The legal argument on this was resolved long ago -- whomever "owns"
the film can colorize it if they want and there's nothing anyone can do to stop
them. Whether they should or not will be debated forever, but there's no
question that a colorized version of a black-and-white film is something that a
lot of younger viewers will watch while they would not watch the black-and-white
version. Sad but true.
Since that is the reality of the situation, I applaud the fact that these
producers are including BOTH a nicely-restored black-and-white version and the
colorized version on the same DVD. That actually satisfies both young
consumers and older purists. It's a far better solution than just putting out a
colorized version only and leaving the purists out of luck.
-- JR
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004
11:41
Subject: [MOPO] The Stooges in color?
Soitenly!
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 10, 2004
The DVD era is
resurrecting the great colorization
debate of the 1980s, and at the heart
of the matter
are Moe, Larry and Curly.
Sony's Columbia TriStar
home-video unit is releasing
two Three Stooges DVDs that allow viewers to
watch the
original black-and-white or digitally colorized
versions.
Purists consider it desecration, while Sony
executives say the process can
introduce movie
classics to young audiences reluctant to watch
anything
in black and white.
The Stooges discs coming out today also give
die-hard
fans better black-and-white versions, the
studio
insists.
To prepare for the colorization process, Sony did
a
more extensive restoration than it had with previous
black-and-white-
only Stooges DVDs, said Bob Simmons,
a technical specialist who worked on
the project.
"The best thing about this DVD release is it gives
the
consumer the ultimate choice," said Suzanne White,
vice president of
marketing for Columbia TriStar.
"They can watch the very best, the finest
restored
image of the black-and- white version, or watch the
new
colorized version and switch instantaneously
between the two." The new
DVDs, "Goofs on the Loose"
and "Stooged and Confoosed," contain four shorts
each
featuring Moe and Curly Howard and Larry Fine.
Offering a
choice does not appease colorization
critics, who include Sam Raimi,
director of Sony's
"Spider-Man" blockbusters. "I don't think they
should
mess with black and white," said Raimi, who is such a
Stooges fan
that credits on some of his movies label
extras as "fake Shemps," a
reference to doubles used
to complete Stooges shorts after the death of
Shemp
Howard, who both preceded and succeeded brother Curly
in the
act.
"I think they should just leave it as they are and try
to
preserve them as best they can," Raimi said. "I
feel like it's an artistic
interpretation that's not
anybody's right to make except the
director's."
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