" until the next "new thing" comes along