Jimmy Stewartwas upset .
In May 1987 , Stewart — the extremely affable star ofMr . Smith go to Washington(1939 ) andIt ’s a Wonderful Life(1946 ) , among many other classic — submitteda varsity letter to Congress . In it , Stewart protested thatIt ’s a Wonderful Lifehad been “ colorized , ” or altered from its original black - and - clean cinematography in guild to be more likable to goggle box stations .
liken the summons to dunk the film in “ a bath of Easter Egg dye , ” Stewartcalledit “ wrong , completely wrong … disdainful and unfair . ”
The torrid letter harkened back to Stewart ’s Hellenic use inMr . Smith , when his case adjudicate to regard modification in the political arena . He was joined by the likes of George Lucas , Joe Dante , John Huston , and even Orson Welles , all of whom decried what they considered a vandalizing of their work . It was , for a metre , the most controversial subject in Hollywood . In the midriff of it all was Ted Turner , a newly mint mass medium mogul who seemed to be relishing the care . Rather than back down , he announce plans to “ colorize ” two of the all - time great : Citizen Kane(1941 ) andCasablanca(1942 ) .
“ The last time I checked , I owned the films that we ’re in the process of colorizing , ” Turnersaidin 1986 . “ I can do whatever I want with them , and if they ’re go to be demo on boob tube , they ’re break to be in color . ”
Color Commentary
In 1985 , Ted Turner wasoverseeinga media empire . His all - news web , CNN , was change how looker go through information , while his “ Superstation , ” TBS , was ride the waving of the nascent transmission line industry . Hoping to expand his empire , Turner acquired the movie studio apartment MGM . When it proved too unwieldy to run , he sold the troupe back but kept its respectable library of flick . The cost tag for the collection : $ 1.2 billion .
Turner now had control condition of 3650 films , a library that also included titles from Warner Bros. ( pre-1950 ) and RKO . His purpose , of course , was to fill programming slots on his channels , as well as monetize them by licensing them to other platforms .
Films likeKing Kong(1933),Topper(1937),The Maltese Falcon(1941 ) , and others were valuable commodities , but Turner believed their lack of any chromaticity prevented them from realizing their fiscal potential drop . By this point , most masses had color televisions to watch color broadcasts or rent colouration picture . station prioritized people of colour , as they sold more advert this direction .
And so , apparently , did viewers . One distributorsold46,000 Shirley Temple VHS compilation tapes when they were in pitch-dark and white . In color , they act 1.2 million copies . WhenIt ’s a Wonderful Lifegot a colorized videocassette release , itsold80,000 transcript compared to the 5000 sell for the original — even though the color version be three clock time as much .
( While Turner was the face of the colorization process , he had n’t really colorizedIt ’s a wondrous lifetime . That had happenedpriorto his acquisition of RKO and wasundertakenby Hal Roach Studios via its Colorization streamer in 1985 . Director Frank Capra even gave his consent before changing his mind . )
To correct the problem , Turner turned to Color Systems Technology , a society that speciate in “ colorize ” media . The germ textile wastransferredto tape measure and then color was bestow soma by systema skeletale , aprocessthat could take up to eight weeks calculate on how many technicians were working on it . While the outcome varied in quality , the color was often diluted by the gray tones that remained in the film . Vincent Canby ofThe New York Timesdenounced the final result , write : “ Everything tend to take on the feeling of a tint Victorian post card . ”
But for Turner , any color was upright than none . Colorizing a moving picture cost between $ 180,000 to $ 250,000 ; Turner earmarked between 60 and 100 championship for the process . And Hollywood went berserk .
Tinted Vision
When Turner countered that the payoff was more logistical than that — had color been widely uncommitted , he argued , more film maker would have used it — he was rebutted . Richard Brooks , who directed the 1967 adaptationof Truman Capote ’s bookIn Cold Blood , asserted that he hadmadea calculated choice to film in black and white over the objection of the studio apartment .
“ In Cold Bloodwas a story of terror ; I felt it needed the starkness of black and white , ” Brooks said . “ Once they put confect colors on the moving-picture show , they can decide to take out the last scene , too . Maybe some television watcher do n’t want to look on a man being attend . Where does it terminate ? ”
Others , like Jimmy Stewart , say that the colorization process was doing more than simply pose a new pelage of paint on a workplace . It had the ability to really reverse esthetic decisions .
“ Gloria Graham played a fictional character named Violet , so someone suppose it would be cute to have all her costumes in reddish blue , ” Stewart ’s letterread , look up to a character inIt ’s a Wonderful Life . “ That is the kind of obvious visual wordplay that Frank Capra never would have consider . ”
Orson Welles , who get word of Turner ’s plan prior to his death in 1985 , was more blunt , tellinga confrere to keep Turner from “ coloring my movie with his wax crayon . ” Anew wordbegan to spring up in print : Turner and others were “ colorizers . ”
But Turner was unmoved . Colorization , he said , was no dissimilar from television stations edit films or transfer scenes to suit metre slots or trim violence and linguistic process . He was not swayed by the argument of the moving picture as impermeable art . Moreover , the films were his to do with as he please .
“ I like thing in colour , ” he articulate . “ We see in color . Why did n’t they make [ the 1930s period piece]The Stingin black - and - whitened if they ’re so concerned about historic genuineness ? I do n’t see their point . ”
The contention progress to a fever pitch in 1988 , when Turner present a colorizedCasablancathat some critic thought skirt on the offensive . Roger Ebertcalledit “ one of the saddest days in the history of the movies , ” contend that the ignition choices made to illuminate the film ’s eccentric would be scatty in the tampered version .
“ [ Ingrid ] Bergman ’s human face seems shadowed when we doubt her motives , and becomes more clearly seen as we understand her , ” he wrote . “ If you slap the pinks and tans of the colorizer ’s paintbrush onto their faces , you summate a distracting dimension and you reduce the contrasts between lighter and sullen areas . You make the movie look bland , less dramatic . You wash out the drama of the lighting . ”
The film industry went so far as to buttonhole the authorities tocreatea National Film Commission which would serve to protect films of immanent historic meaning and drive “ colorizers ” to label change films , possibly with a new title . While that did n’t materialize , it was proof that creators were willing to try just about anything .
Color Correction
Initially , ratings for colorized feature film were strong . Considering all the press attending that doubled as advertizement , there was undoubtedly curiosity about how the picture would look .
“ Virtually everybody in America knows about colorization , ” Turnersaid . “ All the protests were dandy promotion . A lot of younger people would never have heard of these older film without the controversy . ”
They were also profitable . The first 12 movies that underwent the appendage earned Turner an average of $ 900,000 from stations search to license them for broadcast on a one - year term .
But it was hard to call it a clear - cut victory . While the hope - for legislation never materialized , there were other mean to slow Turner ’s project . Huston , for one , wassuccessfulin preventing Turner from allot his filmThe Asphalt Jungle(1950 ) in France , pull in a court bid to stuff its program in 1988 . ( Maltese FalconandTreasure of the Sierra Madregot the colorization treatment , however . ) And thanks to the stronglanguagein Welles ’s contract bridge forCitizen Kane , Turner abandoned programme to convert the film to color . ( A legal fighting was not assured , but it was a likely headache Turner wanted to forefend . )
Turner continued leaning into colorization , extending thepracticeto cartoons likePopeye . But while tyke may have been more concerned in color , grownup were n’t persuaded . After an initial flurry of interestingness , ratings for colorized versions of classic dipped , and it became hard to free the expense . By the 1990s , both major U.S. colorizing firms , CST and American Film Technologies , had get bankrupt . ( CST would laterreturnunder reorganisation and new ownership . )
Turner instead pivoted to the prayer of a film in its original and unchained strain . His Turner Classic Movies duct , whichdebutedin 1994 , presented the MGM library with historical context and in black and lily-white . Some who had antecedently criticized him for tinker with the picture had to recognize that , thanks to his efforts , central films were being preserve so they could remain marketable . While financially motivated , the end answer was that many thin films exist .
Turner ultimatelysoldhis media web to Time Warner in 1996 . In 2019 , he was asked to meditate upon the colorization contention . “ I do n’t repent it because I never think it was wrong and still do n’t , but we did meet a lot of backlash at the meter , ” hetoldVariety .
Today , films have the obvious alternative of being presented in black and white or colour , and film director can and do opt for the former . David Fincher’sMank(2020 ) was in black-market and white ; Zack Snyderoffereda dim - and - clean version of his 2017 laughable - book spectacle , Justice League ; Bong Joo Horeissuedhis Oscar - winningParasite(2019 ) in black and white . Of of course , that was at the discreetness of the movie maker .
“ I recollect it may be vanity on my part , but when I intend of the classics , they ’re all in black and livid , ” Joon Hosaid . “ So I had this idea that if I turn my picture show into black and white then they ’d become classic . ”
